Red RC » R Off Road

July 18, 2023

Neumann holds overnight 2WD TQ at European C/Ship

Sworkz’ Joern Neumann holds the overnight TQ at the EFRA 1:10 2WD Offroad European Championship after a dominant first day of qualifying in the Netherlands. The German, who is a two time champion in 2WD, topped all three rounds of qualifying at the RACO2000 track in Utrecht but with 2 more rounds of qualifying tomorrow and the best two to count he will have to wait to see if he will be the overall Top Qualifier. Neumann’s closest challengers today were Team Associated’s Marcus Kaerup and Schumacher’s Michal Orlowki, the latter having set the pace in seeding practice. In Q1, Neumann set the pace by 6 seconds from reigning 4WD Champion Kaerup, the Dane getting that gap down to 2-seconds in Q2. Chasing his first ever 2WD European title, Orlowski would get to within half a second of the TQ in Q3 giving the Polish ace a major boost going into the final two rounds. If he or Kaerup are to deny Neumann from being the Top Qualifier they will need to top both rounds tomorrow and in a faster. Defending Champion & newly crowned British 4WD Champion Tommy Hall finds himself down in P12 at the end of Day 1 of qualifying.

Image: EFRA [Facebook]

July 17, 2023

Philippine Masters 2024 date announced

After a massively successful return in April of this year following a 2-year break due to Covid, the Philippine Masters has announced the date for the 2024 edition of Asia’s biggest annual 1:8 Offroad race meeting. The 12th running of the Philippine Masters, the event which takes place in the capital city of Manila is scheduled for April 18-21, 2024. Having formed the opening round of the Asian Buggy Championships, the date was confirmed at Round 2 in Australia over the weekend after a meeting between Philippine Masters track designer Edward Sio, who was racing in Brisbane, and Scotty Ernst who has been a key figure in bringing the Philippine Masters to its international race status. A sell out event in 2023, the race saw World Champion David Ongaro win the Buggy title for Team Associated while Sworkz’ Micha Widmaier came away with the Truggy victory. With the Philippines famed as a holiday destination, the event has a truly unique vibe living up to the nations tourism tagline ‘It’s More Fun in the Philippines’ with many of the large international driver entry combining the race with holidays at the country’s world famous white sand beaches.

Source: Philippine Masters [philippinemastersrc.com]

July 16, 2023

Bernadzik reigns down under at Asian Buggy C/ships

Alex Bernadzik reigned at Asian Buggy Championships in Australia, the Team Associated driver carrying his qualifying form into the finals to win both Nitro and Electric Buggy. Top Qualifier for both categories, Bernadzik’s first win at the Pine Hills Dirt Racing circuit came in eBuggy. In the first of the triple A-Mains he would win from the Tekno of Caleb Noble with another win in A2 from Christopher Sturdy locking in victory for the second round of the Scotty Ernst run championship. With Sturdy winning A3 it was to be an AE 1-2 on the podium which was completed by Noble. The 45-minute Nitro final saw early mistakes from Bernadzik dropping him into the mid pack while Noble led the way until he was delayed by a fuel gun issue at the first fuel stop. As the race reached the half way mark Bernadzik was back in the lead from were he controlled the race to complete the perfect weekend. Noble would get second for his efforts ahead of Zac Ryan, a key figure in get the Asian Buggy Championships to Brisbane, finishing third with his HB Racing. Aaron Dexter would finish fourth ahead of an impressive performance from 11-year Zac Foster in fifth.

Continuing reading & view podium images here

July 15, 2023

Double TQ for Bernadzik at Asian Buggy C/ship Australia

Team Associated’s Alex Bernadzik has claimed an impressive TQ double at the Australian round of the Asian Buggy Championships presented by VP Racing. The inaugural season of the 1:8 Offroad Championship, Round 2 at Pine Hills Dirt Racing saw Bernadzik set the pace in both nitro and electric Buggy at the Brisbane track. In Nitro Buggy, he would top three of the four qualifiers with Zac Ryan, a Top 6 finisher at Round 1 in the Philippines, his key challenger and the only other driver to top the time sheets. In Q3, Ryan, who was responsible for the track build at PHDR, took his HB Racing to a TQ run by just 0.1 of a second from the Tekno of Caleb Noble. Having missed seeding practice, Noble would conclude qualifying 3rd overall of the 63 entries. In eBuggy, the biggest class with 68 entries, again Bernadzik produced three TQ performances while Noble managed the fastest time in the penultimate round. Using the event to get in some high level race practice prior to the 1:10 Offroad World Championship later this year, Christopher Sturdy would complete the Top 3 in qualifying at the controls of his Team Associated. Qualifying 3rd in Buggy and 2nd in eBuggy, Noble would get P1 in Truggy qualifying leading a Tekno 1-2 from Jackson Beale. Qualifying P2 at the Philippine Masters in April, Round 2 is Beale’s home event. New Zealand’s Logan Toia completed the Truggy Top 3.

Image: Asian Buggy Championships [asianbuggychamps.com]

July 13, 2023

Gotzl crowned double Czech 1:8 Buggy Champion

Team Xray’s Max Gotzl claimed yet another national title in his native Czech Republic with a double victory in Terezin last weekend. Having won nitro and finished second in eBuggy to Martin Bayer at the season opener in Kolin at the start of June, Gotzl pulled of the perfect weekend at Round 2 claiming the TQ and win in both classes. Securing the eBuggy win over the Sworkz of Dominik Vlasek and Serpent of Jan Domansky, in nitro he took his FX Engines powered XB8 to victory over the Kyosho pairing of Jan Hujer and Jan Horacek, Hujer claiming runner-up in the final championship standings.

Image: Team Xray Czech [Facebook]

July 12, 2023

Hall crowned British 4WD Champ with double win w/end

Team Associated’s Tommy Hall is the new British National 4WD Offroad Champion. Third in last year’s title battle behind Champion Michal Orlowski and Neil Cragg, Hall wrapped up his first national title with victory number three of the class at the penultimate round of the 6 round championship. Having kicked off his 2023 campaign with victory at the season opener at Robin Hood Raceway, a happy hunting ground for Hall who won his 2WD European Championship title there, he was again the man to beat when it returned to the East Midlands track securing the 5th round TQ and win to add the 2023 BRCA title to his CV. Winning from Schumacher’s Ben Smith and Neil Cragg, the result completed the perfect weekend for Hall who on the Saturday came through from 4th on the grid to take the win in 2WD. The result means the title will be decided between Hall and defending champion Cragg at the season finale at the TORCH track on August 5th. In the meantime, Hall travels to the Netherlands to defend his EFRA European 2WD title next week as well as looking to add the 4WD title to his tally.

Image: Racewayone [racewayone.com]

July 11, 2023

Asian Buggy Championships lands in Australia

After a hugely successful opening race at the Philippine Masters in April where World Champion Davide Ongaro took the win, the new Asian Buggy Championships lands in Australia this weekend for the second of its inaugural three race schedule. The VP Racing backed championship will see four days of action at Pine Hills Dirt Racing (PHDR) track in the east-coast Australian city of Brisbane and has attracted a sell out 250 entries. Travelling from across Australia, New Zealand and Asia, drivers will do battle to be crowned winners over six Nitro & Electric Buggy and Truggy classes, all under the direction and voice of championship promoter Scotty Ernst. With many Australian’s having travelled to Manila for the opening race of the Asian Buggy Championships, this weekend is another opportunity for the nations up & coming racers to showcase their talents on a track that well known Aussie racer Zac Ryan has been instrumental in the development of. Jackson Beale, Jak Parsey, Aaron Dexter, Jayden Edmunds, Jordan Van, Zac Foster and Christian Wolhuter are all expected to feature in the battle for victory against young Queensland talents Alex Bernardzik and Caleb Noble.

Source: Asian Buggy Championships [Facebook]

July 10, 2023

Double win for Widmaier at Austrian Nationals Rd3

Sworkz’ Micha Widmaier completed the double at the latest round of the Austria 1:10 Offroad Nationals over the weekend. Racing on the GMAC track in Litschau for the third round, Widmaier had the perfect weekend that started off with him securing the TQ for both 2WD and 4WD Buggy. Lining up on pole for the 4WD A-Mains ahead of Xray’s Hupo Honigl, he would wrap up the overall win after A2 with Honigl (2nd) and Team Associated driver Peter Pinisch joining him on the podium. In 2WD, the Yokomo of Robin Riedmann was Widmaier closest rival qualifying P2 with Honigl P3 but the pole sitter won the first two comfortably for the win. Winning A3, Honigl would claimed his second runner-up spot of the weekend with Riedmann completing the podium.

Image: Micha Widmaier [Facebook]