2011 Midwest Nitro series Rd1 report

The third running of the Midwest Nitro series kicked off with round 1 at Leisure hours raceway in Joliet, Illinois. Despite poor weather relegating the event to the indoor track, that did not dampen spirits with a record 142 entries participating. Heated competition was found in all the classes. Pro Truggy started as a classic Jimbo vs. Sonny’O show as the two battled for top spot. With 5 minutes left in the main event Jimbo Kvidera, after retaking the lead from Ochoa, pits for fuel only to experience a spectacular fuel gun malfunction, leaving the top qualifier of the race a DNF with debris in his fuel tank. Letting Sonny Ochoa continue on with an easy win. Meanwhile Scott Shin, working his way through the field from a bump up starting spot, gains an impressive 2nd place. Kevin Bronner driving a solid race with only a couple bobbles late in the game which would drop him to 3rd.

Continue reading the report here

Robert Batlle takes Rd1 in Spain

The first round of the Spanish 1/8th scale buggy Nationals was held this weekend in Antas, Almeria in the very south of the country. Qualifying would see Mugen driver Borja Hernandez take the top spot ahead of reigning champion and fellow Mugen racer Robert Batlle in 2nd with Daniel Bernabe, Ivan Carmona and Andres Marcelino completing the top 5. Following the semi finals, the order up front was reversed with Batlle lining up on pole position for the 45 minute encounter with both drivers winning their respective semis. Robert would go on to win the 45 minute final, leading from start to finish, by nearly a lap in front of Ignazio Candel, with Bryan Bernabe completing the top 3. Despite running in 3rd for much of the race following a crash at the start, Borja Hernandez would end the race in 5th. Stopping one more time than his competitors for fuel, and a tire issue close to the end of the final, put an end to his podium chances.

Source: Merlin [merlinfuel.com]

Cody King does double at JBRL Rd1

Current IFMAR World Champion Cody King attended the first round of the 2011 JBRL at ARC Raceway in Temecula, CA, USA just 3 days after arriving back from the Neo11 race in England. As the 2010 JBRL Buggy and Truggy Champion, Cody didn’t miss a beat starting off 2011 with a TQ in buggy and winning both Buggy and Truggy by a wide margin. Cody trounced the field in Truggy and in Buggy had an early challenge by JQ’s Chad Bradley and held off a late push by Team Losi’s Matt Castellano near the end to take the buggy win with Mugen driver Travis Amezcua taking 3rd. With the ROAR Nationals just a matter of weeks away, and the ARC surface similar to the Nationals venue, this looks to be a logical warm-up leading into the biggest race of the year for US drivers. JBRL Round 2 is just 2 weeks away, right across town at Revelation Raceway, The Drakes home turf. It should be interesting to see what happens there with drastically different track conditions compared to ARC.