Red RC » R On Road

June 16, 2009

Stefan Pregnolato is European ‘B’ Junior Champion

Forgotten at the prize ceremony during the European ‘B’ Championships in Cassino 2 weeks ago, EFRA have confirmed that 14-year old Shepherd driver Stefan Pregnolato is the European B Junior Champion. Already in qualifying Stefano showed great potential by driving the 3rd best time with his Velox V8 and reaching the main final directly. During the final he was on the third place for quite a long time but unfortunately in the last lap he dropped down to 5th position. Nevertheless this was enough to claim the titel of Europe’s best under 17 driver at this years Championships.

Source: Shepherd [team-shepherd.com]

June 16, 2009

Grainger & Jefferies win 2009 MMUKGP

This years running of the annual Much More UK GP took place last weekend at the Stonehaven circuit in Scotland. Qualifying for the modified class went the way of current British National Champion Chris Grainger, just in front of Olly Jefferies in 2nd and Dutch driver Niels Koenekoop in 3rd, while in the Pro Stock class, it was Graham Kenny up front followed by Tom Jefferies and Scott Kenny. Conditions remained dry for most of the day, however a rain shower after the first leg of mains mixed things up a bit but dried quickly. Schumacher racer Chris Grainger carried through his pace from qualifying to take the overall title with 2 leg wins, with Niels Koenekoop driving the TOP Photon won leg 3 and took 2nd overall. Team Associated driver Alan Bickerstaff completed the podium in 3rd. In the Pro Stock class, Graham Kenny won the first leg but struggled in the next two, while Tom Jefferies won the final 2 legs to take the overall class title from Scott Kenny in 2nd and Mark Musgrove in 3rd.

Click here to see the final results & pro stock podium

June 16, 2009

Karl-Heinz Meister takes German West Rd6

What a pity! Once again rain hampered the racing action of the Western German Championship I.C. 1/8 – for the fourth time in a row. Practice for the sixth and last round of the Western German Championship was held in Oberhausen under the best possible conditions with blue sky and temperatures around 25 degrees. On Sunday first clouds welcomed the racers and after round three of the heats it started to rain and didn’t stop for the rest of the day. In a drivers meeting it was decided not to continue this disappointing race day and to count the race following the heats order.

Continue reading the full report

June 16, 2009

Groskamp wins Luxembourg International TC race

Jilles Groskamp has made his intentions clear for this summer’s European Championships by winning last weekend’s International Touring Car race held on the Mini Circuit de la Ville, the same track as the main event in August. The race which attracted top drivers from around Europe looking to get extra track time ahead of the official warm-up, saw Groskamp take a clear pole position, winning all 5 rounds to line up ahead of team mates Yannic Pruemper, Marc Rheinard and Viktor Wilck. In the finals Jilles could take the win in the first leg, with World Champion Rheinard taking the 2nd leg to keep the race alive going into the final leg. Jilles could again take the win in the 3rd and final leg to take the overall win from Rheinard in 2nd, with Wilck moving up 3rd overall after a bad first leg.

Source: RCCM [rccm.lu]

June 15, 2009

Südhoff wins German Summer Champs

Last weekend saw the German Summer Champs take place outdoor in Hann, Münden. More than 100 drivers met in various categories and is aiming to become one of the biggest annual events in Germany. Qualification saw Freddy Südhoff take the pole position in Modified, while in the Stock category it was Stefan Paßlack on top and in Sports it was Näther Oliver taking the top spot. The races saw little change to the starting order with Südhoff winning Mod from Sebastian Lein in 2nd and Dennis Fadtke 3rd, with the last leg being run in the damp conditions as the rain began to fall. The Stock class was won by Stefan Paßlack from Christian Wehrmann and Thorsten Schmidt, while in the Sports class it was Näther Oliver taking the victory ahead of Thomas Mirke and Thomas Musial.

June 13, 2009

Scott Kimbrow dominates Capital Classic

The top 1/8th scale drivers in the country were in attendance last weekend for the 3rd Annual Capital Classic run at the 301 Raceway, which has become one of the largest nitro on-road races of the year. This years race saw over 180 entries in three classes. With qualifying all said and done on this super-fast, fuel hungry track, Scott Kimbrow was able to take the TQ spot in 1/8th scale by 3 seconds over Paolo Morganti in 2nd. The fist half of the 45 minute A-main saw some close racing, but Scott was able to pull away after the halfway point when Scott decided there was no need to change tires. Many of the other racers changed tires or made short pit stops, but Scott had a different strategy and won from the Mugen pairing of Mike Swauger in 2nd and Paul Ciccarello in 3rd. In the 1/10th scale 200mm class it was Xray driver Paul Lemieux that took the win from team mates Ralph Burch in 2nd and Gianni Giorgio in 3rd, while the Masters class was won by Maxy Fuel’s very own Maxy Velazco.

Source: Kyosho [kyoshoamerica.com]

June 11, 2009

Ecuadorian National Championship Rd1

Last weekend, the opening round for the Ecuadorian National Championship took place in Quito, Ecuador. The 40 min final placed driver Pablo Cobos with his Sirio powered V-One RRR Evo2 as the winner of the round. Cobos was closely followed by Alfonso Quirola and Daniel Vela, all finishing on 119 laps on the astonishing Miraflores Track with the A-main final an amazing way to end this 3 day race event. The race started without problems placing the TQ driver Hermann Saa into the lead. His early decision to change tires proved miscalculated when rain starting falling after 30 minuted allowing other drivers to avoid the long pit stop as the tire wear reduced. The sun came back out and saw Cobos, Quirola and Vela emerge as the front runners.

Click here to continue reading the report

June 10, 2009

Marco Müller victorious at Rd3 in Switzerland

Last weekend the 3rd Round of the Swiss Championship took place in Lostallo, host of this summer’s World Championships. After winning the first round and placing second on the last round of the Swiss Championship Shepherd driver Marco Müller demonstrated that he can also handle difficult race conditions. During practice on Friday the weather was really nice but when the qualifying started on Saturday, heavy rain reached the track which even turned into a hailstorm. Marco found the best setup for his Velox for this difficult conditions and took the TQ spot for the 45 minute final on Sunday. On Sunday morning the sun came out, but during the semi-finals it began to rain again. The final was started on a drying track and Marco could pull away right from the start. But 15 minutes before the end the rain started again and a lot of tires were changed in the pit lane. Marco kept cool and although he had some minor radio glitches because of the rain he still could defend his lead and won the race with a 1 lap gap on the 2nd placed Jürg Nydegger, with Silvio Hächler taking 3rd another lap behind.

Source: Shepherd [team-shepherd.com]