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November 25, 2019

Gary Huang takes popular SIGP Nitro class win

Gary Huang has taken an emotional win tonight in Xiamen, China in the 1/8th Main final. The Xray driver overcame a flameout to take a very popular win in front of a partisan crowd at the SIGP. Behind it was Merlin Depta who finished in 2nd place, one and a half laps back, the German driver leading following the Chinese driver’s flameout. Completing the podium here at the ARC International Raceway was veteran Italian racer Marco Vanni. Pole sitter Jeff Hamon had a troubled race as he lost touch with Gary Huang early on before hitting major engine troubles, the result of the Australian having set his engine too lean prior to the final. Feeling the win was retribution for not being able to travel to the Worlds last month in California due to visa problems, long time mechanic Gavin Kwok was overcome with emotion as his driver took the checkered flag. Explaining his flameout, he said he was on his in-lap when the Max engine rolled to a stop near the end of the lap. The Xray driver was running 2 laps more than everyone else but he believes it was the smaller tires that had increased consumption and caught them out. Restarted and back on track he battled his way back from 4th, pushing like crazy to take over the lead again with 15 minutes left and hold on for the rest of the race and take his first SIGP nitro win.

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November 25, 2019

MRCZ Open Invitational race – Report

The MRCZ club, one of the longest running electric racing clubs in Belgium, hosted their annual Open Invitational race last weekend. The Open Invitational started over 20 years ago mainly as a 1/12th race, but evolved to an event with a mixture of fun classes and more competitive categories over time. The event is held over two days, with three rounds of qualifying on Saturday followed by two more on Sunday and also triple finals for each category. The categories that attracted most drivers were Stock 13.5 Touring, and Stock 13.5 1/12th scale. The fun categories consisted of Fun 17.5T, GT12, Tamiya Truck and Touring FWD.

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November 25, 2019

Frederik Broløs Mikkelsen wins at DASU Nats Rd1

The opening round of the Danish DASU electric on-road nationals was held Faxe, Southern Zealand, Denmark this past weekend. In the Touring Super Stock class it was Awesomatix’s Frederik Broløs Mikkelsen with a clean sweep in the qualifiers, taking wins in all three rounds. Patrick Danielsen (Xray) came in 2nd from Casper Lund (Xray) in 3rd. The opening A-main then saw Patrick taking a narrow win by 0.3 seconds, however with wins in A2 and A3 Frederik was able to remain on the overall top spot from Patrick in 2nd and Casper in 3rd overall.

Image: Claus Ryeskov

November 23, 2019

Jeff Hamon is Nitro Top qualifier in China

With EP now over, attention turns back to Nitro, which will run through the rest of Saturday and all through Sunday. With the nitro action again taking place under flood lights it was the perfect conditions to set a fast time but drama in the fastest heat as the car of Meen Vejrak, who was on TQ pace, start to spew smoke out the rear of the bodyshell for about 2 laps before going off at the end of the straight and going on fire. A dragging battery cable seemingly the culprit but the car is completely destroyed from both the fire and the impact. This misfortune allowed Jeff Hamon to take over at the front and claim the TQ spot ahead of another Thai Maxima driver Charlee P, with top seed Kim Ki Heung in 3rd, Motor King in 4th and Meen Vejrak with his Q2 time giving him P5 for tomorrow’s 45 minute A-main. Jeff felt he had a slipping clutch throughout his run but said it stayed consistent for the entire run. Happy with a change he made to softer springs, he thinks for the final the car is easy to drive and apart from setting the clutch properly will work out strategy closer to the race time.

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November 23, 2019

Coelho & Quek are SIGP Champions

Bruno Coelho has taken the overall win in the Modified class at the 2019 SIGP in Xiamen, China. The Xray driver took his 2nd win in A2 to complete the perfect weekend and claim the SIGP title and with it the 20,000 RMB prize money. Never really challenged in the deciding second A-main, it was Akio Sobue who took the runner up spot ahead of Dominic Quek and Meen Vejrak, but in A3 it was the Thai driver that took the win, as Coelho started from the back of the grid, with Akio finishing in 2nd, the result meaning that Vejrak would finish 2nd overall with Sobue completing the podium. Asked about the deciding A2, Coelho said it was a very similar race to A1 with the time spent waiting on the grid the only reason for concern forcing the World Champion to be quite cautious on the opening lap. Once up to speed he could pull a gap to Sobue and once control the race.

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November 23, 2019

A1 in Xiamen goes to Coelho

Bruno Coelho is one step closer to winning the overall SIGP title as he cruised to victory in A1 here in Xiamen this morning. Setting off from the pole position, the World Champion was never challenged and in the end could take the victory by over 4 seconds from Akio Sobue who had a lonely race in 2nd. The action was all behind as Meen Vejrak worked his way from 5th to finish 3rd with some great passing maneuvers on Nicholas Lee and Dominic Quek. The Singapore drivers would eventually come together and both ended up with a body tuck, while Nico would hold on for 4th Quek would fall down the order as he had to stop to have it fixed, ending the race in 9th and last of the runners. ‘Everything went ok and the car was good’, was how Bruno calmly described his run. Continuing by saying that they were initially worried about the wind which had picked up but it turned out to be a non issue. Running new tires in A1, he still has 2 new sets left and is so in a very good position to take the overall win and the 20,000 rmb 1st place prize money.

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November 22, 2019

Meen Vejrak takes the opening SIGP Nitro qualifier

Meen Vejrak has taken the opening round of qualifying for 1/8th Nitro at the ARC International Raceway in Xiamen. The Maxima team driver ended the 4 minute run 1.5 seconds in front of top seed Kim Ki Heung from Korea. Behind the leading pair it was Gary Huang for Xray in 3rd, while Motor King took 4th with Matrix front man Cristian Boni completing the top 5. Vejrak commented that when he initially put his car down, the former 1/10th Nitro WC running an Infinity chassis this weekend, it had no steering but an adjustment to the rear toe-in and his car was much better. Happy to make a clean run, Meen felt that his Maxima engine was a little rich at the start but pushing it harder it meant it cleared out and he could put in a good run.

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November 22, 2019

Bruno Coelho is 2019 SIGP Top Qualifier

Taking his 3rd round of qualifying, despite a mid run mistake, Bruno Coelho has locked down the top qualifying spot here in Xiamen at the 2019 SIGP. The Xray factory driver briefly lost the lead when he rolled his car, allowing Dominic Quek to the front but once back on his wheels he set about regaining the lead to take the win and with it pole position for tomorrow’s A-main finals. Quek was just half a second back in 2nd, also running the new Xray, while an improved Meen Vejrak completed Q3 in 3rd. Akio Sobue was 4th for Infinity while Nicholas Lee was fifth. Bruno said that they made a small suspension change which worked well despite the World Champion being on 3rd run tires. Asked abut his high speed crash he said that he only just gently clipped the curb which sent his car into what seemed like a slow motion roll before stopping against the back side of a curb. He was able to continue and regain the lead and with the TQ his he will use the final qualifier to test.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.