Red RC » R On Road

July 24, 2012

Matsukura takes 3rd consecutive World title

Team Yokomo’s Naoto Matsukura has joined a very elite group of drivers after the 18-year-old secured his third consecutive 1:12 World Championship title in the Netherlands ahead of CRC’s Andy Moore, the result going to a tie break that was decided by Matsukura’s faster Leg 1 winning race time. Winning the third & final A-Main ahead of the defending champion, Ronald Volker completed the podium at the 16th running of the IFMAR event.

View our complete event coverage here.

July 24, 2012

Leg 2 injects life into 1:12 Worlds

The 1:12 World Championships, which so far has been a rather dull affair, was given a much needed injection of excitement in the second A-Main after Andy Moore won the second A-Main ahead of CRC team-mate Marc Rheinard while Leg 1 winner Naoto Matsukura finished back in 7th. The result means that now all three drivers have a chance of being crowned the 16th World Champion of the 2WD pan car class.

View our complete event coverage here.

July 24, 2012

Matsukura dominates Leg 1 in Holland

There was no real surprise in the opening leg of the A-Main at the 1:12 World Championships as defending champion & Top Qualifier Naoto Matsukura dominated the race to take the win comfortably ahead of Andy Moore and Rick Hohwart despite the young Japanese star’s prototype Yokomo getting knocked around as he was lapping the mid pack three laps from the finish. Running wide at the first corner, an opportunity that the No.2 starting Associated of Ronald Volker failed to exploit, the 18-year quickly got into his rhythm to break clear of the pack. As if he needed it, that gap was further extended as the chasing pack tripped one another up on more than one occasion.

View our complete event coverage here.

July 24, 2012

Bill Likaris wins Greek 200mm nationals Rd2

The second round of the Greek national championship took place at the Arena Race Track. After the four qualification rounds three Shepherd drivers were placed into the A final and three into the B final. In the A final Sidiropoulos and Likaris took second and third place at the grid. After some thrilling 45 minutes the winner of the A final was Bill Likaris some three laps ahead of Sotiropoulos in second place with Christodoulou completing the podium in third place. The win brings Bill Likaris a good position for the 2012 Greek championship with Costas Sidiropoulos currently holding second place.

Source: Shepherd [team-shepherd.com]

July 24, 2012

Moore takes final ‘Rocket Round’ qualifier

Team CRC driver Andy Moore set a new outright fastest run time in this morning’s final qualifier for the 1:12 World Championships in the Netherlands, the sixth round turning out to be the ‘rocket’ round. Knocking 2-seconds off the previous fastest time held by defending World Champion Naoto Matsukura, the former European Champion ran 39 laps in 8:06.635 to top Q6 by just 6/10th ahead of Ronald Volker as 5 drivers finally broke past 38 laps runs something only Matsukura had achieved yesterday to secure him honour of being Top Qualifier for a third consecutive Worlds.

View our complete event coverage here.

July 23, 2012

Matsukura is Top Qualifier at 1:12 Worlds

Naoto Matsukura will for the third 1:12 World Championships in succession start from pole position after his rivals failed to run the magical 39-laps in the penultimate qualifier this evening in the Netherlands. With three 39-lap heats to his credit and two rounds counting towards the grid, the young Japanese star’s combined time can’t now be beaten despite one round of qualifying remaining in the morning. Like in Q4, when Rheinard was challenging Matsukura TQ pace, Q5 saw the Yokomo driver face another strong and more surprising challenge from factory Serpent driver Marc Fisher. Unfortunately for the German as the heat came up on 5-minutes his electrics overheated causing the car to shut down.

View our complete event coverage here.

July 23, 2012

Rheinard just misses 39-lap Q3 run in Holland

Marc Rheinard just missed out on becoming the only driver other than defending World Champion Naoto Matsukura to complete a 39-lap run at the 1:12 World Championships in the Netherlands when he took his Speed Passion powered prototype CRC to a 38/8:00.858 run in the third round of qualifying. While Matsukura produced his third TQ run of the day with a new fastest time and outright fastest lap, all the attention is on the battle behind him which is building up between regular Touring Car rivals Rheinard, Jilles Groskamp, Ronald Volker and Alexander Hagberg.

View our complete event coverage here.

July 23, 2012

Torsten Müller joins Team Orion

Team Orion have announced that German racer Torsten Müller has joined their racing team for the remainder of 2012 and beyond. The East Germany based 1/8 on-road racer, who is successfully competing in the South German Championship, has chosen the Team Orion CRF R21 Factory Team engine to power his Shepherd ride. Torsten had the following to say about his move:

I saw the results that Team Orion achieved with their 1/8 off-road and 1/10 scale touring engines and gave the R21 a try. The tests were successfully and I was impressed how powerful the R21 engine is and how stable it performs. I’m pretty happy with my decision to use Team Orion engines in my next races.

Source: Kyosho [kyosho.de]