Arnaud Mathieu wins French 1/8th Rd2

Last weekend saw the 2nd round of the French 1/8th scale on road nationals take place in Besançon, a track formed back in 1982. Almost 80 drivers turned up across the Elite and National classes, but unfortunately as rain was expected on both Saturday and Sunday the organisers decided to reduce practice in order to run 2 qualifiers. It turned out to be a good decision as the rain made an appearance in the afternoon. In the Elite class qualifying it was reigning champion Richard Volta that took pole position in front of local driver Romain Baehrel with Arnaud Mathieu 3rd. In the National class, first round winner Nicolas Rosado took an easy pole position in front of Stephane Bertrand and Faisal Affejee.

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Lars Hoppe wins North German season opener

The first round of the North German Championship was held at the track of Hamburg last weekend. After the winter break 37 racers in total found their way to one of Germany’s most famous cities, 21 of them racing in the 1/8th scale class. Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning some light rain showers hit the track which resulted in difficult conditions for the qualifying. According to the new rules of the German Federation everybody has to go through the semis to reach the main final. Shepherd/Novarossi driver Lars Hoppe managed to win his semi by 2 laps which secured him the pole position for the 30 minutes main in front of Jens Stark and Andreas Giesa who won the other semi. At the start of the final Hoppe could defend his lead followed by Giesa and Stark. He increased the gap slightly lap by lap but in the middle of the final Hoppe dropped back to second place having to re-adjust his engine. In the remaining minutes Hoppe showed a strong performance and managed to pass Giesa for the lead. With a gap of 4 seconds he crossed the finishing line in first position followed by the Serpent pairing of Andreas Giesa and Jens Stark.

Source: Shepherd [team-shepherd.com]

Mack & Weihert win 1/8th Rd2 in Central Germany

Last weekend the second round of the Central German 1/8th Scale Championship was held at the MSC Kirchhain track 100km north of Frankfurt. It was a good weekend for Team Shepherd as we took the double in the expert class as well as in the amateur class. Qualifying in the morning was dry, while rain showers effected the finals in the afternoon.

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Dario Balestri wins 1/8th Rd1 in Italy

The first round of the Italian 1/8th on road Nationals was held last weekend at the Cassino track in the centre of the country. Qualifying went the way of Worlds podium finisher Dario Balestri, driving his Novarossi power Capricorn, ahead of Michele Romagnoli with his Shepherd in 2nd with team mate Andrea Pirani in 3rd and Serpent driver Andrea Cristiani in 4th. With no direct qualifiers as per the new EFRA rules it was semis for the top drivers and it was Lamberto Collari that would take the pole position to line up ahead of Balestri, both drivers winning their respective semi finals. In the 30 minute final it was Dario Balestri that would come out on top, with the qualifying result being reflected in the final standings as Michel Romagnoli was 2nd, 1 lap down, and Andrea Pirani in 3rd a further 3 laps back.

Source: Capricorn [capricornrc.com]

Sean Lue claims Florida State Series 1/8th title

Sean Lue has taken the coveted title of Florida State Series 1/8th On Road Champion.  This year was especially competitive due to the 2011 World Championship held in Florida. Manufacturers sent some of their top drivers from around the world for testing to some of the Florida series races, which made the level of competition extremely high at some of the series races. Sean Lue had this to say about his Championship.

This was a good season with a lot of competition. There were a lot of top level drivers from around the world competing in some of the series races this year. It was not an easy victory. I would like to thank my sponsors. Murnan Modified Motors first and foremost, my engines performed brilliantly all season long. I would also like to thank Powermaster fuel. The fuel is giving me more power, and longer runtimes than any other fuel I have ever tested.

Source: Murnan Modified [murnanmodified.com]