After a long wait over the winter, the Michigan State Championship Series finally kicked off the 2013 season on April 27th at Dirt Burner’s Raceway & Hobby in Livonia, MI. The Dirt Burner’s crew provided a very fast layout within the tight indoor confines with average lap times under 16 seconds. A total of 145 entries showed up very excited to get the season started and everybody was eager to see if all the preparations done over the winter would pan out.

1/8th Scale Nitro Buggy:

The premier class was, just like at all rounds last year, the biggest class again with 44 entries. Throughout qualifying it became obvious that it would take a perfect run to make the A main. One single mistake could mean the difference between A main and C main, the field was that tight! TLR/Orion/Pro-Line sponsored Dakotah Phend showed early on how to go fast beyond believe to claim the TQ spot and he was the only person able to pull off a 21 lap run in the 5 minute qualifier.

Dakotah was able to get a clean start in the 30 minute main and started to pull away, followed by TLR sponsored Bill Bridges and Team Associated sponsored Brian Borle and the rest of the field. Due to the very high pace, it seemed like a freight train coming through every lap! After a few laps, Brian Borle managed to get past Bill Bridges while A Main Hobbies/AKA/OS Engines sponsored Scott Rapoport was climbing up through the field from 8th on the grid to 4th place, slowly sneaking up to the battle for 2nd. Unfortunately for Bill Bridges, something went wrong on lap 36, causing him to retire from the race, which helped Scott Rapoport move up to 3rd place. Dakotah Phend had a comfortable lead throughout the race, but on lap 93 he had an unexpected flame out, giving the rest of the field hope to take over the lead. However, Doug Phend quickly re-fired the engine and Dakotah was able to resume without losing the lead. With only a few minutes left on the clock, the battle for second was heating up between Brian Borle and Scott Rapoport and Scott managed to squeeze by Brian on lap 109. Brian tried to make a pass back, but ran out of time. When the 30 minutes were over, it was TLR/Orion/Pro-Line sponsored Dakotah Phend in first, A Main Hobbies/AKA/OS Engines sponsored Scott Rapoport in second and Team Associated sponsored Brian Borle in third.

Results:

1. Dakotah Phend (TLR, Orion, Pro-Line, Spektrum, Horizon Hobbies, Darkside Designs)
2. Scott Rapoport (A Main Hobbies, AKA, OS Engines, O’Donnell Racing Fuel, ProTek RC)
3. Brian Borle (Team Associated, Reedy)
4. Tony Carnes (M2C Racing, TrakPower Speed Equipment, VP PowerMaster Fuel, Futaba, Dirtburner Racing)
5. Mike Sontag (TLR, Orion, AMS Raceway)

1/8th Scale Nitro Truggy:

TLR/Orion/Pro-Line sponsored Dakotah Phend was hauling the mail with his TLR truggy during qualifying to take the TQ honors and start at the front of the grid in the main. After the start of the main, Dakotah Phend took the lead, followed by Mo Denton and Chad Shorkey. Dakotah set an extremely fast past up front and Mo tried to keep up, but slowly saw the gab between him and Dakotah grow. On lap 75, disaster struck for Mo Denton and he was forced to retire from the race and hand second place over to Shane Snyder, followed by TLR sponsored Mike Marshall. This all changed a few laps later when both Shane and Mike ran into technical issues. At the end of the race, it was TLR/Orion/Pro-Line sponsored Dakotah Phend, followed by Tony Oh Boy and Chad Shorkey.

Results:

1. Dakotah Phend (TLR, Orion, Pro-Line, Spektrum, Horizon Hobbies, Darkside Designs)
2. Tony Oh Boy
3. Chad Shorkey
4. Mike Marshall (TLR, Dirtburner Hobbies)
5. Shane Snyder

1/8th Scale Electric Buggy:

Qualifying showed Hot Bodies/Tekin/Venom sponsored Nick Vasquez set the pace early on, but in round 3 of qualifying Panther/DE Racing/Boca Bearings sponsored Kevin Morales stepped it up and took over the TQ honors.

Right after the start of the 10 minute main, Kevin Morales got hung up in the second turn, dropping him back from first to 9th. Nick Vasquez quickly took over to start setting the pace, closely followed by a freight train that was led by Paul Edwards, Tony Carnes, Ron Schwab, Scott Ullig and Edwin Hartman. The field was so evenly matched that for several laps you could throw a blanket over the top 6. Paul Edwards kept the pressure on Nick Vasquez and took over the lead on lap 4. A few laps later, Nick made a few mistakes, causing him to drop back. Up front, the battle was still on between Paul Edwards, Ron Schwab, TrakPower/Futaba/M2C sponsored Tony Carnes and Serpent/VP PowerMaster sponsored Scott Ullig. The battle for in the top 5 continued until the end of the race. Hot Bodies/Tekin/Venom sponsored Nick Vasquez did manage to recover from his mistakes early on to mix it up in the top 5 towards the end of the race. When the 10 minute race was over, it was Schumacher sponsored Paul Edwards in first, Ron Schwab in second and Hot Bodies/Tekin/Venom sponsored Nick Vasquez in third.

Results:

1. Paul Edwards (Schumacher, Twisted RC)
2. Ron Schwab
3. Nick Vasquez (HotBodies, HPI Racing, Tekin, Venom Racing, Reilly Paint, Dirt Burner Racing)
4. Tony Carnes (M2C Racing, TrakPower Speed Equipment, VP PowerMaster Fuel, Futaba, Dirtburner Racing)
5. Gary Watts

1/8th Scale Electric Truggy:

Top qualifying honors in the 1/8th Scale Electric Truggy class were taken by Ron Schwab. Ron Schwab started from pole and after a clean start he started putting in the laps to stay ahead of the field, followed by RJ Hart and Rocky Whittaker. After a few laps, Joey Genovese started to mix up the top 4 spots and places 2nd through 4th kept fighting back and forth. At the end of the race, it was Ron Schwab crossing the line in first, Rocky Whittaker in second and Joey Genovese in third.

Results:

1. Ron Schwab
2. Rocky Whittaker
3. Joey Genovese
4. Ken McDonald
5. RJ Hart

2WD Short Course:
Last year’s 2WD Short Course champion, Tekin/Panther/TrakPower sponsored Johnny LoGiudice returned to show that he is still the fastest guy in the class. Johnny managed to lay down the fastest run in qualifying to take the TQ honors.

After the start of the main, Tekin/Panther/TrakPower sponsored Johnny LoGiudice took the lead, followed by Gary Watts and TrakPower/Futaba/M2C sponsored Tony Carnes. Behind them, James Raupp was starting to make up ground and moved up to 2nd place after a few laps, closely followed by Gary Watts. Johnny LoGiudice managed to keep a small gab with the field to cruise to the finish, followed by James Raupp and Gary Watts.

Results:

1. Johnny LoGuidice (Panther, Tekin, TrakPower Speed Equipment)
2. James Raupp
3. Gary Watts
4. Tony Carnes (M2C Racing, TrakPower Speed Equipment, VP PowerMaster Fuel, Futaba, Dirtburner Racing)
5. Chad Gerow

4WD Short Course:

A Main Hobbies/AKA/OS Engines sponsored Scott Rapoport showed up with his 4WD Short Course ready for battle and managed to claim the TQ spot at the end of qualifying.

Right after the start, Scott Rapoport managed to get a clean start. Unfortunately for 2nd place qualifying Gary Watts, this was not the case and this caused him to drop back to 9th place. This helped Michael McDuffey move up to second place and Richard Bauer to 3rd place. Scott Rapoport slowly pulled away from the field, but the fight behind him was tightening up. Young Richard Bauer managed to move up to the second place, followed by Russell Chester and Michael McDuffey. Towards the end of the race, Michael McDuffey managed to get by Russell Chester to claim the 3rd spot on the podium, behind Scott Rapoport and Richard Bauer.

Results:

1. Scott Rapoport (A Main Hobbies, AKA, OS Engines, O’Donnell Racing Fuel, ProTek RC)
2. Richard Bauer
3. Michael McDuffey
4. Russell Chester
5. Gary Watts

Novice Class:

The novice class is a great stepping stone for the young up and coming racers. A great example of this are the 2012 champion, Hayden Heath, and runner up, Mike Valentine Jr, running in the adult classes this year and doing really well!

After 3 rounds of qualifying, Kody Culbert managed to claim the top qualifying honors! Right after the start in the main, Austin Weihl managed to get by Koby to take the lead, but Koby didn’t give up and made a pass back into first on lap 3, but Austin would not give up and make a pass back into first on lap 6 and would not give up the position after that. At the end of the race, Austin Weihl crossed the line in first, followed by Kody Culbert and Nick Chester.

Results:

1. Austin Weihl
2. Kody Culbert
3. Nick Chester
4. Brayden Hart
5. Jade Hoffmann

The organizers of the Michigan State Championship Series would like to thank everybody for coming out and supporting the series and helping it grow into the ultimate off-road series of Michigan. A very big thank you as well to the series sponsors: O’Donnell Racing Fuel, Duratrax Performance Tires, Pro-Line Racing, M2C Racing, Dirtburner Racing, Team Durango, TrakPower Speed Equipment, VP PowerMasters Fuel, Sumo R/C Racing Products and Advantage Racing Products. Also a big thanks to the crew at Dirt Burner’s Raceway and Hobby for providing a great facility and a very well run program!

For more race results and information about the Michigan State Championship Series, visit www.michstatechampseries.com.

The final day of the BittyDesign ASIA contest ended with a splash, as part of the prize giving water pistols were given out to everyone and huge containers of ice water available for everyone to splash around and stage a massive Songkran (Waterfight), along with a plentiful supply of beer, why drink water when you can have beer, a real celebration of a race, having witnessed countless races since the start of the NeoBuggy website this has to been one if not the best climax.

Rewind a bit and the semis in the open class saw Brit Michael Wright retire after looking very racy and a candidate for a win at least, TQ Cynthia Lye made the main but it was the SWORKz driver Charvin Thongprasert that would go onto win the superpole even as well as the 30 min final but a very big margin of two laps over Andy Try from Singapore and one of the friendliest racers we know – Cynthia Lye taking 3rd.

In the Pro class, Zac Ryan had a great semi final, whilst Charlee P, Ben Panic and Chatchai made it through to the main via the Last Chance Qualifier – an 18 car affair! Meen V had luck on his side in many ways as he broke a lower arm with a minute left, his car limped around before a marshall did the dignified thing and ended the cruelty – Meen made it though inside the top 6. The biggest casualty for the semis included P3 qualifier Robert Gustafsson and former onroad WC Kenji Osaka.

The 45 min final saw a couple of lead changes early on as Meen V, Wataru Takashiro, Hara and Witsarut R duked it out, early on Marcus Sandberg clung onto the leading drivers but issues for him saw him retire after only 23 mins, even worse luck for Thai driver Charlee P as he stopped out on track after 10 laps. Up front Atsushi Hara all of a sudden seemed to find half an extra gear and simply pulled away, Witsarut R running second at the time suffered problems an dropped back leaving Meen V and Takashiro to fight it out, memorably racing beautifully together for two laps, a coming together witnessed true sportsmanship as the 17 year old Takashiro waited for Meen’s car to be marshalled. All the while Hara at this stage had lapped P2 & P3 – he survived a moment’s scare as his car flamed out just after a pitstop, but Miura – ever the Samurai fired it up and Hara continued to dominate. A late flame out from Meen promoted TQ Takashiro to P2 and Zac Ryan finishing in P4.

An event that many will remember who were here, and one that we’d recommend quite a few to take note of how to make events more fun and enjoyable rather than strict and by the book of rules… We’d like to extend a huge thank you to our coverage partners and sponsors BittyDesign, RC Pro, Samart especially, Charlie & the PRC crew for their work and the event sponsors ProCircuit, JQ Products. ASIA Contest = FUN!

The first round of the Nitro Northern Regional Series 2013 took place this past weekend at NNRC. It was Stu Mahon who claimed the overall victory in the gas buggy class with Jon Howells taking truggy and Dave Crompton winning the E buggy. Find out more about the series here.

 On  Saturday night the organisers put together a special one off event – a ‘Thai vs. Foreign drivers’ at the BittyDesign ASIA Contest, it turned out to be a commanding show from top qualifier Wataru Takashiro who took the win 10 secs ahead of a very hard charging Atsushi Hara in third the pride of Thailand restored by Mongkolpan L driving the HB / Maxima combo, 2002 World Champion Greg Degani finished 4th infront of Kenji Osaka in 5th.

6th Robert Gustafsson, 7th Marcus Sandberg, 8th Witsarut R, 9th Chavit S, 10th Akarachai B, 11th Charlee P, 12th Meen V

The first oOple race of the summer took place at the Stotfold venue just this last weekend. The Schumacher Team were there in force and dominated the final results. The new series puts the emphasis on fun racing and there were plenty of happy faces in the pits! In 4WD Schumacher’s own Tom Cockerill took the win from Nathan Ralls and Ben Jemison with 6 out of 10 A finalists running the CAT k1. In 2WD Tom pushed the Cougar SV2 of Lloyd Storey all the way but it was Lloyd who came out on top from Tom and Nathan again. Cougar SV2′s made up half of the A final!!

4WD:

1. Tom Cockerill – CAT K1
2. Nathan Ralls
3. Ben Jemison
4. James Helliwell
5. Danny Mcgee – CAT K1
6. Matt Owen – CAT K1
7. Graham North
8. Steven Pierce – CAT K1
9. Eugene Galley – CAT K1
10. Tristram Neal – CAT K1

2WD:

1. Lloyd Storey – Cougar SV2
2. Tom Cockerill – Cougar SV2
3. Nathan Ralls
4. John Spencer – Cougar SV2
5. Greg Williams – Cougar SV2
6. Richard Ralph
7. Tristram Neal – Cougar SV2
8. James Helliwell
9. Adam Skelding
10. Ben Jemison

A great result for the team, congratulations!

Due to the final round of the Telford Model Car Club winter series on 10th March, the championships were decided by 3 points scoring rounds out of the 5 rounds completed Final Championship position…

2wd:

1. Paul Jones (275)
2. James Ambrose (274)
3. Jason Bennett (272)

4wd:

1. Tony Bishop (295)
2. Dan Holmes (282)
3. Andy Mountford (280)

Thanks to everyone who attended this season and we look forward to seeing you in the 2013/14 championships. Find out more here.

 At the weekend’s first ever ASIA Contest at Pattaya, the BittyDesign boys have taken the opportunity to launch their stylish new range of T-Shirts featuring the latest graphic designs and prints – first up is the ‘Birth of a Hero‘ tee, available in white and black with a large graphic on the front referencing the company’s birth – 1st June 2006 and grunge logos in black and pink or white, grey and pink. The second T-Shirt is called ‘Skratch‘ with stylish prints front and rear. All models are available in S-XXL sizes from BittyDesign distributors in two weeks but available now in Thailand.

See ASIA Contest coverage | www.BittyDesign.net

Chassis: HB D812
Engine: OS XZ
Tyres: HB Gridlock red
Fuel:  Cosmo Fuel
Radio & Servos: Futaba & Futaba S9353HV (Steering & Throttle)
Special Mods: D8 front end and rear arms from Apache

17 Year old Japanese sensation Wataru Takashiro announced his arrival in 1/8 buggy in true style during qualifying today at the ASIA Contest held in Pattaya, Thailand. Takashiro put in a crushing display of consistency with three TQs and two second places, even Pattaya specialist Atsushi Hara couldn’t quite get it together to rival the young Kyosho driver sitting in 2nd making it a Japanese Samurai 1,2.

Adopted Thai/Swede Robert Gustafsson in 3rd who’s spent the last 6 months in Thailand. Mugen’s Kenji Osaka is 4th ahead of top Thai driver Chavit S, 200mm WC Meen V in 6th and another Swede (they seem to find Thailand nice?!) Marcus Sandberg in P7 rocking the Mugen/Alpha combo and a bright orange body (his painter Mr D Ronnefalk, outta time!). Greg Degani qualifies 8th overall with Aussie hopes seemingly resting on ZacRyan in 9th, Witsarut R in 10th, Mongkolpan L also from Thailand in 11th and Indonesian youngster Jason Nugroho showing his maturity in 12th ahead of yet another Swede in 13th – Fredrick ‘Go Go’ Cederberg, Yael urfluh in 14th. 

DE Racing has announced the release of their new Borrego front racing wheels for the Kyosho ZX5 which is available in white, yellow, black and silver.

• DER-BB-K4B Fits Kyosho ZX-5 / Front / BLACK
• DER-BB-K4S Fits Kyosho ZX-5 / Front / SILVER
• DER-BB-K4W Fits Kyosho ZX-5 / Front / WHITE
• DER-BB-K4Y Fits Kyosho ZX-5 / Front / YELLOW

Also new DE Racing Borrego 17mm SC wheels for the Team Associated SC8 and other SC conversions using a 17mm hex. Available in White, Yellow, Silver, and Black.

See: www.DERacing.net

See more @ Saturday Qualifying Photo Gallery

Performance packaged in convention-smashing style defines FTW’s philosophy. The iconic Night Fox design has illustrated this while winning races across the globe. Xray’s XB9 2013 is the latest beneficiary. Tailored to fit the 2013 Spec’s wider chassis, the newest Night Fox features a suite of refinements that take the tradition to new heights. Sculpted sidepods and an additional 6 degrees of rake to the windshield combine for improved airflow. The rear deck height has been lowered to expose more of the engine head and integrate a spoiler while preserving the fastback profile.

Specs:

• Designed to fit Xray’s XB9 2013 Spec
• Formed from premium grade clear.040” polycarbonate sheet with clear protective outer film
• Unpainted

See: www.FTWRC.com

US based Lucky 7 are better known in their home market as an accessories company, however today they announced themselves as new entrants to the engine market with two 5 port Novarossi-made engines – the L7S5 (stock engine) and the L7T5  (tuned version). According to Lucky 7 the engines should be available very shortly, with the shipment currently en route.

See www.Lucky7RC.com

German company BSR have announced that they will be entering the ultra competitive 1/8 Buggy tyre market, with what looks like 4 initial tread patterns, rather well named after girls’ “Top Models” names – no comment just as to which ‘girl’ performs better… Quite the goldmine of material… ‘Jenny never wears out…’ etc.

“The tyres were completely developed and sketched in Germany by BSR and the team. With the practice sessions which were finished already in 2012 it was with priority about the perfect elastic mixtures for our European subsoil. After the best rubber was found and was selected, it went to this tyre profiles design of the BSR-Line where we could profit from countless years racing experience and could introduce all our knowledge in the design of the Tire-Line.  After the tyre forms and the first prototypes were with us, it was our matter to choose the best tyre insert, what we have mastered by long, detailed tests. All this to be able to offer to you the perfect tyre for the hard competition.

BSR-Line tyres are available in two elastic soft mixtures (softly and supersoftly), and they are stuck together exclusively ready, offered on white 84 mm disc rims. With the insert it concerns a black “Close-Cell” insert, with gutters in the outside and special milling grooves in the inside. At the beginning four different tyre profiles are available and a fifthly profile follows shortly.

The BSR-Line Tires experience the official premiere on this week-end at the same time with the “international warm-up” at Bischofsheim(Germany), as well as with the first run to the “Staatsmeisterschaft” in Fehring, Austria.

You find other detailed infos to every single BSR-Line of buggy tyres, as well as detailed descriptions to the profiles from the beginning of the next week here with BSR – then at that time the tyres are also orderable for everybody. In the following unites, you can see the first impressions of our new “top models” which hear on the names Betty, Conny, Jenny as well as Sandy