Ryan Lutz clean sweep at 2018 SIGP

Ryan Lutz has taken an expected win in the 1/8th nitro buggy class in Xiamen China, but he didn’t have it all his own way. Looking at the results one would think the race was a procession but at various stages of the 1 hour main there was plenty of excitement at the front of the field. Yusuke Suguira looked to have the faster car throughout the race, especially in the early part, but too many mistakes meant he couldn’t capitalise, while in their own league, behind the leading pair Kaja Novotny took home 3rd after a long and exciting battle with Wataru Takashiro who ended up just off the podium in 4th.

While Yusuke would crash early and drop to 4th, such was his pace that he got back up to 2nd and after a quicker pit stop was right on the tail of Lutz, the American when asked about it saying ‘I was worried before the first stop, but then I saw that Yusuke had to make an extra stop’. Knowing he had more pace he didn’t want to push, commenting that ‘slow and steady till the last lap’, the Tekno driver pushing hard to put a lap on Sugiura in the closing stages. Feeling his car was again too soft, despite this he made very little mistakes which brought him the win and with it the cash prize of RMB20,000 (US$3,160).

Starting with a blistering pace and pushing hard to not let Lutz dominate completely, Yusuke kept him honest in the first 10 minutes, repeatedly catching up only to lose time in a crash or spin each time. Feeling his car was a little nervous, without the crashes he believes he could have brought the battle to Ryan, this the Japanese driver’s only 2nd one hour final and his first time racing 1/8th outside of Japan, ending by saying it was ‘good experience for me for the Worlds’.

In what was to be a race long battle, in the second half of the main final Kaja Novotny and Wataru Takashiro really started going at it, trading positions in the pits and on the track. It wasn’t until the 46th minute that the Czech driver finally made the position stick as Wataru started to struggle badly with his car. ‘I’m happy I finished my first one hour final’ the Xray driver continuing ‘after 1st practice I didn’t even think I would make the main’. Wanting to thank his pit man Gavin Kwok for all his work this weekend, the Xray driver said that his JConcepts tires came good in the 2nd half of the race which made his car less edgy, this allowed him to move up to 3rd, having been quite a bit back on Wataru at the 40 minute mark.

Feeling he had a diff problem as well as an issue with his shocks overheating, Takashiro noted that traction was higher than yesterday and so made his diffs stiffer but it turned out to be the wrong decision, the Kyosho driver struggling to keep the car on track by the end. Saying ‘this race was not good for me but I know what to do to make it better’, ultimately it was a series of crashes in the S section that let Kaja past and pull out close to a 2 lap advantage at the finish.

Completing the top 5 was young Jonathan Yeung from Hong Kong, the Tekno driver putting in a steady and mature drive, despite flaming out due to being on his roof too long just before a scheduled stop. Recomposing himself he got his head down and put in the laps in what was a mostly solitary race. Two laps back, Taiwanese National Champion Chen Guanxian took 6th with Jade Lim from Malaysia a further 2 laps back in 7th. Zhan Wei, Scott Yang and Jeon Hanyoung from Korea completed the order.

View complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

Chassis Focus – Ryan Lutz GP

Chassis – Tekno NB48.4
Engine – Blok 21aM
Tyres – AKA
Fuel – Byron
Radio/Servos – Futaba 7PX / Futaba S9373 SV
Body – Tekno
Remarks – Top qualifier in nitro, Ryan was able to use his 10 minute TQ practice before the A-main to test a number of minor changes. Seeing that the track is getting slick and dusty, he is inching more towards what he normally runs in the US.

Image gallery

Nitro Main-Final grid decided

The final grid for the 1 hour SIGP Nitro A-main has been decided following both Semi Finals in Xiamen this afternoon. The first semi to get underway would see a fairly straight forward race for the top two on the grid, Takashiro Wataru and Chen Guanxian, the former taking the win by 5 seconds in what was the slower of the two semis meaning the Japanese Kyosho driver will line up 4th on the grid with Agama driver Chen on 5th. S-Workz boss Scotty Yang would be the biggest mover in the race, quickly moving up to 3rd, where he would stay to book his place in the main show with the final bump up spot from the first semi and 10th on the grid going to Zhan Wei.

In the second and quicker of the two semi finals, Yusuke Suguira was the clear winner, crossing the line almost 27 seconds clear of second placed Kaja Novotny and will start the main final in 2nd behind pole sitter and direct qualifier Ryan Lutz. Hong Kong Tekno driver Jonathan Yeung put in a steady final to claim 3rd and will take his place on the grid in 6th. The final guaranteed bump up was set to go to Jade Lim, but an official protest against him from the Korean team for cutting the track meant he had 10 seconds added to his time, and so while he still qualified due to his faster time it was Jeon Hanyoung from Korea that took 4th.

View complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

Nitro Buggy Top 3 reversed as Takashiro takes Q3

In round 2 of Nitro Buggy qualifying the top 3 drivers remained the same, however the order was reversed with Kyosho driver Wataru Takashiro taking the round but remains in 3rd overall with a time that is still 14 seconds off TQ Ryan Lutz. Japanese team mate Yusuke Sugiura was second, just 1 second back with Lutz having a difficult start to his qualifier with a number of mistakes dropping him way back. Zhan Wei would take 4th while Kaja Novotny finally starting to come to terms with the low grip surface to round out the top 5.

‘My fastest lap was slower but safe’ was Wataru’s reaction to taking the round. Switching to a bigger pin tire to handle the dust better, it made the car easier to drive but was not faster. Not wanting to switch tire he will instead work on the car’s setup and cut out the mistakes, having made only one big mistake this round. While fastest this round, with the best time counting from the 3 qualifiers, Wataru sits 3rd with one round left to be run this afternoon.

Yusuke Sugiura ended up 2nd for the round and stays in 2nd overall but said he was a little disappointed with his run as his car was feeling better but had two large mistakes on one lap which lost him a lot of time. The first mistake was due to a marshal blocking his view of a crashed car while the 2nd also involved a marshal. Feeling the car is much better now, backed up by him setting his fastest lap, his plan now is only minor tweaks to the car and to cut out the small mistakes.

Having a bad start to the qualifier, Ryan Lutz losing 18 seconds on the first 2 laps of the run, the first of which was caused by a mistake in the middle S section was he was trying a harder compound and a different pattern which pushed more than he expected. Once going again the American was able to get his head down and go about catching the drivers ahead of him, laying down his best lap of the weekend so far with a 33.668. Lutz still heads the qualifying standings with his Q1 time.

Chinese Kyosho driver Zhan Wei went one better this run to take 4th, and keeping out the mistakes shaved 10 seconds off his best time. Admitting that he is not a setup guy, with two good results on the board now, he doesn’t plan to make any changes to the car itself but does plan to try a harder compound James tire with a view to the 1 hour final tomorrow.

Finally starting to come to terms with the low grip track, having raced exclusively on carpet tracks all winter, Kaja Novotny says he is now missing the practice with was rained out earlier in the week but admits it is getting better. His first outdoor race with new sponsor JConcepts, the Czech teenager is still working on finding the best tire for the conditions, currently using JC Detox in green compound.

View complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.