April 28, 2017

Tessmann opens Philippine Masters with TQ Truggy run

Ty Tessmann has opened the 7th running of the Philippine Masters with a TQ run, the Xray driver topping the first of the five qualifiers from Kyle McBride. The biggest edition of the Manila based event with drivers from 14 countries making up the record 140 entries,  Tessmann would run 10-laps on the CV Offroad Track to outpace the Team Associated of McBride by 4 and a half seconds with the race’s most experienced international competitor, Adam Drake completing the Top 3.

On his first trip to the Masters, Tessmann was pleased to open with a TQ run, but commented that his truck’s oils were too soft for the 40 degree temperatures that greeted the drivers in today’s opening qualifier.  Getting his first taste of the track in the morning practice, he said his Pro-Line Electro Shot equipped XT9 was ok then but now ‘it’s just so hot here’.  Suffering ‘a little traffic issue’ which he was ‘not too upset about’, the Canadian described the track as ‘challenging but fun’ and with 1-hour Mains he said ‘that’s going to be tough on this track, especially in truck.

‘A pretty good run’ was how McBride summed up Q1.  The Australian, who was another of the international drivers to get his first lap of the track this morning, continued, ‘my truggy is pretty good but I could do with a little more corner speed’.  Suffering ‘one run-in with a back marker’, he plans to go up in shock oil for Q2 to give his RC8T ‘more support’ while he is also considering going down in diff oils. Describing the track layout as ‘really fun’ with the ‘jumps built nicely’ making it ‘flow well’, he said having tried different tyre options in practice he ran Pro-Line X2 Blockades and he was happy with that choice.

On his 3rd visit to the Philippine Masters, a race he said has provided a great opportunity for him to interact with customers from around Asia, Drake summed up Q1 with, ‘it was ok’.  The Mugen driver, ‘I got on the brakes too hard on a bump and blew out’ adding ‘everything is too soft for how hot it is’. He continued, ‘with limited practice I have got stuff I still need to figure out. I need to stiffen up the truck because now the track is clean were as in practice it was dusty. The grip is really good now’.

Another on his first visit to the country, Atsushi Hara would set the fourth fastest time.  Running all HB Racing this weekend, saying, ‘I don’t remember the last time I raced a Hot Bodies truggy’, he summed up the run with, ‘the pace is not too bad and the car is ok’. One of the first of the international drivers to arrive for the race giving him the advantage of extra practice in the days leading up to the event, he said, ‘I had one stupid crash at the beginning (of the heat) by myself and then on the last lap the front drive broke which cost me a position’.  Running Electro Shots but having run Blockades in practice he said he will switch to the latter for Q2.

Completing the Top 5 would be Aaron Stringer.  The Australian who ran a full day of testing yesterday described his opening heat as ‘pretty shit’.  Running in the second fastest heat, the Mugen driver said ‘I crashed 5-times with back markers in the first three laps’.  Describing his MBX7 as ‘good for the heat’, that was reflected in him posting the fastest lap of Q1.  With the heats being reseeded after each round this will put Stringer in the top heat and planning to leave his car unchanged he will be hoping for a ‘better run’.

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April 28, 2017

Chassis Focus – David Ronnefalk

Chassis – HB Racing D817
Engine – Team Orion CRF Factory RS V3 WC
Tyres – JConcepts Detox R2 Compound
Fuel – Runner Time Top 25
Radio/Servos – Sanwa/ Highest D1000
Body – JConcepts Silencer
Remarks – The current IFMAR 1:8th World Champion, David Ronnefalk, is making his first appearance at the Philippine Masters and has displayed very enthusiastic emotions about being here and racing in Asia. The WC is running a basic version of the D817 with the addition of hard arms and carbon fibre stiffener inserts to give him the feel and response that he needs on this sugar/molasses coated track. With the temperatures near 32C, Ronnefalk has gone up in shock oil and diff oil to adjust for the hotter climates here in Manila.

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April 27, 2017

Track Focus – CV Offroad Track

The Philippines is not a country that springs to mind when one thinks of 1:8 Offroad racing but this weekend it will welcome some of the sport’s biggest names as they travel to Manila to complete in the Philippine Masters.  Now in its seventh year, the event has slowly grown each year but 2017 is certainly a year that should put it on the international calendar with the entry boasting 3 World Champions including the reigning champion David Ronnefalk.  First organised in 2011 by Dogbone RC, the country’s Mugen & Serpent distributor, the race moved to the current CV Offroad Track in 2014 where it started to enjoy an increasing profile.  With the Quezon City RC Car Club bringing in Scotty Ernst as an announcer for their first year of hosting the race, aiming to get international attention from such a move, things have just grown ever since.  With 2015 marking the first year of US star Adam Drake and Aussie Kyle McBride competing, this year they are joined by Ronnefalk, Ty Tessmann, Atsushi Hara, Richard Saxton with even HB Racing designer Torrance Deguzman coming out of international retirement to race.  Such a strong entry marks out the Philippine Masters as Asia’s main annual buggy event, a fact QCRCCC, which this year celebrates its 20th year since founding are proud of and keen to develop further.

Such is the international scale of this year’s Masters, when one of the local racers who is an airline pilot approached Philippine Airlines to support the event, the country’s flag carrier had no hesitation in coming onboard as one the race’s main sponsors.  Attracting drivers from 14 countries, one of the big selling points of the Philippine Masters is that in addition to taking part in the race, drivers have the opportunity to enjoy the country’s tourism.  This is something Ronnefalk will do after the race when he travels to Palawan for a few days which has been named as the best island in the world by a number of travel magazines.

As a facility, the track and pits cover an area of 2,500 square meters.  Built in 2009, in preparation for its ever increasing Master’s entry it has had its pit area more than doubled in size this year. Originally built more as a 1:10 Offroad track, it has evolved in to a 1:8 layout with club races attracting around 30 entries.  In terms of key events apart from the Masters, the track is the location for the Philippine Nationals which is a multi round championship with all races held at CV Offroad Track. One of the country’s top racers, Edward Sio was responsible for this year’s Masters layout. One key feature of the track surface is the use of molasses to bind the dirt and reduce the dust with a built in watering system also helping to maintain the surface.

With the race marking his first visit to the Philippines, Ronnefalk said , ‘the facility is great and the people here are super friendly.  I really enjoy coming to Asia now to race and it is becoming an important market’.  In terms of the track, the HB Racing driver said, ‘the layout is cool.  It is pretty challenging on the left side but overall it’s not difficult to learn’. Asked his favourite feature, he said, ‘I like the roller double into the left side of the track because its a place you can make up a lot of time or lose a lot’.  He added, ‘It is small compared to European tracks but its still fast and has high grip so I think it will make for good racing’.

Also on his first trip to the country, being one of the first drivers to arrive and admitting the venue far exceeded his expectations, Hara said, ‘overall its a really nice layout with a good balance and high grip.  It is not too difficult but the left side jumps combination is challenging’.  With 1:8 nitro, eBuggy and Truggy making up the race schedule, the Japanese driver feels the track may be ‘a little too tight for truggy’.

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October 9, 2016

Ronnefalk hits jackpot to become World Champion in Vegas

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David Ronnefalk is the new 1:8 Offroad World Champion, the Swede finally delivering on the promise he has shown ever since being crowned European B Champion in 2009.  Starting from 3rd on the grid, the HB Racing driver would win the 1-hour encounter in convincing style once he got passed pole sitter & defending champion Ty Tessmann, his HB Racing team-mate eventually finishing up third.  Making it a European 1-2 in the American’s own backyard, 2012 World champion Robert Batlle would take the runner-up spot recovering from some big early mistakes.  With Ronnefalk claiming the sport’s greatest prize, RC Tracks of Las Vegas would put the spotlight on his replacement as nitro offroad’s next star of the future as David Ongaro, despite his age, mixed it with the biggest names in RC with ease and confidence.  A back pressure pipe would deny him from finishing his first Worlds final as Vice Champion leaving the Italian 6th behind Ryan Cavalieri.  With many feeling the first running of a Worlds final under floodlights would favour the American drivers, it would be Top Qualifier Jared Tebo who would be the best US finisher taking fourth 2.2-seconds up on Cavalieri.

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A driver who has never lacked the belief that he would one day be World Champion, his preparations for the 16th running of the Worlds well highlighted on his Facebook page, Ronnefalk said, ‘This has been my goal since starting racing’.  He continued, ‘ever since I teamed up with Adrien (Bertin) I have had a super good relationship and we won this together.  I want to thank my family, my girlfriend and all the racers back in Sweden for being super supportive and letting me do what I love’.  On the race he said, ‘From the start I had a good race.  When Cavalieri flamed out I had a big enough gap to Ty which meant I had less pressure on how I could take the first few jumps. Ongaro also showed good patience behind me’.   He continued, ‘I have no idea how long I was behind Ty but my goal for the race was to makes as few mistakes as possible.  In the Semi I was just trying to survive out there so I knew I had more speed but after I got the lead others started making mistakes behind me and I pulled away slightly every lap. I think my biggest gap was 28-seconds.  With 2 stops left I knew everyone’s tyres would go off so I could control the race although I had a couple of mistake coming home’.  One of those mistakes was at the end of the last lap, it stopping Bertin in his tracks as he prepared to celebrate his protege’s win, with the 20-year-old saying ‘on the last lap my mind was somewhere else’.  With his goal reached Ronnefalk said his new goal is the electric offroad Worlds which run next year.  A podium finisher at the last 1:10 Worlds in Japan, he said, ‘now our attention will be on developing two cars for the Worlds next year in China and I will do a lot of practice at my own track where he will host a race in 2-weeks time.

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‘From hospital to 2nd, I’m super happy’, was Batlle’s reaction to coming from 8th on the grid to finish runner-up after a late battle with Tessmann.  The Spaniard, who on arriving in the US for the event ended up in hospital with painful kidney stones, added, ‘Given how the week started if you had told me on Tuesday I could have second I would have said OK’.  On his race the Mugen driver said, ‘my car was loose at the beginning and I had 2 or 3 big mistakes that lost me a lot of time, but the car improved and was then very good letting me get into some huge battles.  I’m super happy with how the race turned out but David deserved the win for sure.  I’m I happy to have a World and now a Vice World Champion trophy.’

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Summing up his race Tessmann said, ‘It started good and the tyres were really good at the start but the last 3/4 of the race they got worse & worse’.  Running Pro-Line Fugitive Lights on his OS powered D815V2, the Canadian continued, ‘In the Semi practice I ran them and they faded but that was in the day and I thought at night they wouldn’t’.   Losing out on making it a HB Racing 1-2 by just 2.2-seconds, he said, ‘David drove great and everything worked good for him. Well done to him on the win.  We’ll try again in 2018’.

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‘I go screwed from start’ was how a less than happy Cavalieri summed up his race after finishing 5th.  Having for a few moments held pole for the final but then lost his win for contact with Tessmann on the final corner of that 30-minute encounter as the battled for the win, he continued, ‘starting from pit lane irritated me and I drove bad’.  With his RC8 flaming out as the cars waited to be placed down causing the start to be aborted some confusion followed over him retaking his P2 starting position with it soon clarified he must start from pitlane. Having been on the podium at the previous Worlds, he said, ‘I tried to recover but couldn’t put it together.  It wasn’t my day which sucks’.

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‘Happy’ with his sixth but adding ‘second would have been better’, Ongaro said nerves led to a couple of early mistakes.  With his MBX7R getting better as the race progressed he was able to recover the lost time and get up to second.  With the race producing a number of intense battles for the podium places at various stages over the 60-minutes, the fuel pressure pipe coming off would ruin his spectacular showing.  Having to nurse the engine for a lap & a half to get to his next scheduled stop, that stop would be lengthy as they refitted the tubing, with a crash on the entry to the pits compounding the lost time’.  Behind Ongaro, Renaud Savoya would be the best of the TLR drivers finishing ahead of team-mate Ryan Maifield, who for a time looked on target for at least a podium. Despite how rough the track was to become for the finals, all 12 cars would go the full distance with the order completed by ninth place Ryan Lutz, Elliott Boots, Dakotah Phend and Kyle McBride.

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