April 25, 2026

Chassis Focus – Ken NG (Sparko)

Chassis – Sparko F8T
Engine – Picco DIX
Fuel – VP Racing
Tyres – Jetko J1 Ultra Soft
Radio – Futaba 10PXR
Servos – Savox SB3292SG (Steering) / SB3292SG (Throttle)
Body – Sparko Kit Body

Notes
A key figure in the development of the LAP Paradise RC Raceway into the impressive facility being enjoyed by racers from around the world this weekend, ABC Malaysia marks Ken’s first time ever racing Truggy.  Normally running Kyosho in buggy, the opportunity came up for him to race Sparko’s truggy for his debut and he has acquitted himself well winning the final qualifier to secure second on the A-Main grid.

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April 25, 2026

Iivonen holds off Nguyen to win eBuggy A1 at ABC Malaysia

There was an exciting finish to the opening A-Main of eBuggy at the Asian Buggy Championships in Malaysia as Mayako’s Pekko Iivonen held off a recovery charge from the Kyosho of Top Qualifier Phi-Long Nguyen.  The 8-minute encounter, A2 & 3 on tomorrow’s race program at LAP Paradise RC Raceway, saw Nguyen and Nitro Buggy Top Qualifier Iivonen quickly pull clear of the field.  Looking to be holding station, as the race hit mid distance a mistake from the American teenager would see the order switch.  Charging to close down the Finn, traffic would delay his attack, but setting the fastest lap of the race on his penultimate lap he looked poised to challenge for the lead on the final lap.  In the final quarter of the lap, Nguyen would set-up a pass over the double into the downhill section but landing partly on the leader his buggy ended up on its roof allowing a very relieved Iivonen to take his Cayote powered MX8E-26MPC to the win – the 23-year-old punching the air as he crossed the finish line.  Nguyen would cross the line 3.2 seconds back in 2nd with Sworkz’s Caleb Noble coming through from 5th on the grid to finish 3rd ahead of Jared Ment and third place qualifier Jayden Edmunds.

April 25, 2026

Chassis Focus – Pekko Iivonen (Mayako eBuggy)

Chassis – Mayako MX8E-26MPC
ESC – Cayote Crest 8 EVO
Motor  – Cayote 1900kv
Battery – Cayote 5500mah
Tyres – Jetko J1 Ultra Soft
Radio – Sanwa M17
Servo – Savox SB3290SG
Body – Mayako

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April 24, 2026

First big TQ for Iivonen at ABC Malaysia

Mayako’s Pekko Iivonen is the Top Qualifier at the second round of the Asian Buggy Championship, the Finn taking the final round of qualifying to win the shot out with Kyosho’s Phi-Long Nguyen and Sworkz’s Caleb Noble.  The battle for pole between the drivers from three different continents was set as they each posted a TQ run over the opening qualifiers but laying down the fastest time to take the fourth round it was Iivonen who claimed his first major international TQ honours.  His third appearance in the Team Cayote/VP-Pro backed Championship, the Finn drove a near perfect final qualifier in a close battle with ABC debutant Nguyen until on the last lap.  With Iivonen running just behind him on track, the teenager made a mistake that sealed the deal for Iivonen.  The American will line-up P2 for the 45-minute final with ABC race winners Noble and Jayden Edmunds starting 3rd and 4th respectively.  Nguyen would get the better of Iivonen in eBuggy taking the final round in the fastest time to become the Top Qualifier on tie-break, both drivers having two TQ runs each.  In Nitro Truggy, with Noble having already secured pole position in Q3, Ken NG would take the final round and his Sparko Truggy will line-up second on the track which he has been a key figure in developing into an impressive facility.

Reacting to his first big international race TQ, Iivonen said, ‘I sam pretty happy with that.  I really got to battle it out with Phi.  It was super tight until the last lap when Phi made a mistake, it was super tight before that and I kept the pressure on him and got the best out of it.  He added, I am really happy with the car and the pace and it will be good for the final.’  Asked about run time for the final, the 23-year-old replied, ‘Actually I haven’t checked it but I think it should be fine to do 7:30 if not we need to do 6:3o but I think it will still be fine.  I think the biggest challenge will be if you are on your roof and need a marshal it going to be done already.  I think tyres are also fine so the bigger issue is that if you make a mistake and need a marshal, a clean race and there is a good chance to win.  Overall the Top 3 is very close so the winner will be the one who makes the least mistakes.’

I tried pushing it but Pekko had already caught up, his car was good in the fast 180s (degree corners).  My car good all round but we just got to do a little more tuning and drive better.’  The 15-year-old up & coming star of 1:8 Offroad said they hope to find last little bit in the set-up in this evening’s free practice, a weather front that was expected to curtail today’s action thankfully getting side track en route to the track.  Aside from fine tuning his set-up to try diminish Iivonen’s set-up advantage, the FEMCA Champion said his only other concern is compound choice for the final but he won’t make a call until Sunday as rain showers are set to hit the track plus all the lower finals will be run on it too.

Asked about his final nitro buggy effort, Noble said, ‘It was OK, I just made a couple of mistakes.  I was pushing a little hard as I figured the only way it was going to make a difference was if I won so I just went out there and drove as hard as I could really.’  Happy with car at the end of qualifying, asked his thoughts for the final, the Top 10 going directly to the main and 5 bumping up for a 15 car grid, he added, ‘I just wanted to see and find the limit of what made it unstable and what not and learn from it. For sure I can back it down and be consistent and drive the laps out and hopefully that will work out well.’  On race strategy for the final, the 19-year like his rivals doesn’t believe this will be a deciding factor explaining, ‘My run time I am getting towards 9-minutes so run time is fine and tyre wear is not too aggressive so I think we will be fine.  I think its just pick the right tyre and lets go racing pretty much.’  Agreeing with Iivonen on the marshals, these like most races in Asia provided my the organisers, he said, ‘the marshals are very harsh on you to put it nicely if you make a mistake.  The key will be no mistakes for the main for sure.’

April 24, 2026

Nguyen & Iivonen add TQ runs at Asian Buggy Championships

With three rounds of qualifying in the books at the Asian Buggy Championships, the LAP Paradise RC Raceway in Malaysia has given us different TQ runs from three different drivers representing 3 different manufacturers, Kyosho’s Phi-Long Nguyen topping Q2 and Mayako’s Pekko Iivonen delivering in Q3.  With Sworkz’s Caleb Noble opening nitro buggy qualifying with the fastest time, the stage is now set for an exciting fourth & final qualifier with all three drivers in the hunt for the overall TQ honours.  After a mistake in Q1, Top Seed Nguyen made amends with a cleaner run to take a close TQ ahead of Iivonen and Noble, the three covered by just over a second.  In Q3 it was Iivonen’s turn to execute a clean 5-minute run and he took the round by a significant 4.2-second margin over his Australian and American rivals who both had mistakes resulting in costly seconds lost.  In eBuggy, Iivonen would make it back to back TQ run in Q3, while in Nitro Truggy, ABC New Zealand winner Noble locked in the overall TQ with a third consecutive TQ run allowing him to sit out Q4 and focus solely on buggy.

Reacting to his TQ run, Iivonen said, ‘Q3 was a clean, I just had some traffic midway through and at the end but otherwise it was a super clean run for me and consistent.’  On his buggy, Mayako’s star factory driver said, ‘the car felt good but I think the grip went slightly down compared to the hotter weather in Q2 but the car handled very well after the changes we made’.  Asked about the changes the 23-year-old replied, ‘I just changed my rear link height slightly, that was the only change but on this track you can feel a small change for sure.’   On his Q2 performance he said, ‘the pace was super good and I was matching Phi but then at the end I had as couple of wobbly laps and dropped down slightly but it was super tight so not to bad.’  Looking to deciding final qualifier the Finn said, ‘I think we are going change a bit and try to make the car a little bit more flat around the track and I think if we can do that it will be super nice.’

Asked about his Round 2 & 3 performances, reigning FEMCA Champion Nguyen said ‘Q2 was fine. It was a clean run I think’. On Q3, the teenager summed up that run with, ‘I crashed. I guess I am too aggressive.’ Changing the ride height for the run, his dad explained that it was now maybe a little bit too low and negatively effecting how the car lands so they will revert back to their previous ride height setting. Asked his approach for the final qualifier, the threat of rain on the horizon, he said, ‘Hopefully it doesn’t rain but I guess this round I am going to try to be calmer and just take it easy. The track is very consistent although it might change now due to the weather.’ Making his debut in the Team Cayote/VP-Pro back Asian Buggy Championships this weekend rocking the colours of the last Kyosho World Champion Cody King asking about the distinctive colours he dad explained that as King was the last American driver to win the World title as well as the last Kyosho winner, and the fact the like the colours, they asked the 2010 World Champion for permission to run his paint job in the home it might also bring them luck in this World Championship year.

Summing up his Q2 after topping the first round, Noble said, ‘the car was good but I ran a pretty smoked set of tyres, still it was a solid run and there was only 1-second covering the Top 3 so I’m happy with that.’  Putting on a brand new set of JConcepts Dirtweb 2 tyres for Q3, the 19-year-old said this meant he ‘was a little slow early in the run’ adding ‘but I am happy with the way I drove and we should be good for Q4 with the tyres broken in.’  He will use eBuggy to run another set of tyres and plans to not run truck to give himself more time having already TQ’d three rounds to lock in pole for the final.

April 24, 2026

Noble TQ’s opening qualifier at ABC Malaysia

Sworkz’s Caleb Noble has TQ’d the opening round of qualifying at the second round of the Asian Buggy Championships in Malaysia.  The Australian set the pace in the first of the four scheduled Nitro Buggy qualifiers at LAP Paradise RC Raceway by just over a second from Mayako’s Pekko Iivonen.  Having topped yesterday’s seeding, Kyosho’s Phi-Long Nguyen would suffer two mistakes on his opening effort, the second of which cost him over 6-seconds.  While setting the fastest lap the American wouldn’t recover the loss and finished P3 almost 5-seconds back on Noble.  Australian Jared Ment at the wheel of a Team Associated would set the fourth fastest time followed by the Sworkz of Adrian Wicaksono.  Having dominated the Team Cayote/VP-Pro backed ABC season opener in New Zealand, Noble would do the double in the nitro classes this morning also TQ’ing Truggy ahead of Jayden Edmunds while a clean run in eBuggy saw Nguyen top the times ahead of Iivonen and Edmunds.

Asked about his strong start to qualifier, Noble responded, ‘eBuggy not so much but yeah Nitro Buggy and Truggy was a very good start.’  On his Nitro Buggy run, the 19-year-old said, ‘I knew Phi was fast, I knew he was probably faster than me.  He started behind me so he had a bit of a game plan advantage I guess.  I could see he was coming but then he made a mistake and I was back in front and then he made another one thankfully because he probably would have got back by me but my car was really good but he nitro buggy has been really good to drive, I just freshened the shock & diff oil last night and it was really good.’  Seeding P3 yesterday saying at the time he was saving his clay compound JConcepts Dirtweb 2 tyres for qualifying, he said he ran the clays on his eBuggy for Q1 and ‘probably shouldn’t have’ so he opted to stick with blue compound for nitro.  He will use clay again in eBuggy for Q2 to decide if they are now the right call for nitro, the day warming up here nicely now in Johor Bahru.  In terms of set-up changes he said, ‘I am going to say no for now, the car is really good to drive, it’s super easy to drive.  It is definitely a mains car.  I can just drive it around with no mistakes and that’s what i need to do.’

Giving his reaction after the first qualifier Iivonen said, ‘I had to go out with a new set of tyre so for sure it was slower but I picked up the pace at the end but couldn’t catch Caleb anymore.  I had a slight bobble on the second last lap, I haven’t checked the lap times yet, but probably would have been closer without that.  A bit unfortunate but I think the pace is there and the car was working well and we already have some changes in mind to do for the next one so it will be quite good.’  Asked about his tyres, the Finn explained, ‘I scrubbed them in a bit but they need to be worn down slightly more, they were more slippery at the start of the run but then they picked up the pace.’  Using Jetko tyres on his Mayako, based off local advice and having tested them against other brands,  in relation to tyre wear and usage he said, ‘they last quite long so probably like one set for qualifying in both classes.  And after doing Q1 they should be better for the next one.’

‘I just made one big mistake’, was Nguyen reaction after Q1.  The American explained, ‘I turned into a wet spot a little too aggressive I guess and then just spun into the pipe and it was like a 6-second mistake.  I just got to keep it clean the next round.’  On the performance of his Ielasi Tuned powered MP11 this morning, he said, ‘I need to make it a little bit more aggressive because now it’s safe out there.’  Asked what he was thinking of changing to achieve this for Q2, the 15-year-old replied, ‘I’ll ask my dad’ before concluding ‘if I just keep it clean I’ll be fast.’