March 4, 2023

Coelho secures 4WD TQ, Zalewski holds 2WD TQ with one to go

With four of the five rounds of Offroad qualifying complete at MIBO International, Bruno Coelho has secured the 4WD while young Polish talent Bartosz Zalewski holds the provisional TQ in 2WD.  Capping off Day 2’s action at the Michal Bok organised race with his third 4WD run of the day, Coelho put the TQ beyond his rivals’ reach.  The only other driver to top the times today when he took Q2, Zalewski also has two P2 runs to his credit to split his two senior Xray team-mates.  With a pair of second fastest times leaving Martin Bayer third and mathematically in with a chance of bumping himself one spot up the grid in tomorrow morning’s fifth & final qualifying.  Overnight Max Gotzl is holding fourth in 4WD ahead of Sweden’s Jessica Palsson and veteran racer Hupo Honigl.

In 2WD, Zalewski was the only driver to hit the top of the timing screens twice over the day.  Having taken Q1 Coelho’s 2WD endeavours went downhill from there including a DNF in Q4.  The other TQ performance came from Hungarian driver Zsolt Bajusz as the youngster collected 100 points for Q3.  16-year-old Zalewski can only be denied becoming Top Qualifier in Hrotovice by Bajusz or Coelho but with the fastest 5-minute time his rival are really going to need to put together a rather special run in the morning.  The 2WD Euro Buggy Masters Champion Palsson holds P3 overnight equal on points with Gotzl while Coelho lies 5th looking to shed a 6th from Q3.

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March 4, 2023

Coelho doubles Q1, Zalewski doubles Q2

There were double TQ runs in each of the opening two rounds of Offroad Qualifying at the MIBO International, Q1 being ruled by Bruno Coelho, and Bartosz Zalewski making his mark in Q2.  Opening the action with 2WD, top seed Coelho took a very convincing TQ run from Xray team-mates Martin Bayer and Max Gotzl before topping the 4WD times from Zalewski for the perfect start to qualifying.  Retiring from Q1 in 2WD, Zalewski made amends second time round capitalising on many mistakes from Coelho to secure the TQ.  With his confidence running high, the Polish driver then added a 4WD TQ run again taking advantage of mistakes by Coelho who finished well down the order, as Bayer claimed P2 ahead of Gotzl.

Summing up the opening round Coelho said both cars were very good and everything went as expected.  For Round 2 however he decided to ‘try something totally different in the geometry’ and which wasn’t good and with the car difficult to drive this lead to many mistakes.  Leaving his 4WD unchanged for Q2 he said his result was simple down to his driving which he described with a smile as ‘mucking around’.  Planning to go back to the previous set-up on his 2WD and just make some small adjustments to that, he said with his 4WD he just needs to drive it better.

Describing both cars as ‘perfect’, Zalewski was quick to put his 2WD DNF behind him and said despite having to start Q2 9th he had a clean track and put together a nice run that was enough to top the round.  The No.2 seed in 4WD, he said Q1 was a good run ‘but Bruno was faster’.  With his XB4 ‘stable & fast’, he said it was nice to go one better in Q2 and the only thing he needs to work on for the rest of today’s qualifying is to drive them well.

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March 4, 2023

Coelho leads way in Offroad at MIBO International

Bruno Coelho leads the way at the MIBO International Race, the Xray driver the top seed for both 2WD & 4WD Buggy in Hrotovice.   The World Champion’s first race on indoor carpet in more than 3-years, he has quickly found his rhythm on the 30 metre wide and 19 metre deep track topping 2WD from Martin Bayer and 4WD from young Polish talent Bartosz Zalewski.  Commenting on his morning’s work he said, ‘We have been making a lot of changes, testing & testing to make it faster and faster. Everything works good both in 2WD and 4WD’.  Asked if they had made any significant key changes he explained all the changes have been big to see if this is the right direction to go and if it is then the rest of the rest test it adding ‘this is a god race for this (approach)’.

Second fastest in 4WD and P4 in 2WD, Zalewski said his XB4 is ‘really smooth to drive and fast’.  The 16-year-old from Warsaw said he is pleased with the car set-up and has been more focused on his driving.  Describing his 2WD, in which his was 4th fastest, as a little unstable he said this feeling is probably more about how he is driving it then a set-up issue and so he will ‘work more on the driving’ for the opening qualifier.

Third fastest in 2WD, Max Gotzl summed up practice with ‘so far it’s good’.  The Czech driver continued, ‘both cars are good and most of my work has been on my hands (driving)’.  For 2WD he said the focus has been on a consistent 5-minutes while 4WD started off not so well a change to the car has since put in ‘back in the game’ with him seeding 4th behind his Xray/Elceram team-mate Martin Bayer.  Using the new Nitride speedo from Czech company Elceram, he said they have been doing some work on this also and he believes they have a good base set-up now for qualifying.  Overall Gotzl believes tyre management is going to be the biggest factor  to the outcome of qualifying.

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March 3, 2023

Inaugural MIBO International is GO!

1 Race, 2 Tracks, almost 250 entries, and tons of action – the inaugural MIBO International Race is GO with drivers easing themselves into the busy weekend schedule with an evening of free practice in Hrotovice, Czech Republic.  The central double sided drivers stand has had a constant flow of both onroad and offroad drivers since the 17:00 start, all eager to dial in their cars ahead of the five rounds of qualifying, four of which make up Saturday’s schedule.  In touring car a lap is running at 13-seconds while over on the the buggy track quick laps are running in the late 17-seconds for 4WD and mid 18-seconds for 2WD.

Fresh from last week’s TITC in Thailand, Mugen’s Ronald Volker described the track as ‘different to normal’ adding ‘it’s not an easy track’.  A regular of the pre Covid MIBO Cup Series, the German said it was great to back in an ‘old familiar facility’.  Adding to the nostalgia of the weekend, Volker has made the trip from Germany with accomplished former Stock Touring Car and 1:10 Nitro Onroad star Eric Dankel who has returned for a weekend of racing fun at the Sport V Hotel.  Volker added the track layout features ‘a lot of hairpins’ creating a ‘different flow to usual’ which most tracks have evolved to lately.  Christopher Krapp, who is here with Dominic Vogl, summed up the track as ‘tight and technical’.  Like Volker, he said, ‘it’s very different to recent tracks’ describing driving it as ‘shooting from corner to corner’.  The Yokomo driver said his focus so far has been to get the right steering for the 180 corners.

For Coelho this weekend is all about being back with his Xray Offroad team-mates after a long break.  Seated between Martin Bayer and Hupo Honigl in the pits here at the Sports V Hotel, Coelho said, ‘It’s great to be back with the team again and at fun race like MIBO’.  Explaining it is more than 3 years since he last raced on carpet and while he did the Euros last year on Astro the two surfaces are very different.  Travelling to the Hudy Arena after returning from his TITC victory last weekend so as to get used his buggies on carpet again, he said having so much traction felt so different for the first few runs but it’s all come back to him now.  Asked his thoughts on the track he said, ‘It’s super fun’ adding ‘it’s not so difficult but it’s technical’.  Making the trip from Sweden where she is involved in running his local indoor carpet offroad track and the Euro Buggy Masters,  Jessica Pålsson said the track presented by the Mibosport team this weekend is a lot bigger and wider than her home track.  The Schumacher driver said the key to the track is the mid section jump describing it as a spot where it is ‘easy to win or loose’.  Asked if the track suited 2WD or 4WD better she said for her it felt better to drive with a 2WD buggy but added her preferred class has alway been 2WD.

Image Gallery

January 27, 2020

2020 Reedy Offroad ROC Winner – Ryan Maifield

4wd Buggy

Yokomo YZ4 SF – Hobbywing XR10 Pro Elite – Hobbywing Xerun V10 5.5T – Protek 4100mAh battery – Sanwa M17 Transmitter – Protek160TBL Servo – JConcepts S1 body

2wd Buggy

Yokomo YZ2 DTM3 – Hobbywing XR10 Pro Elite – Hobbywing Xerun V10 7.5T – Protek 6100mAh battery – Sanwa M17 Transmitter – Protek160TBL Servo – JConcepts F2 body

January 27, 2020

Maifield claims 2nd Reedy Race title

Ryan Maifield has claimed the Reedy Offroad Race of Champions title for a second time, the Yokomo driver becoming the 7th driver in the famed race’s history to become a multiple champion. While Maifield would set out his stall early in the event and leading the points at the end of each day, the 26th running of the event would go down to the 12th & final round of racing with Spencer Rivkin in with a stab at his first win. Needing to win the final round to keep the pressure on Maifield to perform, the World Champion was held at bay by CJ Jelin meaning Maifield’s final result didn’t matter but after a 5-year wait he wanted to regain his title in true champion style clocking up win No.6 of the weekend.  Coming away with his best Reedy Race finish, Rivkin would end the event 4-points down on Maifield with the podium completed by Ryan Cavalieri who wrapped up the 2020 event with a win in the 36th & final heads up race.  Maifield’s closest challenger at the completion of 4WD, former champion Dakotah Phend would claim fourth ahead of Broc Champlin, the teenager putting in some very strong showings against the establishment.  For last year’s champion Jared Tebo, what had the potential to be a good day didn’t turn out that way and he dropped to 7th behind Ty Tessmann in the final standings having started the day in a fighting second.

Reacting to his win, Maifield said, ‘It has been a good week. My cars felt great all weekend, we just made small adjustments here and there. It was a great win for the team’.  Yokomo’s first Reedy title since 1999, he continued, ‘We have been busting our asses to get the car easier to drive.  They have always been fast.  We applied a few things this weekend that we have been working on and they worked’.  Reflecting on the race, which given the amount of heads up racing is not just about being fast, he said, ‘This is a hard race to win.  I had a lot of luck on my side but I also had the fastest cars all week.  It’s also my first race with Hobbywing so it’s nice to win it for them too’.

Rivkin said, ‘It was awesome I had a shot at the title. It made it interesting with Ryan going into the last round’.  The Team Associated driver continued, ‘I’m definitely going to have to wait another year but I think it took Maifield five or six years to get his first title. Congratulations to him, he drove the best this week’.  On his final encounter, for which he lined up 6th but unable to get by pole sitter Jelin, he said, ‘It was an awesome race with CJ. I gave all I had. He drove really good. That was all I had’.

Returning to the podium having finished 6th last year, 4-time Champion Cavalieri was pleased with the result saying, ‘It was a good weekend of racing’.  The Sworkz team driver, who ran a TLR in 2WD, continued, ‘I could have had a couple of races go better and I could have finished even better but it’s a good start to the year’.

One of the big talking points of this year’s Reedy Race after some impressive performances, Champlin summed up the event saying, ‘The weekend was good. I drove as good as I could and my cars were as good as they could be’.  Sitting second in the points half way through 2WD, he continued, ‘My luck was out with some of the starts I got and I was really unlucky today, that capped off any chance of a podium but 5th overall was good. I finished 10th last year’.

Summing up his weekend, outgoing champion Tebo said, ‘Overall it was pretty good, I just had a really rough day today’.  The Tekno driver continued, ‘I made a few errors from my own side but also got caught up in other’s crashes. It was a really tough day. Before that it was going alright’.

Booking the opportunity to race the world’s best drivers in Invitation next year, both 2019 Open Champions registering wins this weekend, Team Associated driver Aydin Horne took the 2WD honours over his brother Austin with Tom Rinderknecht third.  In 4WD it was TLR’s up and coming star Rinderknecht who took the win to book his place on the grid for the 27th running of the legendary Reedy Offroad Race of Champions.

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