Bloomfield on pole for Arena Buggy Main

Darren Bloomfield will start the main event of the 2011 Arena Offroad Meeting from pole position after the Top Qualifier won his Semi Final ahead of factory TLR team-mate Riccardo Rabitti who will start second on the grid.   Elliot Boots lines up third for the 45-minute encounter just in front of defending champion Yannick Aigoin who was second the young British driver in the 20-minute Semi B.

The first casualty of the Semis was Orion engines head of development Adrien Bertin.  Having struggled in qualifying to get a set-up to his liking resulting in him qualifying in the 1/4 finals, the Frenchman built a brand new Kyosho MP9 for the finals and immediately found his form.  Dominating his 1/4 final, Bertin quickly worked his way into the Top 5 of the opening Semi only for the lower right rear shock pin to come out.  Making it back to the pits a temporary fix was made but six laps later it broke and he called it a day.

Also exiting from the event in the Semi A but in the cruelest way possible was Agama/Novarossi driver Riccardo Perin.  Running in a comfortable bump up position the Italian’s buggy stopped less than half a lap from the finish dropping him to 7th in the final classification, one spot shy of progressing to the Main.  This allowed 1/4 finalist Federicio Sala to bump up for a second time as did Truggy Race of Champions winner Walter Floris who finished fifth in the Semi.

The main drama of the Semi B struck French National B Champion Guillaume Hebert. Having won his 1/4 Final, the Mugen backed driver was set to bump up to the Main but in almost identical fashion to Perin his Ninja powered MBX-6 stopped on the final lap.

In the F2 Buggy class Austrian Reinhold Gruber will start on pole for their Main ahead of defending champion Jon Howells.  Top Qualifier Ashlee Owen starts fifth behind last night’s Race of Champions finalists 12-year-old Alessandro Remia and Gerd Pfiefer.

Buggy Main Starting Grid
1. Darren Bloomfield – TLR/Nitrotec
2. Riccardo Rabitti – TLR/Picco
3. Elliot Boots – Kyosho/RB
4. Yannick Aigoin – TLR/nVision
5. Simon Willets – Mugen/Orion
6. Alex Zanchettin – TLR/BP
7. Valerio Bellano – Xray/RB
8. Alessandro Stocco – Hot Bodies/Alpha
9. Federico Ruggeri – Crono/OS
10.Walter Floris – TLR/Novarossi
11.Federico Sala – TLR/Novarossi
12.Daniele Chicca – JQ/Precirotate

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Bloomfield, Howells & Floris enjoy ROC wins

As part of the Arena Offroad Meeting, Saturday night at the Cowboy’s Guest Ranch was time for the ‘Race of Champions’. Open to the Top 16 qualifiers in Truggy and both the F1 & F2 Buggy classes, this year’s format was to prove entertaining for the decent crowd of onlookers.  Lining up in reverse grid order the first stage of the ROC was to reduce the field in a regular race by eliminating the car running in last position every two minutes until four remained.  With four remaining the winner of the first stage of the process drew a number to determine which of the Top 4 he would go head to head with in a three lap sprint, the winner of which would progress to the 5 lap final against the winner of the other duel, while the defeated drivers would go up against each other to determine the final step of the podium.

First up was the Truggy Race of Champions which saw TLR driver Walter Floris get the better of French Mugen driver Julien Lattanzio to secure a very popular home victory.  Winner of the Truggy Main earlier in the day Yannick Aigoin, who was ROC winner in both Truggy and Buggy at the last running of the Arena Offroad Meeting, had to settle for third with Ryan Lee of event sponsor Sweep tires fourth.

The F2 Buggy class was next up with Austrian Gerd Pfeifer winning the first stage of the competition and in the first duel held off promising 12-year-old talent Alessandro Remia to go into the final against Britain’s Jon Howells who fended of Austrian Reinhold Gruber.  Howells went on to claim the ROC victory after Pfeifer had a number of moments.

In the main Buggy class the shoot out was an all TLR affair.  In the draw Darren Bloomfield was pitted against Aigoin for his opening duel which was to be the closest battle of the night.  The buggy Top Qualifier eventually took the win and came up against 16-year-old Alex Zanchettin who got the better of Italian National Champion Riccardo Rabitti.  Zanchettin put it up to factory driver with the pair rubbing tyres on a number of occasions but in the end the British Champion would take the win to bring to a close what was a busy night.

Buggy Result
1.(1) Darren Bloomfield – TLR/Nitrotec
2.(6) Alex Zanchettin – TLR/BP
3.(3) Riccardo Rabitti – TLR/Picco
4.(2) Yannick Aigoin – TLR/nVision

Truggy Result
1.(2) Walter Floris – TLR/Novarossi
2.(4) Julien Lattanzio – Mugen/Picco
3.(1) Yannick Aigoin – TLR/nVision
4.(6) Ryan Lee – TLR/Alpha

Buggy F2 Result
1.(2) Jon Howells – Hobao/RB
2.(9) Gerd Pfeifer – Durango/OS
3.(3) Reinhold Gruber – Mugen/Novarossi
4.(7) Alessandro Remia – LRP/LRP

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Aigoin successfully defends Arena Truggy title

TLR are on target for a repeat clean sweep of the Arena Offroad Meeting with Yannick Aigoin successfully defending his truggy title at the indoor Rodeo ring in Voghera, Italy, this evening. Starting from pole, the Top Qualifier won the 45-minute encounter by a lap from Italian TLR driver Walter Floris who in the opening laps of the race managed to find a way passed the French driver.

After the race Aigoin said he was surprised by the pace of Floris who he said had found a lot of speed since qualifying.  A much harder race than he was expecting, he was delighted to defend his title with a TLR 1-2 and said he can now focus his attentions on buggy which he admitted is going to be a much bigger challenge to defend.

Running a Novarossi powered 8ight T, Floris was delighted to finish second to Aigoin whom he described as ‘one of the best drivers in the world’.  Pulling a pass on the factory driver early in the race to take the lead the 27-year-old said it was a great feeling but he always knew Aigoin who eventually find his way back into the lead.

Mugen team driver Julien Lattanzio, who as a kid went to the same school as Aigoin, completed the podium but said it was a difficult race.  Starting from fourth on the grid, the former French National Buggy Champion said his Picco engine was down on power and despite giving 110% he couldn’t keep pace with the the two TLR drivers ahead of him. Finishing half a lap up on fourth place finisher Jon Howells, Lattanzio said he was very happy to come away with a podium on what is his first visit to the Arena.

Truggy Final – Result
1. Yannick Aigoin – TLR/nVision – 65/45:07.743
2. Walter Floris – TLR/Novarossi – 64/45:11.393
3. Julien Lattanzio – Mugen/Picco – 61/45:06.407
4. Jon Howells – Associated/RB – 61/45:26.933
5. Alberto Pacini – Mugen/Sirio – 59/45:46.505
6. Andrea Ubaldi – Serpent/EZ Power – 58/45:03.838
7. Rudi Traxler – Xray/RB – 58/45:30.612
8. Richy Ferraro – Mugen/Precirotate – 56/45:01.504
9. Luca Balzola – Mugen/Alpha – 55/44:44.140
10.Maurizio Tinnirello – TLR/Sirio – 47/35:22.693
11.Ryan Lee – TLR/Alpha – 47/45:08.954
12.Lloyd Pitt – Associated/RB – 43/35:36.709

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Truggy Top Qualifier Aigoin on pole for main

Truggy Top Qualifier and defending champion Yannick Aigoin will start this evening’s 45-minute Main from pole position after he took an easy win in the first of the Semi finals this afternoon at the Arena Offroad Meeting in Voghera, Italy. The French ace lapped the entire field during the 20-minute encounter to take victory over fellow TLR 8ight T driver Maurizio Tinnirello and French Mugen team driver Julien Lattanzio. In the Semi B, Italian Walter Floris, also driving a TLR, took a convincing win from the Associated of Britain’s Jon Howells with Ryan Lee of event sponsor Sweep tires completing the top three which puts the Korean racer sixth on the grid.

Truggy Main Starting Grid
1. Yannick Aigoin – TLR/nVision
2. Walter Floris – TLR/Novarossi
3. Maurizio Tinnirello – TLR/Sirio
4. Julien Lattanzio – Mugen/Picco
5. Jon Howells – Associated/RB
6. Ryan Lee – TLR/Alpha
7. Andrea Ubaldi – Serpent/EZ Power
8. Alberto Pacini – Mugen/Sirio
9. Lloyd Pitt – Associated/RB
10.Richy Ferraro – Mugen/Precirotate
11.Rudi Traxler – Xray/RB
12.Luca Balzola – Mugen/Alpha

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Rabitti takes Q4, Bloomfield Top Qualifier at Arena

TLR completed a clean sweep of buggy qualifying this morning with Riccardo Rabitti taking the fourth and final round of heats ahead of team-mates Darren Bloomfield, who set the pace in Q2 & 3, and Yannick Aigoin who TQ’d yesterday’s opening qualifier. Overall Bloomfield secures his second honour of being the Top Qualifier having dominated yesterday’s Brushless Buggy action.

Italian National Champion Rabitti, who set the fastest lap of qualifying in Q3 and was on a TQ run before losing 4-seconds with a mistake at the final corner of the last lap, ran his Picco powered 8ight exactly the same as last night focusing instead on driving an error free run and the approach paid off. The only member of the team running the prototype radio tray set-up that features the throttle servo moved to the front of the chassis, he said after this morning’s run he is feeling very confident for this evenings ‘Race of Champions’. Together with engine guru Alberto Picco, Rabitti has been working hard on maximising his run time and believes 11-minute stops are on the cards for tomorrow finals.

Bloomfield reported better grip levels over yesterday but trouble with traffic resulted in an error on lap 3 which cost him 3 seconds. Switching from Losi Kingpin to Blockhead tyres for the final round, the British Champion said he should have stuck with the Kingpin as these would have suit this morning’s condition better. Overall happy with his Nitrotec powered 8ight, Bloomfield will run the buggy as is in tonight’s stand alone ‘Race of Champions’ event saying it was far too early to predict how track conditions will be for tomorrow’s finals.

Completing a clean sweep of Truggy qualifying this morning with his fourth TQ run, reigning champion Aigoin said he was a little slow in the final buggy qualifier. Struggling a little with understeer in his nVision powered 8ight he said it was very hard to go fast and he will use the ‘Race of Champions’ to try a number of set-up changes in preparation for his title defence tomorrow.

Fourth fastest in Q4 and the best placed non TLR driver in the final qualification ranking Elliott Boots said his time was better than he thought. The talented British driver, who is out of a chassis contract and running a borrowed Kyosho MP9 here this weekend, said the track felt really slow and lost time with a couple of spins. Looking to improve the back end of the buggy, the RB team driver will, like Aigoin, use the Race of Champion to try some set-up ideas he has discussed with the buggy owner Mick Cradock.

Enjoying his best run of qualifying with the fifth fastest time in Q4, Italian TLR driver Alex Zanchettin completes the overall Top 6 splitting the Mugens of team drivers Simon Willets and Julien Lattanzio.

In the F2 Buggy class, who ran two qualifiers this morning, British driver Ashlee Owen got the better of his Hobao team-mate & defending champion Jon Howells to secure the overall TQ honours.  The 19-year-old backed up his Q1 run by setting the pace in Q3 while Q4 went to Austrian Durango driver Gerd ‘RTR’ Pfeifer.

Overall Buggy Qualification – Top 16
1. Darren Bloomfield – TLR/Nitrotec – 400 pts
2. Yannick Aigoin – TLR/nVision – 398
3. Riccardo Rabitti – TLR/Picco – 397
4. Elliot Boots – Kyosho/RB – 394
5. Simon Willets – Mugen/Orion – 392
6. Alex Zanchettin – TLR/BP – 389
7. Julien Lattanzio – Mugen/Ninja – 388
8. Valerio Bellano – Xray/RB – 385
9. Federico Bellano – Crono/OS – 385
10.Eghlis Gallo – Mugen/OS – 385
11.Davide Rabitti – TLR/Picco – 383
12.Daniele Chicca – JQ/Precirotate – 381
13.Stefano Cantoni – Kyosho/Orion – 381
14.Alessandro Stocco – Hot Bodies/Alpha – 380
15.Riccardo Perin – Agama/Novarossi – 379
16.Andrea Giorgetti – Mugen/Novarossi – 377

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