Bloomfield is Arena Champion

Team Losi Racing’s Darren Bloomfield is the 2011 Arena Offroad Meeting Champion after a dominant performance in the Buggy final at the indoor event in Voghera, Italy.  The Top Qualifier who started from pole pulled off a Sebastien Vettel style start to the 45-minute encounter immediately opening up a gap over his pursuers.  The fastest man on track, any hope his rivals had of catching him up were further dashed when it became apparent that his Nitrotec powered 8ight was able to run a three stop strategy, nothing his rivals could afford to risk.

While Bloomfield disappeared into the distance before switching to cruise mode to win by 14 seconds, the race for second was to produce one of the greatest offroad battles of the year as fellow Brit Elliott Boots and outgoing Arena champion Yannick Aigoin went wheel to wheel. Drifting side by side through the double chicane lap after lap as if it was a Gymkhana style drifting competition the last lap saw both drivers launch their buggys across the finish line with Boots’ Kyosho snatching second by just 16/1000 of a second over the TLR of Aigoin. Receiving huge applause from the large crowd of onlooker gathered in the Rodeo Arena both drivers said afterwards that it was a great race to be a part of.

His first time to attend the Arena Offroad Meeting, Bloomfield was delighted at what he described as his first international 1:8 win.  Particularly pleased at having beaten his factory TLR team-mate Aigoin, the winner of the Brushless Buggy title earlier in the event said his focus for the final was just to get a clean start and drive a clean race as he knew after the Semis that he had the buffer of being on one stop less than his rivals.

Boots, who looked very professional with his Formula 1 style radio headset that allowed Kyosho Europe’s Mick Cradock keep him fully briefed throughout the race, said having switched to a harder compound tyre for the final his RB powered MP9 took a while to come in, being very good in the middle part of the race before starting to fade in the final few minutes.  Asked if he felt the pressure of racing so close to Aigoin the 18-year-old said he was very comfortable racing against the former European Champion as he knew he could trust him to run a clean race.  Struggling for steering Boots said on the final run through the double chicane before the finish line he had to use the track piping to guide the buggy through.

One of the great ambassadors of the sport, Aigoin who successfully defended his Truggy title said he thoroughly enjoyed the battle with Boots who he described as a very fair driver.  Having set-up up his nVision engine and clutch for slightly higher traction before focusing all his attentions on tyre choice, Aigoin said he was lacking ever so slightly in forward traction and in this situation this probably prevented him from claiming a TLR 1-2 but after such an exciting race he was not too disappointed with third.

Carrying the hopes of the home crowd Riccardo Rabitti was the best placed Italian coming home fourth.  The factory TLR/Picco driver who started 2nd on the grid struggled with his tyre choice at the start of the race but managed to work his way up to the battling Boots and Aigoin only to make a ‘stupid’ mistake with six laps to go.  Running within striking distance of a podium finish the spin at the end of the straight cost him almost 6 seconds. Behind Rabitti, Mugen team driver Simon Willets and young 16-year-old TLR driver Alex Zanchettin completed the Top 6.

In the F2 Buggy Main, which was run ahead of the feature race, 21-year-old Reinhold Gruber denied Jon Howells from defending his title.  The Austrian Mugen driver, who only returned to racing earlier this season after a six year break from the sport,  the fastest lap of the race on his way to what is his first big victory. Driving a Hobao, British driver Howells was joined on the podium by his understudy & team-mate 19-year-old Ashlee Owen.  The Top Qualifier of the F2 class, Owen is another driver who this year made a return to racing after some time out.

F1 Buggy final results
1. Darren Bloomfield – TLR/Nitrotec – 63/45:13.411
2. Elliot Boots – Kyosho/RB – 63/45:27.674
3. Yannick Aigoin – TLR/nVision – 63/45:27.690
4. Riccardo Rabitti – TLR/Picco – 63/45:32.266
5. Simon Willets – Mugen/Orion – 62/45:14.122
6. Alex Zanchettin – TLR/BP – 61/45:41.412
7. Valerio Bellano – Xray/RB – 60/45:29.754
8. Walter Floris – TLR/Novarossi – 60/45:31.500
9. Alessandro Stocco – Hot Bodies/Alpha – 59/45:04.035
10.Federico Ruggeri – Crono/OS – 58/45:27.016
11.Daniele Chicca – JQ/Precirotate – 52/45:24.836
12.Federico Sala – TLR/Novarossi – 36/28:17.386

F2 Buggy final results
1. Reinhold Gruber – Mugen/Novarossi – 60/45:29.329
2. Jon Howells – Hobao/RB – 59L/45:01.691
3. Ashlee Owen – Hobao/RB – 58L/45:23.298
4. William Campanelli – Losi – 57L/45:26.550
5. Gerd Pfeifer – Durango/OS – 56L/45:15.736
6. Gurdeep Dhami – Kyosho/OS – 55L/45:35.966
7. Alessandro Remia – LRP/LRP – 55L/45:38.818
8. Lloyd Pitt – Hobao/RB – 54L/45:11.229
9. Nicolo Veronesi – Agama/Picco – 53L/45:19.947
10.Stefano Tena – TLR – 52L/45:37.138
11.Valerio Poltronieri – Kyosho – 21L/17:22.888
12.Rudi Traxler – Xray/RB – 1L/2:46.581

Sponsored by Sweep tires and Speed RC this year, the organisers of Italy’s top international offroad event, Paolo Bosco, Piero Cresta and Ruggero Zanusso have again successful pulled of a third running of this event indoors and have also announced that they will hold the event again next year at the great setting that is the Cowboy Guest Ranch.

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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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