March 16, 2018

Track Focus – Xiamen ARC International Raceway

Track Name – Xiamen ARC International Raceway
Host – 3-Circles
Country – China
Location – Xiamen
Direction – Clockwise
Surface – Sugared and glued dirt

Host of the most recent IFMAR EP Offroad World Championships, ARC International Raceway are hosting their annual big money offroad race at their impressive facility situated in the grounds of the 3-Circles battery factory in Xiamen, China. The second time running the event, which also has an onroad variant run on the large tarmac track that is set next to the dirt track, this year’s SIGP has attracted a large entry with close to 200 entries spread across both 1/8th nitro and EP Offroad.

In terms of the track itself, its has been made bigger again to fill the full 75m x 40m track area having been reduced for the 1/10th scale Worlds back in November. Designed once more by Lung Chuan Lee from Taiwan, the building process started 3 weeks ago and was only completed last Saturday after which it was treated with glue and sugar and covered in tarpaulins having rained since.

With the sun now out it means most drivers are only getting their first taste of the track this morning, one of those being visiting US Tekno driver Ryan Lutz. Asked for his thoughts on the track he really liked the size and layout, saying the jumps were pretty straight forward with the main challenge in the first of 3 controlled practice sessions being the damp mud patches on some of the corners which are very sticky. When the track dries however he feels the right side S section coming off the back straight is the most technical, needing to ensure you don’t carry too much speed off the back straight to be sure you are lined up perfectly.

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March 3, 2018

Hagberg best of the rest in Q5

With the Bruno Coelho domination at the TITC showing no signs of abating, the Portuguese driver notching up his fastest TQ run in the penultimate qualifier even with getting out of shape, it was team-mate Alexander Hagberg who came out best of the rest.  Posting a time 1.6-seconds off Coelho’s 5th TQ run, the result puts the Swede in contention to make it an Xray 1-2 on the grid that will decide the champion at the 16th running of Asia’s most famous race. Akio Sobue would complete the Top 3, with the Infinity driver together with team-mate Naoto Matsukura and, with an outside chance, Marc Rheinard all vying to start second with one final qualifier left to run on Sunday morning.

‘Finally I was fairly competitive in the first laps and I could get a second place’,  said Hagberg afterwards.  He continued, ‘I will try to do the same again tomorrow morning but it is gong to be pretty dusty as we are out first’.  Not sure if he will change his car for Q6, he said, ‘2nd (on the grid) is still open so anything can happen in the last one.  I will try my best to repeat what I just did.  The car is definitely better than yesterday’.

One of only 3-drivers to run 14-second laps, Coelho and Matsukura the other two, Sobue said track conditions were not as cool as expected but added they were better than the previous round.  Describing his car as ‘a little loose’,  the Japanese National Champion goes into the final round of qualifying holding third on the grid but with a good final qualifier has the chance to overtake Matsukura.  He said, ‘I will try to fight for second but I need a 20 lap run in 5:10 and in the morning the track will be dusty so it is going to be hard’.

Needing a TQ in the morning to get P2 on the grid, Rheinard, who found himself in the B-Main last year, was pleased to get a 4th as it almost certainly secures him 5th on the grid.  The German said, ‘the starting order (for Q5) was based on the order of Q4 so I started 3rd last and it was hard to judge my pace compared the others.  One time the car spun out at the chicane but the rest was ok’.  He added, ‘we are still missing something.  Bruno is on one level, then it is Akio, Naoto, Hagberg and me. Maybe tomorrow it will be a different game because the organisers will give us all new tyres for the final but I am sure Bruno will still be fastest.

With Q5 proving his worst round, Matsukura said, ‘my car was pretty good for the first minute but after that it started to understeer. It was not very stable’.  Crashing on lap 12 of 20 at the end of the straight, the Japanese driver took full responsibility for the impact saying, ‘that was my mistake’.  Sitting second overnight in the provisional qualification ranking, the former touring car & reigning 1:12 World Champion said, ‘it will be an important run in the morning to hold onto second’.  Asked is he was to hold on to 2nd if he believes he can mount a challenge on Coelho he replied, ‘Bruno still has the advantage and don’t think that will change tomorrow’.  Behind Matsukura, a good run from Charlee P would see him post his first Top 6 run as the lead Yokomo driver followed by the Infinity of 2017 second place qualifier Jilles Groskamp.

View our event image gallery here.

January 23, 2018

2018 Reedy Offroad ROC Winner – Dustin Evans

2wd Buggy

Team Associated B6 – Reedy Sonic 7.5T – Reedy Black Box 510R – Reedy Zappers 5800mAh – Sanwa Transmitter – Reedy Servo – Proline Elite body

4wd Buggy

Team Associated B64 – Reedy Sonic 5.5T – Reedy Black Box 510R – Reedy Zappers 5800mAh – Sanwa Transmitter – Reedy Servo – Proline Elite body

January 22, 2018

Evans claims 2nd Reedy Race of Champions

Seven years on from when he made a name for himself as one of Offroad’s top drivers by winning the 2011 Reedy Race of Champions, Dustin Evans has claimed victory at the unique event for a second time.  The Associated driver becomes only the 5th driver in the race’s 24 year history to have achieved multiple victories in one of the World’s most difficult races to win given its unique multiple heads up race format.  A contender throughout this year’s encounter, which was hosted again at the World famous OCRC Raceway in Huntington Beach, California, Evans went to the top of the points after a dramatic penultimate round of 2WD action and then sealed the deal with his 6th win of the event in the last round.  This left a stacked closing heat to determine who would stand each side of Evans on the podium, 5 drivers vying for the 2 places. An action packed affair Tessmann came out the winner to give him a perfect 2WD score which together with a less successful 4WD part of the event pulled the Xray driver up to 2nd overall.  Having looked like he was going to clean up a 5th Reedy Race title, Ryan Cavalieri would get third behind Joona Hataanen to secure the final podium placing getting the tie break from World Champion Ryan Maifield.  Going into the final round in 2nd position in the points, Maifield would break after 5 laps while leading.  Also having a tough final race, Spencer Rivkin, who shared the lead with Cavalieri over a number of rounds, would end the event with his worst race and while a throw-out it meant he had to count the 5 from the previous round leaving him 5th overall.

‘Pretty crazy, 7-years between wins’, was how Evans summed up his victory.  The Colorado driver added, ‘I was fast all week and I had a few things go my way but that’s the Reedy Race.  A Reedy sponsored driver this time round, he continued, ‘winning it under he Reedy name is pretty special’.  Asked about his final race, he said, ‘I didn’t know exactly what I had to do, I didn’t want to know’.  Starting from 9th on the grid, he said, ‘Any time I am super patient it works out for me so that’s how I took the start and then at the triple there was a big pile and it worked out good for me.  I didn’t want to get too conservative and crash like the last one but everything went right this weekend. I’m super happy’.

Reacting to his comeback podium finish, going one better than last year, Tessmann said, ‘It was looking bad after 4WD so to comeback so good I’m pretty happy.  It’s not the win but 2nd is the next best time’.  Taking 5 wins from the 6 rounds of 2WD action, the Canadian said, ‘My 2WD car was good and for the last two it worked really good. I’m really happy with that’.

‘That was the hardest my car was ever to drive, it was one of my worst races. I was lucky to get a podium out of it’, said Cavalieri after the final race.  The Associated driver continued, ‘I experienced everything this weekend. One round I’m in the lead, then I break and next I have my hardest race.  That’s the joy of this race’.

In the Open class, booking their places with the Worlds best drivers in next years Invitational class of the Reedy Race of Champions, Associated driver Brad Shearer won 2WD from Tommy Hinz while in 4WD Xray driver CJ Jelin took the win over Aydin Horne.

View the event image gallery here.