Tekno RC team driver Seth VanDalen wins the Nitro Buggy, Electric Buggy and 4x4 Short Course classes at the 2016 Tekno Winter Series while team drivers Sean Ramos and Jeremy LeDonne won the 4x4 Short Course and E-Truggy classes at the 2016 CRCRC 1/8 Winter Midwest Championship, making it a very successful weekend for Tekno RC. Race reports follow:
Tekno Winter Series, report from Seth VanDalen:
We showed up Friday night at the Hobbyplex for the 4th round of the Tekno winter series. Practice on the newly renovated track was fun. Alex Sturgeon changed a few areas that turned out super cool. I changed shock oils for the cold and springs to get the balance of the cars Friday night to get my new cars dialed in and broke in my tires for each class. First round of qualifying went really well, I TQ’ed Nitro Buggy and Truggy along with 4wd SC Truck and missed TQ by .2 seconds to my Tekno teammate Clayton Wittmayer. My team manager gave a couple suggestions to help make the cars easier to drive. So we added a degree of negative camber and set off on to the second round of qualifying. With clean fast runs I was able to reset TQ in E-Buggy and sweep qualifying earning the TQ in all four classes. As the A-mains approached the air temps started to drop. Now 11 degrees I knew I would need to run clean the first part of the race while my cars were still warm. I went on to win the Nitro Buggy by a lap over Kyosho’s Derek Wood.
Next up was 4wd SC Truck, I made a mistake early getting stuck on the pipe and slipped back to fourth but was able to work my was back to the front and take the win. Truggy was next and at the sound of the tone I was able to stretch out a nice lead and was coming up to lap 2nd place Mugen driver Chris Marrant when the engine died. Re-fired and went back out in 5th worked my way to 2nd and passed the leader to get my lap back only to have it die again. I knew something was wrong and pulled out of the race to save my motor for another day. E-Buggy was last and started good but missed the corner after the triple and let my Tekno teammate Clayton Wittmayer get the inside and take the lead. We battled hard the entire ten minutes. With 30 seconds left I made my move when Clayton got loose and drove over the pipe giving me the top spot. With 2 clean laps I was able to hold on for the win. Making my Tekno debut 4 TQ’s and 3 wins. I want to thank friends and family for helping me and my sponsors Tekno RC, VP Fuels, Proline, OS Engines, Team Orion, Futaba, Newstyle Customs and 510 Raceway.
Final Results:
CRCRC 1/8 Winter Midwest Championship 4×4 Short Course, report by Sean Ramos:
Tekno swept pro4 podium. I Tq’d first 2 rds, bettering my time each rd, with teammate Jake Spaulding almost snagging Tq in rd 2, but I put on a charge to make a new Tq beating him by a second. Couldn’t finish rd 3 due to a mechanical failure, but my previous times would hold up. 8 out of 10 cars in main were Teknos. Track got slicker and slicker going into the mains and had to be very careful and smooth. First few laps Jake Spaulding and I would battle until he had a bobble which let me pull ahead. I kept my consistency high and drove away for the win by a 12 second margin.
Final Results:
TQ/1st: Sean Ramos
2nd: Jake Spaulding
3rd: Jeremy McGuigan
CRCRC 1/8 Winter Midwest Championship E-Truggy, report by Jeremy LeDonne:
I traveled 4 hours west to the Ohio RC Factory this weekend to race against some of the best racers in the area. In practice Friday I felt really good with my Tekno ET48 all day. Saturday was qualifying day, I would get TQ the first round and improve my time in the second round staying in the TQ position. In the third round of qualifying no one would match the pace of my second qualifier, leaving me the TQ spot going into the main. Sunday, in the main I had a good battle with Brian Looper for the number one spot. With two laps to go I would take the lead and get the win!
Final Results:
TQ/1st: Jeremy LeDonne
2nd: Brian Looper
3rd: Don Howe
