A very successful weekend all around the world with Tekno RC Team drivers Derrick Harris, Dave Hamenway, Kyle Francis, Chris Giraldo, Mike Battaile, John Bernard, Alejandro Alvarez, Aaron Royston, Kevin McCoy, Keith Hadley, RJ Hart and Jesse Munn winning the races they attended in USA, Bolivia and Australia! Report from each race follows:
WA Challenge Cup Round 1 2016 (AUS), report by Darrin Francis:
“We travelled back to Kalgoorlie Western Australia (a 6 hour drive) to contest round 1 of the Western Australian Challenge Cup. This 4 round series at 4 different tracks around the state is a test of vehicle reliability, all laps of qualifying and all laps in your final add up to crown the series champion. This year E-Buggy has been included as an official class therefore just for something different we thought we would create some work for ourselves and enter all 3 classes! There is 5, 7 minute rounds of Qualifying on the Saturday with the finals played out on the Sunday.There were 76 entries across the 3 classes. Around 25 drivers turned up Friday night for a practice session with the remainder travelling up early Saturday to have a 1 hour practice before racing commenced at 12.30pm. We ran all 3 cars during practice, some holes forming early as we made some small changes. Happy with the car’s performance we headed to our motel for the night.
Saturday’s Qualifying went very well. By the 4th round we were changing car setup and tires, testing for Sundays finals. After 15 rounds of qualifying for the 3 classes we had 5/5 wins to give us TQ in E-Buggy, 4/5 wins and a 2nd in Nitro Buggy to also TQ and 3/5 wins and 2 seconds in Truggy to give us the TQ as well. A great start to the race weekend.
Sunday commenced with the first of 3 legs in E-Buggy, within 5 minutes we had a solid lead only to see it evaporate with a driveline issue. Such was the lead that we limped home 2nd. Some lower buggy finals were then run until leg 2 of the E-Buggy. An average start and a tangle with the 2nd placed car saw us drop down the 12 car field, the fightback began, nearly making it we finished 2nd.
Next up was the Nitro Buggy semi final where we started first and finished first. Unfortunately a tangle with a lapped car as the buzzer sounded at the end meant we didn’t get the extra lap in which meant we would start the main out of 2nd.
Following this we prepped for the 40 minute Truggy main, the race started and Kyle pushed hard trying to establish a quick lead, the ploy worked as at the end he had won by 3 laps! Next up the 3rd leg of the EP8 we needed the win to get the overall, with this on the line Kyle drove superbly getting an extra lap in at the buzzer to take the win and overall combined win.
Finally with 2 main wins under his belt could he make a clean sweep in the Nitro buggy main. The 40 minute main started and the first 3 positions were swapped continually for the first 10 minutes until one driver flamed out. Steve Smith and Kyle battled for the lead until the second round of fuel stops at which point Kyle got the ascendency and held on to win by 4 seconds! The weekend by the numbers;
Nitro Buggy: TQ, Amain 1st
Nitro Truggy: TQ, Amain 1st
E-Buggy: TQ, Amain 1st
Kyle would like to thank Tekno for making such reliable, well engineered race cars, with a lot of people commenting on how stable the cars were compared to other brands!”
Final Results:
TQ/1st: Kyle Francis
2nd: Steve Smith
3rd: Logan Bruecher
TQ/1st: Kyle Francis
2nd: Steve Smith
3rd: Harry Sims
TQ/1st: Kyle Francis
2nd: Fabio Silvi
3rd: Logan Breucher
Charge Em Up Race (USA), report by Kevin McCoy:
This is an annual 1-day electric only race at FRC. I struggled some during practice to get the fast line down and had a motor grenade on me, but things were better Saturday.
As qualifying went on I got faster, managing to TQ both classes. In both buggy mains there was some good racing at the start but once I got away I managed to lead the majority of the time. There was some great competition in both buggy and truggy so coming away with a 1st place victory in both classes I ran is a major accomplishment.”
Final Results:
Electric Buggy:
TQ/1st: Kevin McCoy
2nd: Reggie Tongue
3rd: Tommy Reeves
Electric Truggy:
TQ/1st: Kevin McCoy
2nd: Reggie Tongue
3rd: Graham Gonzales
Departamental de Santa Cruz Round 1 (BO), report by Alejandro Alvarez:
Campeonato Departamental de Santa Cruz” Round 1 was held in Santa Cruz – Bolivia. This round was raced in a small town called Candelaria about 45 minutes from the main city “Santa Cruz de la Sierra” Whete the “Candelaria RCPRO” Track is located.
The event was scheduled for two qualifiers to be raced on Saturday (5 minutes each for electric classes and 15 minutes for Nitro Buggy) and a single Main to be raced on Sunday (8 minutes for Electric Classes and 30 minutes for Nitro), I got TQ for Both classes I raced (eBuggy and Nitro Buggy).
The eBuggy main was held first in which I kept the 1st place with a very close contender all the way down to the last lap when I made a mistake and ended up upside down with no time to try and get the 1st place back so I ended up second. It was a Bummer but I couldn’t be let down too much by this since I still had a nitro main to race.
Right before starting the nitro buggy main we got a sudden change of weather and it started to rain for about 20 minutes so we had to wait. I made a couple of setup and tyre changes during this time and made sure to re tune the engine for the weather change right before the main.
After a 3 minute warmup the main started and I kept a smooth 1st place from start to finish this time and got the win!”
Final Results:
TQ/1st: Alejandro Alvarez
2nd: Nicolas Uribe
3rd: Fabian Eguez
Electric Buggy:
1st: Nicolas Uribe
TQ/2nd: Alejandro Alvarez
3rd: Diego Marin
Spring Sting Race (USA), report by Derrick Harris:
“This was my first trip to S&B Raceway in Piedmont, South Carolina for their annual Spring Sting race. I would race electric only; eTruggy and eBuggy. Practice went well for both cars and that carried over into solid qualifying efforts. I was able to improve my times each round and ended up taking TQ in truggy and 4th overall in buggy.
Truggy was the first main of the night and I was about to led the whole race. The truck felt great and I was able to run consistent laps and find a groove early and stick to it.
The Ebuggy main was a bit more of a challenge but overall the main went pretty well. I would start fourth and jump to 3rd early in the race but lost a few spots to a couple of mistakes. After falling to 6th, I was able to find my groove by mid race and pick up 2 spots by the end of the race. I would just miss the podium and finished where I started in 4th.
Thanks to my sponsors TEKNO RC and G’s RC Speedway, Shippensburg, PA!
Next race is Badland’s Spring Sting on April 30th in Myrtle Beach!”
50/50 Cash Race (USA), report by Chris Giraldo:
“Capital City Raceway Rescheduled Cash Race, weather was awesome, practice went well from 7am to 10:30am. Cars felt great, changed tires to harder compound because the surface was very grippy.
3 rocket rounds of qualifying, 1st round would be my best out of the 3 setting me 3rd overall in E-truggy and 2nd overall in E-buggy. Double 10 minute A-mains for the money! I finished 2nd in E-buggy and 1st in E-truggy winning 130$. Track announcer Matt Keen did a great job keeping a good pace all day. Single day race on an RC Trackmasters layout. Good times.”
Final Results:
1st: Chris Giraldo
2nd: John Allen Corry
3rd: Jaime Jorner
1st: Landen Lewis
2nd: Chris Giraldo
3rd: John Arnold
Northwest Championship Tour Round 1 (USA), report by Jesse Munn:
“Round 1 of the Northwest Championship Tour kicked off the outdoor racing season here in the Pacific Northwest with the annual “Spring Shootout” hosted by RCCCW in Wenatchee, Washington. Racers from all over the region were itching to get outside and go racing after a long and very wet winter. 275 entries made this event the biggest in Wenatchee in quite a few years and the resurgence of nitro racing was great to see as the entry count was very strong in both buggy and truggy. The track is a traditional throw-back track in that it is a loamy, soft dirt surface that changes drastically from run to run throughout the weekend and can get extremely rough by the end.
Pro4SC:
Tekno teammate Keith Hadley and I always have great battles in SC and this weekend was no exception. Qualifying on Saturday started with Keith getting TQ in the first round as we were both trying to determine whether we wanted to chance jumping the increasingly blown out gap jump (turns out the answer was no!) I TQ’d the 2nd round with Keith coming in behind me, so it would all come down to round 3 in early evening. Keith would get the best of me in round 3 to take the overall TQ while I would start 2nd for the triple A-Mains.
A1 and A2 went much like qualifying. Keith took the first main and I won the second main to set up an A3 showdown for the overall win in Pro4. The main started out great for me as Keith hit a giant hidden hole on the front straight on the first lap to gift me a big early lead. With clear track ahead I felt confident I could cruise to the win but it wasn’t meant to be. I lost steering on the same lap and watched as Keith drove great to make up time on the other drivers to take A3 and wrap up the win! Tekno took the top 4 spots and 8 of the 12 overall in the A-Main
1/8 Open E-Buggy:
The always competitive Open Ebuggy class was once again dominated by Keith Hadley who took the TQ in all 3 rounds of qualifying on Saturday and wrapped up the win on Sunday by taking both A1 and A2 with his Tekno EB48.3 over Associated’s Mike Dana and HB’s Tyler Martel.
Congrats to Tekno teammate Sam Maahs on getting getting 4th in round 3 of qualifying to solidify his spot in the A-Mains where he would end up 9th overall. Great run Sam!
1/8 Nitro Truggy:
Nitro truggy had a great turnout, especially compared to previous years. Q1 was going great and my NT48.3 was absolutely on rails! Unfortunately I had the idle a little too low and a flameout cost me a TQ run. Q2 was much the same, the truck was amazing and I took TQ for the round. Q3 was going great as well but I misjudged a corner and got caught on a pipe in a terrible spot. I still managed 3rd overall for the round and a 2nd place starting spot for Sunday’s main event.
The 30 minute main didn’t start out very well for me as I made 3-4 mistakes on my own as I was trying to find a smooth line around the track. At the end of lap 2 I was in 7th place but still feeling confident. I got my lines figured out and began slowly moving towards the front, eventually moving into 3rd place after the first round of pit stops and into the lead shortly after the 18 minute mark. The last 12 minutes was a very intense, and clean, battle with HB drivers Tyler Wilbur and Carson Phipps. Those kids are fast and I was very happy to hold them off and take the win! The Tekno NT48.3 is a great truck and I didn’t make a single adjustment all weekend. Can’t wait to race it again.
Big thank you to all my sponsors: Tekno, AKA, Venom, Ultimate Engines, Nitrolux, Dualsky, Highest, Bellgate Distributors and SOR RC Graphics. See everyone at NCT round #2 next month in Spokane!”
Final Results:
Pro4 SC:
TQ/1st: Keith Hadley
2nd: Jesse Munn
3rd: Jason Cocking
TQ/1st: Keith Hadley
2nd: Mike Dana
3rd: Tyler Martel
1st: Jesse Munn
2nd: Tyler Wilbur
3rd: Carson Phipps
2016 The Dirt LoneStar Challenge (USA), report by Mike Battle:
“A packed house at Thornhill this weekend with several top pros in attendance, as this even also served as the Fuel Nationals warm-up race.
Both the NB48.3 and NT48.3 were great after making some small changes. I made a mistake in each of the qualifying rounds of the 40+ Nitro Truggy class and team mate Edwin Hartman took TQ. The 20 minute main started off with Edwin in front and me following him around. After about 5 minutes, I was able to make the pass and put in a clean race to take the win in the 40+ Nitro Truggy class with team mate Edwin Hartman in second and Pudding 2.0 in third.”
Nitro Truggy Final Results:
1st: Mike Battaile
2nd: Edwin Hartman
3rd: Matt Sistrunk
Hillside Season Opener (USA), report by Dave Hemenway:
“The season opener at Hillside is one of the more fun races to attend. The atmosphere is great with families and plenty of kids, free hot dogs, and everybody from rookies to regional fast guys excited to kick off outdoor season. Hillside is a true off road track that ruts up and has traction changes throughout the day. These kinds of conditions often treat me well, and today was no exception as I picked up a TQ and win in both 4wd SC and eTruggy, along with a 4th in the highly competitive eBuggy field.
In the mains, I had some good challenges in both eTruggy and SCT, losing the lead in both for a bit, but managing to win. SCT was an especially close and exciting battle for almost the entire race, but in the end I managed to secure the win by only 0.16 sec with a tight final set of corners, blocking the passing line of 2nd place. It was also awesome to be called out for excellent marshaling, and to watch my wife pick up 2nd in both of her mains (4wd SC B Main and eBuggy C Main) with her Teknos.”
Final Results:
Pro4 SC:
TQ/1st: Dave Hemenway
2nd: Adam Cilly
3rd: Luke Bataran
Electric Truggy:
TQ/1st: Dave Hemenway
2nd: Dana Smith
3rd: Steve Toohey
Daytona Off-Road / River Rat Points Series (USA), report by John Bernard Jr:
“It was great to finally finish the Daytona / River Rat Points Series. This best 3 out of 4 series has been plagued with bad weather and this final round was no different. I arrived at River Rat Friday for the scheduled practice but due to the off and on showers all day the practice had to be cancelled. Every time the rain stopped the track went out and worked the surface to remove any puddles. Despite the Friday showers the owner guaranteed a race the next day.
The River Rat track ended up being amazing. Qualifying was close in all classes as the race groove just kept getting wider and wider. My EB48.3 was amazing all day. I would set TQ in the Pro E-Buggy in both qualifying rounds. The track was getting really fast so I knew the main wasn’t going to be easy.
In the Pro E-Buggy A-Main fellow team driver Cody Wiles battled with me the entire 10 minute main. I managed to hold Cody off to take the win and the overall series win.”
Final Results:
TQ/1st: John Bernard
2nd: Steve Narrington
3rd: Aaron Sikes
The Dirt Lonestar Nitro Challenge (USA), report by Aaron Royston:
“Under the roof of the largest covered track in the world with a fresh track rebuild by the guys at The Dirt, my SCT410.3 performed near perfect throughout the weekend with minimal tweaks to suspension. Took the win in Q2 & Q3 securing overall TQ. With a win in A1 and 2nd in A2, took the overall title in Pro 4wd SC!”
Pro4 SC Final Results:
TQ/1st: Aaron Royston
2nd: Brad Ripple
3rd: Brian Rhode
Michigan State Championship Rd. 1 (USA), report by RJ Hart:
“This past Saturday kicked off the beginning of the Michigan State Championship Series @ Dirt Burners in Livonia, MI.
We arrived early Saturday morning to get some laps in on the ET48 & EB48.3, with a small shock change, the cars were feeling great.
Qualifying went well for the most part, as I would TQ all 3 rounds with my ET48. E-Buggy I managed to get 2 good runs in, which set me in the 6th spot on the grid for the main.
The ET48 was performing awesome on the tight track again for the main! I was able to finish right where I started, in first, the E-Buggy main started pretty smooth, as I was able to move up a few spots. But unfortunately a couple little bobbles would drop me back down, and I would finish in 5th. The car was feeling really good, and the competition was stiff. Can’t wait to do it all again at round 2!
Thanks to Tekno R/C, Nankin Hobby, Darkside Design, and Sumo R/C for the continued support!”
E-Truggy Final Results:
TQ/1st: RJ Hart
2nd: Ben Belote
3rd: Doug Wendling