Tekno RC Team Report Week 13-14, 2018

With the outdoor season in full effect Tekno RC drivers are winning more and more races each week, congratulations to Tyler Hooks, Jonathan Yeung, Fred Perkins, Mike Legue, Dean Rock, John Brett, Brian Bush, Mark Kimley, Colin Whelan and Steve DeArmon for winning the races they attended in the USA, China, and Ireland! Report from each race follows:

Southern Winter Payout Series Finals (US), report by Tyler Hooks:

“This weekend was the finals of the SWPS series, a series that I personally host in Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. Tekno took the win in 4x4SC(myself), 2nd and 5th in 4wd mod buggy (myself and Hunter LaFlower), and 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in 13.5 4wd buggy (Andrew Clark, Larry Pryor, Steve DeArmon).

I also was able to take the Overall Series win in 4wd Mod Buggy, Tekno also finished 1st and 2nd overall in 13.5 4wd Buggy with Andrew Clark and Steve DeArmon.

Big thank you to Tekno RC for the give away #EB410 for the novice class!”

Overall results:

TQ/1st: Tyler Hooks – Tekno SCT410.3

2nd: Doug Gilreath – Tekno SCT410.3

3rd: Myk Willis

SIGP offroad Race (CN), report by Jonathan Yeung:

“This was our the 2nd race in 2018. Top racers from USA, Japan, Czech, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Mainland China, Taiwan, Macau as well as Hong Kong participated in this race. It is was a three-day event, due to rain, we only had 2 hours practice on 14-Mar while local Chinese and Japan team have few more days to practice.
In Nitro Buggy class, Jonathan made solid rounds in controlled practice and qualifying, he ranked overall #6 to race in Semi-final odd. In the A-main final, Jonathan made his best lap record 34.488sec which is fastest lap time except for Ryan Lutz, two Japanese racers, and Kaja from Czech. It was a tight battle between Jonathan and Kaja (4th position) for the first 15 min. Just before the scheduled refuel lap, Jonathan’s car was flipped and no Marshall came to rescue at once, so engine stopped. After restarting the engine and back to race, Jonathan lost about 50sec. However, he was still in 5th position and ahead of Sam Chen by just a few seconds of margin. After 60min race, there was about a 50-second gap to the 4th position driver, Wataru Takashiro from Japan. As a result, Jonathan finished in 1st place for the All Chinese racer’s group. In the Electric Buggy controlled practice round, Jonathan made solid rounds and ranked #4 overall and enter Heat 5 in Qualify. In the final, Jonathan finished in 3rd place for Leg 1. After all 3 rounds, Jonathan was 5th position in the overall ranking and 2nd in All Chinese racer’s group.”

Overall results:

1st: Jonathan Yeung – Tekno NB48.4

2nd: Sam Chen

3rd: Zhan Wei

ROAR Region 2 1/10 Scale Offroad Series (US), report by Fred Perkins:

“On Saturday I ventured to NJ for the ROAR 1/10 region 2 1/10 scale series race # 3 held at T.A.P raceway in Williamstown NJ. The track just recently reopened after being closed for the last 3 months for renovations. Previous to the closing the track was an abrasive medium bite smooth semi-clay surface. Since the track had not been run on in 3 months tire choice would be up in the air. I arrived for practice with my 2wd and 4wd buggies right off the track from the previous week on high bite clay so I knew there might be some work to do to get up to speed. I watched a few rounds of practice while my batteries were charging and decided on running JConcepts Dirtweb tires in Green compound. This turned out to be the hot tire immediately. I made a few changes to my 2wd in order to help cope with the loose conditions but, other than a lighter front sway bar my EB410 was hooked up as usual. In round 1 I finished 2nd in 2wd stock and 1st in 4wd 13.5. Not much changed for the 2 following qualifiers as I ended up qualifying 2nd in 2wd stock and TQ in 4wd 13.5.

The mains were amazing! In 2wd I ran 2nd for most of the race, battling to make up time to catch the leader. With about 2 min left I caught the leader and we battled back and forth for the final 2 min. Diving in and out of corners doing every thing I could to pass but, it was not meant to be. I could not find a clean way to get around him so I settled for 2nd. In 4wd 13.5 I started on the pole. I got a clean start but on the last turn before the straight I hit the inside pipe and flipped the car over. After the marshal flipped my car over I was in 3rd place. I quickly caught up to second and my teammate Taylor Cooksey moved over to let me through as I was clearly faster. I then set my sights on 1st and within a lap I was able to catch up and pass for the lead. I never looked back leading the final 3 minutes to claim the win!
Overall it was a great weekend! ROAR runs and excellent program and the TAP crew did a great job getting ready in a short amount of time.
Congrats to all the other winners!
Right now I am 3rd in 2wd stock points and leading 4wd 13,5 points.
There are 2 more races to go in the series.
Thank you to my sponsors and teammates for their support!” 

Overall results:

TQ/1st: Fred Perkins – Tekno EB410

2nd: Thomas Lane

3rd: Bob Barry – Tekno EB410

Clubhouse Cash Race (US), report by Mike Legue:

Grass Roots Racing Series Round #4 (US), report by Dean Rock:

“I once again had another awesome weekend of racing this time at Channel Islands Raceway for round #4 of the GRRS series! In qualifying, I was able to TQ open truck, intermediate buggy, and qualify 2nd in open electric buggy. About five minutes into the truck main I had a steering servo issue but redeemed myself by finishing with a 1st in intermediate buggy and a 2nd in open electric buggy after a super close battle with Steve Harris. I want to give a huge thank you to Tekno RC for the awesome vehicles and most importantly my Mom and Dad!”

Overall results:

TQ/1st: Dean Rock – Tekno NB48.4

2nd: Ryan Kane

3rd: E-Clip Nikzat

NNN Winter Championship 2017/2018 (IE), report by Colin Whelan:

“Last weekend saw the conclusion of the 2017 / 2018 Navan Winter Championship. In Ebuggy. I managed to take top spot after a tough campaign against a number of top drivers in this class. Big thanks to Tekno RC and Modeltune for their continued support. Looking forward to a successful 2018 season.”

Overall results:

1st: Colin Whelan  – Tekno EB48.4

2nd: Kim Del Campo

3rd: David Yaffe

Thornhill Jr. Spring Series Round 3 (US), report by John Brett:

“The 3rd round of the Thornhill Jr. Spring Series held at Thornhill Racing Circuit in Hutto, Tx. 70 entries with 25 in 13.5 4wd, which made for some good racing. During practice I found myself making a few changes to get more steering out of the car with the narrower front tires of the Jcon Swagger. I decided on the Jcon’s due to their lighter weight, compared to the Prolines I was running before.
In the first qualifier, I had a pretty good run. Had fast lap times but a few mistakes cost me substantial time overall finishing in 2nd. Q2 was much more consistent with my laptimes within .6sec from slowest to fastest, finishing in 1st. Being .2sec off of TQ pace, the car was good but still felt the need for more turn in. Q3 was another good run. Finished in 2nd with a total time within .5sec of Q2. Was still turning decent lap times, so for the main I would leave the setup where it was. I would be starting 2nd on the grid for the main. The start of the A main was clean until we got to the chicane, where I found myself underneath the 3rd place car. It did cost us both time putting us about mid-pack. With everyone still bunched up, I was able to make it up to the 3rd place by the first lap. By lap 2 I was up to 2nd, where I remained til lap 7. My lap times were not as fast as my qualifiers, but my consistency paid off. On lap 7, a tumble by the leader allowed me to move by for 1st. On the next lap with the leader behind me, I took a different line through one section which landed me on the pipe. Was still in 2nd place by the time I got back on track. For the next several laps, 3rd place and I pretty much stuck close within a couple of seconds making for fun racing. On lap 15, the leader made a mistake on the infield table allowing me to move by for the lead again. With myself in the lead and the now 2nd place still in tow, we pretty much had a two car train lap after lap. He was keeping me honest as we pulled a gap on 3rd place. I ended up finishing in 1st, 1.2sec ahead of 2nd. Certainly enjoyed the close racing all day and am quite pleased with my results. While my lap times were a little slower in the main, consistency paid off in the end. With 3 more races in this series, I’m looking forward to the next. My EB410 has been great and getting faster every race, as I’m still trying different things to squeeze every bit I can out of the car.”

Overall results:

1st: John Brett – Tekno EB410

2nd: Alex Vaughan

3rd: Chris Allison

Hillbilly Hoedown (US), report by Brian Bush:

“The Hillbilly Hoedown is an annual trophy race that pulls racers from all over NY and even some racers from neighboring states combined with round 2 of the “triple crown” series. This is a fast carpet track with some fun features, this year sporting a fun step-up step-down taking up an entire corner. The EB410 fresh off clay had a slightly revised setup on her that turned out to be quite nice, using the center diff with 30k oil, the long rear brace with o-rings btw the chassis and brace and 25g of weight were the biggest changes. I would go out and set TQ round one, I would improve on TQ pace round two and throw down some of the fastest laps of the day taking the win in the A-main. No changes for the mains on setup, just good focus and I would lead start to finish, car was so consistent and fast and with no mistakes I would just break out early and really show what the Tekno eb410 was capable of.”

Overall results:

TQ/1st: Brian Bush – Tekno EB410

2nd: Nick Ottomaniello

3rd: Brian Stewart

ROAR region 2 10th scale series (US), report by Mark Kimley:

“On 3/24 I attended the ROAR region 2 10th scale series at TAP RC raceway in Williamstown NJ. It was a decent turnout with 76 entries. I ran 4wd mod buggy, there were 3 heats of those.

After 3 rounds of qualifying I was able to take TQ. In the A main I got a clean start and lead from start to finish to take the win. Fellow Tekno teammate Rich Chambers also joined me on the podium takin 3rd place!

I was a great, well run event.

Thank you to all my sponsors for your continued support.”

Overall results:

TQ/1st: Mark Kimley – Tekno EB410

2nd: Tom Petrella

3rd: Rich Chambers – Tekno EB410

Boothill Money Series (US), report by Steve DeArmon:

“The track at Boothill was big and fast, 190 feet down the front straight got you going pretty good, coming back into a 6 pack that most were triple-double and single out, elevation in the track was awesome doubling down and huge step-up in the back! The wind was definitely a factor as we got gust up to 30 mph, from the North then the south. I was able to get in a good 6 practices with my brand-new ET48.3 and she was money ! Setting the TQ, It was time to get ready for the triple A-Mains, leading every lap my Tekno wrapped up the championship in A-Mains 1 and 2, Tekno almost had a clean sweep as Team driver Aaron Royston from TX won the Nitro Truggy class and Team driver Marcus Carver from Bartlesville, Okla, won the Short Course class! Tekno made a great showing”

Overall results:

TQ/1st: Steve DeArmon – Tekno ET48.3

2nd: Todd Gunter 

3rd: Kasey Kielhorn