Tekno RC Team Report Week 4-5, 2018
A very successful couple of weeks in USA, South Africa and Puerto Rico! Congratulations to Tekno RC Team drivers Tayler Wonders, Brian Bush, Mike Legue, Tag Georges, Orlando Lebron, Matt Breasbois, Patrick Rossiter, Steve DeArmon, Eric Fletcher, David Hemenway, Jared Wiggins and Akshay Patel for their wins! Report from each race follows:
TCRC TopGun Shootout (US), report by Tayler Wonders:
“TCRC’s big race of the year. With the typical format of Friday practice, Saturday qualifying and Sunday mains. The local crew did a great job of building a fun, technical track that made for good racing. Drivers from all over the Northwest came to race on the ozite carpet with slicks.
The EB410 really felt great as the grip came up over the weekend. I was able to take TQ for three of the four rounds of qualifying. Going into the mains, I felt very confident with the car and would win A1 and A2 to take the overall win.”
Overall results:
TQ/1st: Tayler Wonders – Tekno EB410
2nd: Darren Shank
3rd: Mccoy Starkey
Winterblast 2018 Race (US), report by Brian Bush:
“EB410 was on point all day, started out the morning soldering in a new motor and used my base setup.. with the current layout I added just a little ride height. Then I was able to spend some time helping a local dial in his EB410 getting him the base he needed to eventually make the A-Main. Round one went well setting early TQ but with a little push I decided to give the 4wd front swaggers a go and it was a great move. Round two I threw the fastest lap of any class, and the fastest qual time as well. Round three I would dial in further and reset TQ one more time. The A-Main was coming up and I knew I needed to stay clean and get out.. lap one I tagged a pipe and got a lucky hit only losing 1 position, and tucked in behind waiting for a mistake from the leader to get back out front. The leader was holding solid lines closing the door all over, finally several laps later he went wide in the front section and opened the door for a clean inside pass, I took it.. he tried to get it back but I beat him to the next corner as well.. he wasn’t going to give up and very aggressively punched it over the center jump to try and get it back and he paid for it as it cost him a wreck.. after a lap or two to settle down I locked in and just checked out the EB410 was untouchable. Great event, this is my second trophy race at Underground Raceway, they always put on a nice show and look forward to making it back out.”
Overall results:
TQ/1st: Brian Bush – Tekno EB410
2nd: Dylan Zacharias
3rd: Reid McMicheals
Mid Winter Blast Race (US), report by Mike Legue:
“Man, what a killer day yesterday at RC Clubhouse Hobby Shop & Race Track for the Mid Winter Classic race! With a grand total of 262 entries, it would shape up to be an amazing day of racing in all classes! I ended up running Mod 2wd Buggy, Mod 4wd Buggy and E-Buggy as well. As usual, the layout was awesome with tons of big jumps, yet still pretty high speed!
I headed out Friday after work for some much-needed practice. Considering I spent all last weekend running the big cars down at CRCRC, I knew it would take a little to get back in the groove of baby buggies. All 3 cars felt excellent as usual. After qualifying was over on Saturday, I ended up taking TQ honors in Mod 4wd, as well as E-Buggy. I qualified 2nd in mod 2wd as well, just missing the trifecta!
Come main time, my cars were unstoppable. I had some excellent battles with Abler and Richard Holtzman in Mod 2wd, but would squeak out the win in the last few laps beating Rich by just over a second! In mod 4wd, my Tekno RC EB410 really couldn’t be touched all day. I would lead the race wire to wire, only making 1 small bobble the entire time. In E-Buggy my EB48.4 was excellent as usual, and I took the win after again leading wire to wire!”
Overall results:
Winter Ice Breaker Points Series (US), report by Tag Georges:
“This was the first race of the Winter Ice Breaker Points Series at Sun City RC Raceway where I ran Nitro buggy with my NB48.4 and Electric buggy with my EB48.4. I did not get to practice for this race as I was helping get the track ready and assisting other drivers.
In the first qualifier in Nitro Buggy, I would get a decent, clean run in putting me 3rd for the round behind Casey Peck and Chuck Hicks. In Electric Buggy, I would start off great and about 4 minutes into the race my left rear shock shaft would pull out of the shock body so I pulled it in early to fix it. In the 2nd round of qualifying, I would make plenty of mistakes in Nitro Buggy putting me 6th for that round which would qualify me 5th for the A Main. In Electric Buggy, I put in one of the fastest runs I have ever had with my EB48.4, which would land me the TQ position.
The electric buggy main was first for me. Once the tone sounded, Tekno Teammate Corbyn Showers and I would get a great start and stretch a half track lead on the rest of the field. Corbyn and I battled for the first 7 minutes of the 10 minute main, but I would capitalize on a small mistake he made and would finish 1st with an 8-second lead. In Nitro Buggy, I didn’t have as great of a start as in Electric Buggy. After the first couple of corners, the car in front of me would get hung on a pipe which collected me as well. Once we got marshaled, I found myself in 10th place. I concentrated on being consistent and avoiding rough parts of the track and I found myself in 3rd just before pit stops. My pit crew would have an awesome first pit, and after leaving the pit area I was in 2nd. For the rest of the 20-minute main, I would stay a consistent distance from Casey Peck and would finish 2nd. Overall, it was a very good race for me and my equipment. Shortly before this race, I decided to put away my Truggy for a while to concentrate on making my buggies as good as they could be and to improve myself as a driver.”
Overall results:
TQ/1st: Tag Georges – Tekno EB48.4
2nd: Corbyn Showers – Tekno EB48.4
3rd: Jeseh Rivera
SOR Round 1 (PR), report by Orlando Lebron:
“This weekend was held in Fajardo RC Track the 1st Round of SOR Championship 2018. The Teknos were ready for battle it was in practice cars were good just some minors adjustment in ride height and cambers, and set for qualifying in E-Buggy ran a clean run doing TQ for the event in the A-Main I had a bad start and finished 5th but in A-2 and A-3 I was able to win both mains giving and the victory. For the nitro part, it was a decent performance qualified 5th and finished in the same position. Thanks TEKNO for the support!”
Overall results:
TQ/1st: Orlando Lebron – Tekno EB48.4
2nd: Eluid Hernandez
3rd: Edgardo Rodriguez
Winter Nationals (US), report by Matt Bresbois:
“This was a 2 day race built up in a indoor arena. I showed up Friday early and helped with track build and broke in a new engine. I decided to only run Nitro Truggy and Buggy so I had a little more time to tune on my cars. Qualifying went nice and smooth on Saturday, made some small changes and tried different tires. I ended up qualifying 4th in Buggy and 8th in Truggy. On Sunday the temperature dropped quite a bit and the track became really loose, and by the time the nitro mains came around the track was pretty blown out. Truggy was up first, I was able to avoid the first turn wrecks and bump right away to 4th, by lap 3 I was in the lead and just stayed calm and steady with no wrecks and was able to finish ahead by 2 laps. Buggy was a little rougher, being third I had plenty of cars on my bumper to start, I settled out in 4th, with a rough 2nd pit stop where my tank didn’t get filled all the way I flamed about 10ft from the loop. I lost about 2 laps putting me back to 7th for the finish”
Overall results:
1st: Matt Breasbois – Tekno NT48.3
2nd: Corey Bosworth
3rd: Neil Fore
2018 Southern Indoor Championship (US), report by Patrick Rossiter:
“Dad and I made the 6-hour trek to Alabama Friday morning. Props to Bobby Moore and RC TrackMasters for a great layout and to Lance MacDonald for the smooth and strict race program with almost 600 entries! My Teknos felt great on the challenging and ever-changing surface. It was all down to tires! Luckily with JConcepts on site, as well as Jeff Keeton to make sure they were glued properly, I had what I needed to get the job done! Qualifying went well and I took TQ honors in E-Truggy and by the grace of God, took the final position in the A Main (P13) of Pro E Buggy! Main day was a waiting and watching game. In E-Truggy, A1 was a bad tire decision on my part and unfortunately, my body caught the brunt of angry driving. I regrouped for A2 to get a win and then had an epic battle with John Bernard in A3. In the end, I secured the overall win and defended my title for the 3rd year in a row! In Pro E-Buggy, the groove was very narrow and patience was running thin with all of us. After all 3 mains, I would finish 8th overall. I want to thank Matt Wolter, Jared Wiggins, John Bernard, Donnie Ward Jr., James Calhoun, and all my Tekno teammates for all their help and support! Thanks to J.R. Mitch and Jeff Keeton for the JConcepts support! And as always thank you to all my friends, family, and sponsors”
Overall results:
TQ/1st: Patrick Rossiter – Tekno ET48.3
2nd: John Bernard Jr – ET48.3
3rd: Kyle Phillips
Oklahoma Hobbies Pay Out Series (US), report by Steve DeArmon:
“1st annual series race #1, practice went well, lowered the ride height to 19 mm front and rear 1 1/2 toe out, 2degree camber fr and rear, the EB410 was flawless and glued to the track! Won all 3 qualifying rounds by 10 seconds or more and was the only car with 20 laps in the 4 wheel 13.5 wheeler class! Went on to win both A-Mains for a clean sweep, got to show a lot of people the Tekno EB410 and the TEKNOLogy behind the design”
Overall results:
TQ/1st: Steve DeArmon – Tekno EB410
2nd: Jeremy Jones
3rd: Jason Mackey
January Jam (US), report by Eric Fletcher:
“Race was held at Fastlane Raceway just outside Blue Springs Missouri. With a lot of fast regional racers on a challenging track, I was able to TQ both 13.5T 4wd and SCT 4wd. The mains where a little rough but I was able to hang onto 2nd place with 13.5 4wd and I took the win in 4wd SCT.”
Overall results:
TQ/1st: Eric Fletcher – Tekno SCT410.3
2nd: Tim Wiechens
3rd: Adam Wietrick
Full Throttle Freeze (US), report by David Hemenway:
“Full Throttle always brings out the best surface, track designs, and a smooth race program from the Kothmans. This year’s annual Freeze event was no different, except perhaps raising the bar even higher. The track was easy to get around, but very hard to get around super fast and clean at the same time with chicanes, big air, multiple lines, corner jumps, angled tables, and corner rollers. With an entry count over 220 while at least 3 other tracks in the area decided to schedule over the top of the event, bringing in people from Canada and further south in the US, it showed that this is one of the events you simply HAVE to make in the north east.
I would lock up the TQ in eBuggy with my EB48.4 after the first 2 rounds of qual point wins. In the main I would battle with Trevor for a bit, but eventually broke away for the win once my driving settled down. Richard would round out the podium in third, running the EB48 SL.”
Overall results:
TQ/1st: David Hemenway – Tekno EB48.4
2nd: Trevor Wilke
3rd: Richard Watkins – Tekno EB48SL
Tekno Indoor Off-Road Champs (US), report by Jared Wiggins:
“This weekend was the Tekno Indoor Off-Road Champs at Race Em RC! First off, thanks to Matt Wolter and Justin Zaugg for making this race happen, as well as Joe Bornhorst for making the trip out! While I have done a bit of club racing with 1/10, this would be my first multi-day 1/10 race and with regional and national level drivers the racing would be awesome. Everything worked well in Qualifying, taking all 3 rounds of E-Buggy to start 1st, a 3 and a 3 in 4whl to start 3rd and a 5th and 6th in 2whl to sneak into the main! After some great racing in all 3 mains, I would take E-Buggy after A1 and A2, doing the backstretch jump every lap! In 4whl I would get a 2 and a 3 to lock in 3rd overall! And 2whl a 4 and 5 to take home 5th! Overall I had an awesome weekend and couldn’t have asked anything more out of my equipment! Thanks to all my Sponsors and Parents for their Support, and my Girlfriend Kylie for all the stellar pictures! On to DNC!”
Overall results:
TQ/1st: Jared Wiggins – Tekno EB48.4
2nd: Gregg McCarty
3rd: Chris Madsen – Tekno EB48.4
KZN 2018 Regional Championship (ZA), report by Akshay Patel:
“The opening race for the 2018 season was one of the most fun races I’ve ever had. I was a bit concerned that without any practice and so many recent additions to the track I would struggle to find a good pace especially after not racing at Mandalay Raceway for well over a year. The threat of thundershowers was evident throughout the day however we were fortunate enough to get through the day before the heavy rain reached the track.
With about 5 minutes of practice in E-Buggy and a tank in Nitro Buggy I was able to find my lines around the track and felt comfortable with my setup. I managed to TQ electric buggy and earned the 3rd place starting spot on the grid for nitro.
After much messing around with Dean Steenmans, he threw away the race with a mistake on the last lap to give me the lead. In nitro buggy Dean and I had a great run in the beginning until I made mistake after mistake and got lapped after 5 minutes, however, Dean gave me race again by running out of fuel to lose his one lap lead. The race was intense until the end where I was able to secure the win due to Dean flaming out on the last lap.
Had a great first race of the year, a big thanks to the Mandalay crew for prepping an awesome track. And as always, thanks to my sponsors who make this all possible.”
Overall results: