2023 Asian Buggy Championships Round 2 Results

Press Release From Action RC and Asian Buggy Championships:
www.asianbuggychamps.com

The 2023 Asian Buggy Championships headed south from its opening round at the Philippine Masters to the east-coast Australian city of Brisbane for round 2. Pine Hills Dirt Racing hosted the race at its beautiful oil-treated racetrack, drawing entries from across the Asia-Pacific region.

Nitro Buggy

Alex Bernadzik (Team Associated) led the field on a merry dance throughout qualifying. Hi picked up narrow wins in Q1, over track builder and Pine Hills Dirt Racing president Zac Ryan (HB), and Q2 ahead of Tekno’s Caleb Noble. Ryan picked up the narrowest of wins in Q3, before Bernadzik confirmed the TQ position with another win in Q4.

The final was a fantastic race. Small mistakes early from Bernadzik buried him in the field while Noble blazed away out front. A fuel-bottle issue at Caleb’s first stop let Alex back in the game, but it would not be until almost half-way through the 45 minute final that Alex would get right back to Noble’s rear bumper. Bernadzik snuck through and then put the hammer down over the back half of the race, building his lead out to almost a full lap by the flag. Noble continued in second, Zac Ryan third. Aaron Dexter was a strong, if somewhat lonely 4th, with 11-year-old Zac Foster an impressive fifth after a late-race pass on Andrew Foord.

Electric Buggy

Bernadzik was at it again in e-Buggy qualifying, and the outcome followed a now familiar pattern. He would pick up Q1 and Q2 with his Team Associated buggy, before Caleb Noble pried open the smallest of cracks and pushed the Tekno to the Q3 win. Alex would have none of it,

however, a Q4 win in the fastest time of the weekend putting his top-qualifier status beyond doubt. Noble would start second, ahead of regular 1/10 racer Christopher Sturdy (Team Associated). Sturdy had opted to use this race as part of his preparation for the upcoming 1/10 World Championships at Hobby Action Raceway.

In A1, Cable clung on gamely as Bernadzik blazed away out front, but eventually the pace told and Alex built a comfortable advantage he held to the flag. Noble would be second and Aaron Dexter (Team Associated) third in a powerful performance from 6th on the grid.

A2 followed a similar pattern – right up until Noble’s electronics cried “enough” on the last lap, in the afternoon heat. That dropped him out of the running, promoting Christopher Sturdy (Team Associated) to second and Dexter again third.

With Bernadzik sitting out A3, it was left to Noble to make the running. He duly did so until the very final lap when once again his electronics said ‘no more’, leaving him crestfallen as Sturdy, Jayden Edmunds (Team Associated) and Dexter slid by.

All of that left Bernadzik a deserved double-champion, from Sturdy and Noble.

Electric Truggy

Nathan Healy (HB) made the big trip from Melbourne to Brisbane for this race, and made it all worthwhile with a slashing performance in qualifying, scooping up all four wins, before big wins in A1 and A2 put it all beyond doubt. Mark Turner (Tekno) chased hard and then won A3 to confirm second spot, with Corey Tate (also Tekno) coming out on top in a hyper-competitive mid-field battle.

Nitro Truggy

Caleb Noble (Tekno) was the main in this class, winning three of the four qualifiers to start up front in a small but high-quality field.

The final went according to plan for Caleb, a good start followed by a tone-to-tone win in a brilliant drive. Tekno teammate Jackson Beale impressed with second, Queenslander Jordan Van getting around New Zealand’s Shane O’Connor to take third.

Junior Buggy (under 15 yrs)

Race promoter Scotty Ernst held a one-off Junior buggy final, to recognize and encourage the group of young drivers present at the event. Zac Foster at just 11 years of age is already battling it out in the open Nitro Buggy A final, and added the Junior Buggy win to the open class effort. TJ Craperi was a strong second from regular 1/10 racer Phenix Egglton. New Zealander Dylan Toia just miss out on a podium, coming home in fourth ahead of Cooper Nitschke and Lachie Lander. Tanner White, Maddie Noble, Riley Lander-West and Tyler Wooley rounded out the 10- strong field of junior racers as young as 9 years old.

Masters Nitro Buggy (45+ yrs)

Two ‘Masters’ classes for 45+ year-olds rounded out the class list. Ben Panic (HB) and Darren Perry (Tekno) split qualifying two apiece, but come finals time, Panic had no answer for the speed or consistency of Perry. Darren Cains (XRay) was the best of the rest for a fine performance.

Masters Electric Buggy (45+ yrs)

Panic again was fast, a dominant qualifying performance putting him on pole, and the hottest of favourites for the triple A finals. Hotter Sunday temperatures didn’t agree with Ben’s setup, however, and Simon Healy (father of Nathan, the Electric Truggy winner) pounced, taking two straight wins to wrap it up. Paul Mason, running for the first time since a Siler State appearance earlier in the year knocked the rusty spots off to impress with second, Darren Cains third courtesy of a late race flourish in A3.

All-in-all, this second round of the Asian Buggy Championship series was a resounding success. The Pine Hills Dirt Racing crew put together a fabulous race track, in beautiful parkland surroundings. Race organiser, Scotty Ernst paid tribute to the club, its volunteers, and those who travelled to race before confirming that details for the third round of the series would be announced shortly.

Event Resources and Contacts

Photos:

Podium photographs courtesy Asian Buggy Championships are available to download from:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1grWYW-YQdPAuo_54MjC3BhZFl4_qdMo2/view?usp=sharing

Full results:

Full results are available for viewing from https://abcrc.liverc.com/results/