LiveRC Weekend Round-up!

 

Welcome to another edition of the LiveRC.com Weekend Round-Up!

 

Here you will find all of the latest race results, race reports, and photos from the greatest racing all around the world!

 

 

 

Tessman Wins Battle of the Beach - Reedy Race Report
  

 

 

Sunny Lake Havasu, Arizona, was once again the site for the Battle at the Beach. Over one hundred racers from throughout the Southwest participated in a variety of electric and nitro classes. This race event is always considered to be one of the most enjoyable events to attend, thanks to the laid-back atmosphere and excellent track preparation.

Congratulations to Ty, the participants, and the race organizers for yet another excellent event.
 

 

  
Xray wins German Regional Champs - XRAY Race Report
 

 

With Luca only joining buggy racing in 2009 and after being unable to take part in all of the Hesse Cup dates in 2010 due to conflicting schedules, we wanted to make sure we competed in all eight races in 2011. Our aim was to make the top 10 in the amateur ranking and we hoped with a bit of luck to even make it into the top five.

We got our hands on the 2011 XRAY XB808 after the Toy Fair in Nuremburg. Bertram Kessler had brought Luca onboard the SMI team as a team driver. Between the Hesse Cup rounds we also took part in the two German Championship races. This was a great opportunity for Luca to gain experience and for the car to demonstrate its extreme stability. The bearing problems from 2010 were a thing of the past. With Luca’s performance closing in on that of his team mate Simon Eser, both were able to work together on getting a good set-up. A win for Simon put him fourth in the expert classification.

This year’s buggy season kicked off with a Hesse Cup race on synthetic turf in Kirchhain. Both Luca Bethke in the amateur classification and Simon Eser in the expert classification quickly regained their form of the previous year, but each only managed third place in their respective classes. The amateurs’ final was pretty much dominated by Benny Queisser (also driving XRAY/Orcan) who took the top spot.

The second race of the season was the international warm-up in Bischofsheim and, with around 200 drivers taking to the rostrum, the level was very high. We found a good set-up early on in the race, which meant both drivers were able to place well. Luca kept moving up through the qualifiers on Sunday, while Simon’s 14th place after the qualifiers put him straight in the semi-final. From there he moved into the final and took 13th overall.

The third round of the Hesse Cup was hosted by RCR Peterberg, where our performance streak continued with Luca taking a convincing win in the amateur classification. Unfortunately, damage to Simon’s connecting rod meant he was unable to convert his winning speed from the qualifying round into an overall victory.

The next race saw us in Rodgau. The set-up we had worked on for the warm-up turned out to be optimal for this track. Both Luca and Simon set the pace in their respective categories, but fate was not on our side. The engines of both drivers stalled in the final as a result of testing fuel with a different mixture. Luca was still able to make it into second place but Simon’s engine cut out with just a few metres to go to the finish line and after having a lead of almost a full lap he lost more than a lap in total putting him into fourth in the final ranking.

Unfortunately, the race in Linsengericht had to be stopped during the lunch break after it started to rain heavily. The final positions were based on the ranking after the qualifiers, which meant Simon finally got to celebrate his first victory after being the fastest qualifier for the third time in succession. In contrast, over the season Luca had performed better in the finals and thus lost out on a top placing this time.

The next Hesse Cup race in Fulda, however, gave Luca the opportunity to show his mettle once again in the amateur category, where he virtually dominated the final and stormed to victory with a one-lap lead over the winner of the expert classification.

The next round took place on home turf at our local track in Bischofsheim. Our high expectations weren’t fulfilled in the end, though. Minor problems meant Luca didn’t make it through to the final and, despite once again being fastest in the qualifiers, Simon was unfortunately pipped at the post by his club colleagues Maxi Cordts and Gehard Frank.

This race was followed by a summer break, which meant the German Championships and the European A Championships in Sand am Main were on the agenda. Simon got hold of a place in the EC at very short notice and took part with relatively little preparation. Nevertheless, his driving kept improving as the event progressed and he managed to bump up twice. Simon gave a great performance among a field of 180 very professional drivers from across Europe and took 94th position.

The first of the two German Championships races was held in Schwedt an der Oder. Our car was on top form and Simon just missed qualifying directly for the semi-final by 0.1 seconds. Luca drove very smoothly and consistently on Sunday, managing to bump up three times. In the quarter finals, however, Simon lost both his concentration and a place in the semis.

The second race took pace in Welden in Bavaria, which has a unique track thanks to its concrete-like surface and ‘leap of faith’ jump. Unfortunately, our lack of experience on this track meant we couldn’t fine-tune our set-up or find the right line until very late into the race. Consequently, our placing wasn’t quite what we had hoped for.

The penultimate race of the Hesse Cup season was back in Fulda where Luca managed to repeat his mid-season win. After taking the lead mid-way through the race in bad weather, Simon had to concede defeat to Gerhard Frank, putting him – as so often recently – one place behind in second.

The season final took us to a great track in Obermörlen and with the Indian summer weather the starting grid was full to bursting. Luca settled into a good rhythm right from the start and Simon found a set-up that let him drive very confidently and fast after testing several configurations in the set-up of Team XRAY’s new addition, Reno Savoya.
Simon won the semis and went into the final in pole, but by the end of the race was trailing Maxi Cordts by just 2 seconds after a tough battle that saw both drivers secure a one-lap lead over third place. Luca once again was top of the amateur leader board and drove to victory in the final. After dropping back at the start, he managed to lap virtually the entire field and finished almost an entire lap ahead of second place.

This excellent performance secured Luca not only the top spot in the amateur classification but also the youth classification and the overall title of winner of the Hesse Cup.

Congratulations!

This triple win was also celebrated by Simon back in 2009 driving SMI XRAY with Orcan engines.

Many thanks to everyone in the Kessler family for their fantastic support and a very constructive and friendly relationship. Thanks too to A. Kobler for providing the top quality Silkion oils. And thank you to Gerhardt for giving us some good advice on what tyres to use.

Thanks from Simon for the support from Savöx-Servos, whose products worked all year without any problems whatsoever and saved huge amounts of energy whilst demonstrating fast movement times and precision.

Last, but certainly not least, thanks of course to Christoph Bethke who not only made it possible for Luca to celebrate this victory, but also made sure Simon was always well looked after and was always on hand to help with anything whether it was model car-related or not. None of this would have been possible without him.

Many thanks! We have had a lot of fun throughout the entire season.

We are now looking forward to next year, Luca and Simon will both be driving in the expert classification.

Thanks again to everyone involved in buggy racing – we’ve enjoyed it immensely.

 

 

 
Ryan Lutz wins Byron Fuels Western Challenge - Team Durango Race Report
 

 

 

Ryan Lutz took an impressive TQ and Win at the Byron Fuel Western Cup, held at the Revelation Raceway in Southern California. Ryan fought off stiff competition from Adam Drake and Cody King to take the top step on the podium with his DNX408.

In the A-main it was another crazy start with no one wanting to lead at first. The sun had gone down and it was a challenge to see your car as there was some dark areas on an already challenging track. Drake, King, and I all took turns leading for the first 2 or 3 laps but eventually I would assume the lead and start throwing down some fast laps. I worked at staying clean and if I made a mistake made sure I put in a couple faster laps right after it to get my cushion back to where I was comfortable. My Alpha A852 engine was screaming fast and my Byrons Fuel was keeping the tune nice and consistent for the whole run. I ended up keeping the pace and taking the victory in the end of the 30 min main. Another victory for my Durango DNX408 Buggy! All day I ran AKA SS Impacts. (must be some kind of conspiracy or something because this is two weeks in a row i’ve ran SS tires!) Either way though they were dialed all day!
 

 

 
JQ is the Korean National Champion - JQ Race Report
 

 
Joseph Quagraine of JQ Products made his way to Korea for the Korean 1/8 National Championship. JQ put THE Car out front taking the win, but not without a few stories to go along with it. Check out the full report and pictures by clicking HERE!

 

 

 
Winter Series kickoff at CRCRC - JConcepts Race Report
 
 

 

Race Reporter: JP Richards

The next series race is on November 19th, if you are there stop by and check out the JC products and ask any questions that you might have.
 

 

 
Aussiemove Championship Report - OCR Raceway Report

 

 

Pro Buggy put on some fantastic hard and fast racing with 2 track records broken again this round , with the Tony Knauth RB - MBX6 setting a new Holeshot record at 49.05 seconds and topping the FTD record by 10 seconds which is now set at 13 laps 485.427 seconds. Knauth dominating the series winning 5 of the 7 rounds and placing second in the others, Tim Nicol Serpent - Ninja coming on strong to finish second outright for the series, but it was Sergio Manalvo - MBX6 - OS taking the number 2 spot on the podium for the final round, relegating Nicol to third place ahead of Nathan Tampe - Hyper 9 and Phil Ciccone - MBX6. Although it was Marc Christianson using the last of his dropped rounds to retain third outright in the series. 

 

 

 

It's been another great series of racing at OCR thanks to our valued sponsors - Aussiemove International Movers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The RC Pro US Series 16 took place September 23 in Harlingen, Texas. This race was turning out to be quite crucial for me (David Joor) if I wanted to continue my points lead to defend my RCP Electric National Title. Two years ago when I got into electric 1:8 scale I won the RCP Finals, and in 2010 I took home the RCP Electric National Title. The points setup has changed this year, which means so has the game. I was leading the points; Mitchel Gardner, who was fierce competition at last year's Finals, was second. Jake Dillinger, who is in my region, has really been coming into his own this year, making every race a battle. I knew he would be attending this race. If he took a TQ and win here, he would become the new points leader. So I grabbed my Associated RC8.2s and took the venture down south.

I took the first electric main but Dillinger made a charge back in the second main to take the win, so it was all up to the third main. This was embarrassing, but in the third main I lost such control of the car in the most difficult section of the track that I went over the pipe and had a head-on collision with fourth place! Getting back on the other side, I continued to follow Dillinger for two laps - literally a foot or two behind in each corner - trying to make him crack. Right when I began to think he wasn't going to, he traction-rolled in the sweeper and cartwheeled off the track. So I went on to win the third main. This gave me maximum points of 218 going into the finals because I TQd, led most laps, and won two RCP events! Dillinger and Gardner are now tied for second with 210.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Report by Alberto Garcia

Last weekend, the last round of the Spanish Nationals was held at CARTT track, with 125 drivers taking part in the event.

On friday practice the track was very slippery on the first laps, getting a higher grip at the end of the day looking at qualifications rounds on Saturday.

After a very competitive qualifications, Robert Battle was TQ'd followed by Bryan Baldo and Borja Hernandez. Alberto Garcia finished in a good 4th place, with a very good setup for the finals, getting the second fastest time in the last qualification round on the day.

On sunday, semifinales was running at 14:00 pm. Robert Battle won the first semifinal, and Alberto Garcia won the another semifinal (Batlle was nine seconds faster than Garcia), who started the main final from grid #2.

The 45minutes finals started with Robert and Garcia getting a gap in the first laps from the rest of the drivers, being Daniel Vega in 3rd place.

After a Batlle's mistake, Garcia got the leadership, keeping it after the first refilling. Batlle and Garcia had different refilling time strategy (Batlle at 7:40 and Garcia over 9minutes), and both were running very close, changing the leadership frequently.

With seven minutes to go, Garcia made a mistake, and Robert took a gap of some important seconds.

At the end, Garcia pushed as hard as he could, finisihing with 64laps 45:01 minutes. Robert Batlle won the race in spite of crossing the finish line before the 45minutes and suffering a flame out in the 65th lap, finally finising the race with 64laps 44:50minutes.

Great job for Serpent Spain, getting a very stable setup between all our drivers & being supported by Jorge Porcar in the pit area.

Finals results:

1º Robert Batlle - Mugen/Novarossi/Procircuit
2º Alberto Garcia - Serpent/RB/Proline
3º Dani Vega - Agama/Orion/AKA

 

 

 

 

 

 

"This was the largest class of the event with 23 entries. Starting 5th in the A I decided I was going to make a hard push to the front early so the leaders didn't get away early. This played out well for me, after the second lap I had takin the lead and started stretching the gap. I would continue on uncontested and lapping the entire 12 truck field, except 2nd and 3rd which were 9 and 20 seconds back! My Tekin RX8/Pro4 powered Ofna Nexx 10SC was a rocket ship and was on rails! As always I have to thank Ofna, Tekin, Avid, BCE and Fastlane Graphix for their awesome support and products! They help me go fast and look good every week!"  -Jubal Dike

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