Author: Randy Pike

Heritage RC Park in Chula Vista, CA hosted the 11th Annual Sidewinder Nitro Explosion on September 6-7. Three rounds of qualifying on Saturday, with A-Main events on Sunday. The track was watered every third heat for the qualifiers, and before every main event on Sunday.

Competition for this event would be Ryan Cavalieri, Ryan Maifield, Cody Smith, Don Vinkemulder, Mark Pavidis, Chris Marrale, Mike Moralez, Cody King, Sean Gaffney, Mikey Bustamante and Colin Herzig, Greg Degani and a number of very fast local racers.

Starting off for the double 10 minute A mains Tekin would have Mikey Bustamante 2nd, Sanford sitting 3rd,

A1 of E Buggy had Cavalieri to an early lead. Tekin teammates Bustamante and Sanford were battling it out until Bustamante would clip a pipe collecting Sanford. Sanford would get the best of it and take the 2nd position. While running out in P2 a lapped car would cross the lane collecting Sanford allowing Bustamante to take P2 to the end. Sanford would settle for P3, Panek would take a 5th for the round.

A2 of E Buggy would be a different story.  Sanford would dodge a few mishaps on the track early on allowing him to settle into P2. Cavalieri in P1 traction rolled hard at the end of the straight allowing Sanford to take the lead.  Leading for the next few laps fending off a hard charging  Cavalieri. Sanford would get loose allowing Cavalieri to get along side both entering the  big drop off section. Sanford flat landed trying to get to the corner first and the two drivers collided. Cavalieri and Sanford would both land rubber side down but Cavalieri would get the best of it taking the lead. Sanford would take P2 finishing the race without further mistakes. Combined points had Cavalieri 1st, Sanford 2nd, and Panek 3rd, Bustamante 5th.

Both Tekin drivers chose the award winning Tekin Rx8 Gen2 and T8 1900 Gen2 motor to help power them to a podium spot.

L to R Sanford, Cavalieri, Panek

The Intergalactic Buggy Championship held at RCHQ this past weekend was a big hit. Tekin powered Tyler Hooks recaps his successful weekend.

“All my cars were working awesome throughout qualifying and I ended up qualifying very well! Qualifying Results:

Pro Buggy 4th, 1/8 E-buggy 2nd, 2wd Buggy TQ, 4wd Buggy TQ.

The 2wd and 4wd buggy A-Mains went very well with wins in both! E-Buggy I ended up second after a hard fought battle with Xray’s Spencer Harrison.  Overall it was a great weekend! My Tekin equipment was awesome!

Equipment I used:
2wd Buggy: RS Gen 1, Gen 1 8.5
4wd Buggy: RSX, Gen 2 6.5
E-buggy: RX8 Gen 2, 1900 Gen 2

Starting from his Tq position with his Tekin RSX Redline Gen2 8.5 powered Xfactory x60cf gave Justin Griswold a pretty uneventful main. Minimal mistakes allowed Justin to lead from start to finish.

“The track director had to see the truck to believe that it was only an 8.5. The truck had a tendency to pull wheelies all the way down the straight.”  Justin Griswold

In the  1/8 Scale E-Buggy class Lucas Sanford would run a flawless race finishing second, on the same lap as world champ Ryan Cavalieri. Boquiren took the final podium spot. Lucas’s Kyosho MP9e TKI was powered by the award winning Tekin RX8 Gen2 esc and Redline T8 Gen2 1900 motor which “performed perfectly all day.”

Silver Dollar RC was the Labor Day Shootout U.S Pro Cup finals. Track layout was put in by the one and only Joey Dirt. Jacob Haas started off the weekend by TQ’ing the first two rounds of Pro E-Buggy. Since it was qual points Haas opted out of running round 3. In E-buggy main Haas started off strong while having a great battle with Tekin/TLR teammate Phillip Atondo, was able to hang on and get the win. “I ran my trusty 2050 T8 motor with the award winning Tekin RX8 esc.” Jacob Haas

Jacob and Phillip both ran the following Tekin Products:

Tekin Rx8 Gen2 Esc, Tekin T8 Gen2 motor, Tekin Hotwire 2.0.

The “Triple Crown Summer Series” over at Maixmus R/C Raceway in York, ME. The series consisted of one race each month during the months of June, July, and August and averaged 70 plus entries at each event. Racers from all over New England would gather on a summer Saturday night to race r/c cars and win the Triple Crown.

Tekin powered Scott Furtado would take the Mod Stadium Truck class victory running a Tekin RSX and 8.5 Gen2 Redline motor.  “Overall it was a great series and came away with the championship.” Scott Furatdo

As the summer months are winding down, midwest racers are beginning to hang up the 1/8 scales and prepare for the 1/10 scale winter season. Fastlane Raceway in Blue Springs, Missouri hosted the Awesome August 2014 event this past weekend, providing racers one final 1/8 scale race before turning their focus to the upcoming ROAR 1/10 Region 8 Championships later this month.

The largest class of the weekend was the 1/8 E-Buggy class. Tekin’s Mike Garrison would take the overall TQ spot in qualifying, and carried on to win the E-Buggy final from start to finish with his Tekin Rx8 Gen2 1900 T8 Gen2 TLR 8ight E 3.0 buggy! Local racers Marc Moody and Sam Reed would finish out the podium, and put a close to an ‘Awesome August’ of 1/8 scale racing.

This past weekend, the Psychotic Productions crew had their Annual Wicked Weekend in Gainesville, GA. It was a great event with a very race-able track, piling in just over 400 entries.

There were four rounds of qualifying Saturday. Dylan Gerad was able to TQ all four rounds with his Tekin powered TLR SCTE 2.0. The RX8 Gen2 esc paired up with the Pro4 4300HD motor had his truck on rails all weekend. On main day, Gerad was able to win A1 and A2 to take the overall win. Tekin Teammate Martin Harrison, after starting second on the grid finished a strong second place with his Tekin powered SCTE 2.0. Bobby Moore would round out the Podium in third.

Pro E-Buggy had 34 racers competing this weekend.  Four great qualifiers allowed Shay Brand and Griffin Hanna to start in the 1st and 2nd on the grid. They ran 3 10min mains and took your best 2 out of 3 runs for your overall. The first main Hanna and Brand traded places a few times but Shay ended up with win 1 and Griffin 2. The second round Griffin was able to get a win which tied the two racers. Going into the last round it was anybodies to win. A small mistake by Brand allowed Hanna to get by early on. Shay kept the pressure on and Griffin made a mistake which let Tekin teammate Shay Brand to get the overall win with Griffin Hanna in the 2nd spot with 3rd going to Losi driver Cole Ogden. Both drivers chose the award winning Tekin Rx8 Gen 2 esc and T8 Series of motors.

Round #5 of the Northwest Championship Tour was held in Lewiston, Idaho this past weekend. Racers from all over the Northwest came to compete on one of the largest tracks in the region. Friday afternoon brought a storm that most were calling a “Monsoon” which left the track with a large and deep lake in the middle and flooded pit spots everywhere. The RC Car Club of Lewiston did an incredible job of pumping thousands of gallons of water off the track and the use of lots of sawdust to get the track ready to start qualifying by 11am on Saturday.

Before

After

In the Mod Truck class, team driver Shane Preugschat ran solid all weekend and was rewarded with a 3rd on the weekend.

In the 4wd mod class team driver Nick Buechler would dig himself a bit of a hole qualifying 7th, however in the mains he was able to step it up and find his way to the front pack and secure a podium finish.

In the E-Buggy class, Nick Buechler would lead the way for the mains, but it was fellow Tekin driver Jeremy Potter who would take A1 with Nick in 2nd. In A2 Jeremy and Nick would find themselves battling it out again for the lead but some bobbles between the two would allow Mike Dana to run away with the victory and an A3 to decide the outcome. In A3, like previous main all three drivers swapped the lead, however in the end it was Nick who took the win followed by Jeremy and Mike, bringing it down to a tiebreaker for the win, in the end Jeremy would edge out his fellow Tekin/Hot Bodies teammate for the overall by 4 seconds. All three drivers chose the award winning RX8 Gen 2 and T8 Gen 2 line of motors.

Delta RC hosted the 4th annual Off-road Kings this past weekend. This years track layout was built by Ken Johns. With over 120 entries along with a Reedy Race format in the the 2wd Mod Invite, 17.5 Invite, and 4wd Mod Buggy Invite, those that attended were rewarded with some of the best racing Norcal r/c racers can be offered! Racers from all over Northern California converged to race on the high grip surface. Racing was tight, super fun and super fast all weekend long!

L to R: Eric Albano, Curtis Door, Ken Johns

2wd Invite Mod Buggy was some of the tightest fastest racing of the weekend. Tekin powered Curtis Door would take the overall after the Reedy Race format 8 A-main race format.  Curtis chose the Tekin RSX esc and Redline Gen2 7.5 motor to power his RB6 buggy win.

L to R: Mason Eppley, Jacob Haas, Kyle Turner

Jacob Haas locked up the Tq in the 1/8 E Buggy class and went on to take the overall win. Joining him on the podium were two young up and coming drivers Kyle Turner and Mason Eppley both running Tekin as well for a Tekin podium sweep of the class. All 3 chose the Tekin Rx8 Gen2 esc and T8 line of motors.

Top 3 4wd Buggy Invite 1) Kyle Turner 2) Jesse Stark 3) Sean Catucci

Kyle Turner would take the 4wd Mod Buggy Invite class win after an epic race against Off-road Kings race promoter Jesse Stark.  Kyle chose Tekin to power his 4wd buggy to a win.