Author: Randy Pike

Andy Castellini qualified well Tq’ing Mod truck, 2nd in Mod 2wd Buggy, and 2nd in Spec 17.5 Short Course.


Long 10 minute mains were tough on all involved. Andy finished up the event with a 2nd in Mod Truck, 3rd in 2wd Mod Buggy, and 2nd in Spec 17.5 Short course. This was Andy’s first time with a 17.5 short course.


Andy used the following winning combinations:


Mod Truck: RS Pro 8.5 Redline
2 Wheel Mod: RSPRO & 10.5 Redline
Short Course 17.5 Spec : RSPRO & 17.5 Redline

“The 2011 JBRL was off to a great start at Hotrod Hobbies in Valencia,Ca. With around 280 entries it was one heck of a long day for all the racers. After my last years performance in the SuperStock classes I decided to run Mod this year, hoping to gain experience with running with some of the pro guys such as Mike Truhe, Frank Root ,Hupo Hongio, Jurn Numann, along with many other rising talent. In my Mod 4wd I was sitting 3rd after both qualifiers only to line up behind both of Team Durangos factory guys sent here from different countries to start practicing for next weeks Cactus Classic. In 2wd I put in my best run in the first qually to which put me just under a second off TQ, sitting behind Frank Root and in front of Mike Truhe, both from the TLR camp. But after a quick pace in the second round from both of the Durango guys I was bumped back down to 5th on the starting grid.

After waiting all day to race around 8:30 my first main which was mod 4wd was up and I was more than ready to grap the wheel. Turn one was fairly clean and everyone got out only a spot or two from where they started. I came by the line on lap one in 2nd spot and was looking good for half the race and then piped it which moved me back to 4th. After a long fought battle with Hupo I ended up 3rd behind both of the Durango guys once again. A good hour or so later was the 2wd main event and I wanted a taste of the podium once again, but after getting caught in the first corner pile up my chances were not looking to good as I was running 7th or so. A few laps in I got in my rythem and moved into 4th where I would end up finishing! I would like to thank Tekin products for getting me the power I needed to finish strong with my RS Pros and 7.5/8.5 motors!” Zack Rogers

“I traveled up to REO Raceway in Indiana over the weekend for the Indiana Championships race. This would be the first outing for the Tekin Powered Losi 8E 2.0. With about 125 entries, I knew the buggy would have to be good, and from the first lap, it felt great. Power was very smooth and predictable running the RX8 and 1700 combo. I TQ’d Rd 1, but in the second and third round got bumped back to second place by about a second. At the horn of the A Main, I latched on the the bumper of the TQ Driver, on lap 5 I made my move tothe lead and continued to pull away from the field. At the Final tone, I had put a lap on the entire field and finished on a lap by myself taking the Indiana Championship with a commanding performance. Thanks to Team Tekin, Team Losi, J Concepts Tires, and SMC Batteries!” David Wall, Tekin Privateer

The Hurricane All Star Seires and The Midwest Grandslam Series are each carpet on-road, multi leg, traveling series allowing 1 drop each. Together they cover the majority of the Midwest and some of the best talent in Carpet On-Road racing.

The Hurricane Series is best 4 out of 5 covering some favorite local tracks in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana. I contested the season in 1/12th Stock, the season started slow as I was devloping a stock set-up for the relatively new Serpent S-120 link. The season picked up from there with a near TQ and 2nd place at the 2nd stop, then TQ and win at the 3rd and 5th stops. Ended the season winning the 1/12 Stock class. I also dabbled a little in Mini Cooper and Rubber Touring in a couple of the races. Through it all, from the Tekin FX in the Cooper, to the RS in the 1/12 and RS-Pro in the touring, I never suffered from a lack of Power.

The Midwest Grandslam series is a best 3 out of 4 series, covering Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. This series tries to provide the average racer with the Big Race experience with a low key atmosphere. From the Halloween Classic which is a warm up for the US Champs to the late Feburary race which is a great warm up for Carpet Nats, this series sees some of the Country’s and even the World’s best racers with entries from at least half a dozen National Champs and World Class drivers. I competed in both 1/12th Stock and World GT, while also coordianting the series. It was a tough field of top level stock drivers in 1/12th with Associated’s Joe Trandell piloting his Tekin RS equip’d ride to a commanding Win and myself knocking on his back bumper at each turn for a 2nd place for the season, in all at least the top 8 were all running Tekin RS. In World GT, again it was Joe with nearly a perfect season and the 2nd place came down to the last, tied for second I got the better qualifing spot but Rich Martsolf drove a better main and bested me for 2nd and I settled for 3rd. Again nearly the entire field was Tekin equip’d.

The first round of the RC Pro Texas State Series held at Mike’s Hobbyshop in Porter Texas had some of the fastest drivers around coming to compete and kick off the series right!

This was David’s second outing with his RC8B’s and continuing with his success from the previous week at the Icebreaker, David Joor took home 1st place in both electric 8th scale buggy and nitro 8th scale buggy. Qualifying went very well taking TQ in electric and 2nd in nitro. It wasn’t till the last round of qualifying that David found the correct tire/foam/wheel package where he ran the fastest qualifying times of the race by 4 seconds over Xray/Avid’s Jason Branham. To show the consistency of the RC8B’s, in round two David ran 12 5:02 in both buggies and in the final and 3rd round in which he ran 13 5:15 in both buggies! With qual points used out of 3 rounds, Branham had TQ’d secured from his dominate runs in R1 and R2 in nitro buggy. David had this to say :

” It felt great to have all my mains run with no bobbles and equipment running flawless and to have a home with AE/REEDY/AKA/TEKIN where I feel the most confident I ever have.”

Brian’s Amain recap:

“I qualified 1st,TQing the Mod truck A-main. I had a good hole shot off the line with 8 other Mod Trucks be hide me. Leading the first lap I went down the hill from the counting corner and went over the doubles and spun out. I got the truck turned around and was now in fifth place. Mike Weyers and Jason Hills were battling it out for first. I was going over a jump on the left side of the track. When I saw second place Jason Hills going down the back straight. I bumped the tube in that corner just as Jason caught the tube up by the counting stand. By the time I got going again time had run out on the five minute race.I finished 3rd.

It was fun racing my Tekin teammate and brother Mike Weyers. He knew I was coming for him. I was happy to see Mike win the A-main.”

So Brian TQ’d mod truck and took 3rd for the A main. Mike Weyers qualified 3rd and got first in the A main. Not a bad weekend!

Motorama was once again full of tough competition. Crawlers from all over gathered for this very unique event.
Arthur Bell reports: 

David attended the 2011 Icebreaker at Indy RC in Garland TX. This was David’s first race with his new Tekin powered RC8B’s. Qualifying was rough because I was working out learning the cars and breaking in the diffs but was always on pace to TQ with a lot of home track favorites present. David won the first two mains of electric and got 2nd in nitro 4 seconds behind Mike Battaile. “I was really happy with my new cars, they fit my driving style so look even more forward to the future.” David must have been very happy turning the fastest lap of the event with his electric buggy in Q1 with a 27.0.

The 2011 season finale of the Midwest Grand Slam series was held at R/Car Marion Fairgrounds raceway in Indianapolis, Indiana. It would be the final race of the season in the Midwest traveling race series. The format would be open practice on Friday, 3 qualifiers on Sat and 1 qualifier and Mains on Sunday. 

This year’s Cabin Fever was held at Lucky Acres Arena in Lewiston, ID on February 11, 12 and 13. The race had an amazing turnout this go around, topping out at over 230 total entries, with Nitro Buggy and Truggy, Electric Buggy and Truggy, 4WD and 2WD Open Short Course and 4WD Modified Buggy all jam packed with competition.


1/8 E-Buggy is getting bigger in the North West, with enough racers to fill up three full mains at the Cabin this year. Tekin’s newest Driver, Taylor Petersen debuted the new Mugen MBX6e ECO powered by a Tekin RX8/2050 T8 combo, who would snag TQ followed closely by Tekin’s Jeremy Potter and his Tekin RX8/2050 T8 powered Hot Bodies Ve8.


1/8 E-Truggy is also growing and the TQ spot would be grabbed by none other that the Prez himself, Jim Campbell, followed by Tekin’s Chris DeWinter in the #2 spot and Ty Campbell in the #3.


4×4 Short Course this year was also a sizeable class with three full heats. Team Driver Jack Leighan came out on top with the TQ spot after qualifying with his Tekin Powered Jammin’. A1 and A2 were both solild runs for Jack and he locked up the top spot early, which let the other drivers fight for the A3 main.


2WD Open Short Course had outstanding entries with 45 trucks. Team Associated’s Justin Wilde and Tekin’s Ty Campbell battled it out in quals for the pole with Justin snagging the TQ spot in the 3rd qualifier with Ty close on his heels. Short Course was stacked with great drivers and the competition was intense.


A1 main was a great battle between Ty and Justin Wilde, finishing with Justin in front and Ty just .9 seconds of his bumper. A2 started a little more hectic with Ty getting punted in the first corner and dropping to 5th which let Justin and Tekin’s Jesse Munn get out in front of the pack. Ty fough back to 3rd but there was no catching the two out front and Justin locked up A2. The final main was a good one, Ty got out clean and never looked back, which secured 2nd place with the win in A3 while Prez snagged 2nd to secure 3rd overall.


With triple A-main format, it was totally up in the air who would land with the two, or in Taylor’s case, three best runs! Taylor brought the heat in E-buggy to win all three A-mains and bring home some shiny hardware for Mugen and Tekin. Jeremy Potter claimed the 2nd spot and Team Losi’s Randy Nolen the third, all three podium drivers running Tekin RX8s and 2050 T8 motors. Tekin’s Jason Hunt finished Ty and Prez finished 6th overall and 7th overall.


E-Truggy was a fight to the finish in each main, with the Prez cleaning up in A1 and Ty taking the 2nd spot. A2 switched it up a bit with Ty taking the win, followed by DeWinter in the number 2 spot and Prez in the 3. It was all or nothing in A3 between father and son! Both were off to a great clean start and proceeded to pull away from the pack, putting almost an entire lap up on the field and would finish with the Prez taking A3 and the overall with Ty right on his wing the entire race!


Just as last year, the Cabin was well ran, a great track layout, the surface was premiere and the racing was awesome. Dude and the RC Pro Series threw a great event that is getting bigger every year. Only 360 days til the next one!


*Words by Ty Campbell*