Author: Randy Pike

This past weekend the Great Lakes Showdown was held at “The Track” in Michigan.  “The Track” has a large 1/8^th off-road track as well as a smaller 1/10^th off-road track.  Adam Drake was the top qualifier and went on to win both 10 minute Electric Buggy A finals.  Adam chose the award winning Tekin Rx8 Gen2 ESC and T8 Gen2 1900kv motor to power him to victory. Fellow Tekin team drivers Brad Rippee and Kevin Morales would join Adam on the podium going 2 and 3 respectively running identical equipment!

This past weekend the Pembrey hosted the 4th round of the E-buggy and Truggy Nationals. Arrving a day early we were treated with darker and darker clouds the closer we got to the arrival point, with drizzle and then rain greeting us as we arrived. Arriving in the morning with a few puddles and muddy spots on the track the club members were out the doing there best to give us the best conditions to hit the track in practice, with very moody grey dark sky’s we were at this point just happy there was no rainfall.

Practice was up and running and for the E buggy class there would be 2 rounds of 6 minute practices followed by 3 round of qualifying with your best 2 to count, then a single leg main A final. Practice was a little tough as the wet mud sections had caused the cars to pick up dirt on the cars making them a little heavier and not running at there full potential, however with a mixture of uneven jumps and surfaces, for now it was just about feeling your way round and knowing what was where. With practice all said and done all of the guys were happy, ready for qualifying and praying the rain to stay away.

Round one came and with a mixture of happenings involving mistakes and even a rather large drop of rain the cars picking up a lot of extra weight and the hard packed already slippy sections were now lick ice, it was Darren Bloomfield who managed to keep it all under control and adapt to the ever changing conditions to top the time sheets with his Tekin RX8/T8 Gen2 2050kv powered Agama A-215e just four seconds ahead of Nemo racing teammate Tony Truman.

With the nerves of Rd1 out the way for the guys; a slight tweak on tire tread Darren was ready to head out and attempt to secure his overall TQ for the day. With this in mind Darren’s main aim for the day was a podium finish as to secure him the overall championship win for the 2016 e buggy national tittle. He was successful and went on to take Rd2 with an ever drying track and improving his first Rd time by some 16 seconds. This time it would be Nemo Racing Jonni Skidmore who would come home second some 8.5 seconds behind Darren. Darren would start pole on the grid for the main A, with a clear track ahead of him to start his approach on that tittle shot.

Thankfully with no further rain and actually the sun breaking through the clouds it was to be a beautiful start come the A main. A warm up lap in the books and cars being called to the grid, Darren with the confidence his car and system was ample capable of making it to the end of the 12 minute final; he set off at the tone with a few hiccups along the way. Marshals jumping in front of his car stopping him dead for a couple of seconds and then a further few seconds lost in a mix up of back markers. With all these issues Darren would lead from tone to tone, with Jonni Skidmore moving himself into 2nd place early on had a small push for Darren. Darren biding his time saving tires and battery power, Jonni would cross the line second for another respectable podium some 10.5 seconds behind Darren. The 5th and final round to be held at Darren’s home track in Slough in just a few weeks, Darren will roll out and enjoy the day as champion.

With a sigh of relief Darren Bloomfield takes the TQ and win on the day and as mentioned earlier with these results is your 2016 BRCA E-Buggy National champion! Darren would like to thank Nemoracing, AgamaRacing, Beta Tyres, Tekin Racing, KoPropo servos, he would also like to thank boss and team manager Jon Hazlewood as well as team manager at Tekin Randy Pike.

The equipment he used to achieve this huge goal was:

Agama racing A-215e buggy kit
Tekin Racing Rx8 Gen2 speed controller
Tekin racing T8 2050 brushless motor
LRP 7000mah lipo baterries

This is the third consecutive BRCA National Champion win for the Tekin Rx8 Gen2 ESC and T8 Gen2 lineup of ESC’s and motors!  Tekin would like to congratulate Darren Bloomfield for his Championship Title!

Elliott Boots totally dominated the E Buggy class with a TQ and winning all three leg A Main finals! Elliott chose the award winning Tekin Rx8 Gen2 ESC and Gen2 1950 T8i motor!

The Northwest Buggy Champs race was held in Pasco, WA.  Tekin CS manager Jeremy Potter as well as a host of team drivers were in attendance.

The qualifying format was rocket rounds putting Joe Scales on the pole, Jeremy Potter(Tekin) on the 2, Nick Buechler(Tekin) on the 3. Nick  would win A1 after battling with Tekin teammate Jeremy Potter who finished 2nd. A2 Jeremy Potter would take the win setting up the A3 showdown for the overall. After multiple lead changes, the top 3 all finished within 2 seconds with Buechler taking the win, Keith Hadley taking 2nd, Jeremy Potter taking 3rd. that would give Buechler the overall win, Jeremy Potter 2nd, and Keith Hadley taking 3rd. Buechler and Potter both running the Tekin RSX and Redline Gen3 lineup of motors.

2wd Mod Buggy was Tq’d by Jack Leighan.  Tekins’ very own Dan Wheeler managed to take 2nd overall running a Tekin RSX 8.5 Redline Gen3 powered HB Racing D216.

Norcal hobbies hosted the Northern California Belts Race Championship with over 120 entries located in San Jose, Ca.   Tekin  driver Mason Eppley would make the treck and attend this race. He would take Rd4 of the rocket round qualifying with his Tekin powered Xray. Tragedy would occur in his 2wd buggy grenading the ilder gear with no spare to be found ending his run in 2wd buggy.

Eppley In A1,  would have a perfect race and almost lap the field as well as setting track record for overall time and fast lap with a 13.9.  A2 would be similar, Eppley would traction roll early in the race causing a great battle between himself and Rudy Rico. Unfortunately right after Mason would pass Rudy for the lead, he would break and Eppley would take the win in A2 lapping the field and securing the overall win in 4wd buggy! Eppley chose the Tekin RSX Esc and Redline Gen3 motor to power his Xray XB4.

Ellis Stafford getting his “mojo back” managed to take the Tq and win the 3rd round of the BRCA National Series at Eden Park Raceway, beating Neil Cragg and Lee Martin. Started out dry and we were all running lay down cars then rained and we switched to stand up for the last round of qualifier and the finals. My Tekin RSX and Redline series of motors were on point. Ellis ran a 7.5 in his lay down car, and 8.5 in his stand up car.  Ellis was also utilizing the latest software the team has been testing the past few months. Stay tuned for more info.  

Herts played host to Round 3 of the BRCA 1/8 and Truggy Nationals.  Jack Embling would take the TQ in both classes but it was Tekin powered Elliott Boots who came out successful in the 12-minute E-Buggy final, Tekin teammage Darren Bloomfield behind by under a second and young Jonathan Skidmore in third also running Tekin electronics. All 3 drivers chose the award winning Tekin Rx8 Gen2 ESC and T8 Gen2 lineup of motors to power them to the podium!

Pic courtesy of RedRC

After round 4 Michael Pham is leading the U4RC The Hammer In The Foothills Race Series in the 1st in Yeti Pro,1st in 2.2 Comp,1st in 1.9 IFS, and 2nd in 1.9 Trail Pro classes! Pham running the award winning Tekin Rx8’s and RSX’s in various  vehicles with Roc412’s and Pro4 HD’s!

Blue Rock Raceway in Perry Fl played host for 2nd Round of the Force Series. Tekin factory driver Griffin Hanna and JR Mitch were in attendance both racing E-Buggy. 125 entries, 2 rounds of rocket round qualifying and double A mains meant lots of fun was in store for the racers.

Grifin Hanna would edge out JR Mitch by just over a second to take the Tq spot. A1; JR Mitch would make an awesome superman leaping pass on Griffin to take the lead! That would allow Mitch to take the first win right in front of Griffin. In A2, Griffin would lead the pack around with all kinds of pressure from JR Mitch! The two would swap positions for the lead at least a handful of times. Griffin was able to get back out front about the middle of the race and would go on to win A2. The two would tie with their finishes and the tiebreaker was decided by the combined times of both runs. Griffin was able to take the overall win by 1.5 seconds!

Both drivers chose the award winning Tekin Rx8 Gen2 ESC and Gen2 T8 1900kv motor in their respective cars.

Tekin would like to welcome Darren Bloomfield to the race team. Darren has a proven track record of excellence in many forms of racing. Darren is the point man for Nemo Racing and Agama racing program. “Having tried Tekin on his own with great success it only made sense for us to collaborate with a driver with his level of experience and success. We are happy to make this announcement and we all look forward to working with him.” Randy Pike Tekin Team Manager.

This past weekend Darren Bloomfield and the top UK guys all headed to the second round of the UK E-buggy nationals at whats questionably the best track on the UK scene, Kent model car club. After some over night rain and a consistent drizzle as they all arrived at the track, practice was interesting with a lack of traction, with it fast drying and a few more cars circulating, it was soon to start drying and for P2 was showing signs for a good day.

Round 1 of 3 came round quick and Darren was able to take second in the round with Boots a 4. Round 2 had Tekin powered Elliott Boots take the Tq with Bloomfield coming home in 2nd for the round. With an ever changing track the 3rd and final round, which would see Darren, Lee Martin and Elliott Boots all show there speed for the top spot of the 12 minute main. Darren using his Tekin Rx8 Gen2 ESC paired with 8 Gen2 2050, took the overall fastest time of the day by nearly 2 seconds along with that the Round TQ and top qualifier ahead of the 12 minute A main event.

It would be a sketchy start in the first corner with Darren hooking up on a pipe and allowing Elliott and Lee straight through, after getting hooked up and slowed down with some clinging on chasing pack, Darren soon shook them off and concentrated on catching the leader of Lee martin some 8 seconds ahead with just 7 minutes of the main remaining, whilst putting in some fastest laps of the day, Darren got the gap down to just .5 of a second and with a small error from Lee, Darren found himself in the lead and heading for the finish tone, all in all a great day for Darren with his Tekin Rx8 Gen2 ESC, T8 G2 2050 motor in his NemoRacing/Agama A215-E taking TQ honors and a hard fought out 1st position in the A main.

“What an awesome weekend. TQ and win, really getting to grips with the products now. Stuff works flawlessly. Thank you for supplying me with the best I could ask for.”  Darren Bloomfield