2023 Asian Buggy Championships Round 2 Announcement

Press Release From The Asian Buggy Championships:
www.asianbuggychamps.com

After a wildly successful debut event round at the 2023 Philippine Masters, the 2023 Asian Buggy Championship Presented by VP Racing continues from July 13 for Round 2 of the series. Pine Hills Dirt Racing (PHDR) will play host to the event in the east- coast Australian city of Brisbane.

250 entries from across Australia, New Zealand and Asia will do battle to crown six winners in Nitro & Electric Buggy and Truggy classes.

Headlining the entry list are Australian stars Alex Bernardzik (AE), Caleb Noble (Tekno) and Philippine Masters nitro buggy podium finisher Christian Wolhuter (SWorkz). They’re joined by a host of fellow Masters A finalists, the cream of Australia’s 8th off-road talent, and racers from New Zealand and Asia.

Pine Hills Dirt Racing

Host club Pine Hills Dirt Racing has been busy preparing to host their first international event, building on over 30 years of history at its Brisbane site. “PHDR is thrilled to host the Asian Buggy Championship,” said the club. “It presents a golden opportunity to showcase the sport of off- road RC racing. Collaborating with Scotty Ernst only amplifies our excitement, his wealth of experience and dedication to delivering exceptional events align perfectly with our vision. We’ve invested in a lot of infrastructure upgrades to our facility, adding more lighting, an improved pit area, a new media and race control area and of course a new track build. Together, we aim to create an unforgettable championship that ignites the passion of off-road RC enthusiasts and elevates the sport to new heights. We hope racers have a memorable weekend of close racing and a fun time with their mates.”

The Track

Well-known racer and track builder Zac Ryan has been instrumental in the development of the club and the ongoing track-building program at PHDR. “The main feature is our treated surface and grass infield,” Ryan said while speaking about this ABC race venue, ‘this will help keep the tyre wear low while keeping the grip high! We hope everyone enjoys the surface, which should keep the racing fair. We have a fun new layout that is more open and with a focus on maximising the track width to assist in side-by-side racing.”

The Headline Battles

Alex Bernardzik and Caleb Noble have gone to battle several times in recent months, and they’ll be the likely front-runners next week in both the Nitro and Electric buggy classes. The two young Queenslanders are staking a claim for the #1 spot in Australia, but won’t have it all their own way, with a huge pool of young talent emerging.

Racers like Jackson Beale, Jak Parsey, Aaron Dexter, Jayden Edmonds, Jordan Van, Zac Foster and Christian Wolhuter are growing in stature with every event, and the Asian Buggy Championship provides a real opportunity for a break-through international win for one of these Australian youngsters. Chris Sturdy is another who while predominantly a 10th racer will be a very real threat as he seeks a competitive hit-out in his preparation for the 1/10 Worlds later this year.

And then there are the internationals. The likes of New Zealand’s Logan Toia, ABC Round One A finalists Adrian Wicaksono & Jason Nugroho and Philippine Masters’ host Edward Sio will all make their presence felt.

Beyond the young talent, the Asian Buggy Championship has attracted a string of high-profile, more ‘experienced’, and very rapid drivers. Andrew Foord, Darren Perry, Zac Ryan, Ben Panic, Shane Kelly and Ben Sterling are just a few of the other names to watch.

Making Sunday’s A finals will be an achievement, a spot on the podium outstanding.

Scotty Ernst

Event host Scotty Ernst spoke in glowing terms as the event draws near: “I can’t wait to see everybody next week, our friends from Australia, New Zealand and beyond. The racing is going to be intense; I love what the guys from Pine Hills Dirt Racing have done with the track and I’m looking forward to getting back down under. The response to this event has been fantastic and after quickly selling out the event, I’m glad we could find a way to squeeze a few more racers in. We’re going to have a lot of fun.”

Live Coverage

“I’m excited that we’re going to be bringing a live stream from this event to the whole world,” said Scotty. “Tony and Matt and the team from RC Race Media will be with me, bringing their world-class live broadcast via the Asia Buggy Championship Facebook page and Scotty Ernst Productions YouTube channels. We’ll throw in some daily summaries and all the usual social media content to keep everybody up to date on what’s happening at the race.”

Sponsor Support

Scotty went on to pay tribute to the companies that are supporting the event. “We are extremely proud to have VP Racing as our title sponsor. VP Racing is no stranger to the world of motorsport, and it is great to have them play a huge role in bringing the Asian Buggy Championship to Australia. VP Racing is joined by our primary sponsors Matrix Tires, Team Losi Racing and Tekno RC. They and supporting sponsors HotRace Tires, BeachRC.com, JConcepts, Sweep Racing, AMain Hobbies, ProTek RC, Coast2Coast RC and DXF Power Batteries Australia are helping immensely. We couldn’t do this without the support of these great companies.”

Race Schedule

On track, the action kicks off with controlled practice on Thursday, July 13, and continues into seeding practice and qualifying on Friday. Saturday sees the last two rounds of qualifying and early finals before the main events take centre stage on Sunday, July 16th.