This past Saturday Derek and other Tekin team drivers participated in the Race For A Cure at Modesto RC Raceway which brought in a 148 total entries. After 2 rounds of qualifying Tekin Powered Phillip Atondo(TLR) would take Tq in 2wd Mod buggy, Derek 2nd. Derek Stephansen would take TQ honors in 4wd Mod Buggy.

2wd Buggy A1 Phillip and  Derek would start battling for the first minute or so intill Phillip bobbled allowing Derek to get out front and slowly build up a slight lead. In the closing minute Derek would bobble while out front allowing Eddie Bernal to take A1. A2 would have Derek out front early taking the win in  A2. A3 was probaly one of the most intense battles of the night with the front runners all batlling for the lead. Derek would bobble over the demanding quad allowing Johnathan Hernandez and Eddie Bernal to get by. Derek would chase down  Eddie quickly.The leaders battled out nose to tail for the next four minutes. A3 would end with Johnathan in 1st, Eddie second, and Derek in third. Derek Stephansen would end up winning 2wd mod Buggy with the tie breaker over Eddie Bernal!

In Mod 2wd SCT Derek Stephansen would start from the fifth spot in A1 and would quickly work his way up to second behind TQ Eddie Bernal and would finish there. In A2 Derek would be able to get out early from the start and hold on over a hard charging James Arluck to take the win in A2. A3 would once again be a battle between Derek and Eddie Bernal once again going at it, with both bobbles and recoveries from both. As time expired Derek would win giving him the overall Mod 2wd SCT title!

In 4wd buggy Derek would make several mistakes in A1 allowing Cody and Jason Smith to get by, dropping him to 3rd. Derek had better luck in A2 checking out from pole to take the win. A3 Derek would once again check out but a minute in he would have mechanical issue pulling out of the race and giving Austin Blair the win for A3. Overall Derek would end up 3rd in this class.

Derek ” I was super happy to be able to put both Tekin Esc’s and Tekin Motors on Top!!”

The two day two race event where points determined the Lord of Late Models! The first event held at Maryville Steve Salvas took 1st while Eric Salvas got 3rd. The next day at Allens RC Steve Salvas would take 2nd while Eric would once again take 3rd. After all of the points were totaled Steve Salvas would take the overall win! Brother and fellow Tekin/Cutom Works teammate Eric Savlas would take 2nd!

The late model class a new 4wd class was 13.5 open. The Tekin Rs’s was the esc of choice for all!!!


Some Vid of the mains: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFai2jVUWHo&feature=youtube_gdata_player

2011 Utah Outdoor state champs hosted at Black Sheep Rc raceway in Spanish Fork Utah. Tekin Team Driver Jason Smith TQ and takes 1st in the 1/8 buggy Electric Buggy using his Tekin Powered Rc8e. Jason used the Rx8 and T8 1700. Jason Smith wasn’t done. Jason also Tq’d the Pro 2 SC class with his Tekin Powered Factory Team SC10. Jason chose the Rs pro and a Redline 8.5. 

Hosted by McCullough’s Off Road in Sarver Pa the event had over 170 entries and raised over $12,000 dollars for American Cancer Society. The race pulled racers from Ohio, New York, and Virginia setting record for both entries and donation dollars!


Mike’s recap:


“We had a few downpours throughout the weekend which made for a high traction surface. There were 4 rounds of rocket round qualifying on Saturday. I was able to TQ the first round which held up until the last round. I started 2nd on the grid on Sunday for the main. The A-main was 10 minutes long. The lead positions swapped multiple times between the top 4 guys. At around the 8 minute mark I was able to take the lead for the final time for the win. I was using the Tekin RS/9.5 system in my TQ Racing SC truck.”

Congratulations Mike and McCullough’s for a winning event!

Carson knew he had work to do after getting a 5th in the first round of Qualifying. Carson made some set up changes to his Tekin powered DESC410 and I came out of the gate swinging for the second round of qualifying clinching the TQ by a few seconds over second place, Aaron Lane. In the main Carson started first on the grid and never looked back, cruising to the finish with a 3 second lead over second, and quite a bit ahead of the battle for third.

The Local Joe series was a 6 race format that consisted of 2 different tracks, Reo Raceway in Rockport, IN and SRI Raceway in Louisville, KY. Mike Malott came into the final round with a slight lead after the throw outs. Mike had missed the last couple of rounds. It was now or never to take down the title. 


Mike had qualified 2nd for the A main after 3 rounds. Mike knew he had to finish 6th or better to take the title going into the main. After the tone Mike had gotten a chance to settle into 2nd place. He managed to case a jump that caused his switch to shut off. Lucky for him a good marshall got him back on and onto the track a lap down. Mike but on a charge getting back onto the lad lap and with a minute to go managed to be back up to 4th position. This is where Mike would finish and wrap up his Local Joe Series 1/8 E buggy title. 


Mike had this to say “I couldn’t have done this without all of my sponsors helping me out and giving me the opportunity to run the best products in the industry. My OFNA/BCE Hyper 9e was solid all year and I never had one breakage or failure in all 4 races. My Tekin equipment and AKA tires were also flawless the whole series and gave me the power and grip I needed throughout the summer to get the solid finishes I had this year. The PT RC oils were so smooth and consistent all summer in the heat and in the cool I knew I had no worries of the shocks or diffs fading under either conditions. “

Tekin team driver Mike Applegate wins the 13.5 Super Stock 2wd SC class at last weekends Short Course Kings race hosted in Ocala Florida. 86 entries with Mike taking Tq and the overall win. Mike held his composure throughout the entire 6 minute main fending off Billy Bruce half way through. Mike was using a Tekin Redline 13.5 and Tekin RS esc.

Video of the main: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsgDrtt8B98

Ryan Lutz takes 4th overall with his Tekin powered Dex408 prototype buggy. Ryan’s recap :

“Main day has came and went and all that there is left to show for it is the results. Lets get down to business.

In A1 I had a decent start and got up to 5th from my 8th starting position. I got into ‘no mans land’ as I call it where the top 4 had a good lead on me and the rest of the pack were a few seconds behind me. I took it easy for most of the main but on the last couple laps I made some mistakes and allowed Truhe to catch up and pass me on the last lap and so I settled for 6th.

In A2 I got an even better start and worked my way up to 4th. I was staying as clean as possible and was able to overtake Cavalieri for 3rd and I held the position until the last lap. On the last lap Truhe once again caught me and passed me with 1/2 a lap to go. I stayed glued to the back of him though and over the left side double he got a little short and went out wide and we both went over the single onto the straight away together but his car rocked a bit and I pulled just barely ahead and in the sweeper at the end before the finish line he got right on my rear end and basically pushed me across the line. So I was able to take 3rd in A2.

In A3 I knew I had a legit shot at Podium. I had an okay start and after a few laps was up to 5th. I worked my way up behind Cavalieri and I knew if I could beat him I could get 3rd overall. We battled close for a few minutes with me having a couple chances but always getting up on 2 wheels or a hard landing or something keeping me just behind. With one lap to go though I was on his bumper and we landed the coming at you double side by side but my car hit the rut that had developed over the weekend and rolled over. This allowed Cav to get away and King to pass me as well. I finished up and took a 5th for the round. Overall this put me 4th place! Not bad for a prototype buggy on my first big race with it! Overall I was pretty pleased with the final result and look forward to more running in the E-Scale class!”

“I was ready to go for the e buggy class. I knew a few new guys had made the switch from Nitro to electric and had gotten really fast the the 1/8 buggy class was going to be a fast and hard class to win. I ran a couple packs in practice to get ready for the quals. My car was good right from the get go so I just left it alone. The first qual started really well and I was flying and on a TQ pace when it all started to go south. I got into traffic and started making a lot of mistakes and that drooped me down off of TQ pace. I ended up 3rd for the round so I was pretty happy with that. The 2nd round of quals started and after the shuffle I was in the A qualifier. The qual started off bad and right from the start i was making stupid mistakes again and was having some troubles. I got the car rolling mid way through the qual and was clicking off fast laps and making up a lot of time but it was to late for the qual. I ended up 4th for the round and that is where I would start on the grid for the final. The A main got off to a good start and everybody was able to get away clean. Fellow OFNA team driver Brian Bourland had jumped out to an early lead and I had settled into 2nd. Bourland was setting a fast pace and I was pushing really hard to catch up to him. I was making up a little time and he got into traffic and had a few issues and made a few mistakes to let me catch up. I finally got to him and ran right behind him for about 4 laps putting pressure on him hoping he would make a mistake. In one section of tha track I was a li ttle faster then he was and I put a lot of pressure on him and he let me go. I got to the lead and he stayed right with me pacing me the whole way. We got to lap traffic once again and I was able to get through it clean but Bourland got hung up with a lapper and that gave me the advantage I needed to pull away and take the win. I was super pumped with the results after being off the pace in quals and coming back and winning the A main.” Mike Malott

7 teams competed in this 5 hour enduro event. Both Nitro and Electric 1/8 Buggies competing for the overall title head to head. The teams included Team Vertigo, Z-Mat, River, Team Sandbag, High Voltage, and Mugen Mafia.


Half way through the race the top three teams were all on the same lap “Mugen Mafia”, “High Voltage” and Team “Vertigo”. The race between the top 3 teams jockeyed back and forth for the whole race as each team had break downs of some sort that changed the lead and had all thinking one team had it in the bag before something broke and they dropped down to 3rd or 4th place. Break downs from snapped A-arms, flame outs, diff failures, and various other mechanical failures plagued every team. 

One of the highlights of excitement happened when team “Mugen Mafia” held the lead with only 10minutes left in the race and 2nd place team “High Voltage” running in 2nd place 18 laps behind. Thinking they had a comfortable lead the “Mafias” rear diff case melted and the rear drive shaft came out while running 2 laps in front wheel drive only until the car stopped dead! With 30sec lap times 10mins meant 2nd place could pull 20 laps and take the win from 18 laps behind. But, thanks to a back up car that was sitting in sections in the pit, the “Mafia” made a 4min rear end swap to get back on the track and take the overall win!

1st Place went to the “Mugen Mafia” team. Their Tekin powered Mugen Mbx6 Eco was piloted by drivers Ty Mills, Willy Mills, Ryan Mosley and Team Captain Jason Wipf. The team chose a tried and proven T8 1900 Rx8(TT2312) combo as their power plant. 


2nd was  “High Voltage” which included Jake Dellinger, Courtney Vaughn, Rusty Purifoy and Brian Stanford. They also ran a Mugen MBX6 Eco.


3rd “Team Sandbag” included Jason Branham, Brian Branham, Ruben Samuel and Grayson Witt. The team ran a Nitro powered Hot Bodies D8 Buggy.