ALL ASIA FINALS 2005 in JAPAN
The HPI CHALLENGE ALL ASIA FINALS 2005 in JAPAN was held at Lake Hamana Garden Park in Shizuoka on the weekend of October 22nd and 23rd. Lake Hamana Garden Park boosts a vast area facing beautiful Lake Hamana and seasonal flowers and plants from the Shizuoka International Garden and Horticulture Exhibition, Pacific Flora 2004. Even after the exhibition, the park keeps attracting many people and events. The 2nd HPI CHALLENGE ALL ASIA FINALS was held in the park, inviting many drivers from Asia and Oceania.

GREAT DRIVERS FROM ASIA & OCEANIA!
CHOI NAK SUNG (Korea) won the championship in the GP Pro Class of the 1st HPI CHALLENGE ALL ASIA FINALS held in 2004 to prove the strength of the Asian RC drivers. This year, drivers gathered from Korea, Australia, Singapore, Taiwan, Mainland China, Thailand and all over Japan to win the new All Asian Championship.

A total seven classes were held: Electric Powered Pro and Gas Powered Pro Classes for top drivers, Electric Powered Sport and Gas Powered Sport Classes for all RC drivers, SAVAGE Challenge Extreme Air, E-ZILLA Challenge Battle Field, and Stage-D Challenge for team competition. We displayed "FUJITSUBO hpi racing Impreza", which has been quite successful in the Super Taikyu Race, and exciting HPI and Hot Bodies products. We also had the E-ZILLA driving demonstration where many people experienced the fun of driving the great truck. All these attracted RC drivers and lots of spectators.

QUALIFYING ROUNDS
Registration started at 8:00am and control parts were handed out. A flat track with 50 meter-long back straight was specially designed for the HPI Challenge. A special track provides a fair condition to all drivers and demands drivers' skill to set up their machine in the limited practice time. After the practice time, qualifying rounds started in the afternoon. The Free Attack Style allowed drivers to make a record as they tried to improve their setups according to the weather and wear of the control parts (20 minutes for Sport classes and 15 minutes for Pro classes). The Style is kind to beginners and challenging to expert drivers in terms of the speed and race strategy required. The drivers, looking a little puzzled by the new track, all took a step into the unknown to proceed. All control parts were collected after the first qualifying rounds and the drivers left the track to prepare for the following day.

Prior to the E-ZILLA Challenge scheduled to be held in 2006, we had an event called "E-ZILLA Challenge Battle Field", featuring the newly-released E-ZILLA with the highest power level in the class and great suspensions inherited from the SAVAGE! After a brief practice, two final rounds were held in a track with 50 meter-long straight, high-speed jump spot and a huge table straddling two 2-ton trucks. The table legs with the inclination of 45 degrees were extremely challenging, requiring sensitive yet bold control skills. The first driver was KOTONORI FUJIWARA, the E-ZILLA designer, and he marked 40.413 seconds in the opening lap but retired after failing to conquer the table in the 2nd lap. Ms. JULIA, who came to the event to escort the Singapore team and usually enjoys driving the SAVAGE and LIGHTING, showed the first-class skills, kicking competitors in jumps.

KENTA SUZUKI, a SAVAGE master in Hyogo, made a track record of 33.754 seconds to finish 1st in Round 1 and YUJI HAYASHI, who finished 1st in Round 2, won the title followed by TAKEHIRO SANO, who ran 9 laps in Round 2, KENTA SUZUKI and JULIA. We cannot wait for the E-ZILLA Challenge with many E-ZILLA trucks full of originality.

Each participant performed two rounds of powerful aerial acrobatics with the SAVAGE and Zuppy, the MC for the event, judged the performances at his sole discretion, considering the magnitude of impact on drivers and spectators who had never seen flying monster trucks before. Among drivers showing dynamic stunts such as more than five continuous back flips from the long inlet, SHIORI IKUMA, a small girl, was the center of attention. After placing her truck at the start line with her father, she fearlessly drove it to the huge jump. Though the landing was not so perfect, she showed a great front flip. In Round 2, TSUKAMOTO (OS driver) and HAYASHI started at the same time to show their fighting spirit. To our surprise, TSUKAMOTO's machine with a brand-new engine was so powerful that it disappeared through the quarter pipe instead of flying in the air. So we could no longer continue the competition. Based on the result of Round 1, MASATAKA MURAI won the competition, with his astonishing jumps, continuous back flips and perfect landing.

It was clear in the morning, and cloudy later. A bit chilly with nice breeze from Lake Hamana. Control motors and tires were handed out again for the second qualifying and finals.

ELECTRIC POWERED SPORT CLASS
#31142 X-30 motor was used as a controlled motor. The motor features gentle torque curve and it is easy to use but tends to stall in a corner. TATSUYA HIBINO, who made a good record in the first qualifying round, was already at the top with a time of 20.780 seconds as the only record faster than 21 seconds. However, MICHINOBU SANO made a record of 20.964 seconds in Day 2 to secure the second grid. HIDETOSHI SUZUKI came in 10th only 3.1000 seconds before KAZUYA SUGIYAMA. KAN, NENG-KUO and YEN, JUNG-NAM (Taiwan) started from 7th and 9th grids respectively.

GAS POWERED SPORT CLASS
Monster fuel T-15 was used as controlled fuel for the first time and it was exciting to see if AKIRA FURUHASHI, defending champion, could defend the position. Spectators looked quite surprised at the powerful noise of the powerful GP cars running in the special track with stable track condition and high speed layout. After two qualifying rounds, SHINJI IZUO won TQ and made an incredible record of 20.004 seconds. SHINJI IZUO, who had a hard time after started from the 2nd in the 2004 Asia Finals, won the most advantageous grid this year.

ELECTRIC POWERED PRO CLASS
RC craze is skyrocketing in Asia and Oceania and more and more strong drivers are emerging. The Electric Powered Pro Class was competed by Japanese drivers and the winners of HPI Challenge events in different countries. The 23T R2 Advan 33R motor was supplied to make the race condition as fair as possible. MEEN VEJRAK, who is said to be one of the fastest drivers in Thailand, won TQ after the two qualifying rounds, followed by KIM KI HEUNG (Korea), who had proved himself in KMRCA in Korea, by 0.064 seconds behind MEEN. UCHIYAMA (Japan) finished 3rd after KIM KI HEUNG by 0.070 seconds. CRAIG LAUGHTON, the champion in Australian EP off-road, came in 4th, followed by JOE HWEE (Singapore).

GAS POWERED PRO CLASS
The Gas Powered Pro Class may be best described as "high power and sensitive". Using foam tires and high-power car with no engine limit, the class is popular all over Asia and Oceania. Japanese drivers and the winners of HPI Challenge events in different countries started showing fierce battles from qualifying to get the title. MEEN VEJRAK (Thailand), who had finished 1st in the Electric Powered Pro Class, won TQ (19.330 seconds)! IGARASHI (Japan) came in 2nd (19.448 seconds), followed by MORITA (Japan). C.H.TAY, TERENCE ANG (Singapore) and LESLIE TAN (Singapore) dominated the three grids after MORITA (Japan).

There are many ways to compete using the STAGE-D series such as drift, sprint race and body design. After the drift race in 2004, we had the Enduro race this year. Saturn Motor, tires, and gears of kit standard must be used in the race. Good pit work and team work were required to complete the 20-minute round. Eleven teams from eight countries set their cars with unique designs in the grids. Everyone made a good but close start. TEAM RC SPORTS (Japan) was fastest in the beginning but soon had a clash. TEAM KOREA led the race in the first lap and fiercely competed with JOY BOX (Japan), however, TEAM KOREA moved down due to some machine damage. Following JOY BOX (Japan), who was bursting forward alone, TEAM AUSTRALIA, KAMIGETUDOU (Japan) and other teams went head-to-head. In the middle of the race, JOY BOX (Japan) slowed down a bit due to the persistency of TEAM RC SPORTS (Japan). TEAM AUSTRALIA moved ahead of the pack and came very close to JOY BOX (Japan). As teams replaced batteries, we heard them talking in Japanese, English,Thailand, Chinese and Korean. Toward the end of the race, TEAM THAILAND made the lap time record faster than 24 seconds to try to catch up, however, it was a little too late. JOYBOX (Japan) finished 1st and TEAM THAILAND came in 3 seconds later, followed by TEAM AUSTRALIA (3rd). The race was full of heated battles and everyone enjoyed it to the fullest.

MOVIE: STAGE-D CHALLENGE ENDURO

ELECTRIC POWERED SPORT CLASS
E Main: MINORU YAMAISHI won the E Main (21 laps).
D Main: KAZUHISA NAGASAKI won the D Main (22 laps).
C Main: NOBORU SHIMOI won the C Main (22 laps).
B Main: After a fierce battle among YOSHINOBU HAYAKAWA, KAZUYA SUGIYAMA, MITSURU MIYATA and HIDEO TOKUMITSU, YOSHINOBU HAYAKAWA won the B Main with persistency.
A Main: We looked forward to seeing how MICHINOBU SANO and HIROYUKI YUYAMA, who had changed machine settings in the second qualifying, would challenge TATSUYA HIBINO, who had won TQ to show his incredible speed in the qualifying. We were also excited to see how KAN,NENE-KUO (Taiwan) and YEN, JUNG-NAN (Taiwan) would challenge in the race. HIBINO (TQ) and SANO (2nd grid) went ahead of the rest and HIBINO was 1st in the first lap and SANO was right behind HIBINO. Then, HIBINO made a small mistake and SANO took advantage of it and left the rest far behind. However, YUYAMA quickly moved up from 4th to 2nd to try to pass SANO. In the last lap, while YUYAMA was relentlessly watching for a chance, SANO ran the block line in the last lap to win the race! YUYAMA came in 2nd only by 0.291 seconds, followed by Hibino (3rd). YEN,JUNG-NAN (Taiwan), who started from 9th, placed 4th and MINORU TAKESHIMA made 5th with a nice truck body, which brought a lot of excitement to the spectators. SANO became a champion in the EP Sport Class and was awarded with a plaque and the Hot Bodies E-ZILLA. It was exciting see how SANO would hang out in the EP Pro Class.

MOVIE: ELECTRIC POWERED SPORT CLASS

MOVIE: GAS POWERED SPORT CLASS

MOVIE: ELECTRIC POWERED PRO CLASS

MOVIE: GAS POWERED PRO CLASS

We hope everyone enjoyed the HPI Challenge All Asia Finals 2005 as an opportunity to win a title of the HPI Challenge All Asia Finals 2005, just have a good time racing with friends, or have fun with family. There are many ways to enjoy RC: touring cars, monster trucks, drift driving and endurance races. HPI will continue to have exciting events to provide more and more people with opportunities to enjoy various RC aspects. We, all HPI staff, will never forget all the happy faces of the drivers and spectators waving good-by to us as they left the site. Thank you so much!