ALL ASIA FINALS 2006 in THAILAND

The HPI Challenge All Asia Finals 2006 were held in Thailand for 4 days from December 2nd (Saturday) to 5th (Tuesday). Thailand has a tropical climate and the average temperature is 28.5 degrees Celsius. The country is one of the Asian countries showing remarkable economic growth in recent years. It is understandable that so many foreign tourists are fascinated by the urban aspect of Bangkok and the historical buildings, rich natural environment, traditional food, and kindhearted people in Thailand. The first two HPI Challenge All Asia Finals were held in Japan and the number of participants increased each year. The third one in Thailand welcomed drivers from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Hong Kong for the first time. More than 200 drivers including the ones from these countries, Thailand, Australia, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, China and Japan, competed for the Asian title during the 4-day event.

Off-road practice and qualifying
The HPI Challenge All Asia Finals 2006 finally started! The free attack system was used for qualifying and the drivers were required to carefully observe the track condition, weather and competitors' performance as well as setup and drive their cars right. This qualifying system is friendly to beginners, while expert drivers are required to have a good race strategy and speed. As the drivers who had won the qualifying rounds in each country and participated in the All Asia Finals became used to driving in the race track, they steadily improved their times. TSUTOMU ARAKAWA of RC Magazine and "Savagin" YUJI HAYASHI flew from Japan. They went the HPI Challenge World Finals in Las Vegas in the past. FUMIAKI KATO of RC WORLD came to the event from Japan as a reporter. However, attracted by the fun atmosphere, he suddenly decided to participated in the Truggy Sport Class. It seems they very much enjoyed meeting with local Thai drivers and all the other drivers there. We had four off-road classes: Buggy Sport, Truggy Sport, Buggy Pro and Truggy Pro. The HPI Challenge All Asia Finals 2006 was conducted by RCS, the HPI exclusive distributor in Thailand, who successfully organized the TITC in the past. Many drivers spent as much time as possible to get used to the track and two qualifying rounds took place after the practice on Day 1. Two more qualifying rounds and one final was held on Day 2. When not driving, drivers enjoyed themselves taking photos and chatting about RC with other drivers. The weather was good and the temperature was over 30 degrees Celsius during the day on Day 1. Drivers from overseas went back to Emerald Hotel, the official hotel for the event. After the sun went down, extreme heat went away and drivers enjoyed chatting about RC until late.

Day 2

Off-road qualifying
Drivers from overseas left the hotel by bus at seven in the morning. Many drivers went sightseeing on the previous night and took a nap in the bus. On Day 1, CRAIG LAUGHTON (Australia) came in 1st followed by JOE HWEE (Singapore) in the Buggy Pro Class qualifying, while drivers fiercely competed in the Truggy Pro Class qualifying. It was another perfect day for RC racing on Day 2 and the Japanese drivers started enjoying the heat. The 3rd and 4th qualifying rounds finished by noon as scheduled. In the Buggy Pro Class, CRAIG LUGHTON (Australia) won TQ with the time of 36.561 seconds, followed by PRASERT J (Thailand) and JOE HWEE (Singapore), by 0.008 seconds and 0.2 seconds behind CRAIG LUGHTON respectively. In the Truggy Pro Class Lightning Stadium and Hellfire fiercely competed each other. ARIO SADEWO (Indonesia) with Lightning Stadium brought the first TQ to Indonesia, where buggy is quite popular, followed by CRAIG LAUGHTON (Australia) by 0.05 seconds. KWOK CHUN LUNG (China) came in 3rd and ANDY LAM (China) finished 4th. Trying truggy for the first time, YUJI HAYASHI (Japan) finished 9th with the time of 38.193 seconds in the last heat. TSUTOMU ARAKAWA (Japan) came in 11th despite good records and it was exciting to see how he would compete in the B Main. Lightning 10 was the only car allowed for the Buggy Sport Class and many drivers participated in the race with their stock cars and engines. The Buggy Sport Class was one of the classes to be easily joined. YUJI HAYASHI (Japan) won TQ as the only driver to make a time of less than 21 seconds in the short course. In the Truggy Sport Class, MT2 and Stadium 10 showed close battles and PARANKOON (Thailand) won TQ, followed by SAKORN T (Thailand) and CLAYTON MO (China). The local Thai drivers showed their strength.

Race of the World (off-road)
In the class called "Race of the World" each country and region made its own team and competed each other, using unmodified E-Savage trucks. Two final rounds. one is for off-road and the other for on-road, were held for two days. Though the race was meant to seriously find out the strongest country or region, the teams actually prepared their cars full of playful spirit. One of the teams let a woman who came to the event with a driver competed in the class. Participants were trying to enjoy the race than beating other teams. Aiming at the second consecutive victory in the class, Team Japan put a figure of a popular TV character on their ATV and drew great attention. Through severe hitting with Team Japan, Team China won the 1st final round by running the most laps for 5 minutes. Team Japan finished 2nd, followed by Team Malaysia who participated in the class for the first time and showed great team work. The 2nd final round was held in the on-road track.

Off-road final
After qualifying, drivers spent their time in their own ways before finals: some were busy preparing for finals and others enjoyed Thai food. Mr. POP of RCS, an M.C. of the event, made a signal to kick off the final rounds.

- Truggy Sport Class
Though there were many drivers who participated in an RC race for the first time in the class, the drivers did a lot of practice and machine setting in advance. FUMIAKI KATO (Japan) of the RC WORLD, who decided to participate in the Truggy Sport Class in the last minute, attracted attention. 1/10 cars with .15 engine are so powerful and the quick steering makes nimble cornering, which caused fierce battle at each corner. VICHIT CPK (Thailand) who started from 4th won the 10-minute battle with stable drive performance and a spurt after the middle stage. This represented a good start for the Thai team. FUMIAKI KATO (Japan) of the RC WORLD came in 2nd with no mistake, followed by SAKORN T (Thailand).

- Buggy Sport Class
Lightning 10 was the only car allowed for the Buggy Sport Class and the drivability to conquer gaps determined the result. YUJI HAYASHI (Japan) and SAMUEL SCOTT (Australia) were favorites for the class, however, Thai drivers dominated the podium after the 10-minute battle. Making no mistake throughout the heats, PIYDOL D (Thailand) won the class with 2 laps ahead of the runner-up. BOONLERT T. (Thailand) finished 2nd, followed by KEVIN A. (Thailand). They proved the great strength and speed of Thai drivers.