Iivonen holds off Nguyen to eBuggy A1 at ABC Malaysia

There was an exciting finish to the opening A-Main of eBuggy at the Asian Buggy Championships in Malaysia as Mayako’s Pekko Iivonen held off a recovery charge from the Kyosho of Top Qualifier Phi-Long Nguyen.  The 8-minute encounter, A2 & 3 on tomorrow’s race program at LAP Paradise RC Raceway, saw Nguyen and Nitro Buggy Top Qualifier Iivonen quickly pull clear of the field.  Looking to be holding station, as the race hit mid distance a mistake from the American teenager would see the order switch.  Charging to close down the Finn, traffic would delay his attack, but setting the fastest lap of the race on his penultimate lap he looked poised to challenge for the lead on the final lap.  In the final quarter of the lap, Nguyen would set-up a pass over the double into the downhill section but landing partly on the leader his buggy ended up on its roof allowing a very relieved Iivonen to take his Cayote powered MX8E-26MPC to the win – the 23-year-old punching the air as he crossed the finish line.  Nguyen would cross the line 3.2 seconds back in 2nd with Sworkz’s Caleb Noble coming through from 5th on the grid to finish 3rd ahead of Jared Ment and third place qualifier Jayden Edmunds.

First big TQ for Iivonen at ABC Malaysia

Mayako’s Pekko Iivonen is the Top Qualifier at the second round of the Asian Buggy Championship, the Finn taking the final round of qualifying to win the shot out with Kyosho’s Phi-Long Nguyen and Sworkz’s Caleb Noble.  The battle for pole between the drivers from three different continents was set as they each posted a TQ run over the opening qualifiers but laying down the fastest time to take the fourth round it was Iivonen who claimed his first major international TQ honours.  His third appearance in the Team Cayote/VP-Pro backed Championship, the Finn drove a near perfect final qualifier in a close battle with ABC debutant Nguyen until on the last lap.  With Iivonen running just behind him on track, the teenager made a mistake that sealed the deal for Iivonen.  The American will line-up P2 for the 45-minute final with ABC race winners Noble and Jayden Edmunds starting 3rd and 4th respectively.  Nguyen would get the better of Iivonen in eBuggy taking the final round in the fastest time to become the Top Qualifier on tie-break, both drivers having two TQ runs each.  In Nitro Truggy, with Noble having already secured pole position in Q3, Ken NG would take the final round and his Sparko truggy will line-up second on the track which he has been a key figure in developing into an impressive facility.

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Nguyen & Iivonen add TQ runs at Asian Buggy Championships

With three rounds of qualifying in the books at the Asian Buggy Championships, the LAP Paradise RC Raceway in Malaysia has given us different TQ runs from three different drivers representing 3 different manufacturers, Kyosho’s Phi-Long Nguyen topping Q2 and Mayako’s Pekko Iivonen delivering in Q3. With Sworkz’s Caleb Noble opening nitro buggy qualifying with the fastest time, the stage is now set for an exciting fourth & final qualifier with all three drivers in the hunt for the overall TQ honours. After a mistake in Q1, Top Seed Nguyen made amends with a cleaner run to take a close TQ ahead of Iivonen and Noble, the three covered by just over a second. In Q3 it was Iivonen’s turn to execute a clean 5-minute run and he took the round by a significant 4.2-second margin over his Australian and American rivals who both had mistakes resulting in costly seconds lost. In eBuggy, Iivonen would make it back to back TQ run in Q3, while in Nitro Truggy, ABC New Zealand winner Noble locked in the overall TQ with a third consecutive TQ run allowing him to sit out Q4 and focus solely on buggy.

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