Late in February, Sonic Boom off road track finally re-opened its doors once again to nitro off-road racing after some heavy renovation and a long lay-off. In their inaugural race, the Associated RC8.2 swept the top three podium positions with some stiff competition.

With most racers running on the track for the first time, the A-Team showed how well the buggy quickly adapted to the track against the competition. Raffy Abello managed to take TQ with a near-flawless run, showcasing the buggy's superior performance on the new track. The layout features long and high jumps as well as a very tricky set of rhythmic jumps.

In the A finals, Raffy Abello and Nani Tagle, who qualified second, maintained their positions throughout the entire finals. It was only in the last 10 minutes of the race when Raffy succumbed to an engine flameout, which gave Nani the much-needed opportunity to seize the lead and take the victory in this exciting race.

All in all, the RC8.2 took the top three spots in the Buggy class.

Special thanks to Michael Ang for this report.