We just got this news direct from Gene Hickerson about this new CEN Matrix R2 Nitro Buggy in our inbox and what a great news to all CEN Matrix Buggy Fans.

CEN Racing’s Matrix R2 RTR brings the speed and durability that 1/8th scale buggies offer in a package that is Ready To Rock!! The Matrix is built for you to backyard bash during the week and take out to the racetrack on Sunday and ANNIHILATE the competition.

The Matrix R2 1/8th RTR was designed with the consumer in mind. This Matrix buggy will out perform and outlast any buggy in its class without draining your bank account. The Matrix has been race proven and remains one of the choice 1/8th RTR buggies in the nation by consumers that want to both compete and / or bash. This RTR Matrix buggy comes complete with an all new powerful 4.6 engine! You wanted more power we provided it! The all new Matrix C2 has a new look and new attitude while maintaining the same durability and design that has made the Matrix product line world famous!

With a thick 3mm 7075 T-6 chassis the Matrix can handle the abuse dished out by the rigors of 1/8th scale bashing. Don’t worry about the chassis flexing, the 7075 chassis can take more abuse than the wimpy 6061 aluminum used by the other buggy RTR out there. Just mash the throttle and drive the Matrix! Let your competitors know what 1/8th scale buggies are really about!

CEN has equipped the Matrix with parts that strengthen and lighten the Matrix. CEN has extensively used 7075 aluminum in the design of the Matrix. The radio tray, shock towers, center diff plate are all made of 7075, other companies feel that 6061 is all you need, yet they recommended the 7075 parts that are options for their cars!! CEN doesn’t cut corners with the Matrix. When we say Ready To Rock, we mean it!!!

Check out the front, center, and rear diffs of the Matrix. Each diff is a 6 gear bevel diff that are fully sealed and can be tuned with silicone diff oil. After you’re done checking out the diffs, notice the center driveshafts, both front and rear are universals! Other cars are still using dogbones.

Not only is the CEN Matrix chassis dialed! An Digital Skyion DX-Pro FM 3 channel radio is included as well. And we didn’t stop there, knowing that 1/8th scale buggies need servos with some power, high torque METAL gear servos are installed for the steering and throttle!

Here’s a little bit of him. Get ready to keep scrolling right down down there. Gene Hickerson and his wife Rysann gave birth to their 1st child, Rayanna Ruth Hickerson, on December 22, 2007. Despite now being a daddy, Hickerson continues to be a factor on the track.

4-27-08
CEN Racing’s Gene ‘the machine’ Hickerson takes 5th place in the monster truck class at the 2008 ROAR Nitro Truck Nationals with the CEN Nemesis. Hickerson was in the semi Final in 1/8 Truck.

2008_ROAR_Truck_Fuel_Offroad_Nationals.pdf

4-13-08
CEN Racing’s Gene ‘the machine’ Hickerson wins round 4 of the FSORS with the CEN Matrix FRE. There was 184 entries with the best driver’s in FL competing including IFMAR World Champion Billy Easton. Hickerson battled Team Associated’s JR Mitch for the lead the entire race until taking the lead with 5 minutes left and never looked back.

1/8th scale A-main

1. Gene Hickerson CEN/Maxy’s/OS
2. JR Mitch
3. Ryan Eckert
4. Juan Mendez
5. AJ Johnson
6. Luis Perez
7. Ralph Walters
8. Travis Scrambling CEN/Maxy’s
9. Billy Easton
10. Nathan Wincek
11. Travis Phillips
12. Jason Rouna

3-30-08
CEN Racing’s Gene ‘the machine’ Hickerson takes 2nd place in 1/8 Arena Truck and 2nd place in Expert 1/8 Buggy at round 1 of the RC Pro East Series. Hickerson kept his Matrix buggy and truggy in the top 3 for the entire 45 minute A-mains.

http://nitrooffroad.rcprosites.com/files/11046.pdf

http://nitrooffroad.rcprosites.com/files/11044.pdf

3-9-08
At the 2008 Silverstate Nitro Challenge, Hickerson had some really bad luck at the tables and in qualifying. In 1/8 Truck, he managed a B-main finish. In 1/8 Buggy, Hickerson put on a bump up show by bumping from the G-main to the C-main before his luck ran out.

2-23-08
CEN Racing’s Gene ‘the machine’ Hickerson takes 2nd place with his Matrix at round 3 of the FSORS with a record breaking 254 entries. The 2nd round of qualifying was rained out and Hickerson broke a shock shaft in round 1. But Hickerson easily won the D-main, the C-main, and the B-main to bump to the 30 minute A-main. At the start, Hickerson passed the whole field and took a commanding lead. But with less then 2 minutes left, a bolt broke in his ackerman plate causing a crash which handed the lead to Mitch. Mitch had flamed out earlier while in 2nd, but when the turnmarshall carried him to pit lane, he did not loose the lap. After a protest by Hickerson, they decided to not dock Mitch a lap and give him the win anyway.

– 1/8TH SCALE – A Main –

Pos Car Laps time name id avg.mph
1 1 54 30:16.29 JR Mitch 255 13.58
2 11 54 30:22.52 Gene Hickerson 291 13.54
3 2 54 30:34.50 Ryan Eckert 121 13.45
4 12 51 30:32.39 Ralph Walters 292 12.71
5 6 50 30:09.72 Lucas Mardis 134 12.62
6 3 49 28:57.14 Travis Phillips 29 12.89
7 7 49 30:13.52 JP Tirronen 1 12.34
8 8 45 28:03.37 Maxy Velazco 73 12.21
9 10 44 30:00.30 Mike Jones 93 11.16
10 9 42 25:23.34 Anton Watson 229 12.59
11 5 31 21:16.63 AJ Johnson 46 11.09
12 4 24 14:04.47 Bobby Moore 82 12.98

2-3-08
At the 1st annual Psycho Nitro Challenge, Gene Hickerson put his CEN Matrix buggy and truggy in both A-mains. In buggy a cut fuel line took him out of contention and in truggy a blown center diff ended his race while in 2nd place during the 1 hour main event.

Pos. Car Driver’s Name Total Laps Total Time Fastest Lap On Lap Avg. Lap Time Status
1 2 Chad Phillips 56 01:00:20.639 00:59.306 4 01:04.6 Done!
2 12 Travis Phillips 55 01:00:26.262 00:57.836 20 01:05.9 Done!
3 9 Chris Crews 54 01:00:31.237 00:59.884 15 01:07.2 Done!
4 18 Andrew Smolnik 54 01:00:45.724 00:59.414 45 01:07.5 Done!
5 10 Barry Pettit 54 01:01:00.037 00:59.860 19 01:07.7 Done!
6 6 Travis Dupree 52 01:01:31.015 00:58.071 8 01:10.9 Done!
7 14 Scott Stahl 46 00:52:48.702 01:00.491 19 01:08.8 DNF
8 7 Gene Hickerson 46 01:00:51.064 00:57.722 11 01:19.3 Done!
9 1 Ryan Lutz 42 00:51:09.282 00:55.874 27 01:13.7 DNF
10 3 Ryan Lopez 38 01:00:03.801 00:59.981 38 01:34.8 Done!
11 11 David Lindbert 35 01:00:07.410 01:00.155 27 01:43.6 Done!
12 16 Bobby Moore 34 00:38:20.023 00:58.759 30 01:07.6 DNF
13 4 Jason Smith 31 00:34:37.547 01:00.022 30 01:07.1 DNF
14 13 Patrick Rossiter 22 00:43:48.874 01:01.935 18 01:59.4 DNF
15 8 Micheal Sharwin 21 00:25:07.947 01:00.598 4 01:11.8 DNF
16 17 Robin Nelson 12 00:14:13.829 01:00.590 3 01:11.1 DNF
17 5 Keith Manton 7 00:08:44.467 01:02.304 7 01:14.9 DNF
18 15 Chris Pace 3 00:04:16.370 01:04.856 2 01:25.4 DNF

1-12-08
At round 2 of the FSORS, Hickerson showed up for qualifying with no practice. Qualifying in the A-main, Hickerson was leading the 30 minute main with 7 minutes left when electrical problems took him out of the race.

1/8TH SCALE

Best 6 out of 8
Position ActualPoints PossiblePoints Name 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1 395 603 Ryan Eckert 99 100 98 98 0 0 0 0
2 382 603 Gene Hickerson 90 93 99 100 0 0 0 0
3 374 597 AJ Johnson 91 97 90 96 0 0 0 0
4 362 590 Luis Perez 89 91 87 95 0 0 0 0
5 358 592 JP Tirronen 82 94 94 88 0 0 0 0
6 343 600 Juan Mendez 77 99 70 97 0 0 0 0
7 338 596 Chris Swauger 97 95 62 84 0 0 0 0
8 335 581 Bart Collins 85 92 75 83 0 0 0 0
9 322 573 Randy Deppen 80 89 76 77 0 0 0 0
10 316 578 Johnny Sanchez 92 73 82 69 0 0 0 0

Check that accomplishment! As we like to say here, you do not need certain diet pills to be on top, you just need RC aka Radio Control in your diet and life will be much better. LOL

Congrats Gene Hickerson. For being our RC Mentor, Driver Champions of the Month and most of all, as our friend. He owns the Machinesrchobbies.com. Please visit him for more of him and CEN.

This is just the start of more upcoming news from CEN Racing Team. We feel so privilege that we are able to cover CEN Racing’s drivers achievement. Mostly of course thanks to their sponsored driver and our friend, Gene ‘The Machine’ Hickerson, for providing all the latest news. We have to say CEN Racing teams not only been busy joining races but also winning them. The least they achieved is by being in the A Main. We just could not get enough of them. It is as if CEN Racing Team has been into the business performance management course of some sort. Well, if they are not, they are sure winning more than other brands. Congrats in advance from us.

Here one of their younger generation driver, Justin Cranford. He just TQ’ed and wins the Pro Arena Class (rc truggy) at the recent Hotshots Dash for Cash in Dothan, AL on Nov 3rd and 4th 2007. He won big cash of $390 as the overall winner.

Final result of rc truggy class, courtesy of Hotshot Karting and Paintball

1. Justin Cranford
2. Spencer Glasglow
3. Matt Perry
4. Jamey Powell
5. Kendell Davis

He also has the podium finish has the third position at the Pro Buggy. Just awesome.

Final result of the Pro buggy class:

1. Ryan Lopez
2. Aaron Craker
3. Justin Cranford

In addition, on Nov 8th-11th, 2007 Justin finished 7th in the B-main at the 2007 RC Pro Series Finals with his Cen Matrix TR. He finished 12th in the D-main in Pro Buggy due to running out of fuel while he was leading with 2 laps to go. Would have qualified better but made some bad setup choices with shock oil. After the resort after two rounds he was in the B-main. If we would have left the shock oil along he would have at least qualified in the B-main in Buggy.

This kid is just amazing. CEN is doing their job on developing and finding great talents. It shows in their many young drivers’ result. Well done once again CEN.

Buggy Final

1 Surikarn C Hotbodies HPI Racing / Hpi /

2 Meen V PRC Xray / Xray / Novarossi
3 Yeh Hsia Ching HN / Hongnor / RB
4 Sam Cheng Hobbylink / Xray / RB
5 Gems PRC Mugen / Mugen / O.S.
6 Cheng Yi Kuan HN / Hongnor / RB
7 Hwang Sun Young Kyosho / RB
8 Charlee PRC Mugen / Mugen /
9 Surasak K Baimai / Kyosho / O.S.
10 Yuhtana D Hobao Sivewender / Hobao / Werks

Truggy Final

1 Paphon C CEN Thailand / Matrix TR Arena / Sirio

2 Alan Looi Racelines / Mugen / Ninja
3 John Ho Reef Hobby / Losi / RB
4 Yeo Seong Leng IRW / GS / Falcon
5 Chai Kok Chin RCMRC / Mugen / GO
6 Lim Kok Beng RCMRC / Hobao / RB
7 Trevor Gillard Racelines / Mugen / Novarossi
8 Antony Kwok Losi / Picco
9 Champ Khunthien Topspeed / Hobao / O.S.
10 Reece McGergor Racelines / Mugen / O.S.

Source: FEMCA Thailand

MRH01 -
Hardened tool steel cross pins for the Matrix, TR Arena, and GST 7.7 differentials.

MRH02-
CNC 7075 blue anodized front upper turnbuckles for the Matrix TR Arena

MRH03-
CNC 7075 blue anodized front upper turnbuckles for the Matrix Buggy

MRH04-
CNC 7075 blue anodized ackerman steering plate for Matrix & TR Arena

MRH05-
CNC 7075 blue anodized front suspension holder plate for Matrix & TR Arena

source: Gene Hickerson from Machine’s RC Hobbies