A TEAM of local roboteers are celebrating today after battling to victory in the world championships of Robot Wars.Team Storm aka Ed Hoppitt of Martlesham, Tim Bence, of Bredfield, and Meral Kocak, of Ipswich scooped the title just nine months after first entering the competition.

A TEAM of local roboteers are celebrating today after battling to victory in the world championships of Robot Wars.

Team Storm aka Ed Hoppitt of Martlesham, Tim Bence, of Bredfield, and Meral Kocak, of Ipswich scooped the title just nine months after first entering the competition.

Their robot Storm II trounced competition from across the globe in the finals shown on TV yesterday.

Mr Hoppitt said: "We can't quite believe it. We're totally overwhelmed by it all.

"We've gone from the 'New Blood' competition, for people who haven't been on the show before, to world champions in under a year.

"It's all been a bit of a mind-blowing experience!"

Sponsored by The Evening Star from the very beginning of their TV career, the team have gone on to win many fans around the country.

Mr Hoppitt said: "The Evening Star sponsored us when we were nobodies. They took a huge risk and a gamble on us and helped us to get off the ground."

Storm II saw off machines from as far afield as Sri Lanka, Germany and Holland to win the trophy.

The compact 15cm high robot has an 18-horsepower motor and an impenetrable outer layer of titanium.

And Storm II is not the only Suffolk robot to have featured on the show in recent years. The Steel Avenger team are based just outside Capel and Chaos 2 comes from Ipswich.

Mr Hoppitt said: "This victory takes the prowess of roboteers in the Ipswich area to the next level. For some reason, the town is a bit of a robot hot-spot.

"No other town can lay claim to as many famous robots."

Weblink: www.teamstorm.com