Salven takes West German 1/10th Rd2 victory
More than 20 years after his last visit at the track of the RMC Dueren close to the Belgian and Dutch border Michael Salven achieved victory at round two of the nitro 1/10 Western German Championship. With rain pouring down for most of the day Tobias Hepp made it a 1-2 for Serpent crossing the line just five seconds behind Salven.
“It is really a long time ago since my last race at Dueren. Lots of people told me that the re-designed track isn’t nice but I have to say that the track is nice to drive and I had lot of fun. And for sure it is a good opportunity to practise for the 1/10 W.C. track at Houston which isn’t as demanding as this one”, said Salven and promised to be back for round two of the 1/8 Western German Championship in two weeks time.
While a total of 43 competitors enjoyed practice under perfect conditions until a first shower late in the afternoon, race day was a mainly wet affair. Local hero Daniel Toennessen took TQ doing 14 laps with his Novarossi powered Mugen under steady rain during the heats. One lap down were Kyosho racer Dieter Fleischer, Salven and reigning champion Sebastian Buerge with the prestigious number “1” on his Mugen. Most of the drivers only did a single lap just to be classified.
When rain stopped after the heats race director Markus Puetz decided to wait for a mainly dry track to give green lights for the two semi finals. Hepp won the semi final B with his Novarossi powered S-733 with a one lap advantage over Bernd Rausch (Kyosho/Team Orion) and Klaus Vollmert (Xray/Orcan). In the semi final A Rene Puepke captured victory ahead of Mugen teammate Uwe Baldes and Marco Nenner (Kyosho/Team Orion).
The rain was back in time for the final and Toennessen, Fleischer, Salven and Hepp decided to fight for positions and points. Toennessen took the early lead and pulled away in the first half of the 30 minutes race but following two engine cut-offs and with Salven and Hepp getting faster and faster he lost his two lap advantage and dropped back to third. The battle between old-hand Salven and young Hepp – both running on rented rain tyres – was on until the chequered flag dropped. Salven with a conservative ride caught the victory by just five seconds over Hepp who was quicker at the end but made some little mistakes on the slippery surface.
The top 10 result:
1. Michael Salven, 81 laps – Serpent / Mega
2. Tobas Hepp, 81 – Serpent / Novarossi
3. Daniel Toennessen, 78 – Mugen / Novarossi
4. Dieter Fleischer, 60 – Kyosho / RB
5. Sebastian Buerge, DNS – Mugen / Novarossi
6. Rene Puepke, DNS – Mugen / Reds Racing
7. Uwe Baldes, DNS – Mugen / Orcan
8. Bernd Rausch, DNS – Kyosho / Team Orion
9. Marco Nenner, DNS – Kyosho / Team Orion
10.Klaus Vollmert, DNS – Xray / Orcan
As usual, a view onto the statistics: The two winning Serpent 733 were joined by four Mugen, three Kyosho and one Xray. On engines it was three for Novarossi, two each for Team Orion and Orcan and one each for Mega, RB and Reds Racing.
After two of four rounds of the championship Hepp is the new leader with 380 points followed by Puepke and Salven with 360 each. A total of 37 drivers have achieved points yet.
The top 10 of the ranking list:
1. Tobias Hepp, 380 points – Serpent / Novarossi / Shepherd Tyres
2. Rene Puepke, 360 – Mugen / Reds Racing / UFRA
3. Michael Salven, 360 – Serpent / Mega / Xceed
4. Daniel Toennessen, 332 – Mugen / Novarossi / ATS
5. Uwe Baldes, 321 – Mugen / Orcan / Orcan
6. Jörg Baldes, 267 – Mugen / Orcan / Orcan
7. Marco Nenner, 263 – Kyosho / Team Orion / Matrix
8. Bernd Rausch, 230 – Kyosho / Team Orion / Matrix
9. Benjamin Lehmann, 215 – Mugen / Max / RPM
10.Lucien Zens, 209 – Serpent / Novarossi / Xceed
During heats and finals the twelve racers of the KWC (Kyosho World Cup) group West showed that they are really not afraid of water. The grid for the final race was completely full with ten cars. Following an exciting 30 minutes competition is was TQ man Georg Goehlich who earned the biggest trophy winning with two laps over Carsten Diekmann. Old-hand Werner Vogel, winner of the season opener at Dormagen, came in on third.
Following three championship rounds in a row in Western Germany they racers are facing a weekend free for testing. They will join again for the next race meeting at Dueren on 15/16 of May with the 1/8 racers fighting for points and the 1/10 guys just racing for fun.
Source: Nitro West [nitro-west.de]
