Bernd Rausch wins rainy race in Western Germany
Kyosho/Team Orion team driver Bernd Rausch has captured the victory in round three of the 1/10 nitro on road Western German Championship which was held at Bad Breisig, located south of former capital Bonn. Encouraged following his eighth place at the E.C. (B) recently held in Lostallo, Rausch did 63 laps in the very wet final and enjoyed a nine lap advantage over Xray/Orcan racer Andreas Weyhoven. Only three drivers made it to the finish line after 30 minutes with Daniel Toennessen (Mugen/Novarossi) on third but with only 31 laps. Rene Puepke (Mugen/Reds) was on fourth and had to retire at half time. Joerg Baldes (Mugen/Orcan) did only three laps before water took control of his electronics. Even worse things went for Uwe Baldes (Mugen/Orcan) and Daniel Thiele (Mugen/Reds) – they didn’t even make it to the start. Three racers decided not to join the final, the three Serpent drivers Tobias Hepp, Daan Jacobs and Lucien Zens.
Following a perfect practice day under best conditions and with lots of traffic on the 254 meter track with a total of 54 competitors (34 in the 1/10 class, 20 in KWC), rain washed out the grip during the night. But finally the weather on Sunday was not as bad as forecasted and most of the heats and several sub-finals could be run on a dry track.
After the heats Serpent youngster Tobias Hepp topped the ranking list followed by Daniel Thiele, Andreas Weyhoven and Joerg Baldes. Guest driver Patrick Gassauer (Kyosho/Team Orion) had done the second time but was not officially listed and offered to join the final as eleventh driver – a usual procedure for guest drivers in Western Germany.
From quarter final B Klaus Vollmert (Xray), Philipp Krause (Kyosho) and Joerg Deckers (Xray) stepped up, from quarter final A it was Benny Lehmann (Mugen), Claus Nauth (Xray) and Andreas Janz (Kyosho). Semi final B was led by Karl-Heinz Meister (Serpent) for a while but finally he retired 40 seconds before the end with a broken spur gear. Rene Puepke won this race ahead of Daan Jacobs. The Dutch made his debut in the Western German Championship. Third spot went to Lucien Zens. Semi final A was a different affair because it started to rain heavily after only one lap. One after the other retired and finally it was Uwe Baldes who stopped after ten minutes leading ahead of Daniel Toennessen and Bernd Rausch.
Result of the final:
1. Bernd Rausch, 63 laps – Kyosho / Team Orion
2. Andreas Weyhoven, 54 – Xray / Orcan
3. Daniel Toennessen, 31 – Mugen / Novarossi
4. Rene Puepke, 27 – Mugen / Reds
5. Joerg Baldes, 3 – Mugen / Orcan
6. Tobias Hepp, dns – Serpent / Novarossi
7. Daniel Thiele, dns – Mugen / Reds
8. Uwe Baldes, dns – Mugen / Orcan
9. Daan Jacobs, dns – Serpent / Sirio
10.Lucien Zens, dns – Serpent / Novarossi
Statistics: Mugen had five chassis in the final with three for Serpent and each one for Kyosho and Xray. On the engine side it was each three for Orcan and Novarossi, two for Reds and each one for Team Orion and Sirio.
Tobias Hepp, winner of round one, is leading the ranking after three of four rounds by 540 ahead of Puepke (533), Toennessen (513), Uwe Baldes (472) and Joerg Baldes (433). A total of 41 drivers have already earned points so far.
The 1/10 scale racers and the racers of the KWC (Kyosho World Cup) have grown together to a real rc family which enjoy racing with eagerness and fun. 20 drivers at round three of the KWC West means the highest attendance so far.
Oldie but goodie Werner Vogel caught pole position with an advantage of nearly a complete lap. He was followed by Carsten Diekmann, Georg Goehlich and Andreas Palitza. Semi final B was in the hand of Robert Emmerich, young Yanick Mueller came in second ahead of Guido Burghartz. The top three positions in the semi final A went to Marvin Schumann, Ali-cem Oezoenmetz and Michael Stein. Seven Kyosho drivers entered the 30 minutes final under rainy conditions. Again it was Georg Goehlich to win in the rain as he did at Duren four weeks ago. Vogel finished second three laps down and another nine laps down Yanick Mueller stormed to third place on the podium. Fourth became Michael Stein followed by Robert Emmerich, Marvin Schumann and Ali-cem Oezoenmetz.
In the KWC ranking Werner Vogel (580 points) leads the GP-Pro class ahead of Marvin Schumann (552) and Marco Nenner (475), Carsten Dieckmann (563) is the leader of the GP-Sport class in front of Robert Emmerich (528) and Michael Stein (518).
Racing in Western Germany continues with round two of the Nitro West Masters, open for 1/8 and 1/10 nitro on road, on the upcoming weekend (05/06 June) at Dueren with already 40 competitors in the entry list. The final battle for points of the Western German Championship and for the KWC will take place on 03/04 July at Oberhausen.
Source: Nitro-West [nitro-west.de]
