Norwegian 1/10th Buggy Nats Rd1 – Report

Round 1 of this year’s Norwegian 1/10th Electric Buggy Nationals was held at the Bergen track in what is considered to be the rainiest region of the country. And indeed did the race kick off on the wet, however things got better during the weekend with the grip slowly coming up. The track layout used was tight and technical and together with the unpredictable weather the drivers were forced to be on their toes in terms of setup and tyres. The weekend kicked off on Saturday with the 2WD class and right from the start it was Xray’s Daniel Kobbevik who set the pace. After winning three of the four qualifiers he put his buggy on the pole position from Torbjorn Doler (Team Associated) on P2 as as Øystein Doler (Team Associated) came in 3rd.

The opening A-main started with Daniel getting away, and the fight for 2nd and 3rd was on but in the end it was Daniel taking the win, with Torbjorn Doler 2nd and Xray driver Adrian Sognestad 3rd. A2 started the same way with Daniel pulling away to a huge lead while behind him the race for the remaining podium spots was on. All went in favour of Daniel until the last lap when he hit a bump and his car was laying at the worst place for almost 19 seconds until the marshals could get it on track again, but still Daniel could take the win in front of Oystein Doler, as Torbjorn Doler came in 3rd this time. Despite having already bagged the win Daniel opted to run in A3 and again it was a blueprint of the previous runs with Daniel up front and the fight for 2nd and 3rd being on. Ultimately it was Team Serpent driver Marius Kristensen in 2nd from Nikolay Haaheim (Xray) 3rd. Overall Torbjorn Doler managed to come on the runner-up spot from Oystein Doler 3rd.

2WD Buggy final results:
1. Daniel Kobbevik – Xray/Hobbywing/EZ
2. Torbjorn Doler – Team Associated/Team Orion/LRP
3. Oystein Doler – Team Associated/Team Orion/LRP
4. Nikolay Haaheim – Xray/Hobbywing/EZ
5. Adrian Sognestad – Xray/Hobbywing/EZ
6. Jostein Helland – Team Associated/Team Orion/Reedy
7. Marius Kristensen – Serpent/Muchmore/EZ
8. Trond Setre – Team Associated/Reedy/Reedy
9. Steffen Larsen – Yokomo/Reedy/EZ
10.Arne Flesvik – Yokomo/Yokomo/Yokomo

The 4WD Buggy class again saw Daniel putting his Xray buggy on pole position, this time winning all four qualifiers for a clean sweep. Sunday saw less weather changes and after a slippery morning grip came up during the day and Marius Kristensen (Serpent) and Adrian Sognestad (Xray) would round out the top 3 results so far.

The opening A-main started with Daniel making a mistake at the first jump combination, sending his car wheels up, however courtesy of some swift laps he soon was in the lead again and from there he never looked back to take the win from Nikolay Haaheim (Xray) and Marius Kristensen.

A2 saw a better start for Daniel this time as he pulled away and was never in the range for the other drivers. He could just push on lap times and set a new track record and fastest lap of the weekend with a 22.902. 2nd place went toMarius Kristensen and Torbjorn Doler (Xray). With the win Daniel secured another win that weekend and again he attended the third A-main but unfortunately the main saw a messy start but this did not stop Daniel from taking another win with Oyster Doler (Team Associated) and Adrian Sognestad (Xray) coming in 2nd and 3rd. Oyster had a quite a comeback in A2 and A3 to snatch the final podium spot after falling short in A1.

4WD Buggy final results:
1. Daniel Kobbevik – Xray/Hobbywing/EZ
2. Marius Kristensen – Serpent/Muchmore/EZ
3. Øystein Doler – Team Associated/Hobbywing/LRP
4. Nikolay Haaheim – Xray/Hobbywing/EZ
5. Torbjorn Doler – Xray/Team Orion/LRP
6. Adrian Sognestad – Xray/Hobbywing/EZ
7. Thomas Byrkjeland – -/-/-
8. Jostein Helland – Team Associated/Reedy/Reedy
9. Peter Stein – Xray/Hobbywing/EZ
10.Arne Flesvik – Yokomo/Yokomo/Yokomo

Thanks to Magne Kobbevik for the report.