Rene Puepke wins German West 200mm Rd1

Mugen celebrated a fine 1-2-3 victory at the season opener of the Western German Championship in the 1/10-200mm nitro class at Oberhausen. In the 30 minutes final race it was Rene Puepke taking home the overall win and the maximum amount of points. After 132 laps he had a 2.5 second lead over fellow Mugen racer Sebastian Buerge. Former German Champion Teemnu Sarinen from Finland was a long time leader but lost the second gear at an early stage. At the end he was six laps down to take third spot on the podium.

Originally German Champion Dirk Wischnewski, a guest starter at Oberhausen, finished third on the track but he joined the final as an eleventh driver outside the official classification following third position in the heats ranking. The 2008 European B Champion, was hampered by traction roll following a wrong tyre choice for the final as well as his Xray team mate Freddy Suedhoff who ended up on fourth.

Top qualifyer was Saarinen in front of Suedhoff, Wischnewski, Puepke and Claus Nauth. From semi final A Arndt Bernhard, Uwe Baldes and Dieter Fleischer stepped up into the final, from the semi final B Buerge, Daniel Toennessen and Andreas Janz made it into the final race. A total of 39 scale drivers joined at perfect weather conditions an excellent race meeting at the formidable 238-meter-track at Oberhausen, the heart of rc racing in Western Germany.

A final result:
1. Rene Puepke, 132 laps – Mugen / OS / RPM
2. Sebastian Buerge, 132 – Mugen / Novarossi / GP
3. Teemu Sarinen, 126 – Mugen / Novarossi / GRP
4. Frederik Suedhoff, 125 – Xray / Orcan / Orcan
5. Dieter Fleischer, 123 – Kyosho / R&B / Ennetti
6. Arndt Bernhard, 122 – Mugen / Novarossi / GRP
7. Andreas Janz, 121 – Kyosho / R&B / Ennetti
8. Daniel Toennessen, 116 – Mugen / Novarossi / GRP
9. Claus Nauth, 109 – Xray / Orcan / Xray
10. Uwe Baldes, 19 – Xray / Team Orion / Orcan