Wurst and Buerge win at NRW Challenge Rd3
Motonica team driver Christian Wurst in the 1/8 nitro class and Mugen racer Sebastian Buerge in the 1/10 200mm nitro class are the winner of the third and ultimate round of the new NRW Challenge (NRW = German State North Rhine-Westphalia) which was held at the track of the MCC Rhein-Ahr at Bad Breisig, located at the Rhine river between Bonn and Koblenz. The 254 meter track offered a good grip level and also the weather conditions were quite good with temperatures up to twelve degrees Celsius for this late outdoor racing action which would have deserved some more entries.
In 1/8 scale it was once again Tobias Hepp clinching pole position with 20 laps in 5.08,182 minutes. The Serpent youngster was followed by the two Motonica P81’s of Christian Wurst and Uwe Baldes, fourth position went to Serpent racer Ralf Vahrenkamp. In the two 30 minutes semi finals Frank Schewiola at his Mugen “test race”, Emil Kostadinov (Mugen), Andreas Goebel (Serpent), Christian Willert (Serpent), Ingo Odenthal (Serpent) and Sebastian Scheidweiler (Serpent) were able to jump up into the final.
Like at round one in Dueren and round two at Oberhausen the final race was run for long 45 minutes which is a distinguishing mark of the NRW Challenge. Tobias Hepp turned his pole position into an early lead but later he ran into engine trouble with his Mega power unit. He lost the front position and after some flame outs he had to retire at the 36 minutes mark. Christian Wurst was ready to take the opportunity and took the win following a steady and fast run with his Sirio powered P81. One lap behind Ralf Vahrenkamp brought his Novarossi powered 966 home on second position while Uwe Baldes on third place completed a double podium finish for Motonica with his Team Orion powered P81. Fastest lap of the final went to Tobias Hepp, winner of round one and two, with a possibly record-braking 14,680 seconds. Only Hepp and Uwe Baldes (14,975) were able to break the 15 second barrier.
Results of the top ten 1/8 scale
1. Christian Wurst, 167 laps – Motonica / Sirio / Matrix
2. Ralf Vahrenkamp, 166 – Serpent / Novarossi / Xceed
3. Uwe Baldes, 163 – Motonica / Team Orion / Xceed
4. Frank Schewiola, 161 – Mugen / JP / RPM
5. Tobias Hepp, 134 laps – Serpent / Mega / Xceed
6. Andreas Goebel, 117 – Serpent / Mega / Xceed
7. Sebastian Scheidweiler, 106 – Serpent / Max / Xceed
8. Christian Willert, 79 – Serpent / Mega / Xceed
9. Ingo Odenthal, 71 – Serpent / Novarossi / Xceed
10. Emil Kostadinov, 71 – Mugen / Reds Racing / GRP
Statistics: Six chassis from Serpent and two each from Motonica and Mugen made it into the final race, three engines from Mega, two from Novarossi and one each from Sirio, Team Orion, JP, Max and Reds Racing. In the tyre ranking Xceed had a clear lead with seven cars accompanied by each one with tyres from Matrix, RPM and GRP.
In 1/10 200mm category Xray driver Andreas Schuch was able to beat favourite Sebastian Buerge in the fight for pole position. Andreas Schuch, using an advantageous Lola body, did 18 laps in 5.02,503 minutes with Buerge, using a DNA touring body, following just two seconds behind. But in the 45 minutes race it was once again Sebastian Buerge with his Novarossi powered Mugen MTX4R who took the victory with 156 laps – his third in three rounds of the NRW Challenge. Andreas Schuch crossed the finish line with his Orcan powered NT1 on second with two laps behind Buerge. Just one more lap down was Dieter Fleischer who entered the third step on the podium with his R&B powered Kyosho. While in 1/8 only five drivers completed the exhausting and unaccustomed 45 minutes race in 1/10 seven drivers saw the checkered flag.
Results of the top ten 1/10 scale
1. Sebastian Buerge, 156 laps – Mugen / Novarossi / GP
2. Andreas Schuch, 154 – Xray / Orcan / Orcan
3. Dieter Fleischer, 153 – Kyosho / R&B / Matrix
4. Wolfgang Feldges, 148 – Xray / OS / Matrix
5. Hartmut Rose, 148 – Xray / Orcan / Orcan
6. Marco Nenner, 147 – Kyosho / Novarossi / Matrix
7. Benjamin Lehmann, 141 – Serpent / Max / Xceed
8. Werner Vogel, 141 – Kyosho / Team Orion / Matrix
9. Bernd Rausch, 26 – Kyosho / Team Orion / Matrix
10. Andreas Weyhoven, DNS – Kyosho / R&B / GP
Statistics: Five Kyosho, three Xray and one each Mugen and Serpent – that´s it on the chassis side. On engines it was two each for Novarossi, Team Orion, R&B and Orcan and one each for OS and Max. Matrix led the tyre statistic with five cars followed by two each for GP and Orcan and one for Xceed.
