Exciting season opener for the Nitro West Masters at Oberhausen
There are a couple of question marks when the first round of the Nitro West Masters is held on the Easter weekend at Oberhausen: Who has changed chassis? Who is racing which engine? Who is already well prepared after the long winter? How are the new balance of power in the 1/8 and 1/10 nitro on road classes? The season opener on the 3rd and 4th of April at the old-established race track of the MRC Alstaden Oberhausen in Western Germany will for sure shed light but many drivers will put their cards on the table probably not before the races for the Western German Championships. Nevertheless, the Easter weekend offers a good opportunity to zero in on qualifying for the Nationals.
The Nitro West Masters is the continuation of the 2009 established NRW Challenge. Instead of three there will be four rounds this year. Beside the MRC Alstaden Oberhausen the following races will be organised by RMC Dueren (05/06 June), MCC Rhein-Ahr at Bad Breisig (28/29 August) and MCK Dormagen at Cologne (16/17 October). The philosophy of this series which attracted 72 competitors in 2009 is still the same: Only three heats of five minutes but long finals with duration of 30 minutes for the semi finals and 45 minutes for the main finals. Lots of track time and lots of fun – that´s the motto.
With its challenging 234 meter circuit, the proven organisation in the hands of hard working Josef Holl as well as the superb catering, Oberhausen offers the perfect venue for the season opener which has been postponed for one week because the 3-hour race 1/10, scheduled for last Saturday, was canceled due to insufficient entries.
Until Wednesday night the entry list is open – of course also for foreign drivers – but it is foreseeable that the 1/8 class will have more competitors than 1/10. Some changes are already known. Christian Wurst as well as Joerg and Uwe Baldes, the 2009 Motonica trio, will race with Mugen. However, for 2010 Joerg Baldes will mainly concentrate on the 1/10 class. Young talent Jean-Pierre Roenicke has moved from Kyosho to Serpent.
Changes have also been seen among the top drivers of the 2009 NRW Challenge. 1/8 champion Tobias Hepp will be powered by Novarossi engines like his Serpent fellow Frank Schewiola, third of the last year´s ranking list behind Ralf Vahrenkamp (Serpent). Andreas Weyhoven, runner-up behind 1/10 champion Sebastian Buerge (Mugen), has left Kyosho and joined Xray. Third ranked Benjamin Lehmann changed from Serpent to Mugen. Of course all of the top racers have already signed for the opener of the Nitro West Masters.
The possibilities for early season testing was quite rare during the last couple of weeks, anyhow a few RC racers have already been circling around the tracks at Oberhausen and elsewhere. While some drivers are obviously waking up quite slowly from hibernation others have already got itchy fingers.
Saturday (03 April) is practice day from 10.00 am to 07.00 pm, race day (Sunday 04 April) starts at 09.00 am with the first heats. Important note: Good Friday is a so-called silent bank holiday and therefore the track will be closed on 2nd of April.
Source: Nitro West [nitro-west.de]
