Puepke & Vahrenkamp winner at Nitro West Masters Rd3

Round three of the Nitro West Masters saw René Puepke and Ralf Vahrenkamp winning the 1/10 scale and 1/8 scale nitro on-road classes held. The race was held by the MCC Rhein-Ahr at Bad Breisig, located at the river Rhine south of the former capital Bonn. Fortunately the weather was different to the forecast and all heats and finals were run under dry conditions following rain during practice on Saturday afternoon.

In the 1/10 class it was Andreas Weyhoven pushing his Orcan powered Xray NT1 to pole position ahead of the Mugen trio René Puepke, Uwe Baldes and Sebastian Buerge. From semi final B Daniel Thiele (Mugen) and Werner Vogel (Kyosho) bumped up, from semi final A it was Benjamin Lehmann (Mugen), Simon Balk (Xray), Joerg Baldes (Mugen) and Michael Heltzel (Mugen).

The 45 minutes final – long final races are a main characteristic of the Nitro West Masters – turned to be a question of tyre wear. Finally René Puepke drove smooth around the challenging track and won the race completing 158 laps. Two laps done was his Mugen teammate Sebastian Buerge on second ahead of Andreas Weyhoven (155) who lost valuable time when his engine flamed out before the start. The Mugen trio Daniel Thiele, Uwe Baldes and Benjamin Lehmann were hampered by a huge tyre wear to finish on fourth to sixth.

Result of the 1/10 final:
1. Rene Puepke, 158 laps – Mugen / Reds / UFRA
2. Sebastian Buerge, 156 – Mugen / Reds / RPM
3. Andreas Weyhoven, 155 – Xray / Orcan / Orcan
4. Daniel Thiele, 153 – Mugen / O.S. / RPM
5. Uwe Baldes, 151 – Mugen / Orcan / Orcan
6. Benjamin Lehmann, 147 – Mugen / O.S. / Xceed
7. Michael Heltzel, 139 – Xray / Novarossi / Shepherd
8. Jörg Baldes, 125 – Mugen / Reds / Orcan
9. Werner Vogel, 77 – Kyosho / Team Orion / Marix
10. Simon Balk, 69 – Xray / Orcan / Orcan

Statistics: Mugen had six chassis in the finale with three Xray and one Kyosho. On the engine side it was three each for Reds and Orcan, two for O.S. and each one for Team Orion and Novarossi. Four cars run on Orcan tyres, two on RPM and one each on UFRA, Xceed, Shepherd and Matrix.

After three rounds Buerge leads the ranking by 556 points in front of his Mugen fellows Thiele (536) and Puepke (498). A total of 36 drivers have collected points so far in the 1/10 class.

The top 10 in the 1/10 ranking of the Nitro West Masters:
1. Sebastian Buerge, Mugen / Reds – 556 points
2. Daniel Thiele, Mugen / O.S. – 536
3. René Puepke, Mugen / Reds – 498
4. Werner Vogel, Kyosho / Team Orion – 444
5. Andreas Weyhoven, Xray / Orcan – 371
6. Benjamin Lehmann, Mugen / O.S. – 341
7. Dirk Zschaebitz, Serpent / Orcan – 339
8. Uwe Baldes, Mugen / Orcan – 326
9. Daniel Toennessen, Mugen / Novaross – 306
10. Bernd Rausch, Kyosho / Team Orion – 284

In 1/8 only six racers joined the action on Sunday. Frank Schewiola took pole position in front of Ralf Vahrenkamp and Joerg Wäldle. In the 45 minutes final race Schewiola was on a clear way to take the winner’s honours when a plug collapsed and valuable time was lost. Vahrenkamp was the new leader and managed to keep the lead to the chequered flag with a one and a half lap advantage over Schewiola. Seven laps down Waeldle came on third to make it a 1-2-3 for Serpent.

Result of the 1/8 final:
1. Ralf Vahrenkamp, 165 laps – Serpent / Novarossi / Xceed
2. Frank Schewiola, 164 – Serpent / Novarossi / Shepherd
3. Joerg Waeldle, 158 – Serpent / Novarossi / Xceed
4. Sven Mueller, 129 – Kyosho / Max / Enneti
5. Christian Roenicke, 126 – Mugen / Novarossi / Xceed
6. Christian Dussinger, 38 – Shepherd / Novarossi / Shepherd

Statistics: Three Serpent were joined by each one Kyosho, Mugen and Shepherd which were powered by five Novarossi and one Max engine. Three cars were running on Xceed tyres, two on Shepherd and one on Enneti.

Vahrenkamp tops the ranking following round three of the Nitro West Masters by 566 points with Schewiola only five points behind. Young Christian Roenicke (454) is on third among a total of 26 1/8 racers which have gathered points so far.

The top 10 in the 1/8 ranking of the Nitro West Masters:
1. Ralf Vahrenkamp, Serpent / Novarossi – 566 points
2. Frank Schewiola, Serpent / Novarossi – 561
3. Christian Roenicke, Mugen / Novarossi – 454
4. Tobias Hepp, Serpent / Novarossi – 390
5. Udo Tappertzhofen, Kyosho / Team Orion – 306
6. Jean-Pierre Roenicke, Serpent / Novarossi – 298
7. Christian Wurst, Mugen / Sirio – 267
8. Heinz Kroezemann, Mugen / Ninja – 241
9. Ralf Wacker, Serpent / Novarossi – 181
10. Joerg Waeldle, Serpent / Novarossi – 181

The final round of the Nitro West Masters will be held on 16/17 October by MCK Dormagen in the north of Cologne.

Source: Nitro West [nitro-west.de]