Adrian Bernsten dominates Norwegian Winter Series Rd4

The 4th round of the Norwegian Winter series was held at the big sportshall in the small village of Spydeberg recently, which is 50 km south-east of Oslo, and Adrian Bernsten sent us this report. We saw a 600m2 big track with same layout as was used at the Nordic Championship held earlier this season (November 2010). The only difference was that we now used white and red corner dots to mark the corners better. There were 43 drivers over three classes; 1/10 touring modified, 1/10 Pro Stock and 1/12 scale and we drove three qualification rounds with the best out of three-system.

As Q1 started I had the highest pace, making it 26 laps in 5:01:187, in front of the two Xray drivers Tom Erik Haaversen (2nd) and Joakim Nicolaisen (3rd) making it 26 laps in 5:20:783 (expected that he had finished) and 25 laps in 5:00.092. Petter Berntsen, the one of the top 3 favorites before the race had big problems with his differential, which forced him to retire from the race after only 1 minute of the race.

For Q2 I felt early on that I had a good run going. I pushed maximum to try to get a 27 lap-run. Except from one mistake, every lap was between 11.2 and 11.6 sec. In the end I finished with a 27-lap run in 5:10:192, which also was going to be the TQ time. The young Xray drivers Joakim Nicolaisen and Petter Berntsen sat their fastest rounds, with Joakim in 2nd with 26 laps in 5:09:659 and Petter in 3rd with 26 laps in 5:09:735. Petter also this time had problems with his differential one the last 5 laps, which allowed Joakim to pass him.

In the Q3 I started even better and drove every single laptimes under 11.5 sec. Unfortunately I crashed after 14 laps, and had to retire. Petter Berntsen had also this time problems with his differential and again had to retire after 6 laps. Since both Petter and I had to retire, Tom Erik Haaversen could take the win with a 26 lap-run in 5:09:588, which made him take 2nd spot for the final, only 1 tenth in front of Joakim in 3rd, and 2 tenth in front of Petter that had to start from 4th position due to his problems during qualifying.

Top 10 after qualifying:
1. Adrian Berntsen – Xray T3’11
2. Tom Erik Haaversen – Xray T2’008
3. Joakim Nicolaisen – Xray T3’11
4. Petter Berntsen – Xray T3’11
5. Kjell Gunnar Guttormsen – Tamiya TRF 417
6. Øivind Stusdal – Xray T3
7. Mathias Rud – Xray T3
8. Georg Ellingsen – Xray T3’11
9. Bjørn-Ivar Haug – Xray T3’11
10.Oskar A. Fjeld – Xray T3

Since I was approx. one lap in front of 2nd place after qualifying I was confident before the finals. So my goal was not just to win, but to drive 5 minutes without any mistakes because this was my last event before EC in Hrotovice.

As the first final started, I had a big gap early on down to 2nd place that just got bigger and bigger for every lap. Petter Berntsen, starting from 4th position, overtook Joakim Nicolaisen in 3rd pretty early to start making pressure on Tom Erik in 2nd. When Petter easily came up behind Tom Erik in 2nd, Tom Erik straight ahead went wide to allow Petter to pass him. Tom Erik now had to control his 3rd position since Kjell Gunnar Guttormsen also was driving fast. In the end I could cruise in to leg 1 victory 7 seconds in front of Petter Berntsen in 2nd, Tom Erik finished in 3rd.

The 2nd final was going to be a funny and interesting final. In the start of the final both Tom Erik and I both got a stop-and-go which we were supposed to have. Because of this we both lost 5 seconds to Petter B that now had a big lead. I did my very best to try to get up behind Petter and when we had been driving 2-2,5 minutes I was right behind to do my very best to make pressure on him. Petter stayed calm until the second last lap when he hit the corner dot a disappeared out of the track. This made me take also leg 2 victory and also to take the overall win. Petter finished 2nd also this final and had a great chance to take 2nd place overall, while Joakim finished 3rd in this final.

Before the third and last final Joakim, Petter, and Tom Erik all had chance to take the overall 2nd position. But Joakims and Tom Eriks only chance was to make 2nd place overall was to fin the last final. Petter had already two second positions so he only had to beat the two other guys to make sure he would finish 2nd. As the final started, I again pulled away. Tom Erik kept 2nd position for a while, but Joakim made an early mistake to let both Petter and Kjell Gunnar pass him. Petter also this final manage to get from the 4th starting position up to second place when the final ended. Kjell Gunnar Guttormsen this time took 3rd place, while Tom Erik dropped down to 4th.

Final results
1. Adrian Berntsen – Xray T3’11
2. Petter Berntsen – Xray T3’11
3. Tom Erik Haaversen – Xray T2’008
4. Kjell Gunnar Guttormsen – Tamyia TRF 417
5. Joakim Nicolaisen – Xray T3’11
6. Øyvind Stusdal – Xray T3
7. Georg Ellingsen – Xray T3’11
8. Mathias Rud – Xray T3
9. Bjørn Ivar Haug – Xray T3’11
10.Oskar A. Fjeld – Xray T3

Thanks to Adrian Bernsten for the report.