Nitro-West-Masters season opener – Report

The prestigious Oberhausen track in Germany saw the season opener of the Nitro-West-Masters last weekend. With a record breaking entry of 69 drivers, exciting and fair racing, an up-to-the-minute time schedule, a helpful cooperation and friendly atmosphere in the paddock the first race of the 2014 season was a great success. Finally, Tobias Hepp (Xray), René Puepke (Shepherd), Waldemar Liedke (Mugen) and Hans-Werner Dietz (Xray) took the raging applause for their victories in the four classes.

On Saturday not only the sun was heating up the tarmac of the famous 234-metre track of the MRC Alstaden Oberhausen club, which confirmed the reputation as the heart of RC racing in Western Germany, but also more than 60 drivers who completed a total of about 8000 laps in practice, made for heat on the track. During the core hours the practice was separated into 30 minutes windows for the 1/8 and 1/10 scale classes. The Oberhausen paddock was bursting at the seams on early Sunday morning when finally the 67 drivers got ready for a remarkable racing day. All racers moved together on the working desks and even some tables had to be added in the paddock area to grant every racer a pit area.

24 racers made 1/8 scale nitro on-road the strongest class of this event. In three qualifying heats, reduced from seven to six minutes with the three fastest laps counting, Frank Schewiola pushed his Serpent 977 to the limit to take TQ ahead of Xray racer Tobias Hepp and the Serpent duo of Karl-Heinz Meister and Christian Wurst. These four were directly qualified for the main race. From semifinal B, with a reduced run-time of 15 instead of 20 minutes, Reinhard Zick (Mugen) and Uwe Baldes (Xray) moved up into the main as well as the four Serpent drivers Ralf Vahrenkamp, Hans-Peter Holl, newcomer Christoph Loose and Thomas Kroeger from semifinal A.

The 30 minutes main race saw a busy pit crew of Meister already after only eight laps when his S977 lost the screw of the gas/brake servo arm. While Meister rejoined the race at the end of the field after more than three minutes, Hans-Peter Holl had not even made it to the starting line. After 80 laps Kroeger and some 11 laps later, Baldes had to retire. Started from pole position Schewiola was the early leader but finally Hepp made it to the top to celebrate a fine win with his Orcan-powered Xray RX8’2014 with a two lap advantage over Wurst with Schewiola completing the podium on third. Reigning Nitro-West-Masters champion Vahrenkamp came on fourth.

Final result 1/8 scale:
1. Tobias Hepp – Xray/Orcan – 138 laps
2. Christian Wurst – Serpent/IDM – 136
3. Frank Schewiola – Serpent/OS – 134
4. Ralf Vahrenkamp – Serpent/Novarossi – 131
5. Christoph Loose – Serpent/- – 128
6. Reinhard Zick – Mugen/Picco – 126
7. Karl-Heinz Meister – Serpent/Picco – 122
8. Uwe Baldes – Xray/Orcan – 91
9. Thomas Kroeger – Serpent/Novarossi – 80
10.Hans-Peter Holl – Serpent/- – DNS

In 1/10 scale (VG10) 18 drivers joined the competition, including six who travelled from the rainy ENS round 2 in Aigen, Austria to be welcomed by the sunny sky in Oberhausen. Newly crowned European B Champion Thilo Toedtmann with his Xray/Orcan combination claimed the best time in the heats with a healthy margin over René Puepke, Daniel Toennessen und Benjamin Lehmann. The semifinal B was won by Daniel Thiele (Serpent) in front of Melvin Diekmann (Shepherd). Arndt Bernhardt (Shepherd) took victory in semifinal A ahead of Faehd Labik (Xray), Julien Cevani (Serpent) and Dennis Krings (Xray) to complete the grid for the main race beside the four direct qualifiers. A couple of drivers suffered various issues to lose plenty of time in the pits during this race. Among those were Thilo Toedtmann with a broken servo, Daniel Toennessen, Benjamin Lehmann and Daniel Thiele. While reigning champion Toennessen made it to the finish line, Toedtmann, Thiele and Lehmann did not, as well as Labik whose Xray ran into issues in the very last lap. With Toedtmann out of the race it was an easy game for the Shepherd guys with Puepke winning one lap ahead of fellow Bernhardt. Seven laps down on Puepke, Diekmann completed a 1-2-3 victory for Shepherd.

Final result 1/10 scale:
1. René Puepke – Shepherd/Sonic – 124 laps
2. Arndt Bernhardt – Shepherd/Sonic – 123
3. Melvin Diekmann – Shepherd/Sonic – 117
4. Dennis Krings – Xray/Orcan – 112
5. Julien Cevani – Serpent/Xceed – 111
6. Daniel Toennessen – Mugen/RB – 106
7. Faehd Labik – Xray/Team Orion – 98
8. Benjamin Lehmann – Shepherd/Xceed – 72
9. Daniel Thiele – Serpent/Xceed – 56
10.Thilo Toedtmann – Xray/Orcan – 32

The two hobby cup classes – HC8 and HC10 – have become an inherent part of the Nitro-West-Masters with mandatory engines from Sonic and Novarossi. These engine packages, including pipe and manifold, mean a huge cost reduction for the racers alongside with less fuel consumption and less tire and other car component wear. All that results in cars which are easier to drive without sacrificing fun.

In HC8, the 1/8 scale Hobby Cup class, Mugen racer Waldemar Liedke took pole position with Helmut Hoessler (Serpent) in second at his comeback race after an eight-year break. Third placed Matthias Guenther (Shepherd) was directly qualified to the main race as well as Juergen Lehmann in his first race with Shepherd. Gunnar Blumendahl, another driver to return to nitro racing after many years, achieved a fine win in the semifinal with Heinz Faigle (Xray), Detlef Spiess (Xray), Roberto Bartoli (Mugen), Joachim Kuehn (Xray) and newcomer Holger Hinnendahl (Xray) to follow him into the main. Liedke pushed his Mugen to a well deserved victory in the 30 minutes finale. Four laps down came Spiess in second with Xray fellow Faigle joining him on the podium. Lehmann, Bartoli, Hoessler and Kuehn did not make it to the chequered flag.

Final result 1/8 scale Hobby Cup:
1. Waldemar Liedke – MugenNovarossi – 121 laps
2. Detlef Spiess – Xray/Novarossi – 117
3. Heinz Faigle – Xray/Novarossi – 115
4. Gunnar Blumendahl – Mugen/Sonic – 113
5. Matthias Guenther – Shepherd/Novarossi – 110
6. Holger Hinnendahl – Xray/Sonic – 96
7. Juergen Lehmann – Shepherd/Novarossi – 84
8. Roberto Bartoli – Mugen – Novarossi – 68
9. Helmut Hoessler – Serpent/Sonic – 41
10.Joachim Kuehn – Xray/Novarossi – 19

To the surprise of all, pole position in HC10, the 1/10 scale Hobby Cup class, went to newcomer Thorsten Lewandowski. The Xray driver was followed by reigning champion Sebastian Barlak (Serpent), Florian Trapp (Xray) and Sures Velauthapillai (Xray). From the semi Hans-Werner Dietz (Xray), Philipp Wisniewski (Mugen), Guido Burghartz (Kyosho), Robert Sieroczek (Serpent), Werner Vogel (Kyosho) and Wilfried Huebner (Serpent) made it into the finale. After 30 minutes the victory went to Dietz with “old boy” Vogel second but three laps down and Trapp in third another two laps down. Only Burghartz and Lewandowski had to retire early, and Huebner did not make it to the start.

Final result  1/10 scale Hobby Cup:
1. Hans-Werner Dietz – Xray/Novarossi – 108 laps
2. Werner Vogel – Kyosho/Novarossi – 105
3. Florian Trapp – Xray/Sonic – 103
4. Sures Velauthapilai – Xray/Sonic – 103
5. Philipp Wisniewski – Mugen/Sonic – 102
6. Robert Sieroczek – Serpent/Sonic – 93
7. Sebastian Barlak – Serpent/Sonic – 89
8. Guido Burghartz – Kyosho/Sonic – 83
9. Thorsten Lewandowski – Xray/Sonic – 61
10.Wilfried Huebner – Serpent/Xceed – DNS

As for the statistics, Serpent was the leading manufacturer with a total of 22 chassis among the 67 participants followed by 17 Xray, 13 Mugen, 10 Shepherd, 3 Kyosho and 1 Capricorn and KM each. Round two of six race series will be held at Dueren, located between Cologne and Aachen, on the 7th and 8th of June and as usual the race open to all racers with no license being needed.

Source: Nitro-West [nitro-west.de]