2018 Pro Stock Series finale – Report
Last weekend saw the grand season finale of the 2018 Pro Stock Series 2018 with this year’s host being the WMC Wiesbaden club in Germany. The Pro Stock Series is a national racing series in Germany for 1/10th and 1/8th scale nitro cars run with mandatory stock engines from Novarossi and Picco as well as bodies from BrilliantRC. Since this year there is also an 1/8 electric class which enjoys growing popularity. The Pro Stock Series celebrates its current form of 10-years of existence and offers the opportunity to compete with cost efficient and durable material. For the finale the drivers took the points from their regional races to the nation-wide finale. The weather forecast for the weekend was perfect. In the morning it was still cold in the clear night sky, but the temperature quickly climbed to double digits. No cloud harmed the racing action during Saturday’s free practice that was followed by timed practice rounds and the first of four heats. On Sunday morning racing went on and the well-organised club made sure that three more heats could be done until lunch break.
Going into the finals the 1/8th class had a clean favourite: David Kröger (Shepherd). The young talent from Dortmund was able to take the German Class 2 Nats title only days before the Pro Stock final. Wolfgang Hedrich with his Serpent in 2nd place was another direct qualifier as was ;arkus Friedrich with his Shepherd in 3rd place and Matthias Günther in 4th place, also driving a Shepherd. At the start of the A-main several riders got involved in first lap accidents. Marcus Friedrich and Wolfgang Hedrich crashed in turn one and found themselves dead last. Up front David started from a 1st place and had to be slowed-down over the radio by his father and mechanic in order not to hurry away from the field too fast and in order to save tyres and fuel as in the Pro Stock Series may not refuel before five minutes into the race. Behind him a tough fight for the podium raged on. Veteran racer Matthias Günther kept out of all major accidents. Norbert Hügel (Serpent), who had bumped-up from the semifinal A, took position after position and got into 3rd place. Despite a right side tyre change on David’s car at about half-time, the young man didn’t give away the lead and ultimately won after 111 laps in front of fellow club member Matthias Günther with 109 laps and Norbert Hill with 106 laps.
In the 1/10th Touring class Marcus May, Jens Becker, Dominik Mucnjak and Nils Heimlich directly qualified into the main and as expected, Marcus and Jens were able to break away from the field early in the final. The tyre wear of the Wiesbaden track allowed for different tactics. While Marcus tried to nurse his Shepherd as tire-saving and error-free as possible around the track, Jens used a different tactic and tried to build up pressure from the beginning. The chasing pack didn’t had the time to think of this, because they fought for every centimetre. Nils Heimlich (Shepherd) and Dominik Mucnjak (Shepherd), who had come all the way from Switzerland, showed a fair duel for the final podium place. Several times they changed positions and only backmarkers or pit stops interrupted the duel. The chasing field could not keep up with the speed of the top 4. Title contender Bernd Hasselbring was stopped by engine flame-outs, Lars Poburski was involved in minor accidents and Patrick Werner lost many laps in a rollover after a previous collision. It took until mid-race and Marcus finally found some room to breathe. Jens headed for the pit lane to get new tyres on the outside of his Xray. This threw him back into 4th place. Also Dominik could break away from Nils a little bit who now had to deal with Jens, chasing him down on new tyres. The time of tyre saving was over now and Nils had to make his Shepherd as wide as possible to the delight of the spectators to not give Jens any possibility to overtake. After very long ten minutes Nils gave in to the pressure and had to let Jens go. In the final minutes of the race, Marcus escaped from the rest of the field, more than a lap in front of Jens, who regained the 2nd position after Dominik had two minor mistakes that unfortunately cost a lot of time. While Marcus was still turning winner donuts with his Shepherd, Jens could celebrate his 2nd place. Nils finished 3rd and Dominik narrowly missed the final podium place after a strong race.
In the 1/8 electric class Rene Franzl Simon confidently beat Norbert Wildner and Peter Van Zeist.
Source: Shepherd [team-shepherd.com]
