April 26, 2022

Holthuis wins Dutch 1/10 Nitro nats opener

The first Dutch national race for 1/10 nitro cars was held at the Sluis track in Gouda. Wordl famous for cheese, in the RC world the Gouda event is known for the tight twisty and unforgiving layout. Combined with strong winds the challenge was on for the racers. After qualifying we had Milan Holthuis on pole with some margin to the rest. For the final the battle looked to be for the lower podium positions. The higher than expected tire wear would also come into play for the 30 minute final. Would a tire change be necessary and if so, all four or only outside? Plenty of options…

The final itself saw Milan streak away in the lead never to be seen again. Only a small misjudgement led to a small off track excursion. The rest of the pack had a big scrap for positions. The difficult track leading to a mistake here and there and positions continued to change during the final. Kristoff Sielaf was in second for almost the entire race. Running without a tire change he needed to take care of his wear and did so very nicely. Most others changed all four tires with Boris Kolff and Dave de Ruyter opting for only outside tires at the 10 minute mark. This set up an interesting last 5 minutes where some had tires left and others were nursing the car home. And some that could push hard but had lost more time during the change.

With a minute to go it was Milan, Kristoff and Boris in the top 3. With Boris closing in on Kristoff. Unfortunately Kristoff had a tangle with a backmarker in the dying moments of the race and this handed second position to Boris. All in all an entertaining race to start the season.

Thanks to Julius Kolff for the report / Image: Arie Manten



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