Kobbevik takes 16th National title with 1:8 Offroad win

Sworkz’ Daniel Kobbevik claimed his 16th National title over the weekend with victory at the 2023 Norwegian 1:8 Nitro Offroad Championship at 3starRaceway in Nedenes.  Open 2-years, while track is small in size it is fast and features many cool elements.  Having won the title back in 2021 but forced to miss the race in 2022 due to a clash with the 1:10 Offroad European Championships, Kobbevik’s limited 1:8 racing didn’t hamper his efforts as he topped 3 of the 5 rounds of qualifying to become the Top Qualifier.  Mugen’s Vincent Rüger would TQ Q1 & 3 to take pole for the other Semi Final.  With ever changing weather conditions, the Semi Finals proved challenging but Kobbevik won his in the faster time to secure pole for the 45-minute final ahead of Rüger and the Kyosho of Mathias Fink.  Switching to a softer compound tyre for the final, Kobbevik would quickly run out of tyres causing the battle for the lead to heat up with Rüger.  With both drivers adjusting their fuel strategy as the pushed each other unfortunately Rüger would come up short and run out fuel.  This gave Kobbevik breathing space he would hold to finish over half a lap up on Kruger.  With Fink retiring after just 8-minutes of racing, 11th place starter Danny Kwiatkowski would come through to complete the podium with his Kyosho.

Image: Magne Kobbevik