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| Race report by Maximilian Trochim |
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The international race for nitro-buggies and truggies (scale 1:8) was held this year, as usual, in the halls of Leipzig (Germany) from 03.-05.10.2008 to correspond with the âśmodel hobby and gameâť trade-fair.
Friday and Saturday were used for training and qualification heats. On Sunday, because of many starters, there were only the finals in the timetable.
The track consists of quartz-sanded wood panels, which had optimum grip and durability designed for on-road models. With some jump combinations, the desired off-road character was achieved. |
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This report refers to the truggy class.
Qualifying was exciting, with duels between Mirko Morgenstern, Frank Lemke and Maximilian Trochim (XRAY XT8). Only these 3 drivers and event TQ, Josh Neumann, reached 13 laps in the 5-minute qualification heats (often only a few seconds apart). With the qualifying order set, the racers anxiously looked forward to the mains on Sunday as there were several hot candidates for the coveted victory.
Standings after all qualification rounds looked like this:
1st Neumann, Jörn
2nd Morgenstern, Mirko
3rd Lemke, Frank
4th Trochim, Maximilian XRAY XT8
5th Strenge, Gerd XRAY XT8
6th Byesse, Stefan
7th Kreisig, Marc
8th Beck, Eberhard
9th Bocklung, Simon
10th Ronnefalk, David
11th Schmidt, Holger
12th Wischnewski, Dirk XRAY XT8
13th Laux, Florian XRAY XT8
14th Petrich, Stefan
15th Cordts, Maximilian Hobao HyperST
16th Wächter, Michael
17th MĂĽncheberg, Markus
18th Cremer, Harald
19th Herrmann, Michael
20th Stadler, Hansjörg
21st Langbein, Bernd XRAY XT8 |
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After completion of the lower semi-finals there were the following participants for the half-finals:
The ? B-final was won by Maximilian Trochim (XRAY XT8 / ORCAN PR315) thanks to his steady and flawless driving with 49 laps in 20:19.002 in front of Stefan Petrich with 48 laps in 20:09.319 and Dirk Wischnewski (XRAY XT8 / ORCAN PR315) with 48 Laps in 20:10.099. David Ronnefalk, Eberhard Beck and Stefan Byesse also advanced.
The ? A final was won Jörn Neumann in front of Frank Lemke, Gerd Strenge (XRAY XT8), Marc Kreisig, Simon Bocklung and Florian Laux (XRAY XT8 / ORCAN PR315).
The starting order for the final looked then like this:
1st Neumann, Jörn
2nd Trochim, Maximilian XRAY XT8
3rd Petrich, Stefan
4th Wischnewski, Dirk XRAY XT8
5th Lemke, Frank
6th Ronnefalk, David
7th Strenge, Gerd XRAY XT8
8th Kreisig, Marc
9th Beck, Eberhard
10th Boklung, Simon
11th Byesse, Stefan
12th Laux, Florian XRAY XT8 |
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A good starting point for the team thus SMI / XRAY, which showed on the whole weekend with the support of Bertram Kessler, a solid and consistent performance. The atmosphere was very fun at this event, with nearly 100 000 spectators, over the 3 days at the biggest hobby fair in Germany. It was surely something special for all drivers to race at an event like this.
At the start of the final Jörn Neumann used his \"pole position\" to his advantage, avoiding minor accidents which slowed many of the other participants off the start. Frank Lemke lined up to position 2 and Maximilian Trochim, who was pushed to the back of the field after a crash cost him a few seconds, launched back quite rapidly to 3rd position with his perfect running XRAY XT8. In lap 9, Jörn Neumann was eliminated from the race due to mechanical failure. Frank Lemke continued with consistent laps, followed by Maximilian Trochim about 6 seconds behind. Dirk Wischnewski and Stefan Petrich were also driving consistent lap-times filling out the lead group, with all four drivers having a good chance to take the victory.
In lap 36 the leader, Frank Lemke, had an engine-stop. Maximilian Trochim took advantage of this opportunity and took the lead, followed by Stefan Petrich and Dirk Wischnewski. Dirk had minor technical problems at this time and was passed again by Frank Lemke. |
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The leading duo Maximilian Trochim and Stefan Petrich pulled away from the field. This was tricky and dangerous for the leaders as the layout made it often difficult to move through traffic.
With perfect fuel stops for Maximilian by his fantastic pit crew consisting of Tom Wiesner and Rainer Cordts throughout the race, Maximilian was able to stretch to a comfortable lead of 8 seconds over Stefan Petrich, until Maximilian had his first fault. A mistake on the double jump by Trochim cost him roughly 7 seconds on his roof waiting to be marshalled. Stefan used this advantage to get quite close to the leader. The last round was fought wheel to wheel and there was even a small accident between the two as Maximilian´s car had a little âśbreak-outâť and Stefan, unavoidably, slightly staggered on the back of Maximilian´s car. Maximilian Trochim came as first after a âśthree-sixtyâť out of the corner to hold on for the win. |
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An exciting final with an exciting finish produced the following results:
1st Trochim, Maximilian XRAY XT8
2nd Petrich, Stefan
3rd Lemke, Frank
4th Wischnewski, Dirk XRAY XT8
5th Ronnefalk, David
6th Strenge, Gerd XRAY XT8
7th Boklung, Simon
8th Byesse, Stefan
9th Laux, Florian XRAY XT8
10th Beck, Eberhard |
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A perfect result with excellent performance and durability of the XRAY XT8 with ORCAN engine PR315, ORCAN fuel and accessories from SMI-Racing Germany / Bertram Kessler
ensured a successful conclusion at the presentation ceremony of this event.
Thanks for the great support to the XRAY / SMI team.
Hope we will see us again next year at the âśMessecup Leipzig 2009âť! It was a pleasure. |
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