The sixth and final German Hessen Cup was held in Rodgau on July 12/13. The weather forecast called for bad weather for both days, but we were lucky and had the best weather for off-road racing. There were 93 drivers divided between the Expert class (27 drivers) and the Hobby class (66 drivers) for training in groups on Saturday on a well-prepared track which had some changes done during the past few years. After training, a Juniors' final was held and after that the track was open again for free practice until dark.
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After qualification heats on Sunday there were 3 XRAY drivers at top of the Hobby class: Patrick Täger (XB8EC) ahead of Jan Allendörfer (XB808) and Thomas Masthof (XB8EC). Florian Laux trailed in 7th position. In Expert class, Oliver Simon (XB808) was only driving one of two heats qualification and placed 2nd although winning the second heat.
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In Hobby class, Florian Laux failed in the last seconds of the semi-final to claim the main final so there was only a battle of 4 Xrays in final. Jan Allendörfer took lead ahead of Patrick Täger and Thomas Masthof until he had a flameout. Trying to get back to the lead, he made some mistakes and then flamed out again. Patrick Täger built up a gap of 1 lap over Thomas Masthof, and kept it until the end of the race. Jan Allendörfer took home 3rd place which was a good result with 2 stops. Florian Diehm (XB808) had defective electronics and had to stop after 8 laps.
Final results of Hobby class: 1. Patrick Täger XRAY XB8EC
2. Thomas Masthof XRAY XB8EC
3. Jan Allendörfer XRAY XB808
4. Oliver Ganzow
5. Thomas Schank
6. Dennis Eckfelder
7. Michael Kohler 8. Florian Diehm XRAY XB808
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In Expert class it was an exciting final. Oliver Simon took the lead ahead of Tim Bremicker and Maximilian Cordts; they were battling very hard in the first 10 minutes. After some mistakes from Oliver, Tim moved ahead of him and Maximilian. Tim and Oliver now were driving very fast and without mistakes but Oliver could go a little faster. In the last third Oliver got faster and faster; he wanted the victory and could get back to the top. In the last laps the advantage of the XB808 was obvious. Oliver still had good profile on his tyres when Bremicker was driving with almost slicks and so it
was easy for Oliver to drive away in the end. Maximilian Trochim (XB808) had some problems and finished in 8th position.
Final results of Expert class: 1. Oliver Simon XRAY XB808
2. Tim Bremicker
3. Maximilian Cordts
4. Andreas Rauch
5. Gerhard Frank
6. Lars Neumann
7. Thomas Weinehl 8. Maximilian Trochim XRAY XB808
With these results there were 2 XRAYs winning this event and overall there were 2 XRAYs winning the entire Hessen Cup (over 6 races) with Thomas Masthof in Hobby class and Oliver Simon in Expert class. Congratulations!