Off Razer Zittau opened its doors once again on Sunday, 22 July for the last pre-break race before we get a breather over summer until September 9. After the terrible weather of the past few weeks we were very happy that it stayed dry on the day.
The top four positions were extremely closely contested in the qualifiers and I only squeezed through into pole in the last round. Steffen also won one of the qualifiers but slipped back into third when the receiver on his buggy switched off leaving it standing for about a minute. The engine kept running, though, and the mechanic just needed to flip the switch so Steffen could get right back out onto the track.
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In the truggy qualifiers I put in some great lap times and in contrast to the buggy rounds things only started to go downhill somewhat in the finals :-) The drivers were all beavering away in the lunch break making final adjustments, with one even carrying on right up to the start of the final...
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Apart from the engine cutting out once, I had a great buggy final. Unfortunately, the BT 5 cut out just as my mechanic was about to refuel for the first time after I very optimistically stayed out for two extra laps. But he got it started again fast and, thanks to a half-lap lead before pitting, I managed to climb back into the lead.
I knew from the qualifiers that the truggy final would be a closely fought battle, so I used the lunch break to swap the bodyshell over. The Bulldog won't work with a fuel gun so I quickly fitted the original bodyshell and body mounts that I had only finished the week before. In the end it was only the pit stop times that separated the top three drivers and then a mistake by leader Ron who came off the track near the timing loop and made a "generous" detour around it. The race officials ruled that it was too generous, and he dropped down into third place behind me and Sven as a result.
