The first race of TopRC Winter Electric Series is over and it was really a top event, with a lot of great battles and team drivers present. About 50 drivers (which was also the near the limit of the racing facilities) attended the race at the Genius ring. Also, on the track TopRC was present with his shop and support for all the brands we carry. Furthermore, special discount prices were given to drivers who attended the event.
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Big names were the great addition to the race. Modeltek team driver BA Arnaldi (2014 1/5 European champion) and XRAY team driver Marek Cerny (ETS Stock champion 2014 and 2014 European Stock champion) made the trip just for this race! Of course also TopRC's RC car section manager and former European 1/8 nitro champion Jernej Vuga was present at the racetrack for support but also for some racing...
Saturday started with the track being opened for free practice and already about a half of drivers were present, among them also BA Arnaldi and later also Marek Cerny arrived for some late night training. We finished the evening late on track with some good food prepared by the Modeltek staff.
Sunday we started with 1 round of controlled practice and it was clear that there would be some nice battles in all the classes. After that we had 3 qualifying rounds.
QUALIFICATION:
In 1/10 Modified class it was Alojzij Osvald (TopRC/XRAY T4) that started off with the best pace, followed by Domen Lipnik and Dario Veseli (multiple 1/5 European championship finalist). Behind them it was Matej Miklavec (TopRC/XRAY T4) who was just slightly slower. His was also the classification after qualifying of the first 4 drivers.
The 1/10 13.5 Stock class provided the most close racing ever seen for some time. There were 3 drivers in contention for the TQ and also overall win: Marek Cerny (XRAY T4), BA Arnaldi (XRAY T4) and the young and fast Andrea Ghilotti (XRAY T4). After 3 rounds it was BA Arnaldi taking TQ, followed by Marek Cerny and andrea Ghilotti. In 4th place it was Edoardo Repetti. As in the 1/10
Modified category there were the top 3 drivers having a very similar pace, so everybody was expecting some nice final races.
In 1/12 Open class it was Jernej Vuga (XRAY X12/REDS/TopRC) who posted 3 TQ runs also with the new track record. In 2nd place it was Holler Michael, 3rd was Marčič Nejc and 4th Bernd Koller.
FINALS:
The 1/10 Modified class A main final started with the win of the TQ driver Alojzij Osvald, with Domen Lipnik in second and Dario Veseli in 3rd place. The second A final was dominated again by Alojzij with Dario Veseli taking this time 2nd place in front of Domen Lipnik. So, Alojzij already won with only Domen and Dario in contention for the 2nd place. In the last round It was Alojzij again taking the win with Domen taking the 2nd place and final runner-up place. Dario finished 3rd in this final and also overall.
The 1/10 Modified B final was won by Davide Abbrescia, second was Koller Bernd and 3rd place went to Miha Holc.
The most anticipated race was the 1/10 13.5 Stock class A final. In the first race it was the young Andrea Ghilotti taking the win with both Marek Cerny and BA Arnaldi hitting mechanical problems. Marek suffered a crash which damaged and tweaked his car and affecting also his next runs. Instead BA broke his servo. 2nd was Edoardo Repetti and 3rd Alessandro Arisi.
The second race was won by BA in front of Andrea with Marek having to battle with a damaged car from his first run and finally retiring after less than 5min. So his chances for the win were gone. 2nd in this run was Ghilotti and 3rd Arisi.
It came all to the final run: all was between BA Arnaldi and Andrea Ghilotti. BA started well and took the lead. Marek and Andrea were battling for 2nd place when they touched and Andrea went off track. It seemed that the win was going to BA, but later he had some car problems and Marek came close to him. In one of the corners they touched and had a crash, allowing the young Andrea Ghilotti (XRAY T4) to go into the lead and also to win the last run. This allowed him to win the final. Second went to Arnaldi (XRAY T4) and third to Edoardo Repetti.
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1/10 stock 13.5 A final results:
1. Ghilotti Andrea - XRAY T4
2. BA Arnaldi (FR) - XRAY T4
3. Repetti Edoardo (IT)
4. Arisi Alessandro (IT) 5. Cerny Marek (CZ) - XRAY T4
6. Osa Luca (IT)
7. Greco Mattia (IT) 8. Tonon Giovanni (IT) â“ XRAY T4
9. Hrovat Grega (SI)
10. Giovanni Battaglia (IT)
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The 1/10 13.5 Stock B final was won by Grega Hrovat, 2nd was Giovanni Battaglia and 3rd went to Stanislav Kokol (XRAY T4).
In the 1/12 Open A final it was Jernej Vuga (XRAY X12/REDS/TopRC) dominating both first final runs and opting not to run the last round which went to Koller Bernd who was also 2nd overall. 3rd place went to Nejc Marčič.
In the 1/12 Open B final the final victory went to Denis Fink (XRAY X12/TopRC), second was Gregor Banko and 3rd was Fabio Callegari.
The event was better than expected: the atmosphere was fantastic, drivers had some nice racing and after the event we got a very positive feedback. We would like to take again this opportunity to thank Marek ČernĂ˝ for coming to this event and hopefully he will be able to attend also some others in the future. Special thanks also to BA Arnaldi, Dario Veseli, Edoardo Repetti...in a few words thanks to all drivers who participated to the event making it just great! Till next time!
