| Race report by Helge Johannessen |
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Date: 27 February 2005
Race: Norwegian National Cup
Venue: Oslo
Last sunday Oslo RC car club was organizer of 7th round of Norwegian National cup. Since this was the last race in Oslo this season and the indoor track is closing after this weekend, I decided to participate in the race; it's the last chance I had to test my car before the National Championship in two weeks time.
The track was a great new layout with two straights and two chicanes, a couple of high-speed turns and one hairpin 180° turn. I tested the track on Friday, and found the perfect setup.
In qualifying, everybody thought that it was going to be me and Martin Sørlie that would fight for the top position, but XRAY driver Trygve Berntsen would not give up without a fight. I was so lucky that my car felt perfect, and I put down the fastest qualifying time in all three rounds. Martin had big understeer and was battling with Trygve for 2nd position. After three rounds, Trygve got the 2nd qualifying position, while Martin qualified 3rd.
In the first A-final, I held the lead from start to finish, and Martin and Trygve continued their fight from the qualifying rounds. The result was a hard crash for Martin and a broken car; Trygve got 2nd place. Stig Berntsen finished in 3rd place and Trygve's 11 year old son, Adrian, came in 4th place.
Unfortunately, Martin's crash was fatal for his car. He didnâ™t have all the spare parts he needed, and could not start the two remaining finals.
Thinking that this would be an easy win was a bit delusional on my part, as now Trygve could consentrate on me instead. He gave me a really hard time the first few minutes in the 2nd final, but then he suddenly he fell back (probably due to batteries or motor), so I managed to take the win! Trygve came in 2nd place, Stig in 3rd, and Adrian in 4th.
For the last final I mis-timed the charging of my battery pack, and only got 3000 mAh into the pack. I started really slowly to save runtime, and Trygve was all over me. Lucky for me, Stig came up and started battling with Trygve for the 2nd place, allowing me to get a few meters ahead. In the end, I won this final, Trygve came in 2nd, and Stig came in 3rd. |
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(click to enlarge) |
So after three finals, the top four were XRAYs!
1. Helge Johannessen XRAY
2. Trygve Berntsen XRAY
3. Stig Berntsen XRAY
4. Adrian Berntsen XRAY |
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In 19-Turn Superstock class, there were three drivers setting the pace in the qualifying. Stig Alstad , Endre Stensen, and Stian Trondsen were all driving very fast and were in a league of their own. Stig took the TQ, Endre took 2nd, and Stian took 3rd position.
XRAY drivers were having a slow start in the race, with Terje Holm as the best driver in 4th position, and Stian in 3rd almost six seconds behind.
The A finals were an exiting battle between the top three, and after two finals Stig, Endre, and Stian had 4 points. All three broke the cars in the third final, so Stig won his first race with a better time in the final. This opened for the other drivers, and the third final was won by XRAY driver Robin S. Nordlie. Oddbjørn Trømborg came in 2nd, and Terje Holm came in 3rd.
1. Stig Alstad
2. Endre Stensen
3. Stian Trondsen
4. Robin S. Nordlie XRAY
5. Oddbjørn Trømborg XRAY
6. Gøran Langsholt
7. Terje Holm XRAY
8. Christer Antonsen XRAY
9. Jon Åge Olsen XRAY
10.Bjørn Dahl XRAY |
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