| Race Report by Greger Landén |
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| This weekend, it was time for the Swedish National Cup round 2 at K-raceway, the race was hosted by Karlskrona MRK. It was a good feeling to get started with the outdoor season since the first round was cancelled. We are always happy to go to Karlskrona for racing since it is probably the best 10th scale facility in Sweden and also the club always puts in a very solid race support organization with good food, barbecue in the evening and overall a lot of very friendly people! |
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We had a beautiful weather on 4WD day! Here we had really good pace from the start, and Alexander was able to get away with the TQ spot for the day. We were running the XB4 in a fairly standard setup, and it was working great all day. Here we also widened the car a bit during the day, which also turned out to be a good idea. Going into the finals it was Alexander lining up first, Elias second and this time Hampus Berg in third who really was picking up the pace, good job by Hampus who normally is running 8thscale outdoors!
The first run of the finals was really exciting. Alexander went a bit wide just after the start and Elias was able to squeeze by early. Alexander stayed with him putting pressure on him, and Elias hit a marker and flipped so Alexander could get by. Now it was Alexander first and Wille second for a couple of laps, when Alexander hit a bump and traction-rolled after the main straight to let Wille by. Again, Alexander picked up the chase and put pressure on his opponent, and when Wille went slightly wide after a landing Alexander shot by and re-took the lead. It stayed like this until the second last corner where Alexander got stuck on a lapped car that rolled just in front of him when he was coming over a small jump. Wille was able to get by and take the win and Alexander second, total heart-break after an otherwise brilliant run!
The second round was less eventful where Alexander and Elias broke off a bit and Alexander was pulling away somewhat when he flipped coming off the long table jump, and let Elias by. He was chasing down Elias after that, but couldnâ™t get past. This meant that both Elias Wilhelm and Alexander could win it going into the third round.
In the third round Alexander came away clean and took a tone to tone win in good form, but the track was getting slower and slower so he lost the count-back against Elias on a slower winning time, so closeâ¦..
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| 1/10 4WD Results |
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1. Elias Johansson
2. Alexander Landén - XRAY XB4
3. Wilhelm Skjöldebrand
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Even though the track is a astroturf track, the grip level is fairly low, so finding the right setup in 2WD can be a bit of a challenge. Previous year we had problems getting the carpet car to perform consistently, but this year we brought the dirt conversion kit with the XB4 rear arms, which completely transformed the car on this track. It was now much easier to go fast consistently around the track, so this is a real improvement! Already early in the weekend it was quite obvious that the race was to be about mainly three drivers, it was Alexander, Elias Johansson and Wilhelm Skjöldebrand. During the qualifiers Elias secured the TQ by taking all rounds, with Alexander to follow in second place and Wille lining up third on the grid for the finals!
Going in to the finals we widened the car a bit to increase stability, which was a good move, Alexander was now able to push much harder without too much risk. This was obvious in the finals where Alexander was able to stay with Elias pretty well in the first one, and when Elias ran into some trouble with lapped traffic he was able to capitalize and take the win in the first final!
In the second final, it was a really close race where Alexander was pressuring Elias for the first three minutes, running really close, really exciting. Sadly, Alexander made a mistake going into the corner table, and let Elias go. Alexander finished second behind Elias with Wilhelm third. This meant that Only Alexander and Elias could win it going into the third round.
This round was a bit messy in the opening, so Alexander dropped to third while Wille picked up second and Elias ran first. This is also the order they finished, so Elias took the overall on two wins!
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| 1/10 2WD Resutls |
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1. Elias Johansson
2. Alexander Landén - XRAY XB2
3. Wilhelm Skjöldebrand
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