| Race Report by Greger Landen |
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This year's Swedish championship was held during the week of motorsport in Karlskoga, Sweden. The two clubs Bofors MRK and Orebro RBC both put a lot of effort into making this happen with a setup of a temporary grass track track and a nice big tent to pit in for all the participants.
For us 4wd was of course the highlight as the win came there. The track was challenging and offered a lot of surprises from the bumpiness that had developed from the running of the 2wd even as well. The day started out quite good, with Alexander showing a good 3-lap pace and topping on that in the practice sessions, however we felt that there was more speed to be found in the car since it was hard to be consistently fast on the tricky surface that was always evolving and changing over time. In the first Qualifier Alexander started of with a TQ round, but we had made some changes to the car that didn't go the right way. For the second round we changed to a shorter rear link and a center differential, and the car was completely transformed. Alexander went on to set TQ rounds in the second and third round as well, which meant that TQ for the event was secured. Alexander chose to use the final round to scrub a new set of tires, and did not complete that round.
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Coming to the finals the starting order was Alexander, Wilhelm Skjoldebrand and Martin Johansson Nielsen who was showing really good pace the whole day. Wilhelm was struggling a bit with the new car in the start, but found his way gradually during the day and was by the finals the other main contender for the title. The first round saw Alexander and Wilhelm move away from the rest of the field quite quickly and then the crowd was treated to a very close race where the two drivers were completely neck and neck the whole race. Alexander however didn't put a wheel wrong the whole run and won A1. In A2 it started out in the same way until the third lap where Wilhelm made a small error and Alexander was set free and could really stretch his race legs. He produced a really flawless drive and managed to set the lap record of the day in the end of the final on a deteriorating track, so he really had found a good way to negotiate all the holes and bumps in the track. Alexander secured a grand slam of TQ, fastest lap, best junior driver (under 16), and overall champion!
In the final round Axel Birgersson made a great recovery to secure a third place finished just edging out Martin Johansson Nielsen. Great effort by Axel, but sad for Martin who also deserved a podium with the pace he had.
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| 4WD Buggy Results |
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1. Alexander Landen - XRAY XB4
2. Wilhelm Skjoldebrand
3. Axel Birgersson
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| In 2WD it was again a battle between Alexander and Wilhelm, where Alexander took TQ in the first round, but then Wilhelm secured the final three rounds. Since the grip was relatively high to start off with on the fresh grass we opted to go for a low-grip tuned lay-down car setup. It was fast around the track, but of course got to be more challenging when the grip level decreased. After the third qualifier Alexander decided that he wanted to run the stand-up transmission instead, and we dis so with the shocks in front optional slipper assembly. This made for a car that was almost as fast on one undisturbed lap, but much easier to handle when you were in a fight in the finals. |
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In A1 Alexander had really good speed and went for a passing attempt up the inside in the turn going out on the straight. However there wasn't enough room, so Alexander touched the pipe and spun, letting half of the field by. He then had to use his speed to re-gain the positions lost and by the end of the final was within a second of Wilhelm, but not close enough to mount an attack. In A2 Wilhelm and Alexander got away again, Alexander was chasing hard until the third lap where he touched a pipe and needed marshaling, so again a fight back to second spot, handing the overall win to Wilhelm. In A3 Alexander needed to go out and secure second overall and did so with a safe drive to keep Axel Birgersson at bay.
Congratulations to Wilhelm for the victory, well deserved, and also huge congrats to Axel Birgersson who drove really well considering his main focus is track racing!
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| 2WD Buggy Results |
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1. Wilhelm Skjoldebrand
2. Alexander Landen - XRAY XB2
3. Axel Birgersson
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A big thank you to the organizers and everybody who participated. Special thanks to Martin Johansson Nielsen and dad for nice discussions and pitting together!
XRAY was the most represented car with five cars in the A-main in both classes!
Last but not least thank you to all our sponsors.
XRAY
HUDY
Hobbywing
Minicars Hobby Distribution AB
Spectacle engineering
bbqunltd
Kiwi Paint
AutoPartner RC
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