| Race report by Robert Gustafsson |
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| MHF Skarpnack hosted the XRAY Masters event for the first time this past weekend. This was the first race of two, and Round 2 will be the last race of the year in September 2006. Many fast drivers were signed up for the race, including Mikael Pĺlsson, Cristoffer Svensson, Fredrik Mathiesen and Robert Häggren to name a few. Approximately 30 participants from different parts of Sweden were present as well. |
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| While driving to the track Saturday morning, rain started to appear and looking at the skies didnâ™t make us any happier. It was very cloudy and showed no sign of clearing up. The temperature was hovering around 10 degrees. |
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| Each driver had 2 rounds of practice before the 5 qualification rounds. In qualifying my car, was like last weekend â” awesome in the bumps and really easy to drive. The car was just perfect and I managed to win the first 3 rounds of qualifying. With all the rain, I decided not to go into the last 2 rounds, because I needed time to get my car in good shape (after the rainy conditions we had) and get it ready for the Sunday mains. |
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When racing was over on Saturday and most people were wrenching at the trackside, the skies opened up for 30min, putting most of the track under water. I think it was about then that people became worried about Sunday racing. However, the organizer managed to get the track ready for racing Sunday morning.
My car and driving felt good throughout my semi and I won by more than 1 lap. |
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| Semi-final A was going to turn out to be very interesting, with Jonas Eriksson (Mugen), Mikael Pĺlsson (Mugen) and Robert Häggren (XRAY XB8-TQ) switching positions throughout the entire race. In the end it was Mikael Pĺlsson that took the win only 2-3sec ahead of Robert Häggren. |
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| For the A-main there were three XRAYs present: myself, Joakim Hansson, and Robert Häggren. When the A main started I managed to put some space between me and the rest of the pack, then I started to pull away. Mikael Pĺlsson was on his usual good pace and he battled in the beginning with Fredrik Mathiesen and Robert Häggren. |
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| Halfway through the main Fredrik caught a rock in his flywheel and was losing ground, Robert Häggren had some issues as well, and Mikeal Pĺlsson got ahead of the rest of the field. Mikeal was in 2nd place after the 45 minute mark with Cristoffer Svensson driving fast at the end and claiming 3rd place. Joakim Hansson drove really well, but after loosing his antenna and getting hit with interference, he was out early in the main. |
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In the end I won the race a few laps up on the rest of the drivers. I had used pretty much the same setup as last race⦠my XB8-TQ was great once again!
1 Robert Gustafsson (+TQ) XRAY XB8TQ
2 Mikael Pålsson
3 Christoffer Svensson
4 Robert Häggren XRAY XB8TQ
5 Ronny Gutå
6 Per Carlsson
7 Fredrik Mathiesen
8 Tord Häggren
9 Jonas Eriksson
10 Joakim Hansson XRAY XB8TQ |
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In the debutant class, Johan Lundquist and his XRAY XB8-TQ took the win, driving really well and smoothly.
A big âśThanksâť goes out to the organizer who worked very hard at taking care of the track (because of the rain) and also to Niklas from Minicars who was a really fast fuel- filler.
Robert Gustafsson
Team XRAY |
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