Martin TQs opening Belgian EOS qualifier
European Champion Lee Martin has TQ’d the opening qualifier for 2WD Buggy at the second round of the TLR/Spektrum Euro Offroad Series presented by Horizon Hobby. The only driver to run 15 laps of the Black Country Arena track the Tamiya ace topped the time sheets ahead of practice pace setter Dustin Evans and dominator of the opening round of the new series Joern Neumann.
‘I couldn’t have asked for a better start to the day’ was how Martin summed up his TQ run adding that his only problem today is that he has started to get a head cold. Having stiffened up the rear of his Speed Passion powered Vega converted TRF201 since official practice yesterday, he said it felt better but with a fresh set of dBoots on for the first of the five rounds of qualifying it felt a little edgy. Not planning to make any changes to his set-up for Q2 he expects that as the tyres wear he should be able to drive harder but said this wont necessarily mean a faster overall time.
Evans, who yesterday got to grips with his first experience of astro turf, was very happy with his run to second in Q1. Running a very close on time with Martin during the 5-minute qualifier, the US Champion said he knew it was going to be very close as to who would TQ the round and he pushed that little bit too hard which led to two costly mistakes. Still learning what is a totally alien surface to the American, he said the key is not to push harder but to focus on being more precise with his driving.
Having struggled yesterday Team Durango’s Joern Neumann was much happier with his DEX210 today. The Top Qualifier & winner of Round 1 of the EOS in the Czech Republic last month, the German said running used tyres improved his buggy although he would like to reduce the grip a little more. Running behind TLR’s Mike Truhe, Neumann had one mistake over the run. Trying to pass the US star he took a different line which caused caused his buggy to roll and lose over 2.5 seconds. Truhe said his run was clean but brand new tyres meant his Orion powered TLR22 was edgy. Running a 6.5T motor he said he is considering ‘motoring down’ to a 7.5T for Q2.
Just making the Top 10 in practice yesterday Team Losi Racing’s Darren Bloomfield was pleased with his improved pace this morning. Setting the 5th fastest time, the British driver said having been ‘so slow yesterday’ as a result of driving too hard he made use of last nights open practice to adapt his driving, backing off 10% all round. Running slower into the jumps he said he is confident he can now build on his first run of the rest of the qualifiers.
Hupo Honigl completed the Top 6 but the Austrian said he drove ‘too safe’. The multiple European Champion said his LRP powered DEX210 could have been pushed a little harder without too much trouble but with a few small changes planned for Q2 he is confident he can improve his pace by quite a bit.
Driving a Kyosho with an MSC conversation which he himself helped to develop, British driver Nathan Ralls backed up his solid practice performance with 7th in the opening qualifier ahead of Schumacher’s Tom Cockerill. Ralls, who is a regular at the Belgian track, said he was very happy with his run calling it ‘safe and sensible’. Cockerill, who ended up third in official practice, was on for a good opening time until he got it wrong leading to a series of mistakes that lost him over 6 seconds.
Despite a big impact with the wall on the main straight during the warm-up for his heat, Round 1 podium finisher Oskar Levin managed to take his battered TLR22 to the ninth fastest time. The talented young Swede said the buggy was a little hard to drive which was not surprising as afterwards it was found that the crash had broken the bulkhead, cracked the servo mount and bent one of the turnbuckles like a banana. Fellow TLR driver driver Miguel Matias rounded off the Top 10 despite making a few ‘stupid’ mistakes.
View complete results here.
View the event image gallery here.
