Surprise Short Course TQ for Evans at EOS Rd1
Team Losi Racing’s Dustin Evans pulled off a major surprise in Short Course qualifying at the opening round of the 2012/13 TLR/Spektrum Euro Offroad Series in Poland as he ended Durango’s domination of the class becoming the first driver apart from Joern Neumann and Hupo Honigl to take overall TQ honours. Improving his Losi Ten-SCTE every heat the American found his rhythm in Q3 & 4 topping both rounds to become Top Qualifier ahead of Neumann who was fastest in Q1 and Honigl who was fastest in Q2. Having been a class apart last season in 4WD Short Course with Losi’s drivers never a serious treat, in Poznan Evans has completely reversed the tables.
Delighted to take pole after a very close final qualifier in which he beat Neumann by just 1/10th of a second, Evans said this weekend has been a huge turn around for them in terms of getting their truck dialed. Adding that he can’t wait to get a reaction from Mike Truhe, who contested last season’s EOS, and TLR team manager Kevin Gahan when they find out back in the US that he has on merit outpaced the Durango he said team-mate Darren Bloomfield was a big factor in getting the truck on the pace. Having come into this event with some set-up ideas based on what he learned last season, Evans said with Bloomfield only racing 2WD Buggy this weekend he was able to watch both his Losi and the Durango in action and gave valuable input which helped fine tune the handling of the truck.
Neumann said it was like the two manufacturers swapped last season’s EOS form as having never had problems with their trucks flipping they were now struggling to keep it on four wheels. The German said they have tried gluing the tyre walls and cutting the outer pins off the tyres but that hasn’t made much of a difference. Describing the Losi as being heavier than the Durango he said maybe this is giving Evans an advantage and for tomorrow he said the might try adding weight to their trucks.
4WD Short Course A-Main Grid
1. Dustin Evans (US) – TLR – 310
2. Jörn Neumann (DE) – Durango – 308
3. Hupo Hönigl (AT) – Durango – 308
4. Kája Novotny (CZ) – Durango – 303
5. Matt Castellano (US) – TLR – 302
6. Sven Rudig (DE) – Durango – 299
7. Daniel Kobbevik (NO) – Associated – 298
View complete event results here.
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