Martin claims first EOS double

Lee Martin claimed his first double of the Euro Offroad Series with the Yokomo driver adding his first ever 4WD win to a third 2WD win yesterday at Round 3 of the championship in Wels, Austria.  Only the 4th driver to do the double in the EOS’ 14 race history, the British ace completed the perfect weekend when he claimed Yokomo’s second ever 4WD victory with another dominant win in A2.  The win puts the newly crowned 2WD Champion in contention to do the title double as the championship moves next to the Hudy Arena in Slovakia for the Season #4 finale.  Joining Martin on the podium would be the Xray’s pairing of Martin Bayer and Martin Wollanka, Bayer winning the final race of the day ahead of defending champion Joern Neumann who would finish 5th overall on his Serpent debut.

Commenting on his first win with the B-Max 4, Martin said compared to Round 1 of the championship they have made a massive step forward with the buggy and today was a culmination of good team work. Finishing second with the car at Round 2 in Berlin, he said there it was a touch hard to drive but this weekend it was ‘awesome’.  Describing A2 as a ‘nice race’, he said although he made no set-up changes the buggy felt better than A1 and he he just ‘cruised around’ for the 5-minutes.  Very proud of his ‘6 from 6’, referring to taking all four qualifiers and the opening two A-Mains, he said he hoped he would get the opportunity to fight for Yokomo’s first 4WD EOS title at the season finale at the Hudy Arena if a date clash with a nitro commitment can be sorted.

One of only four drivers to win a 4WD EOS encounter, Bayer was pleased to claim his first podium finish of this season.  The Czech driver felt he had good speed in the first two Mains but a lack of luck meant he couldn’t reflect that in the results. Starting A3 from 2nd on the grid behind Ronnefalk, last season’s Hudy Arena winner would go to the front on lap 3 after the HB driver made contact with the corner marker on the table top leading on to the main straight.  Once passed Ronnefalk, Bayer said he was able to run a controlled race. With the championship heading next to his Xray team’s home track, the Hudy Arena, where last year he did the double he said for sure he would like to go one better but added it wont be easy. A race that is set to feature a number of top American drivers, he said Martin is really fast this season.

Securing his first EOS podium finish Wollanka was delighted with the result.  Finishing second in A2, the Austrian survived contact with Ronnefalk to back it up with a 3rd in A3.  Ending up on the same points as Michal Orlowski, his faster A2 race time would see the 1:8 nitro offroad driver join his team-mate Bayer on the podium.

Backing his second in the opening Main with a 3rd in A2, Orlowski struggled with a lack of tyres in the closing race.  With his Schumacher difficult to drive in the high traction conditions on new tyres, the 13-year-old took the gamble of getting a fourth run out of his tyres but they were done and he struggled around to finish 6th.  Having only made the C-Main at Round 2 in Berlin, he said to finish 4th was a lot better but he hoped that with an alloy version of Schumacher’s prototype carbon chassis which positions the motor more forward in the buggy, that he can be more competitive having been in the hunt for the win this weekend in 2WD.

A driver who has been the dominant force in 4WD Neumann said as a driver he was disappointed to finish only 5th but considering he only just made the A-Main it was a pretty good result from 10th on the grid.  Struggling with a lack of brakes in the finals, he said overall for his first EOS outing with the SRX-4 he said with more testing he is positive for the season finale when the title will be decided between him and Martin.  Lucky to make the final Main after he broke a steering arm after a collison with Yokomo’s Shin Adachi in the warm-up, he said even with his braking issues he showed the lap times are in the car with only Ronnefalk posting a faster lap time in A3.

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