Orlowski cruises to A1 victory

Michal Orlowski has taken a dominant victory in the opening 2WD A-Main at the Euro Offroad Series in Poland.  Starting from the pole, the Schumacher driver however would get the first jump slightly wrong with his error leading Lee Martin and Neil Cragg to tangle delaying the field and giving him an early break he would only go on to extend.  With Hupo Honigl coming off best from hectic first lap to go from 6th to second, Cragg’s move into second short lived as he crashed at the quad, Orlowski was then able to extend his lead crossing the finish almost 6-seconds in front. Holding second for 4 minutes and 45 second, with Martin right on his rear wing, Honigl would make a mistake handing second to the reigning champion with a lap to go. Eventually finishing 5th as Cragg and Christopher Krapp also went through on the last lap to claim 3rd and 4th, the former race winner said afterwards, ‘I want to shoot myself, I don’t even know how I crashed’.

A very popular win in front of a huge crowd of visitors to the Warsaw Moto Show, Orlowski said, ‘I got a bit lucky at the start.  I was worried about the first jump before the race and then got it a bit wrong but saved it from crashing’.  He continued, ‘I got it a bit too short but Lee gave me space and that caused the crash behind.  Once the race settled, the 15-year-old said, ‘I could see Hupo was defending in second so I just focused on doing my laps and making sure I didn’t make any more mistakes.  Hopefully the next one I won’t have the same problem with the first jump’.

Giving his view on the start, Martin said, ‘Orlowski was a bit short and I was also a bit short.  He bounced wide but I could see he was coming back in so I gave him space.  Neil hit the the jump good and carrying speed he hit me.  It was just a racing accident’.  The Yokomo driver would set about a recover catching up to Honigl summing up the Austrian’s frustration with ‘Hupo was out front for 4:45. How unlucky’.  Hoping for a better start in A2 to try and push the race decider into A3, the Brit said, ‘Michal is fast, he is comfortable and he’s driven well so far.  I think it’s going to be hard to unsettle him but we’ll try’.

‘Third is a pretty good salvage’ was how a frustrated Cragg summed the opening A-Main.  The Associated driver continued ‘I got unlucky at the start and climbed all over Lee’.  I still managed to get away in second but then rolled on the same lap and had a few more uncomposed laps. I got a lucky third on the last lap’.  Feeling he could have challenged Orlowski he said, ‘I would like to see him under pressure from the start but instead we gave it to him on the first lap’.  Behind Cragg, Krapp who was involved in the early battle for second would also drop back after a mistake but recover to finish 4th, one place up on his starting position.  Starting ahead of his fellow German, Joern Neumann’s return to the front of the EOS grid didn’t go well as the former champion came off worst of the first lap bunching up of the pack as he came out of it in last place to finish 8th behind EOS Round 1 winner Marc Rheinard.

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Q4 Update – Martin takes 2WD final qualifier

Lee Martin has taken the final round of qualifying at Round 2 of the EOS in Poland.  With the overall TQ being wrapped up by Michal Orlowski in the penultimate qualifier, Q4 was about deciding how the rest of the field would line up behind the Schumacher driver.  Opting to run his most worn set of tyres in the final qualifier to save tyres for the final, Orlowski would find his KF2 SE very loose meaning he would have to settle for 3rd.  Up front Martin, having DNF’d Q3, would set the pace by 1.6-seconds from Joern Neumann, a result that would secure the reigning champion second on the grid.  For the much improved Neumann, the 2nd along with an earlier P3 will see the Serpent driver take up his best starting position since joining the team with 4th behind Neil Cragg, the Associated driver unable to improve on his two P2 runs with fifth for the round.  Backing up his Q3 improvement with another P4, Schumacher’s Christopher Krapp completes the top half of the grid in front of the only Xray in the final, that of Hupo Honigl.  For Marc Rheinard his chances of another win look slim with the Nurburgring winner set to start 7th.

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Orlowski sows up home TQ in Warsaw

Michal Orlowski has sown up the overall TQ for Round 2 of the Euro Offroad Series in his home town of Warsaw.  The Schumacher driver took the honours early with a third TQ run in the penultimate round of qualifying at the Warsaw Moto Show hosted event. Only his second time to take an overall TQ, it two seasons since his first at the Hudy Arena during EOS Season #4, the back to back EOS 2WD Vice-Champion again topped in a repeat of the Q2 outcome with Neil Cragg finishing P2 followed by Joern Neumann.   While Orlowski shone up front it was also a good round for team-mate Christopher Krapp as he posted P4 ahead of championship leader Marc Rheinard.  For reigning champion Lee Martin Q3 would result in retirement after contact with the boards on the main straight broke a rear arm of his Yokomo.

‘I’m really happy to TQ this race.  It seems it always works for me when I race at home even back in my Tamiya days’, was how Orlowski summed up wrapping up an early TQ.  In terms of his Q3 performance, again his LRP powered KF2 SE clocking up the fastest lap, the 15-year-old said, ‘It started out not so fast and I was running 4th or 5th so I started to push slightly but then Lee and Neil crashed so I just cruised to make no mistakes and put in consistent laps’.  While other drivers will focus on improving their grid position in the fourth & final qualifier, Orlowski’s attention is already on the final.  He said, ‘I know I have the pace and I don’t need to push hard to stay in front so I will try to make no mistakes and build up a gap’.

‘I’m still a little off Orlowski, he just seems to be able to put stellar laps but I’m improving’, was Cragg’s reaction after Q3.   With Associated team-manager Craig Drescher pointing out to his driver, ‘he (Orlowski) has youth on his side’, the British driver jokingly replied, ‘but experience will tell in the final obviously’.  The European Champion, who is having a much stronger showing in Poland than that of the season opener, continued, ‘we are improving every time so I’m happy with that’.  On his B6, he said, ‘Craig and myself feel the car is down on power so we will run a bigger battery for the last one (qualifier).

‘A repeat of the previous one’ was how Neumann summed up his latest run to claim another P3.  The Serpent driver would suffer one mistake, traction rolling at the corner table and losing around 1.5-seconds. The German said after that he would have to push hard but commented his SDX2 was ‘still OK’ to drive.  Looking to improve on his grid position, the multiple former champion having not started at the front end of the grid for a number of seasons now, he said they will reduce the rear toe for Q4 to try get a little more steering’.

Better known for his touring car exploits, Krapp was very happy to get a P4 for the round saying ‘I finally found my offroad driving style’.  Having started out with the same set-up as Orlowski he has worked on finding his own one feeling his driving style doesn’t suit how his team-mate runs the car.  ‘I found with Michal’s set-up the car was too lazy but he drives more aggressive than me so I think it was my driving rather than the set-up that was the issue.  I have been slowly adapting the set-up to suit my touring car style of driving and now it feels good’.  On the run itself the German said, ‘I had no mistakes and I know I’m not the fastest but it was consistent and now that I’m safe in the final I can try a few more things’.

Commenting on his P5 run, Nurburgring winner Rheinard simply replied, ‘the driver’ a reference to his almost 5-second mistake.  The 4-time Onroad World Champion said, ‘I had to make a safe run because of my earlier results but driving safe you end up making more mistakes’.  He continued, ‘it (the mistake) was in the touring car section which makes it even more frustrating’.  Looking to the final qualifier, the German said, ‘now I will just push as I’m in the main.  It is not the position I want to be but the car is fine so maybe we can improve’.  Behind Rheinard, Danish teenager Jesper Rasmussen enjoyed another strong run to complete the Top 6 with his Associated ahead of best of the Xrays Hupo Honigl.

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Orlowski again in Q2

Michal Orlowski continued his reign in Poland again posting a TQ run in the second round of qualifying at EOS Poland.  The Schumacher driver will suffer a similar mistake to that he had at the wall section in Q1 but again was able to recover to top the heat by 1.8 seconds from Neil Cragg.  An impressive run from Joern Neumann would net the former champion a P3 for the round while Bruno Coelho would also be more competitive to go fourth fastest ahead of reigning champion Lee Martin.  Again the fastest man on the track posting the fastest lap, commenting on his TQ run Orlowski said, ‘Again I had a mistake after the wall but the other guys had some errors which allowed me to recover to get another TQ’.  Able to secure the overall TQ for his home race in Q3, he concluded, ‘I’ll just try not to crash this time’.

Improving on a P6 to set the second fastest time, Cragg said, ‘I’m happy with second but we still need to find a few tenths’.  The Team Associated driver continued, ‘It was a pretty clean run and the car was alright but it’s a little too safe.  It’s consistent but not fast enough’.  Suffering a locked diff in Q1, he said the new diff worked fine and changing to a different battery pack he said the power was also improved adding however he ‘might up the timing a few clicks (for the next one)’.  Asked what changes he planned for his B6 to find time he replied, ‘some of the others (team-mates) cars look good in certain places so I think we’ll get together and brainstorm some ideas’.

Asked where he pulled his much improved pace from Neumann replied, ‘out of nowhere’.  The Serpent driver said they completely changed the set-up on his SDX2 which he said now is more like the set-up they run on the 4WD.  The German said, ‘before I had to drive careful but now I can push car much harder’.   For Q3 he said he hopes he can maintain his new form planning to keep all the same as he tries to lock himself into the A-Main .  If successful, he said then they would use the fourth & final qualifier to try further changes to the set-up.

After struggling with a ‘difficult to drive’ car in Q1 that led to ‘too many mistakes’, Coelho said changes to his set-up had made his XB2 much easier to drive.  The Portuguese ace said he ‘still had 2 mistakes’ but overall it was a ‘much better’ qualifier.  Planning to leave the car unchanged for the penultimate round he said his aim was to make no mistakes pointing out on the time sheets that his Q2 mistakes had cost him 4-seconds.

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Orlowski takes Q1 while Zambrzycki shines with P3

Michal Orlowski has TQ’d the opening round of 2WD qualifying at Round 2 of the Euro Offroad Series in Poland.  Having topped seeding practice yesterday, the Schumacher driver continued that form into qualifying but the established EOS title contender’s result was only part of a successful morning for the Polish RC scene as fellow Pole Bartlomiej Zambrzycki claimed third for the round.  In between the two teenagers, reigning champion Lee Martin would post the 2nd fastest time while in 4th place it was Hupo Honigl who was the leading Xray.

‘It was a really good run. The car felt good and was really consistent’, was how Orlowski summed up the first of the four qualifiers.  The only blot on an otherwise perfect opening run came as the heat entered into its second half and the Warsaw driver came across another car on the track’s wall section.  ‘I tried to avoid someone on the wall and ended up losing a couple of seconds. Luckily I could recover to TQ’.  Setting the fastest lap, in terms of his LRP powered KF2 SE he said for Q2, ‘I think I will stay the same’, adding ‘I will just try to make another good heat’.

‘For a morning run it wasn’t too bad’ was Martin’s reaction to finishing 1.7-seconds off Orlowski’s pace.  The British ace was also quick to compliment his young team-mate Zambrzycki continuing ‘A good job by Bartek’.  The Yokomo driver said, ‘I couldn’t quite see Michal so I couldn’t see the gap’.  He continued, ‘Because I didn’t know how close I was I didn’t want to push as I wasn’t sure if I needed to take the risk.  It was better to take a second than mess up pushing for a TQ’.  For the second qualifier, he will make a shock change to his YZ2 saying ‘I want to give myself a little more steering and at the same time smooth out the steering as well’.

Running in the second fastest heat, Zambrzycki was probably more surprised than anyone with his P3.  The 14-year-old said, ‘I drove the same as yesterday, slow & steady and just not make errors’.  After the heat when my dad told me the time I was surprised but the car was perfect’.   He continued ‘when I went out to marshal the top heat I was thinking maybe I could get an 11th.  When it was over and my father told me I was third I was thinking what is going on’.  A driver from Warsaw and the the EOS running as part of the Warsaw Moto Show, looking to Q2 he said, ‘I hope to do the same again.  If I could make the A-Main here I would be super happy’.

Honigl summed up his P4 time by saying, ‘It was a safe run with no mistakes.  It was not fast but it was consistent’.  The Austrian, whose only EOS win to date came in Poland, continued, ‘I’m happy with my driving but I need more rotation in the car.  With that I could drive harder.  Right now the car is almost too easy to drive’.

Not racing 4WD, which took over the second half of yesterday’s action, Neil Cragg would register a P5 saying, ‘I’m a little bit ring rusty because I’m not driving 4WD but 5th is an ok start’.  Running within a Top 3 pace he continued, ‘A top 3 would have been nice but it is not the end of the world.  The diff problem didn’t help’.  Suffering a locked diff on his B6 he also believes he was lacking power, ‘it felt a little down on power so I might look at that for Round 2’.  Having celebrated his milestone 18th birthday yesterday, team-mate Jesper Rasmussen would be the next best Associated taking his example to P7.

‘Like yesterday the car pushed too much because of the battery problem but anyway I crashed too much’ was Marc Rheinard’s reaction to completing the Top 6.  Top Qualifier & winner of the season opener, the Yokomo driver continued, ‘the pace was not bad but the driving was the biggest issue’.  Planning to move the battery more centred in his Muchmore powered YZ2, he said he also hopes to put together a better 5-minutes as a driver.

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Q2 Update – Bayer heads another Xray 1-2 from Novotný

The second round of 4WD qualifying at Round 2 of the EOS in Poland produced another Xray 1-2 with Martin Bayer setting the fastest time from fellow Czech racer Kája Novotný.  Initially it was Q1 pace setter Bruno Coelho who started out front but the reigning champion was to suffer a steering servo failure, something he attributed to earlier crashes.  With Coelho out it would be Michal Orlowski, who had a mechanical issue in Q1, who would get to the top of the timing screen but a mistake followed quickly by a second would drop him back, allowing Bayer then to go to the front.  Orlowski was to fight back before more mistakes with Lee Martin also challenging the Xray team-manager but he would keep his composure as the only driver to run 17-laps.  Behind him, Novotný would get by Martin to claim an impressive P2 leaving the Yokomo driver to again finish third as the best non-Xray driver.  Hupo Hönigl would separate Martin and his team-mate Marc Rheinard with a P4 with Joel Valander completing the Top 6.

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