Neumann dominates 4WD Buggy qualifying

Unbeaten in 4WD Buggy en route to becoming the inaugural TLR/Spektrum Euro Offroad Series Champion, Joern Neumann looks set to add to his tally of consecutive wins after the Team Durango driver dominated qualifying at the opening round of season No.2 of the series today in Poznan, Poland. Securing the overall TQ honours in Q3, the European Champion stamped his authority on the class when he completed a clean sweep of the time sheets by topping the fourth & final heat with the fastest 5-minute run of the day.  Closest to Neumann during the day was team-mate Hupo Hönigl who in the penultimate qualifier got within 5-seconds of the German.  That run, Honigl’s fastest of the four heats, secures him second on the grid ahead of fellow LRP/Durango driver Benni Gröschel who showed well in Q1 and Q4 when he was second fastest behind Neumann.

With Durango’s DEX410 buggies locking out the front of the grid, it was TLR’s Dustin Evans who was best of the rest getting his aging XXX-4 into fourth on the grid.  Behind the American, who earlier secured TQ honours in 4WD Short Course, factory Schumacher driver Tom Cockerill will line up fifth with young Danish team-mate Jesper Rasmussen starting one spot behind him.  Another Scandinavian to make it into the main event was Norwegian Joakim Nicolaisen whose Associated will start from 7th.  Having had a tough 2WD qualifying Danny McGee fared better in 4WD to end the day 8th fastest ahead of fellow Tamiya driver Michal Orlowski.  Driving a TLR XX-4, Matt Castellano made the A-Main first time of asking with the Californian completing the grid.

4WD Buggy A-Main Grid
1. Jörn Neumann (DE) – Durango – 310 pts
2. Hupo Hönigl (AT) – Durango – 306
3. Benni Gröschel (DE) – Durango – 306
4. Dustin Evans (US) – TLR – 303
5. Tom Cockerill (GB) – Schumacher – 302
6. Jesper Rasmussen (DK) – Schumacher – 298
7. Joakim Nicolaisen (NO) – Associated – 297
8. Danny McGee (GB) – Tamiya – 296
9. Michal Orlowski (PL) – Tamiya – 295
10.Matt Castellano (US) – TLR – 295

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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

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Neumann 2WD Top Qualifer at EOS in Poland

Joern Neumann is the 2WD Buggy Top Qualifier for the opening round of the TLR/Spektrum Euro Offroad Series presented by Horizon Hobby after he made it three TQ runs from four in the final round of qualifying.  Dustin Evans, the pace setter in Q1 and only driver who could deny the defending champion pole for tomorrow’s finals going into the final heat, looked like he might get the job done after a mistake by Neumann but 3 laps later the American rolled his TLR at the end of straight loosing a massive 6-seconds. Finishing second 4-seconds behind the Durango driver, Evans will line up on the No.2 spot on the grid with team-mate Darren Bloomfield, who got his first 17-lap run in Q4, set to start third.

Neumann’s third time to TQ 2WD Buggy at an EOS event, he said after his poor start this morning in Q1 the rest of qualifying was ‘good’ after he reverted back to his practice set-up for Q2 which made his DEX210 a lot more stable to drive.  Setting a new outright fastest lap in the final qualifier, the German is confident for tomorrow but said he is taking nothing for granted for the triple leg finals saying he expects Evans to push him hard for the win.

Evans, whose previous best qualifying position in the EOS was fourth at last season’s finale from where he went on to finish second overall, feels he has the pace to run with Neumann in the finals but said he needs to just keep it together for the races.  Team-mate Bloomfield is very happy with his pace this weekend saying it is the closest he has been in his three EOS race appearances in terms of pace to the two drivers starting ahead of him.  Still playing with set-up, Bloomfield said he is having to find a good balance between having the steering he wants and a buggy that is consistent to drive.

Starting fourth, despite driving a rather messy final qualifier from which he finally decided to pull up, Hupo Hönigl said it was a good position from which to watch the trio ahead of him and see what happens.  Behind the Austrian will be Matt Castellano, fifth a good effort from the American on his EOS debut.  Set to give the huge crowds that are attending the Hobby Exhibition something to cheer about is Polish talent Michal Orlowski who sits sixth ahead of Schumacher lead team driver Tom Cockerill and Swedish TLR supported driver Oskar Levin.  Durango driver Kája Novotny from the Czech Republic and David Poulter from the UK complete the 10 car A-Main grid line-up.

2WD Buggy Q4 times
1. Jörn Neumann (DE) – Durango – 17/5:11.799
2. Dustin Evans (US) – TLR – 17/5:15.700
3. Darren Bloomfield (GB) – TLR – 17/5:15.893
4. Michal Orlowski (PL) – Tamiya – 16/5:01.652
5. Matt Castellano (US) – TLR – 16/5:02.748
6. Tom Cockerill (GB) – Schumacher – 16/5:06.254
7. Kája Novotny (CZ) – Durango – 16/5:09.363
8. David Poulter (GB) – Kyosho – 16/5:11.350
9. Otto Ausfelt (SE) – TLR – 16/5:11.991
10.Oskar Levin (SE) – TLR – 16/5:13.856

2WD Buggy A-main Grid
1. Jörn Neumann (DE) – Durango – 310 pts
2. Dustin Evans (US) – TLR – 308
3. Darren Bloomfield (GB) – TLR – 305
4. Hupo Hönigl (AT) – Durango – 305
5. Matt Castellano (US) – TLR – 302
6. Michal Orlowski (PL) – Tamiya – 302
7. Tom Cockerill (GB) – Schumacher – 300
8. Oskar Levin (SE) – TLR – 297
9. Kája Novotny (CZ) – Durango – 295
10.David Poulter (GB) – Kyosho – 294

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Video – 2wd buggy qualifying Rd3

Neumann takes control Q2 & 3

Defending 2WD Buggy Euro Offroad Series Champion Jörn Neumann recovered from an error filled opening qualifier in Poland this morning to stamp his authority on Q2 and Q3 running 17 laps runs on both occasions as his rivals could only manage 16 lap times.  In the second of the four qualifiers Neumann headed a Durango 1-2 with Hupo Honigl setting the second fastest time closely followed by an impressive run from TLR’s Matt Castellano who is turning out to be a quick learner on this his first time to race on a carpet surface track.  For Q1 top qualifier Dustin Evans Q2 got off to a poor start with mistakes on the first two laps costing around 4 seconds.  Further mistakes left the American 7th for the round.

In Q3 which was the fastest heat so far it was Darren Bloomfield who was closest to the German.  Missing out on a potential 17 lap run due to a bad final lap, the 1:8 Offroad European Champion held on for second just ahead of team-mate Evans.  The British ace is so far the only driver to match Neumann in terms of outright pace running a 17.886 second lap in Q2 compared with the latter’s 17.872 set in Q1. The third heat saw a great run from 11-year-old Michal Orlowski who improved his previous best time by 5 seconds to claim fourth for the round ahead of Honigl and Castellano.

2WD Buggy Q3 times
1. Jörn Neumann (DE) – Durango – 17/5:12.993
2. Darren Bloomfield (GB) – TLR – 16/5:01.763
3. Dustin Evans (US) – TLR – 16/5:02.144
4. Michal Orlowski (PL) – Tamiya – 16/5:03.593
5. Hupo Hönigl (AT) – Durango – 16/5:05.651
6. Matt Castellano (US) – TLR – 16/5:06.178
7. Oskar Levin (SE) – TLR – 16/5:09.314
8. Tom Cockerill (GB) – Schumacher – 16/5:12.062
9. Marcus Lübke (DE) – Team C – 16/5:12.481
10.Otto Ausfelt (SE) – TLR – 16/5:15.422

2WD Buggy Q2 times
1. Jörn Neumann (DE) – Durango – 17/5:13.424
2. Hupo Hönigl (AT) – Durango – 16/5:02.056
3. Matt Castellano (US) – TLR – 16/5:02.688
4. Darren Bloomfield (GB) – TLR – 16/5:04.561
5. Michal Orlowski (PL) – Tamiya – 16/5:08.026
6. Oskar Levin (SE) – TLR – 16/5:10.224
7. Dustin Evans (US) – TLR – 16/5:11.014
8. David Poulter (GB) – Kyosho – 16/5:12.520
9. Tom Cockerill (GB) – Schumacher – 16/5:12.653
10.Andreas Daving (NO) – Associated – 16/5:14.418

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Evans takes Q1 at Euro Offroad Series

At the opening round of the TLR/Spektrum Euro Offroad Series presented by Horizon Hobby in Poznan, Poland it was Dustin Evans who kicked off qualifying at the top of the time sheets. With the first half of the day set aside for 2WD qualifying the Team Losi Racing ace was the only driver to record 17 laps taking his Orion powered TLR22 to a 17/5:18.462 run ahead of the Durangos of Joern Neumann and Hupo Honigl.

Starting the first of the four qualifier second behind yesterday’s timed practice pace setter Neumann, Evans took control of the 5-minute qualifier when the defending champion rolled on his second lap.  Evans said his buggy was ‘real good’ but following Neumann’s early mistake he drove a conservative round knowing that if he kept the run clean he would TQ the round.  Describing the run as ‘super consistent’, the American said while Neumann set the fastest lap of the round as he recovered from a number of mistakes he himself didn’t need to push but he is confident that his buggy had more pace should he need it.  For Q2 Evans will leave his buggy unchanged instead using the time to get team-mate Darren Bloomfield’s 22, which set the 5th fastest time, to where his is at in terms of set-up.  Bloomfield, who had a very long 24 second lap, said he had trouble with his buggy on landing off the jumps but hopes by adding more pack to the rear shocks he should be competitive for Q2.

Neumann, who was the only driver to run a 17 second lap, said his Speed Passion powered DEX210 was very edgy to drive something he put down to new tyres.  Having changed the front shocks to a heavier oil for today he said to eliminate this as a potential cause of the buggy being difficult to drive he will revert back to the oil used in timed practice yesterday.  Despite running three 21 second laps having put his buggy on its roof the Reedy Race Champion ended the run less than 2 seconds off Evans’ pace.

Team-mate Honigl said his LRP powered example of the DEX210 was also a little edgy on fresh tyres.  Driving a ‘careful’ round the former multiple European Champion said the overall result was OK as his lap times were, with the exception of Neumann, good compared to his rivals.

Switching to a new speedo for qualifying having felt he was lacking power in practice yesterday, factory Schumacher driver Tom Cockerill said his Speed Passion powered Cougar SV2 was much better today.  Making a ‘stupid mistake’ on his second lap the British driver managed to keep it clean there after admitting he benefited from others’ mistakes.  A little edgy on new tyres he will switch to a harder front spring and heavier rear shock oil for Q2.

Making his carpet debut this weekend American factory TLR driver Matt Castellano completed the Top 6 just ahead of young Polish talent Michal Orlowski.  Suffering one big mistake that lost him almost 5 seconds, Castellano said his 22 was ‘much better’ and more consistent today after he copied the camber link settings of team-mate Evans.

2WD Buggy Q1 times
1. Dustin Evans (US) – TLR – 17/5:18.462
2. Jörn Neumann (DE) – Durango – 16/5:01.548
3. Hupo Hönigl (AT) – Durango – 16/5:03.995
4. Tom Cockerill (GB) – Schumacher – 16/5:07.651
5. Darren Bloomfield (GB) – TLR – 16/5:08.469
6. Matt Castellano (US) – TLR – 16/5:13.181
7. Michal Orlowski (PL) – Tamiya – 16/5:13.739
8. Kája Novotny (CZ) – Durango – 16/5:16.491
9. David Poulter (GB) – Kyosho – 16/5:17.382
10.Oskar Levin (SE) – TLR – 15/5:00.166

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