Video – 4wd A-main Leg 2
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iiie4n3zV8M[/youtube]
Bayer does the double at EOS
Martin Bayer has pulled off the double at the Euro Offroad Series third round in Slovakia, the Xray driver backing up his & Team Xray’s first ever EOS win in the morning’s 2WD Main by wrapping up the overall 4WD honours early with a convincing victory in A2. With his 2WD victory somewhat unexpected, his 4WD victory has been on the cards all season and for the Czech driver this was the one he wanted most, ending Joern Neumann & Team Durango’s reign as the championship’s only 4WD winners, a record that until today stood for 9 races over 3-seasons.
Having taken a relatively easy win in A1, the second 5-minute encounter would prove even more straight forward for Bayer with him again the only driver to go 14 laps of the difficult Hudy Arena track. Leading from start to finish this time round he would take the A2 win from Naoto Matusuka with Joern Neumann crossing the finish line third. ‘So so happy to finally become the first person to beat Joern’, was Bayer’s reaction to the win which now puts him in contention to also become the first driver to beat the German to the overall EOS championship title. Commenting on the race, the European Champion said he was ‘a bit lucky’ at the start as he went a little short on the first double and his LRP powered XB4 cased the second jump but he would get away with it. Surviving that he said after the first few laps he was able to cruise the rest of the race adding that it was ‘so special to win at his home race’, his father, brother and girlfriend all on hand to watch him take the win that has eluded so many other drivers. Still letting today’s success sink in Bayer said he hasn’t given the championship title much thought but added he is already high motivated for the season finale which takes place in Austria at the end of next month.
Having had his 100% winning record in 2WD ended by Bayer today, Matsukura said ‘Martin was just to fast this weekend’. The 4WD Vice World Champion said he pushed as hard as he could, setting the fastest lap of the race but he just couldn’t close the gap. Set to battle it out for second overall with Neumann in the third A-Main, he said he is confident he can beat the World Championship Top Qualifier, a result Bayer, who will sit out A3, will be hoping he gets to see.
Having held second for 9 of the 13 laps he ran in the second Main, Neumann said he was obviously disappointed to see his unbroken run of wins come to an end but vowed to bounce back and take his 10th win at the season finale. The 3-time back to back EOS Champion said he pushed as hard as he could but admitted even without his flip which dropped him back behind Matsukura he was no match for Bayer.
Fourth in A1, David Ronnefalk again managed to repeat the result second time of asking from 8th on the grid. The 1:8 Offroad European Champion, declared himself ‘pretty happy’ with his pace in the finals saying this is the most competitive he has been in 4WD in the EOS. Having had the opportunity to test for the first time back in Sweden ahead of this weekend with the championship control Pro-Line tyres the 17-year-old said they have made good progress with the prototype car. Feeling there is still a little homework to be done to improve how the buggy lands, he said although he only has an outside chance of an podium today, this evening he will go for it adding that this track has shown that anything can happen.
4WD Buggy A-Main Leg 2 Result
1.(1) Martin Bayer – Xray – 14/5:21.116
2.(2) Naoto Matsukura – Yokomo – 13/5:02.476
3.(3) Joern Neumann – Durango – 13/5:03.639
4.(8) David Ronnefalk – Kyosho – 13/5:08.476
5.(4) Lee Martin – Yokomo – 13/5:11.096
6.(9) Oskar Levin – Team C – 13/5:13.536
7.(6) Hupo Honigl – Team C – 13/5:13.966
8.(10)Robert Batlle – Yokomo – 13/5:15.659
9.(5) Renaud Savoya – Xray – 13/5:16.201
10.(7)Miguel Matias – Xray – 13/5:18.861
Video – 4wd A-main Leg 1
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEPUQhcAQV8[/youtube]
Easy win for Bayer in opening 4WD Main
Martin Bayer took an easy win in the opening A-Main of 4WD Buggy at the Euro Offroad Series, the Top Qualifier being the only driver to complete 14 laps of the Hudy Arena. Securing his first EOS victory earlier when he took the overall 2WD win, the Xray driver briefly lost the lead on the opening lap to Naoto Matsukura but once back in front took control of proceedings to win ahead of a much improved Joern Neumann. While Matsukura would only finish 7th, his Yokomo team-mate Lee Martin completed the Top 3 10-seconds back behind the defending champion.
Losing the lead at the second corner, Bayer said the TQ position made the start difficult due to how close it was to the first jumps of the lap. Having started 2nd in 2WD, he said that was much easier, and having to go safe over the jumps it was this that allowed the No.2 buggy of Matsukura to get down his inside to go to the front. Retaking the lead after the Japanese driver rolled on a landing on lap 2, the European Champion said being able to build up a gap over his rival helped by a second off he was then able to control the race to the finish. Looking to become the first driver to beat Neumann in 4WD he said it was ‘a very good way to start of the 4WD finals.
A driver who has dominated the class since the creation of the EOS, winning all nine races to date, Neumann has struggled this weekend after the race said his event has ‘now just started’. Finding an issue with the diff in his DEX410 which he believes was the reason for his mysterious lack of traction in qualifying, he said the buggy was much better highlighted by the fact that he ran his first 22-second lap of the weekend. A mistake early in the race left him short of time to catch up Bayer by the time he got up to second but going into A2 the World Championship Top Qualifier is confident about his chances.
Despite finishing one position higher than he started, Martin said he ‘wasn’t fast enough’. The British ace said his Viper powered B-Max4 didn’t want to land flat so he had to play safe. Trying to jump long he said the buggy would just crash and so for A2 he will change to a different suspension set-up. He said the issue was compunded by a little understeer with his fastest lap some 7/10ths slower than team-mate Matsukura. Matsukura said after a good start his race just went downhill. Suffering some spectacular cart wheels as he dropped down the field, he said his car was ‘good’ and the next one will be ‘better’.
Starting 8th on the grid David Ronnefalk was pleased to finish 4th. Changing the toe in on his Kyosho from 4 to 3, something he said he should have done earlier in the event, it made it much easier to drive. Declaring his race as having went ‘pretty good’, the Swede is looking forward to A2 adding he is confident of a good result now that he knows what his buggy can do.
4WD Buggy A-Main Leg 1 Result
1.(1) Martin Bayer – Xray – 14/5:21.970
2.(3) Joern Neumann – Durango – 13/5:02.832
3.(4) Lee Martin – Yokomo – 13/5:12.612
4.(8) David Ronnefalk – Kyosho – 13/5:15.229
5.(6) Hupo Honigl – Team C – 13/5:16.291
6.(5) Renaud Savoya – Xray – 13/5:17.019
7.(2) Naoto Matsukura – Yokomo – 13/5:19.310
8.(10)Robert Batlle – Yokomo – 13/5:31.307
9.(7) Miguel Matias – Xray – 12/5:03.133
10.(9)Oskar Levin – Team C – 6/2:29.553
View the complete event results here.
View our event image gallery here.
Video – 2wd A-main Leg 3
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qz7q2M6bSV8[/youtube]
Bayer claims Xray’s first EOS win
Martin Bayer has claimed both his and Xray’s first Euro Offroad Series victory, an unexpectedly easy win in A3 giving the Czech driver & his XB4-2 the overall win at the Hudy Arena. Becoming only the fifth different winner of the championship’s largest class, Bayer’s surprise win, his first win expected to come in 4WD, ends the winning streak of Naoto Matusukra the Yokomo driver finishing second overall after struggling in the third leg. Finishing second in the final 2WD encounter, Team C’s Hupo Honigl completed the podium in Slovakia.
‘Amazing, the class I didn’t expect to do so well in and I win’, that was Bayer’s reaction to his popular home win. Admitting the deciding Main was a lot more straight forward than expected, he said that he went into race with the strategy of keeping his buggy on four wheels and waiting for other’s mistakes. After the thrilling A2 encounter, he knew that Matsukura’s ‘super aggressive driving style’ would make it near impossible to run the full race without error on what has been a difficult track. On the opening lap thats exactly what happened, Matsukura rolling on the landing after the tricky finger jump in front of the drivers stand giving Bayer’s No.2 starting Xray a lead he would never relinquish. 3-laps later a further mistake, which saw the Top Qualifier needing to be marshalled, would give Bayer the big break of the race allowing him to cruise to that first win.
Matsukura, who posted the fastest lap of the race by over 1/2 a second, said he had no comeback from his two early errors this time round for Bayer. Fitting a new set of tyres to his B-Max2 MR he said it made it very edgy and he wasn’t able to push like he did so easily in A2. While disappointed at not being able to pull off the perfect record in 2WD, having done so in qualifying with three TQs from three appearance, the 4WD Vice World Champion said Martin won 2WD this time but I will win 4WD later’, the action at the Hudy Arena now switching to the 4WD finals.
Honigl said overall in terms of the championship 3rd was an OK result. Having TQ’d the second qualifier, the Austrian said based on his opening two qualifiers he was confident he could have challenged for his second win but he lost his edge from Q3 onwards. With 4WD Qualifying being run between Q2 and Q3 of 2WD qualifying, the former European Champion said the track lost traction for the second part of qualifying and the finals and with that he lost pace.
A drivers whose form went the opposite direction to Honigl’s, Schumacher’s Tom Cockerill was delighted to claim fourth overall. Just scrapping into the final winning the tie break with Xray’s Renaud Savoya for 10th position, the season opener’s Top Qualifier said after a ‘shit start to the weekend it finished pretty good’. Turning his fortunes around by going with his DHI winning set-up on his Cougar KF half way through qualifiers, he said in A3 he just capitalised on everyone else mistakes of which he said ‘there were a lot’. The result was fourth for the leg which gave him fourth overall on tie break with Miguel Matias and fellow Brit Lee Martin.
Elsewhere it was an event to forget for defending champion Joern Nuemann. Breaking his DEX210 in the warm-up for A3, which he was allowed extra time to repair, the race would not see his luck change. Contact with Cockerill while battling over 5th would send his buggy rolling across lanes and into the path of the three way battle for second between Honigl, Matsukura and David Ronnefalk. Unfortunately Ronnefalk’s Kyosho made a direct hit breaking the shock tower on the RB6 and ending the Swede’s challenge for an overall poduim finish. In the end the German would finish the leg 9th having popped a ball cup after contact with Lee Martin on the straight but overall he goes away with a 10th for the 3rd round of the championship.
2WD Buggy Overall Result
1. Martin Bayer (CZ) – Xray – 2 pts
2. Naoto Matsukura (JP) – Yokomo – 3
3. Hupo Hönigl (AT) – Team C – 5
4. Tom Cockerill (GB) – Schumacher – 9
5. David Ronnefalk (SE) – Kyosho – 11
6. Miguel Matias (PT) – Xray – 11
7. Lee Martin (GB) – Yokomo – 11
8. Peter Pinisch (AT) – Team Associated – 12
9. Martin Wollanka (AT) – Xray – 14
10.Joern Neumann (DE) – Durango – 17
2WD Buggy A-Main Leg 3 Result
1.(2) Martin Bayer – Xray – 13/511.474
2.(3) Hupo Hönigl – Team C – 13/5:15.697
3.(1) Naoto Matsukura – Yokomo – 13/5:23.607
4.(10)Tom Cockerill – Schumacher – 12/5:02.428
5.(5) Lee Martin – Yokomo – 12/5:03.811
6.(6) Martin Wollanka – Xray – 12/5:04.859
7.(9) Miguel Matias – Xray – 12/5:10.094
8.(7) Peter Pinisch – Team Associated – 12/5:23.864
9.(8) Joern Neumann – Durango – 11/5:12.424
10.(4)David Ronnefalk – Kyosho – 5/2:00.682
View the complete event results here.
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