Neumann’s reign in 4WD continues with TQ no.7

Joern Neumann’s domination of 4WD Buggy in the TLR/Spektrum Euro Offroad Series remains intact after the German claimed his 7th consecutive overall TQ honour to put him in the best position possible to end the second season of the EOS as the only 4WD race winner since the creation of the series.  After posting only the fourth fastest time in Q2, the European Champion bounced back in Q3 to become the only driver to complete a 20-lap qualifier, a feat he would repeat in the final qualifier to lead a Team Durango 1-2-3 on the grid with Q2 pace setter Michal Orlowski set to carry the No.2 on his DEX410 and Hupo Honigl due to line his example up third for tomorrow’s triple leg A-Main.

Needing good runs in the final two qualifiers, just like he did in 2WD, Kyosho’s David Ronnefalk again came good setting the 2nd & 3rd fastest times respectively to book himself 4th on the grid ahead of series debutant & reigning World Champion Ryan Cavalieri.  The only Associated driver to make the final, with Brent Thielke set to start 8th in the B-Main, Cavalieri did not have a good last qualifier posting only the 11th fastest time but armed with a lot more knowledge of the surface, today being only his second day to run on a carpet offroad track, the American should be able to run closer to the pace of the series regulars in the finals.

Behind Cavalieri, Kyosho’s Chrishtopher Krapp will start 6th ahead of the Xray of Round 3 podium finisher Martin Bayer who is joined in the final by his team mate Renaud Savoya who together with his nitro offroad rival Robert Batlle scraped onto the back of the grid in 9th and 10th respectively. Making it four Durango’s in the A-Main, 17-year-old Oliver Speith will start 8th.

4WD Buggy Qualification Round 3
1. Joern Neumann – Team Durango – 20/5:12.375
2. David Ronnefalk – Kyosho – 19/5:01.012
3. Michal Orlowski – Team Durango – 19/5:03.199
4. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated – 19/5:06.047
5. Martin Bayer – Xray – 19/5:06.818
6. Renaud Savoya – Xray – 19/5:06.999
7. Christopher Krapp – Kyosho – 19/5:09.004
8. Oliver Speith – Team Durango – 19/5:09.942
9. Patrick Hofer – Associated – 19/5:10.597
10.Oliver Scholz – Team C – 19/5:12.451

4WD Buggy Qualification Round 4
1. Joern Neumann – Team Durango – 20/5:13.317
2. Michal Orlowski – Team Durango – 19/5:01.267
3. David Ronnefalk – Kyosho – 19/5:03.122
4. Christopher Krapp – Kyosho – 19/5:03.171
5. Martin Bayer – Xray – 19/5:04.093
6. Renaud Savoya – Xray – 19/5:08.366
7. Joakim Nicolaisen – Associated – 19/5:12.754
8. Robert Batlle – Yokomo – 19/5:13.827
9. Luca Rua – Kyosho – 19/5:14.935
10.Markus Metsch – Team Durango – 19/5:15.491

4WD Buggy A-Main Grid
1. Joern Neumann (DE) – Team Durango – 310 pts
2. Michal Orlowski (PL) – Team Durango – 308
3. Hupo Hönigl (AT) – Team Durango – 306
4. David Ronnefalk (SE) – Kyosho – 305
5. Ryan Cavalieri (US) – Associated – 303
6. Christopher Krapp (DE) – Kyosho – 301
7. Martin Bayer (CZ) – Xray – 301
8. Oliver Speith (DE) – Team Durango – 299
9. Renaud Savoya (FR) – Xray – 298
10.Robert Batlle (ES) – Yokomo – 29

View the complete results here.

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Chassis Focus – Ryan Cavalieri

Chassis Name – Centro C4.1
Motor – Team Orion
ESC – Team Orion
Batteries – Team Orion
Tires – dBoots (handout)
Radio/Servos – Airtronics
Remarks – 4-time World Champion Ryan Cavalieri is making his carpet racing debut in Dortmund, Germany using the Centro C4.1, made by UK Associated distributor CML. Having built the car just for this race, Ryan’s C4.1 needed some tweaks after he arrived and ran the car. Up front he is running a brass bulkhead for added weight and on the chassis he has mounted carbon stiffeners, which are a standard part but one that Ryan overlooked when building the car prior to coming to Europe. Following a difficult start he managed to improve the car and alter his driving style to end up 4th after qualifying.

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Orlowski TQs second 4WD Qualifier at EOS

Promising 11-year-old Polish talent Michael Orlowski put in an impressive and mature performance in the second round of 4WD qualifying at the TLR/Spektrum Euro Offroad Series in Dortmund, Germany this evening when he posted a TQ run ahead of house hold names Hupo Honigl, Ryan Cavalieri and Joern Neumann.  Fifth in last night’s opening qualifier, the Team Durango driver set a new overall fastest time knocking 1.6-seconds off Neumann’s Q1 pace to finish 2/10ths up on Honigl with Cavalieri a further 4.4-seconds back.

Delighted with his TQ Orlowski, who despite his young age is a former champion in the Euro Touring Series, said he was a little surprised to be fastest but a driver with ambitions he added it was a big boost for him.  Leaving his DEX410 set-up the same as yesterday’s opening qualifier, he said used tyres suited his set-up better and that was the reason for his extra pace today and he plans to run his first set of controlled dBoots again in Q3 before switching to his second for the final qualifier in order to have them scrubbed in for the tomorrow’s finals.

Having swapped the top spot on the timing screens with Orlowski over the 5-minute qualifier, Honigl said it was very close between him and his junior team-mate.  Happy with his buggy he said other than two mistakes it was a good run and he was happy to back up his Q1 run with another P2 run.  Team-mate & undefeated Champion of 4WD in the EOS, Neumann said his buggy was a little edgy to drive but it was driver errors that left him only fourth fastest.  The German who is chasing a seventh consecutive TQ & win this weekend said the change from 2WD Buggy to Short Course and then back to 4WD contributed to his below par driving but he is confident he will be back in the rhythm for Q3.

Cavalieri described his run to third, having retired from Q1, as ‘solid’.  Feeling he now has the track sorted he said he can now work on improving his Orion powered Associated B44.2.  With team-mate Kody Numedahl only competing in 2WD, the World Champion said he had him watch his car in Q2 and between the experience he has gain himself and the feedback Numedahl gave him regarding how the buggy looked compared to the competition he thinks they can create a good set-up for the penultimate qualifier.  Brent Theilke was on for a Top 10 run but a mistake two laps from the finish leaft the team manager 12th for the round.

Ending 2WD Buggy qualifying second fastest overall, Kyosho’s Christopher Krapp set the fifth fastest time in Q3 saying his 4WD is not working as well as his 2WD.  Describing the run as ‘OK’ he said he was lacking a little steering and he hopes more Ackerman for his next run will give him a better feeling with the Lazer ZX5 and hopefully allow him to post a run good enough to secure him a spot on the A-Main grid.  The top seed for 4WD qualifiying after setting the pace in timed practice, David Ronnefalk again finished outside the Top 10 following mistakes but the Swede said his buggy is working well and like in 2WD, in which he TQ’d Q3, he needs to get the driver sorted for the final two rounds of heats.

Team Yokomo’s Robert Battle completed the Top 6 with a ‘so so’ run with Renaud Savoya the top Xray for the round with seventh.  Making it 4 Durango’s in the Top 8, young Czech driver Kaja Novotny backed up his Q1 performance with another run to the 8th fastest time.

4WD Buggy Qualification Round 2
1. Michal Orlowski – Team Durango – 19/5:02.583
2. Hupo Honigl – Team Durango – 19/5:02.860
3. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated – 19/5:07.269
4. Joern Neumann – Team Durango – 19/5:07.481
5. Christopher Krapp – Kyosho – 19/5:10.384
6. Robert Batlle – Yokomo – 19/5:12.203
7. Renaud Savoya – Xray – 19/5:14.601
8. Kaja Novotny – Team Durango – 19/5:15.419
9. Oliver Speith – Team Durango – 19/5:16.321
10.Markus Metsch – Team Durango – 18/5:00.353

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Neumann 2WD Top Qualifier at EOS Finale

Team Durango’s Joern Neumann is the Top Qualifier of 2WD Buggy at the season finale of the TLR/Spektrum Euro Offroad Series, the back to back champion TQ’ing the fourth & final round of qualifying at the Dortmund event to secure his third A-Main pole position of the 2012/13 series.  The German topped the final qualifier ahead of Durango team-mate Michal Orlowski who put in a superb drive in the second fastest heat where he ran competitively up against World Champion Ryan Cavalieri who took third for the round and will make his EOS debut from 4th on the grid.

The only driver who could deny Neumann from carrying No.1 on his buggy in the A-Main, David Ronnefalk looked like he might back up his Q3 TQ run.  Moving to the top of the timing screen on lap 10, the Swede would get it wrong at the cross over next time round losing 3-seconds and with it any chance of starting at the opposite end of the grid to which he made his series debut in Austria last month where he qualified 10th.  Posting the 5th fastest time for the round just ahead of Christopher Krapp’s similar Orion powered RB6, the 19-year-old Swede will start third on the grid behind his Kyosho team-mate.

Making their first official entry of the second season of the EOS, Team Associated managed to get all three of their US drivers into the Main event at Dortmund.  Lacking the experience of their rivals on the uniquely European style carpet surface offroad track, Cavalieri will be joined by Kody Numedahl and Brent Thielke who will start 7th & 8th respectively for the triple leg A-Main which takes place tomorrow in front of one of the biggest audiences RC racing gets in Europe, the event part of the ‘Intermodellbau’ hobby exhibition which attracts in the region of 85,000 visitors.

Lining up behind Cavalieri on the grid in 5th position, 11-year-old Orlowski is going to be one to watch in the final having shown he is not at all fazed by mixing it with the World’s best professional drivers.  Completing the Top 6 in the final qualifying ranking despite three Top 3 runs, Hupo Honigl will line-up his DEX210 in the 6th spot.

Making their 2WD debut this weekend, electric offroad newcomers Team Xray will be pleased to get one of their prototype XB2s into the main event with star of Round 3 of the EOS Martin Bayer securing the 10th and final spot on the grid behind the Team C of Tom Maquel.

Having made the 2WD A-Main in Austria on his EOS debut 1:8 Offroad World Champion Robert Batlle couldn’t repeat the result on his second outing and the Yokomo driver will start 8th on the grid in the B-Main, two spots behind the Xray of his great 1:8 Nitro rival Renaud Savoya.

2WD Buggy Qualification Round 4
1. Joern Neumann – Durango – 19/5:12.589
2. Michal Orlowski – Team Durango – 19/5:13.771
3. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated – 19/5:15.405
4. Kody Numedahl – Associated – 19/5:15.738
5. David Ronnefalk – Kyosho – 19/5:15.924
6. Christopher Krapp – Kyosho – 19/5:16.135
7. Brent Thielke – Associated – 19/5:16.898
8. Tom Maquel – Team C – 18/5:00.782
9. Oliver Scholz – Team C – 18/5:01.535
10.Patrick Hofer – Associated – 18/5:01.583

2WD Buggy A-Main Grid
1. Joern Neumann (DE) – Durango – 310 pts
2. Christopher Krapp (DE) – Kyosho – 306
3. David Ronnefalk (DE) – Kyosho – 305
4. Ryan Cavalieri (US) – Associated – 305
5. Michal Orlowski (PL) – Team Durango – 304
6. Hupo Honigl (AT) – Team Durango – 304
7. Kody Numedahl (US) – Associated – 302
8. Brent Thielke (US) – Associated – 298
9. Tom Maquel (LU) – Team C – 297
10.Martin Bayer (CZ) – Xray – 296

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Ronnefalk heads Kyosho 1-2 in Q3

Having shown great speed in the opening two qualifiers but been unable to post a Top 10 time due to a series of driver errors, David Ronnefalk finally came good in the penultimate round to head a Kyosho 1-2 from team-mate Christopher Krapp.  Setting the fastest time of 2WD qualifying so far, Ronnefalk ran a pace of 19 laps in 5:10.091 bettering the previous fastest pace of Joern Neumann who after TQ’ing Q1 & 2 could only manage the 14th fastest time in Q3 due to ‘too many crashes’.

With the two Orion powered RB6s separated by just .311, Ronnefalk said his buggy has been great since the first practice at the German event and he has changed nothing instead focusing on his driving.  Taking a little longer than he hoped he said he was delighted to TQ the round and more importantly run a faster time than champion Neumann, a fact that could be critical if he can post a second TQ run in the final qualifier as he would give him the overall TQ honours on tie break.

Finishing third behind the Kyosho pairing, Hupo Honigl was very close to a TQ run himself until an error on the last lap. Coming up on a backmarker, the Austria said it broke his concentration leading him to make a mistake which cost him over 2 seconds.  Behind the Durango driver, Team Associated’s Kody Numdedahl put in a strong showing just missing out on a 19 lap run to set the fourth fastest time.

Posting the fifth fastest time Martin Bayer was the best of the Xray drivers with young Polish talent Michal Orlowski completing the Top 6 with his Durango.  For both World Champions Q3 proved fruitless.  Ryan Cavalieri lost a rear shock off his Centro C4.1 just after the 1-minute mark while Robert Battle lasted less than a minute his Yokomo retiring  with a broken spur gear.

2WD Buggy Qualification Round 3
1. David Ronnefalk – Kyosho – 19/5:10.091
2. Christopher Krapp – Kyosho – 19/5:10.410
3. Hupo Honigl – Team Durango – 19/5:12.774
4. Kody Numedahl – Associated – 18/5:00.721
5. Martin Bayer – Xray – 18/5:01.233
6. Michal Orlowski – Team Durango – 18/5:02.754
7. Oliver Speith – Team Durango – 18/5:03.332
8. Torben Hojfeldt – Team C – 18/5:03.840
9. Otto Ausfelt – TLR – 18/5:03.997
10.Rau Luca – Kyosho – 18/5:04.254

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Neumann from Cavalieri in Q2

Joern Neumann made it two out of two in 2WD qualifying at the season finale of the ‘TLR/Spektrum Euro Offroad Series presented by Horizon Hobby’ with the German starting day two of the Dortmund event with another TQ run but the main news of the second qualifier was the marked improvement from World Champion Ryan Cavalieri who posted the second fastest time. The Top 3 was completed by Neumann’s Durango team-mate Hupo Honigl ahead of Kyosho’s Christopher Krapp.

Having changed his buggy set-up from yesterday’s opening qualifier to the same rear shock set-up as Honigl, Neumann said his Speed Passion powered was ‘way faster’ today. Much easier to drive, the German was on target to better his Q1 time by over 4-seconds but on his final lap a driver who had already completed his 5-minutes turned in on the reigning champion resulting in a 20.287 second lap compared with his 15.713 overall fastest lap of the round.

Cavalieri was much happier with his second qualifier saying he had a ‘much smoother pace today’.  Having changed the set-up on his Centro C4.1, the American said the buggy was a lot better and following the run he was a lot more confident with both the buggy and the carpet track with his plan for Q3 just to work on improving a few of his lines which should help him make up a ‘little more time’.  After the run, the factory Associated driver discovered he had a bent rear shock shaft which he said would explain why the buggy wanted to ‘wheelie’ a lot in the final minute of the run.  Getting his first taste of European style indoor offroad racing yesterday and clearly not looking to be enjoying the experience, today’s first qualifier has certainly brought about a change in Cavalieri’s attitude and it will be interesting to watch his progress over the next two qualifiers.

Team-mate and AE team boss Brent Thielke also enjoyed a strong Q2 taking his C4.1 to the fifth fastest time.  Adding weight to the front of the buggy and stiffening the chassis and shocks, the American said the buggy was much improved. Finding yesterday’s opening day a ‘little hectic’, he said he felt a lot more relaxed today and that was reflected in his driving. Comfortable now with his pace he hopes he can build on that in the remaining two qualifiers and book himself a spot in the A-Main.

The third of the Associated drivers to travel over from the US, Kody Numedahl could only manage 31st for the round saying he just got a little too confident in his ability on the high grip track.  The Associated team have their own inter-team competition going on in which Cav, Theilke and Numedahl are up against the team ‘classic race division’ Craig Drescher.  In the competition Drescher’s challenge is to try and finish higher than his three team-mates combined results for the round.  Numedahl’s bad run should have played into the hands of Drescher and his 1993 RC10 chassis but the multiple former European champion said he had to make a ‘pit stop’ which lost him 32 seconds leaving him 74th for the round compared with the American’s combined 38th for the round.

Third fastest Honigl was pleased with his run after it looked early in the run that he hadn’t glued a front tyre properly.  Struggling with getting his Durango to turn left it turn out to be a large piece of tape from the track that have gotten stuck to the tyre causing the flapping noise.  Fortunately for the Austria the tape eventually parted with the tyres and he was able to drive normally again saying the buggy felt really good for the rest of the run.

Krapp, who was second fastest in Q1, said his Kyosho RB6 had more speed than yesterday but 3-mistakes, two of which were of his own doing cost him a chance at a TQ run.  Heading the time from Neumann, the German Touring Car ace said he got a little too nervous at the prospect of topping the round and this effected his driving.  For Q3 he plans to run a new set of controlled dBoots tyres to scrub them in for the finals.

Running Xray’s prototype XB2 buggy, Renaud Savoya was said the buggy was much easier to drive today after it was discovered he ran with a broken sensor wire in Q1.  Changing his front tyre to a Nanobyte, loosening the slipper and adjusting his speedo settings he said he was able to drive a lot more consistently and other than one roll over he was happy with the run.  With his confidence of driving 2WD growing, the Frenchman a novice in the class, he said his aim for the next qualifier is to improve his lines and push a little harder.  Team-mate Martin Bayer had a motor problem in Q2 which left him with little or no brakes but he still managed to post a Top 10 time to finish 9th.

Finishing 8th behind Team C’s Tom Maquel, 1:8 World Champion Robert Batlle said his Yokomo was very nervous to drive and this led to two mistakes.  For Q3 the Spaniard will glue up the front tyre walls.  Once again Kyosho’s David Ronnefalk had good speed but a series of mistakes left the Swede 12th for the round ahead of fellow countryman and top TLR driver Oskar Levin.

2WD Buggy Qualification Round 2
1. Joern Neumann – Team Durango – 19/5:11.236
2. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated – 19/5:12.704
3. Hupo Honigl – Team Durango – 19/5:13.805
4. Christopher Krapp – Kyosho – 19/5:15.252
5. Brent Thielke – Associated – 19/5:16.230
6. Renaud Savoya – Xray – 18/5:00.925
7. Tom Maquel – Team C – 18/5:01.613
8. Robert Batlle – Yokomo – 18/5:02.918
9. Martin Bayer – Xray – 18/5:02.964
10.Torben Hojfeldt – Team C – 18/5:03.460

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