April 27, 2014

‘From Race Control’ – Day 3, 4WD Qualifying/Finals

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Today is not just the final day of action here in Wels, Austria, but it is also the final day of what has been a very successful Season #3 of the Euro Offroad Series.  With 2WD crowning its new champion yesterday today will see the battle for the 4WD title between defending champion Joern Neumann who is chasing 3-in a row and Martin Bayer who at the last round became the first driver to deny Neumann a 4WD victory in the championship.  Today is just for 4WD starting off with the first of four rounds of qualifying, a driver’s best 2 of 4 to count. With qualifying complete the day at the Modelbau Wels Hobby Show will conclude with triple Mains for all racers.

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April 26, 2014

Neumann relinquishes title but gets first win in Austria

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Having relinquished his Euro Offroad Series 2WD Buggy title to Naoto Matsukura in the second A-Main, Joern Neumann took some satisfaction in winning A3 to claim the overall win for the fourth & final round of the championship in Austria this evening.  The only driver to have held an EOS buggy title prior to today, the Team Durango driver’s win makes him the fourth winner of the season in the ever increasingly competitive championship.  Today’s win also helped Neumann to snatch the runner-up spot in the championship from former team Hupo Honigl who ends up third.   The season’s other race winner Xray’s Martin Bayer ends up fourth followed by the Schumacher of Tom Cockerill, who TQ’d the season opener, making if five different manufacturers at the top of the overall 2013/14 points standings.

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A3 looked like Matusukura would back up his title win by becoming the season’s first repeat race winner but holding a commanding lead he would again make a costly mistake with 2-minutes to go.  Hooked up on the track piping, trying to to stay ahead of the battling Honigl and Neumann after being marshalled he tried to clear the tabletop but didnt have enough speed jumping short and breaking a C-hub on his B-Max 2.  His description of the incident afterwards was rather self explanitory, ‘car shit good, me just shit’.

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Neumann said as the race reached the half way distance he ‘thought it was all over’.  Once Matsukura broke he said it was game on again and he tried everything to get passed Honigl which he did with three laps to go.  Happy to finish up the season with a win, the German said hopefully tomorrow he can cap off the season by retaining his 4WD title.  Set to battle it out with Martin Bayer he said he has the car to get the job done and it is now just down to the driver.

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Honigl was still after the race somewhat dismayed by Matsukura’s crash. Had the Japanese driver stayed out front for the win it would have automatically secured him second overall in the championship.  Instead he had to try to keep Neumann at bay and while his Team C was ‘really good’ the European Champion pulled a pretty impressive pass at the end of the straight to which the Austrian had no response.  Overall disappointed to lose the runners-up position, Honigl said he was pleased with his season as he was in contention for the win at all four rounds.

2WD Buggy A-Main Overall Result
1. Joern Neumann (DE) – Durango – 2 pts
2. Naoto Matsukura (JP) – Yokomo – 3
3. Hupo Hoingl (AT) – Team C – 4
4. Lee Martin (GB) – Yokomo – 6
5. Shin Adachi (JP) – Yokomo – 9
6. Martin Bayer (CZ) – Xray – 10
7. Juho Levanen (FI) – Associated – 11
8. Michal Orlowski (PL) – Durango – 11
9. Peter Pinisch (AT) – Associated – 14
10.Tom Cockerill (GB) – Schumacher – 18

2WD Buggy A-Main Leg 3 Result
1.(3) Joern Neumann (DE) – Durango – 15/5:08.554
2.(2) Hupo Hoingl (AT) – Team C – 15/5:10.341
3.(4) Lee Martin (GB) – Yokomo – 15/5:12.756
4.(7) Shin Adachi (JP) – Yokomo – 15/5:19.078
5.(9) Juho Levanen (FI) – Associated – 15/5:21.104
6.(5) Martin Bayer (CZ) – Xray – 15/5:21.920
7.(10)Peter Pinisch (AT) – Associated – 14/5:03.522
8.(8) Michal Orlowski (PL) – Durango – 14/5:04.612
9.(6) Tom Cockerill (GB) – Schumacher – 14/5:10.766
10.(1)Naoto Matsukura (JP) – Yokomo – 9/2:58.382

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2WD Buggy Overall Championship Standings (Top 10)
1. Naoto Matsukura – Yokomo – 464 pts
2. Joern Neumann – Durango – 461
3. Hupo Hoingl – Team C – 459
4. Martin Bayer – Xray – 451
5. Tom Cockerill – Schumacher – 451
6. Lee Martin – Yokomo – 450
7. David Ronnefalk – Kyosho – 447
8. Peter Pinisch – Associated – 435
9. Juho Levanen – Associated – 431
10.Michal Orlowski – Durango – 428

View complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

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April 26, 2014

Matsukura is EOS Champion, Neumann wins A2

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Naoto Matsukura is the new 2013/14 Euro Offroad Series Champion despite the overall winner of the season finale having yet being decided.  Winner of A1 in Wels, Austria, the Team Yokomo driver finished second in A2 behind Joern Neumann meaning he will finish the fourth & final round of the championship no lower than second.   So irrespective of the outcome of A3,  with three from four rounds to count, this means he becomes only the second ever driver to be crowned a champion of the EOS ending Neumann dominant reign since the series was created three years ago.

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Having only contest one race last season, Matsukura said he was ‘Super happy’ to win the title on his first full EOS campaign and was quick to thank Yokomo’s Tom Yokobora for giving him the opportunity to travel from Japan to Europe to do the competitive championship.  Also thanking his mechanic Naoya Kitagawa and the team’s head of offroad development Shin Adachi, the 20-year said having messed up A2 he hopes to complete the perfect weekend putting in an error free A3 to claim the overall win for the weekend.   The Top Qualifier had built up a good lead early in A2 but yet another mistake saw him give it all away on lap four when he parked his B-Max 2 nose front into the track barriers.  He said he was just pushing too hard and for the final showdown he plans to take things a little safer which might allow him to complete his first clean 5-minute run of the weekend around the carpet surface track.

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Having pulled off after a clash with Lee Martin at the start of the first A-Main, Neumann was happy his decision to pull off and save his tyres paid dividends.  Describing the start second time round as ‘much better’, the outgoing champion was pleased with his ‘accident free’ run and now in the hunt for his first 2WD win of the season he said he is confident he can repeat the win in A3.  Running a DEX410 with the front drive train removed he said the car is good and all he will do is fit a fresh set of Pro-Line tyres adding that this time round his rivals will also be on their second set of tyres making things a little tougher.

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Disappointed with the outcome of A2 which put him out of the title hunt, Honigl said he still has to focus on the championship as he is set to fight it out with former team-mate Neumann for the runners-up spot.  Commenting on the second A-Main, the Team C driver who took the lead after Matsukura’s mistake said being on used tyres it was also going to be hard to keep Neumann at bay.  With him getting by on lap 8 of 15 he said he tried to push to keep up with the Durango but this resulted in his mistake which sent him back to fourth.

2WD Buggy A-Main Leg 2 Result
1.(3) Joern Neumann (DE) – Durango – 15/5:12.415
2.(1) Naoto Matsukura (JP) – Yokomo – 15/5:13.539
3.(4) Lee Martin (GB) – Yokomo – 15/5:16.576
4.(2) Hupo Hoingl (AT) – Team C – 15/5:20.072
5.(7) Shin Adachi (JP) – Yokomo – 14/5:01.586
6.(8) Michal Orlowski (PL) – Durango – 14/5:02.274
7.(5) Martin Bayer (CZ) – Xray – 14/5:02.974
8.(9) Juho Levanen (FI) – Associated – 14/5:05.992
9.(10)Peter Pinisch (AT) – Associated – 14/5:08.953
10.(6)Tom Cockerill (GB) – Schumacher – 9/3:28.971

View complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

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