Chassis Focus – Joona Haatanen

Chassis: Team Associated B64
Motor: Reedy Sonic 4.5T
ESC: Reedy BlackBox 510R
Batteries: Reedy 5800mAh
Radio/Servo: Sanwa/Reedy
Tires: Schumacher (handout)
Body/Wing: JConcepts F2/ JConcepts
Remarks – Finnish young talent Joona Haatanen managed to qualify 4th for the 4WD A-Main at the third round of the EOS in Trencin. His B64 sports a Brass B-Plate, 45g brass weights behind the motor and a prototype steering rack that offers different ackermann options and is still undergoing testing.

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Chassis Focus – Martin Bayer

Chassis: Xray XB4 ’18
Motor: Hobbywing 5.5T G3
ESC: Hobbywing Xerun XR10 Pro
Batteries: Sunpadow 6000mAh
Radio/Servo: Sanwa/Savox
Tires: Schumacher (handout)
Body/Wing: Kit
Remarks – Xray team manager Martin Bayer TQ’d Round 3 of the EOS at the Hudy Arena behind the wheel of the Slovakian made XB4 ’18 version. His car is equipped with graphite arms and steering blocks, aluminium 12° C-Hubs and Uprights, aluminium steering rack and front ECS. The list of option parts is completed by a Hiro Seiko titanium screws set.

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Orlowski takes final qualifier to line-up 2nd

With the TQ already decided in Q3, Martin Bayer getting it done with a third TQ run, the fourth & final qualifier at the Hudy Arena was to decide how the rest of the field would like up behind the Xray driver.  Having retired from Q3, ending his chances of the TQ double in Slovakia, Orlowski would lay down his intentions for the final by posting the fastest qualifying time of the weekend event with a far from perfect run that included a substantial late mistake.  Still the EOS Daun winner was able to hold on to a Schumacher 1-2 as former Champion Joern Neumann finished just 0.021 off his team-mate.  The result means Orlowski starts second while Neumann jumped from looking like he may not make the A-Main to starting 5th.  Fourth fastest in the final qualifier behind Bayer, Lee Martin will start 3rd on the grid thanks to his P2 and P3 from Q3 & 2.  Making it four different manufacturers represented at the front of the grid Joona Haatanen, who found himself seeded in the second fastest heat, will start 4th, team-mate Neil Cragg starting 8th behind Marc Rheinard.

View complete event results here.

View the event image gallery here.

Bayer Top Qualifier at EOS Slovakia

Martin Bayer is the 4WD Top Qualifier at the Euro Offroad Series in Slovakia.  The Xray driver secured pole for his home race with his 3rd straight TQ run in the penultimate round of qualifying this morning at the Hudy Arena.  Leading away the field, Bayer’s chances of wrapping up an early TQ were helped on the opening lap when his main challenger Michal Orlowski put his Schumacher on its roof.  It wasn’t to be the 2WD winners morning as his run would last little over a minute, a broken top deck causing his belt to come loose and leaving him with no drive.  Bayer would have one mistake over the 5-minutes which put Lee Martin on the TQ pace but within two laps the Yokomo driver also made an error reinstating the original order. Daniel Kobbevik would complete the Top 3 for the third qualifier with Neil Cragg enjoying a good run to record the 4th fastest time.

‘I’m really proud of myself that I didn’t throw away the first run of the morning, its a very good morning’,  was Bayer’s reaction to claiming his second EOS career TQ.  A 3-time 4WD race winner, he continued, ‘the car feels very good now and I am getting more confident with it every run.  Maybe I will test some ideas in the last one but the car feels really good’.  Looking to the finals, he said, ‘I’m strongest at the end of the run and Michal is stronger at the start so I just need to get through the first few laps and I should be OK’.

Commenting on his best qualifier so far Lee Martin said, ‘I crashed that one, it was driver error.  I ran a slightly older battery that one and it didn’t have enough punch for me’.  Making progress with his car set-up, asked if he would make any changes for the final qualifier the former champion replied, ‘I’ll just run new tyres and a newer battery. I’m afraid to change anything in case it only makes the car worse. I will also try to drive a little better’.  Team-mate Marc Rheinard, whose set-up Martin copied after struggling in practice, would post the 5th fastest time of Q3.

Claiming his maiden podium finish at the season opener in Poland,  Kobbevik said, ‘I tried to have a clean run, my car was difficult to drive because I was on new tyres’.  The 13-year-old Norwegian added the run was ‘smooth with not so many mistakes’.  Holding 4th on the grid after 3 of the 4 qualifiers, he hopes to capitalize on his second run on the tyres saying, ‘I hope for better result in the next one.’

‘I don’t think I have been 4th before in 4WD’, was Cragg’s reaction to his much improved Q3 run.  The Team Associated driver said, ‘It is tough going out there to be honest.  2WD was a lot easier than 4WD’.  Registering his first EOS win in 2WD at the previous round of the championship, he continued, ‘the car was just OK but I drove as good as I could, no crashes, nothing crazy.  I was not that far off so we will change a few other things to see if we can get more speed for the last one’.

View complete event results here.

View the event image gallery here.

Bayer again in Q2

Having opened 4WD qualifying with a TQ run, Martin Bayer has backed it up by topping times again in Q2 to end Day 2 of EOS Slovakia as the provisional overnight TQ holder.  Bayer would control the heat from start to finish to again top the times from Michal Orlowski, only this time with double the size of margin.  Having run ahead of Orlowski, passing the Schumacher driver on the track but getting retaken by the Pole, Lee Martin would complete the Top 3 just under 3/10ths off.  With Marc Rheinard having a rough round, Joel Valander put in another strong run to go one better than Q1 and get a P4 ahead of Xray team-mate Daniel Kobbevik who registered his first complete run having retired from the opening heat.

View complete event results here.

View the event image gallery here.