Kemp sees off late Rheinard attack to win A1

Kemp Anderson held off an intense late attack from Marc Rheinard to win the opening A-Main of the IFMAR 1:12 World Championship in Florida.  Starting from the pole, Andersson would initially gap the field as second place starter Michal Orlowski was occupied with trying to keep a hard charging Rheinard at bay, the pair swapping paint but holding order.  Approaching the mid point of the 8-minute Orlowski would find his rhythm, the Schumacher driver closing Anderson’s over 1-second gap down to nothing.  Coming on to the straight, the Polish ace would make a pass for the lead on the inside of the Awesomatix driver but his car shot to the outside and he hit the boards.  With a tweaked car he was then passed by Rheinard.  Having survived the Orlowski challenge, now Anderson was ready for a second attack on his lead this time from the reigning World Champion.  The German was all over and even got in under his team-mates car but in a display of why he is a 5-time World Champion was able to back out of it quick enough that they both continued with minimal disruption.  While Rheinard would make a second attempt at taking the lead, Anderson kept his nerve to take a popular win, while 5-seconds back Orlowski completed the Top 3 some 7-seconds ahead of Alexander Hagberg in P4.

Summing up his A1 performance a very modest reaction Anderson said ‘It was pretty good’.  The 21-year-old continued, ‘I just tried to drive consistent and get into a good groove but the car was pushing a little at the end and that allowed Marc to catch up.  It was a good race’.  Asked about Orlowski attempted pass, he said, ‘I don’t really know what happened.  He tried a move on the straight away but it ended with him hitting the boards.  I came out lucky on that one I guess.  It was a far and clean pass.  It was good racing.’  Looking to A2, he said ‘I will probably run the car the same and just try again to drive a clean 8-minutes’.

‘Close’ was Rheinard’s reaction after the opening encounter.  He continued, ‘It took too long to get by Michal.  My car was pretty fast.  I got on his inside but he blocked it and we both lost time but for sure I have a car that is good enough car for the win’.  Chasing his third 1:12 World title here at Beachline Raceway he concluded, ‘there are still two finals so you never know what happens’.

Asked about his race Orlowski replied, ‘the car was pretty loose and hard to drive but I was somehow able to hold on to it’.  On his attempted pass on Anderson, the former European Champion said, ‘I was very unlucky.  I got on the inside of Kemp but then I have no idea what happened.  After I hit the boards the car was tweaked’.  Looking to A2, he said, ‘We’ll regroup and we’ll make the car a little stable and start again’.

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