January 10, 2016

Tone to tone A1 win for Coelho

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World Champion Bruno Coelho made light work of the opening 4WD Buggy A-Main at the DHI Cup to take an easy tone to tone win over defending champion Jörn Neumann. His first year to attend the Danish event, the Top Qualifier immediately stamped his authority on the race setting the fastest lap on lap 2 with his rivals best 2/10ths of a second off. Starting from second on the grid, the morning’s 2WD Buggy winner Michal Orlowski would complete the Top 3 after two mistakes, the second letting Neumann get by him. A driver many hoped would take the challenge to Coelho, David Ronnefalk struggled to get by Orlowski retiring just after half way when his HB D413 sheered a drive shaft.

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Commenting on his win Coelho said, ‘My car was perfect like always and I made no mistakes’. With little else to say about the uneventful race, the Xray driver said, ‘I hope I can repeat it in A2’.

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‘I’m happy with second because I think Bruno is too fast to beat’, was Neumann’s reaction having started 4th. Describing his Serpent SX4 as feeling ‘OK’ for A2 he plans to try different diffs in the car which he said should give him better forward traction.

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Orlowski shared Neumann’s thoughts about Coelho pace. The 14-year-old said, ‘I tried to match Bruno but he was faster and I crashed’. After that he said he ‘tried to secure second place but crashed again’, the error with 3-laps to go dropping him behind Neumann. Planning a camber change for A2 to get better rotation from his K2 he said the goal now his an overall podium which he hopes he can lock up in A2.

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January 10, 2016

Orlowski adds DHI Cup win to his CV

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14-year-old Michal Orlowski has added the DHI Cup to his impressive list of achievements, the Schumacher driver executing two perfect races to win 2WD Buggy at the Danish event. Taking an easy win in A1, Orlowski would again benefit from a first lap mistake by Top Qualifier Tom Cockerill in A2, and once in front the Pole was the class of the field. With Orlowski able to sit out A3, Cockerill would come good to win the leg from Niclas Månsson but it wasn’t enough for the 2014 winner to make the podium. With the Brit finishing 7th overall, it was Martin Bayer and the only multiple 2WD Champion Joern Neumann that would stand each side of Orlowski at the podium presentation.

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‘Winning the DHI Cup is the perfect way to start the season’, was Orlowski’s reaction to his victory. The World Championship finalist said after a rear camber link change following the low traction condition of A1, his LRP powered KF2 SE was the best the car has been all weekend. ‘Really happy with the win’ he added ‘I have to say I got really lucky on the first lap not to hit Tom’. Once in front he said he ‘pushed to build a gap so (he) could go easy to the finish’, and that approach again ‘worked out’.

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‘Starting from fifth on the grid and ending up 2nd, I’m happy with that’, was how Bayer summed up his finals. 3rd in A1 and 2nd in A2, the Xray driver said A3 was ‘crazy’. ‘I passed Joern (Neumann, who started fourth) but then everyone came together and I dropped to the back so the race was done’. Only 8th overall last year, the Czech driver said finishing on the podium was ‘a good start to the new season’.

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Maintaining his run of podium finishes every year at the DHI Cup since offroad was introduced in 2012, Neumann said, ‘It is my first big race podium in a year so I’m happy’. The Serpent driver continued, ‘I’m happy to make the podium but I’m also a little disappointed as I could have got second with a clean race in A3’. He was particularly happy with his A2 race. After getting caught up in Cockerill’s crash and dropping to the back he would recover to 3rd saying ‘the car was pretty good’. In A3 the German described the race as ‘really aggressive’. In a reference to his contact with Bayer, he said ‘you can’t win the race at the second corner’. He was also unhappy with Bayer’s team-mate Bruno Coelho feeling his battle with the Portuguese driver a few laps later was ‘not a clean fight’.

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‘An expert demonstration in how to throw away a TQ’ that was how Cockerill described his day. After rolling out of the lead in A1, in A2 he would get the back section wrong on the opening with his Yokomo popping a ball cup in the resulting clashes as the field streamed through. In A3 again it was not a great first lap as the No.3 starting Team Associated of Niclas Månsson jumped over the YZ-2 on the first jump of the back section after Cockerill ran too tight a line into the section and couldn’t commit to the jump. Behind the Swede, Cockerill said he waited for a mistake from the new leader and that would come just as the race reached half distance. A3 would mark a good race for Dane Jesper Rasmussen,the Associated driver going from 10th on the grid to finish 3rd which would give him fifth overall behind Månsson.

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January 10, 2016

Volker takes easy A1 win at DHI Cup

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Ronald Volker claimed an easy win in the opening A-Main at the DHI Cup this morning in Denmark. The Top Qualifier and reigning champion lead from start to finish with an anticipated challenge from Awesomatix driver Viljami Kutvonen failing to materialise. In the end, after a late roll by Kutvonen, Volker’s Yokomo would win by over 4-seconds with Xray’s Bruno Coelho a distant third.

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‘A good start to the day’ was how Volker summed up his win. Chasing his 3rd consecutive win at the famous Odense event, which he has won 6 times, Volker said while his LRP powered BD7 was ‘a little loose’ it was ‘the same for the entire run so it was predictable so it was not an issue’. Pushing hard at the start so as to try break away from the pack he said once he got the gap to around 1-second he was able to drive a controlled race. Coming up on a group of traffic, he said it wasnt a problem as at the same time Kutvonen had his roll so there was no pressure to force the issue with the group of battling cars, all driving being well informed of Volker’s presence by the race referee. Planning no set-up changes for A2, Volker said he will try to repeat his A1 strategy of trying to making an early break.

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Summing up his race Kutvonen said it was ‘Not perfect, I lost too much time over the first minute’. Setting the fastest lap of the race as he put on a push to try make back the time but he said the gap was too much and his recovery attempts lead to his roll which lost him over 2-seconds. Looking to A2, the Finn said ‘I guess I’ll have to win the next two finals’. In terms of his A800, he said he will do his tyre prep ‘slightly different’ with a view to having better pace early in the race.

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Putting a completely different set-up on his car for A1, which he said made little difference, fifth place starter Coelho said his result was only possible because Adrian Berntsen made contact with Alexander Hagberg, both having started ahead of him. The Portuguese driver is putting his lack of pace on his DHI Cup debut down to a bad set of tyres. Coelho’s team-mate Hagberg would finish 4th ahead of another of Xray’s drivers Marek Cerny. The Swede said, ‘Berntsen hit me and I flipped. And I was too slow to catch up’. After the contact Berntsen would fall to the back of the field, the Gizmo driver finishing last behind Meen Vejrak.

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In Super Stock, Top Qualifier Tim Benson took an easy win with his new Kyosho TF-7. Behind the German the big battle was between Xray’s reigning champion Marek Cerny and Jan Ratheisky for second. Cerny would see off the challenge of his team-mate, finishing 1-second off the leader.

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