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Orlowski tops 4WD seeding at EOS finale

Posted: 21 Apr 2018 10:30 AM PDT

Michal Orlowski has got his hopes of doing the title double off to a promising start at the Euro Offroad Series by topping seeding from defending champion Bruno Coelho. The Schumacher driver, fresh from successfully defending his 2WD title earlier in the day at Arena 33, set the fastest 3-consecutive laps in the first of the two rounds of controlled practice with almost nothing separating him and Coelho. Just 0.067 of a second slower, Coelho also ran his best time in CP1 having set the early pace over the 3-rounds of Free Practice. Taking the 2WD win in Germany, Joern Neumann would complete the Top 3 and while overall a slower run for the majority of drivers would set the quickest time of CP2. One driver to post his quickest time in CP2 was Martin Wollanka who seeds 5th for qualifying in between youngsters Daniel Kobbevik (P4) and Joona Haatanen (P6).

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Orlowski tops 4WD seeding at EOS finale

Posted: 21 Apr 2018 10:29 AM PDT

Michal Orlowski has got his hopes of doing the title double off to a promising start at the Euro Offroad Series by topping seeding from defending champion Bruno Coelho. The Schumacher driver, fresh from successfully defending his 2WD title earlier in the day at Arena 33, set the fastest 3-consecutive laps in the first of the two rounds of controlled practice with almost nothing separating him and Coelho. Just 0.067 of a second slower, Coelho also ran his best time in CP1 having set the early pace over the 3-rounds of Free Practice. Taking the 2WD win in Germany, Joern Neumann would complete the Top 3 and while overall a slower run for the majority of drivers would set the quickest time of CP2. One driver to post his quickest time in CP2 was Martin Wollanka who seeds 5th for qualifying in between youngsters Daniel Kobbevik (P4) and Joona Haatanen (P6).

Summing up practice Orlowski said, ‘we made quite a lot of of set-up changes to the car in free practice. In the first timed run it was good but we tried something for the last one and it was completely not what we expected so we will go back to the previous set-up for qualifying’. Needing to win tomorrow’s finals in order to take the title from points leader Coelho, he continued, ‘overall the feeling is very good and going around with Bruno in the first practice just to see his pace and it was very positive’.

Coelho, who like Orlowski has two wins to his credit this season in 4WD, said, ‘we still working on the car and trying to get more steering’. The former World Champion continued, ‘in the first practice it was super fast but inconsistent so we worked on improving it for 5-minutes but now its too slow. We are struggling in the 180 corners so still have to figure that out’.

‘Practice was very good’, was how Neumann summed up his P3 seeding. The former multiple champion said, ‘we kept almost the same set-up as we use on carpet and have just made some very slight changes. The car immediately ran well on the astro’. Asked about qualifying he replied, ‘I’m confident but they added an extra layer of carpet to the first double and seems to cause the rear of the car to kick up a bit’. The extra carpet had to be added for the final practice after a rip developed in the original layer.

Having ‘changed a lot after the first practice’, Kobbevik was happy with his car, running it unchanged since. The 13-year-old Norwegian said his Xray, unlike team-mate Coelho, ‘has very good steering and is not traction rolling’. Describing it as ‘stable but still fast’, he said he’s ‘ready for qualifying’ – the first of the four rounds taking place tonight.

Wollanka said tyre preparation has been his main focus in practice. With his Sworkz buggy the same as he debuted at the last EOS outing Wels, qualifying & finishing 5th, he said the only difference is the shock set-up to deal with the bumps in the astro surface here. Trying to run tyres with cut pins in CP1 he said this option ‘was not so good’ and going back to the standard tyre that enabled him to set his quickest 3-laps in CP2.

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Chassis Focus – Joern Neumann

Posted: 21 Apr 2018 08:08 AM PDT

Chassis: Schumacher Cougar KC
Motor: Team Orion 5.0T
ESC: Team Orion HMX
Batteries: Team Orion 4000 mAh
Radio/Servo: Sanwa/Highest
Tires: Schumacher (handout)
Body: Kit
Remarks – After a 3-year winning hiatus, Joern Neuman is back on top of the podium here at the Arena33. Prepared differently from what Team Schumacher drivers have been using so far on carpet, his car was actually closer to its kit setup, the British platform mostly developed on this kind of surface. The lipo is moved backwards, the piston holes are bigger and the rear springs are softer to better cope with the uneven track without losing traction. Joern also opted for a shorter wheelbase and an aluminium chassis. A key change in the car’s setup was moving outwards the rear camber links in order to obtain more braking traction without losing on mid-corner stability.

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Chassis Focus – Neil Cragg

Posted: 21 Apr 2018 07:41 AM PDT

Chassis: Team Associated RC10B6.1
Motor: Reedy Sonic 6.5T
ESC: LRP Flow X
Batteries: Reedy 4000mAh
Radio/Servo: KO/Reedy
Tires: Schumacher (handout)
Body: Kit
Remarks – The only title contender to Orlowski coming into the final stage of the EOS, Neil Cragg came to Arena33 well prepared for what would be the surface he is most used to. His RC10B6.1 is equipped with front gullwing arms and corresponding shock tower, tall rear shock bodies and tower, soft rear arms and the new Team Associated V2 springs in order to cope with the bumps on the astro track. He was also using a ball differential and a brass bulkhead, 67mm rear driveshafts & hubs and a front Pro-Line wing.

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Video – 2wd A-main Leg 3

Posted: 21 Apr 2018 07:38 AM PDT

Orlowski defends EOS title, Neumann takes the win

Posted: 21 Apr 2018 06:14 AM PDT

Michal Orlowski has successfully defended his Euro Offroad Series title. The Schumacher driver retained the 2WD Championship thanks to team-mate Joern Neumann who took the overall victory at the championship’s first ever outdoor event at Arena 33 in Germany. Coming into the weekend, Team Associated’s Neil Cragg was Orlowski’s only remaining challenger and on the switch to astro turf the British driver had the experience advantage. In qualifying it was Neumann who got the TQ ahead of Joona Haatanen with the title opponents lining up with Cragg 3rd and Orlowski 4th. With Neumann claiming A1, a mistake from the German saved by his car being marshalled by Cragg’s car, the second one went to Haatanen ahead of Cragg. This set the stage for a three way fight for the overall win, Cragg’s title hopes still alive but it was short lived. At the start, the second corner would catch out Cragg sending him up down the field. With Orlowski knowing the title was now his, after having two disappointing races in the first two A-Mains, he chased down the lead battle going to the front when Haatanen clashed with Neumann and crossed the line with the A3 win to make his title defence official. Behind, Bruno Coelho was second ahead of Cragg while Neumann held off Haatanen to secure his first EOS race win since 2015 with Cragg taking second and Haatanen 3rd. Orlowski would miss the podium on time but that didn’t matter as he got what he came for – the EOS Season#7 title.

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Orlowski defends EOS title, Neumann takes the win

Posted: 21 Apr 2018 06:11 AM PDT

Michal Orlowski has successfully defended his Euro Offroad Series title. The Schumacher driver retained the 2WD Championship thanks to team-mate Joern Neumann who took the overall victory at the championship’s first ever outdoor event at Arena 33 in Germany. Coming into the weekend, Team Associated’s Neil Cragg was Orlowski’s only remaining challenger and on the switch to astro turf the British driver had the experience advantage. In qualifying it was Neumann who got the TQ ahead of Joona Haatanen with the title opponents lining up with Cragg 3rd and Orlowski 4th. With Neumann claiming A1, a mistake from the German saved by his car being marshalled by Cragg’s car, the second one went to Haatanen ahead of Cragg. This set the stage for a three way fight for the overall win, Cragg’s title hopes still alive but it was short lived. At the start, the second corner would catch out Cragg sending him up down the field. With Orlowski knowing the title was now his, after having two disappointing races in the first two A-Mains, he chased down the lead battle going to the front when Haatanen clashed with Neumann and crossed the line with the A3 win to make his title defence official. Behind, Bruno Coelho was second ahead of Cragg while Neumann held off Haatanen to secure his first EOS race win since 2015 with Cragg taking second and Haatanen 3rd. Orlowski would miss the podium on time but that didn’t matter as he got what he came for – the EOS Season#7 title.

Summing up his title winning season Orlowski said, ‘I’m very happy to defend my title. The season didn’t start out as we planned. My home race in Warsaw was a disaster. It didn’t go well at all. In Daun it went better but we just missed out on the win. Things turned around at Hudy Arena and we got the win. Getting the TQ there was also important because it cancelled out the one Neil had from Daun. In Wels we had good pace but missed out in the TQ to Neil by 1/10th, but the last two finals were good and I could get the win’. An 8 times EOS race winner he continued, ‘Here it started off good but in qualifying it fell apart but I was happy Joern TQ’d because it’s been a long time since he was that high up. I tried my best in A1 but was unlucky and then had too many mistakes. A2 was even worse. In A3 I wanted to help Joern win. I knew after the first corner that I had the championship won. I was third behind Joern and Joona but I had to get the championship out of my head. Once I did I drove better, when they had a couple of mistakes I was able to go into the lead. When Lee got up to second I knew I couldn’t let him win but so much stuff happened behind I just drove my own race. I missed the podium by a few tenths but that didn’t matter, that wasn’t what we were after. Also Joona made the podium and he is a good friend and Joern won his first race for Schumacher. I have to thank Trish, Jurgen & my dad for their help and Schumacher, LRP and all the rest of my sponsors for making this championship win possible’.

‘It was over before it started’, was Cragg’s thoughts after A3 adding, ‘It was a silly mistake at the second corner, I drove straight into it. I thing I was the only one not to hit it all weekend up to then’. Ending up with 2nd for the 5th & final round of the championship he said, ‘2nd is another great result but Michal is the deserving champion. He drove the best all season’. Fifth at the ending of last season’s championship, the former World Champion said, ‘I think we made good gains this season. We went from making the A-Main to fighting for race wins and the title. I feel we could win every race now’. He concluded, ‘Once I get over the feeling of disappointment of today I’ll be pretty pleased with our season’.

More than 3-years after he last stepped on to the top step of the EOS podium, Neumann said, ‘I really happy although it was a little chaotic in A3 but I still managed to win overall and that makes me very happy’. The championship’s most decorated driver continued, ‘I showed everyone I’m still there. I will definitely aim for the title next year and hopefully we can make it a Schumacher 1-2’.

Achieving his first podium of the season today, Haatanen said, ‘Overall it is pretty good to make the podium again so I’m pretty happy with that, but A3 was a disaster’. In the hunt for his first EOS career win going into the third A-Main, the Finn said, ‘I was behind Joern and tried a number of passes but he blocked and I hit him a couple of times so it was almost impossible to go by’. On his 2017/18 season having come into it as the one to watch he said, ‘It ended better than it started. For sure our cars were good and I know I had the speed. Overall it was a good year for Team Associated and hopefully next season will be a good one for me too’.

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Video – 2wd A-main Leg 2

Posted: 21 Apr 2018 04:07 AM PDT

Haatanen takes A2, winner & title to be decided in A3

Posted: 21 Apr 2018 02:57 AM PDT

Joona Haatanen has won the second A-Main at the season finale of the Euro Offroad Series at Arena33. After an error on the opening lap of A1, the Team Associated driver put in a very patient drive sitting on the rear wing of Top Qualifier Joern Neumann before a mistake from the A1 winner let him through. Next it was the turn of title contender Neil Cragg to go by the Schumacher, the British driver not needing to be invited to put a pass on the former champion when he ran wide into a corner. With Neumann finishing third, it means three drivers have the potential to take the overall win at the EOS’ first outdoor race with the result also set to decide this year’s 2WD champion. Having tangled with Bruno Coelho in A2, finishing up 5th, Michal Orlowski can’t take the win but will be hoping his team-mate Neumann does, as a win for Cragg would would secure the British driver the overall title.

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Haatanen takes A2, winner & title to be decided in A3

Posted: 21 Apr 2018 02:53 AM PDT

Joona Haatanen has won the second A-Main at the season finale of the Euro Offroad Series at Arena33. After an error on the opening lap of A1, the Team Associated driver put in a very patient drive sitting on the rear wing of Top Qualifier Joern Neumann before a mistake from the A1 winner let him through. Next it was the turn of title contender Neil Cragg to go by the Schumacher, the British driver not needing to be invited to put a pass on the former champion when he ran wide into a corner. With Neumann finishing third, it means three drivers have the potential to take the overall win at the EOS’ first outdoor race with the result also set to decide this year’s 2WD champion. Having tangled with Bruno Coelho in A2, finishing up 5th, Michal Orlowski can’t take the win but will be hoping his team-mate Neumann does, as a win for Cragg would would secure the British driver the overall title.

Summing up his A2 win, Haatanen said, ‘I was driving a long time behind Joern. I wasn’t trying any big moves and even before his big mistake I saw he was making little mistakes so I knew patience would pay off. I could have tried to pass him, there where places I could have forced a pass but I didn’t’. Once in front, the Finn said he could control the race saying, ‘I saw Neil wasn’t catching me so I knew I was running a good speed’. Describing his A1 performance as having had ‘too many stupid mistakes’, the 14-year-old will try to take his first EOS victory by putting in a ‘repeat of A2’.

‘So it goes down to the wire, it will all be decided in the last race’, was Cragg’s reaction. The former World Champion said, ‘I’m quite pleased with 2nd, I couldn’t bridge the gap to Joona’. He continued, ‘Michal and Bruno had me under pressure at the start until they had issues. Then Joern opened the door and I didn’t need an invite to go for the pass. It was a block pass and I know he came off worse but it was fair game.’ Having managed to rack up his first ever EOS race win this season in Daun, he said, ‘that’s (today’s points) 2nd in the championship fixed so I can’t complain whatever happens. It’s been a great season but maybe we get a bit of luck in the last one’.

Neumann, who is chasing his first win since Poland in 2015, described the second A-Main as ‘so, so’. With 17 EOS wins to his credit, he said, ‘Joona was pushing quite hard and I decided to hit the pipe which caused me to traction roll. I continued in second but at the same spot I traction rolled again.’ Allowing Cragg to catch him, he continued, ‘Neil tried to pass me and it didn’t end up good for me. There was room to pass but it just didn’t work out for me and I dropped to fifth but he had to go for it’. He concluded, ‘With a 1st and a 3rd the podium is secured so I can afford to just go for it in the last one’.

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Video – 2wd A-main Leg 1

Posted: 21 Apr 2018 02:45 AM PDT

Neumann wins A1

Posted: 21 Apr 2018 01:34 AM PDT

Jörn Neumann has won the opening A-Main of 2WD at the Euro Offroad Series in Germany. Top Qualifier for the season finale, the Schumacher driver took a tone to tone win but the race wasn’t without its moments for the former champion. Leading from title contender Neil Cragg after Joona Haatanen made an error on the second lap, on the next lap Neumann got stuck in the piping. Luckily for the German Cragg’s Team Associated marshalled his car sending him back on his way in the lead. The same incident would effectively end championship leader Michal Orlowski’s race as trying to avoid Neumann and Cragg he crashed and dropped down the order. Benefiting from these incidents, Lee Martin would move up to second from fifth on the grid. Starting to mount a challenge on the leader he would have a mistake of his own on the penultimate lap that allowed Neumann to take the win by 1.1-seconds. Behind Martin, Cragg completed the Top 3 followed by Bruno Coelho and Haatanen.

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Neumann wins A1

Posted: 21 Apr 2018 01:25 AM PDT

Jörn Neumann has won the opening A-Main of 2WD at the Euro Offroad Series in Germany. Top Qualifier for the season finale, the Schumacher driver took a tone to tone win but the race wasn’t without its moments for the former champion. Leading from title contender Neil Cragg after Joona Haatanen made an error on the second lap, on the next lap Neumann got stuck in the piping. Luckily for the German Cragg’s Team Associated marshalled his car sending him back on his way in the lead. The same incident would effectively end championship leader Michal Orlowski’s race as trying to avoid Neumann and Cragg he crashed and dropped down the order. Benefiting from these incidents, Lee Martin would move up to second from fifth on the grid. Starting to mount a challenge on the leader he would have a mistake of his own on the penultimate lap that allowed Neumann to take the win by 1.1-seconds. Behind Martin, Cragg completed the Top 3 followed by Bruno Coelho and Haatanen.

‘It was good until once I hit the pipe slightly and got stuck in it but Neil was so close to me he marshalled me’, was Neumann’s reaction after A1. He continued, ‘I rejoined in the lead and could maintain the lead and just do my own laps’. Asked about the challenge from Martin, he said, ‘I think Lee pushed quite hard to catch me but luckily he had a mistake’. Commenting the track ‘seems to have a little more grip today’ he added, ‘I think everyone was on new tyres, I choose 3rd run tyres so maybe that made it easier, the lap times faster for the others but I have new tyres for the next one so it will be easier for me’.

Summing up his race, Martin said, ‘It was ok. The car feels better since last night and I feel I could have snook the win but made a balls up’. The Yokomo driver continued, ‘the car has been good all the time but the driver hasn’t. We found a few things last night that improved it more and I drove it a lot better’. On 2nd run tyres, the former champion concluded, ‘the car felt good around most of the track except for the landing off the big jump at the back of the track. It’s a bit sketchy but I think everyone is having trouble there because you can’t see it too well’.

‘I was a little unlucky to be honest’, was how Cragg summed up the opening A-Main adding, ‘I got up to second then marshalled Joern’s car and after that had a few mistakes of my own’. One driver who was on new tyres, he continued, ‘I could have got second but 3rd will have to do for now. It’s very close out there so I hopefully will have better luck in the next one’.

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Mon-Tech O-Ro 1/10th off-road buggy body shells

Posted: 21 Apr 2018 12:55 AM PDT

Italian company Mon-Tech Racing have introduced their new O-Ro line of 1/10th buggy body shells. Available for the Yokomo YZ-2, YZ-4 and the Xray XB2, the bodies are made from high-quality 0.75mm polycarbonate and they come including front and rear wings, window masks and a decal sheet.

Source: Mon-Tech [mon-techracing.net]

Neumann is Top Qualifier for first outdoor EOS encounter

Posted: 20 Apr 2018 11:17 AM PDT

Having TQ’d the inaugural round of the Euro Offroad Series 6-years ago, Joern Neumann has repeated the feat at the championship’s first ever outdoor race this weekend at Arena33 in Germany. After a lean number of the season’s in the championship he once dominated, the German came out top of an exciting conclusion to 2WD qualifying taking the fourth & final qualifier by 0.031 from Neil Cragg to secure his first pole position start in 4 seasons. Joining Schumacher at the start of 2018, the TQ is a significant one for his new team as it helps team-mate Michal Orlowski’s title hopes by denying rival Cragg from leading away the grid in tomorrow’s title deciding triple A-Mains. Instead Cragg will start third behind his own team-mate Joona Haatanen with Orlowski, who wouldn’t complete Q4, starting 4th.

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Neumann is Top Qualifier for first outdoor EOS encounter

Posted: 20 Apr 2018 11:15 AM PDT

Having TQ’d the inaugural round of the Euro Offroad Series 6-years ago, Joern Neumann has repeated the feat at the championship’s first ever outdoor race this weekend at Arena33 in Germany. After a lean number of the season’s in the championship he once dominated, the German came out top of an exciting conclusion to 2WD qualifying taking the fourth & final qualifier by 0.031 from Neil Cragg to secure his first pole position start in 4 seasons. Joining Schumacher at the start of 2018, the TQ is a significant one for his new team as it helps team-mate Michal Orlowski’s title hopes by denying rival Cragg from leading away the grid in tomorrow’s title deciding triple A-Mains. Instead Cragg will start third behind his own team-mate Joona Haatanen with Orlowski, who wouldn’t complete Q4, starting 4th.

‘I just did the same as Round 3. I didn’t crash and drove a clean 5-minutes’, was Neumann’s description of his second TQ run of the day. The former multiple champion who still holds the all times record for the most EOS wins, continued, ‘I knew others were on new tyres so I tried to be very clean. I was on used tyres so I knew I could not afford even small mistakes and it worked out. It also means I saved tyres for the final.’ On the finals he said, ‘I just need to make no mistakes. Its going to be hard to pass and everyone has the same speed but you never know. You could get stuck to the pipe pretty easily’, before concluding, ‘It definitely feels good to be with the top guys again.’

Having a rough final qualifier, Haatanen said, ‘I don’t know what I did. I had too many crashes from the start to the end’. Setting the fastest of lap of the day in Q4, he added, ‘at least I know I have a good car. The car is dialled so it should be good in the final. I will just try to drive without mistakes’.

Frustrated at how close he came to the TQ, Cragg said, ‘I tried everything then. I crashed at the end of the straight and after that I was Maifielding it. My inner Maifield came out. I’m gutted not to TQ but I’m happy with the car’. Looking to the A-Main, when he must win to take Team Associated’s first ever EOS title he said, ‘I think we are looking good for the finals tomorrow. I’m still in it. I just have to win’. He added, ‘the racing on carpet is a bit crazy but it should be alright here because the astro has a little more give which should allow for more door to door racing’.

Securing his EOS title at Arena33 last season, that race on carpet, Orlowski struggled with his car in Q4. The Pole said, ‘we made a change to the car and went with thinner diff oil but it was too aggressive’. He continued, ‘That Joern TQ’d is good for me and I feel pretty good with the car I had before so we will just go back to that for tomorrow. I also have 2 good sets of tyres to my advantage for the finals’. He concluded, ‘I don’t think starting P4 is a disadvantage because there are some places you go different lines to avoid bumps and its easy to make mistakes so I think we will see some racing and maybe some chaos’. Behind Orlowski, Yokomo’s Lee Martin completes the top half of the grid ahead of Bruno Coelho.

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Cragg & Neumann post TQ runs, all to be decided in Q4

Posted: 20 Apr 2018 10:05 AM PDT

With three rounds of qualifying complete at the Euro Offroad Series in Germany it is still all to play for in terms of the overall TQ at the season finale with three different drivers topping the times. After Joona Haatanen took the opening qualifier at Arena33 ahead of Bruno Coelho, it was Team Associated team-mate Neil Cragg who took Q2 ahead of title rival Michal Orlowski. In Q3, it was Orlowski’s Schumacher team-mate & top seed Joern Neumann who would come out on top ahead of Haatanen and Cragg, both drivers having errors on their final lap. Now with one qualifier remaining, 5 drivers are in contention to become the Top Qualifier for the EOS’ first ever race outdoors with tyre strategy set to play a part.

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