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After topping practice, Dario Balestri opened up qualifying with the fastest time in Q1 and backed it up with a slightly faster time in Q2 to hold the lead here in the 1/8th scale class at Round 2 of the Euro Nitro Series.  Two very close rounds of qualifying saw two seconds cover the top five in the first qualifier, and two seconds then covering the top eight in the second round.  The top four positions were the same in both rounds, as Balestri headed Simon Kurzbuch, Carmine Raiola and Robert Pietsch after each four minute encounter.

Despite taking both rounds, Balestri was not so happy with his car, describing it as “nervous and less stable” than yesterday.  However, very happy with the overall speed and lap times he ran, the Italian will just focus on driving the best he can, and not make any changes on the car for this evening’s final two qualifiers.

Finishing second to Balestri in both of the first two rounds, Kurzbuch led each of the heats with his Shepherd but came up short by six tenths of a second in Q1 and half a second in Q2.  Describing his car as “OK”, he highlighted one mistake in each run, and with the close field it was “too difficult to get [the lost time] back”.  The former ENS Champion will try to drive better in the remaining qualifiers and hopes he can take the fight for pole to Balestri.

Showing some great pace this weekend, Raiola led the first half of the second run, ultimately losing out on second place to Kurzbuch on the closing laps as his pace dropped off slightly.  Saying that “it went good”, the driver who has been with the Infinity programme since its beginning is searching for more initial steering on his IF18, and will make big changes for the next round.  Reflecting on his qualifying strategy, he said that now knowing the speed of his car, he “should have pushed more” to improve his points score.

Mugen designer Robert Pietsch holds fourth overall, with last year’s winner Robin D’Hondt in fifth.  Dutch drivers Jeffrey Rietveld and John Ermen are sixth and seventh, with the top ten rounded out by Bologna winner Dominic Greiner, Toni Gruber and Romain Picard.  The organisers are pressing ahead with their plan to complete all four planned qualifying rounds this evening, meaning racing will complete around 20:30 local time.

In the +40 Masters category, Dutch driver Arie Manten continues to be the class of the field, taking both opening rounds ahead of Belgian John Lenaers.  Despite taking the win at the Dutch National round held here in Rucphen last month, Manten said his results were “amazing”, after making some big changes earlier in the day after the rain, “it was now perfect”.

View the complete event results here.

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With qualifying getting away over 4 hours later than planned, due to unexpected rain on Saturday morning, it was Teemu Leino who set the pace in the first round of qualifying for the 1/10th scale class, edging out team mate Jilles Groskamp by seven tenths of a second.  Top seed from practice, Leo Arnold was matching pace with Groskamp for the majority of the four minute qualifier, until a mistake on the final lap saw him roll his Xray off the track.  This allowed fellow Frenchman Quentin Leroux, running in the group before the top heat, to take third in the opening round.

Happy, but surprised, was Leino’s reaction to his Q1 result, not expecting to do so well.  The Finnish driver thought it was a good idea for the organisers to run an extra round of practice after the rain, saying “I don’t know how it is possible but after the rain the track has more traction”.  After not making any planned changes for Q2, Leino again topped the times with his Infinity, ahead of Groskamp, and Arnold making no mistakes to take third.

Two second places for Groskamp sees him sitting second overall and assures him a good starting spot at the front of the A Final tomorrow.  Currently Leroux holds third place for Capricorn, backing up his Q1 result with a fourth place in Q2, ahead of Shepherd’s Thilo Todtmann and Arnold fifth in the ranking.

View the complete event results here.

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Despite the hopes of the organisers to finally have a whole weekend of sunny weather and a trouble-free schedule, the weather gods in The Netherlands have had other ideas.  Completing a round of free practice this morning, as the cars took to the track for the first qualifying heat, rain started to fall.  As the rain increased, race announcer Oli Meggitt took the decision to not start the run, this turned out to be the right call as more rain continued to fall.  Race Director Uwe Rheinard has now formally called an early lunch break and, with the weather forecast showing much better conditions this afternoon, the organisers will wait for the rain to stop before trying to work on a new time schedule.  The hope will still be to run four rounds of qualifying today, and the finals on Sunday.

View the complete event results here.

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Chassis – Infinity IF15
Engine – Gimar Race
Fuel – Maxima
Tires (handout) – Matrix
Radio/Servo – Sanwa/Sanwa
Body – Protoform P47

Remarks – Star of practice in the 1/10th scale class, setting the fourth best seeding time, Holthuis explained he is running a standard IF15.  After trying a number of setups through the practice rounds, he decided with his father, also his mechanic, to cut the top deck around the steering post.  Aiming to give the car more flex at the front, he is the only one of the Infinity team to have tried this so far, but he feels it suits his driving style and will continue with this modified part on the car for qualifying.

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Chassis – Velox V10 Black Edition
Engine – Gimar Eagle.12
Fuel – Energy
Tires (handout) – Matrix
Radio/Servo – Futaba/Futaba
Body – Protoform P47

Remarks – Working with the rest of the large Shepherd team here in Rucphen, Diekmann said that it has been difficult to find a setup with the weather meaning the track felt different every run.  Reverting to a standard setup, he has since found more speed by going lighter on the front shock oil to allow his Velox V10 to handle the kerbs better.  He has also switched to 2 million oil in the front differential to get the turn-in he needs on this high speed circuit.

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Ronald Volker is the points leader at the end of the first day of racing at the Reedy Race of Champions, the Yokomo driver capping off the day with his 3rd win from the five rounds of racing. With weather effecting the legendary race’s move to Steel City RC Speedway it was a busy first first day with 2 rounds of practice and the five rounds of heads up racing crammed into the schedule as the rain that washed out yesterday’s practice looks set to return on Sunday.  Having opened the day in the best way possible with a win the first round, Volker’s closing win ahead of team-mate Randy Caster gives him a 2 point advantage over the Infinity pairing of Viktor Wilck and defending Champion Marc Rheinard.  Rheinard finally doubled up on his Round 2 win in the final round but afterwards was less than happy with the performance finishing ahead of team-mate Akio Sobue.  After claiming the first win of the 22nd running of the event, Meen Vejrak’s day went slowly downhill, ending the day with a P7, which as his dropped score still leaves him 4th but a massive 6 points off the leader.

Reacting to his lead, Volker said, ‘Overall it was a good day for sure as I wasn’t sure what to expect coming to this track and how the different kind of format would play out’.  A three time champion of the event, he continued, ‘the way they choose the starting grid is not perfect and not 100% fair. Sometimes you need to be lucky’.  Despite registering the most number of wins, one from last on the grid, the German feels they could be getting more from his car. ‘Tomorrow morning we have free practice and we will make further changes again. Then we will see what happens but it has been a good day for me and the team’.

Classified second in the overnight standings as he has a faster winning time than Rheinard, Wilck didn’t hold back on his thoughts about the new format for making the grids for each round.  With the winners from each round gridded in the same race and on the same row for their next encounter, the Swede said, ‘I got f**ked by the system.  When I got the win we started from the back but now the winners got the front row. I think that system is not far’.  Asked about his fifth round encounter, the former Champion said, ‘I was side by side with Randy (Caster) but got stuck in the pipe.  The marshal was really fast but when he lifted the car the body got stuck and then I couldn’t catch the leaders anymore’.  Again posting the fastest lap for the round he said, ‘I think the car is good and hope I get to use its full potential tomorrow’.

‘I was lucky I was not in the heat with Viktor and Ronald. My car was so loose. I was lucky I started from the front row and could get the win’, was Rheinard’s reaction after winning the less loaded of the two heats.  He continued, ‘It must have been the tyres because my set-up is almost the same as Viktor’s.  He had the fastest lap but I had to fight to keep the car on the track’.  Asked about his position in the points table the 7-time Champion replied, ‘At this stage I would be happy to just finish on the podium’.

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Ronald Volker has added a second win to his tally on the opening day of racing at the Reedy Race of Champions, the Yokomo driver coming from the 12th on the grid to win ahead of pole sitter Eric Albano and Randy Caster.  The win puts the three time champion equal on points with Viktor Wilck, the Infinity driver having his worst run of the day with a P3 after suffering a body tuck. For Yokomo it was their second double for a round as Nicholas Lee held defending champion Marc Rheinard at bay from previous round winners Wilck and JJ Wang.

Reacting to his impressive drive through the field, Volker said, ‘I started last and nobody was crashing so I had to get by everyone which eventually worked out perfect’.  Last winning the Reedy title in 2016, he continued, ‘We improved the car from the last round and I was able to drive more confident which is important for heads up racing.  We will still make a small change for the last run of the day but it’s hard to think about the set-up too much as there is minimal time between runs’.  With rain stopping yesterday’s practice day and more rain showing for Sunday, the schedule has been condensed to get in at least 5 rounds of racing each day which means quick turnarounds between rounds.

Lee was pleased to register his first win saying, ‘we improved the car and were closer to the rest of the guys. At the beginning of the run I was under a little pressure but then I pulled away but towards the end I made a mistake and was under pressure again from Marc so it was good to get the win’.  Looking to the final round of racing for today, the Singapore driver said he hopes he can get more front grip into the car so it will be even better for racing.

Starting 11th on the grid and making up four places by the second lap but dropping back to last on lap 4, explaining his up & down race Wilck said, ‘I got a body tuck after a few laps and dropped to last’.  Touching off Ryan Cavalieri as he put a pass on the Yokomo driver, it was enough to result in a bodyshell tuck.  Again with the fastest lap of the round,  he was able to put in a strong recovery saying, ‘the car worked good so I was able to come back to 3rd’.

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Viktor Wilck is the first driver to double up on wins at this year’s Reedy Race of Champions, the former champion benefiting from a last lap contact between race leader Lucas Urbain and Marc Rheinard who finished 2nd & 3rd.  Going into the round sharing the points lead with Meen Vejrak, Wilck has now pulled two points clear with Vejrak claiming a third from 7th on the grid in the second of the Round 3 encounters.  That race was won by JJ Wang, the Xray driver becoming the first US driver to register a win at the 22nd running of the legendary touring car race after he held off immense pressure from Ronald Volker.

Commenting on his strong start to this year’s event, which has seen it move to the new Steel City RC Speedway, Wilck said, ‘that was a lucky round. They touched on the last lap and I could get by’.  He continued, ‘It took me some time to get by Cav and that lost me time to Marc but my car was not too bad actually and I could close up’.  Setting the fastest lap of the race once he got by Cavalieri, the Swede was not reading too much into his early lead saying, ‘there are so many runs left I just have to wait and see what happens’.

‘That was super fun for me’, was Wang’s reaction after his race.  The college student added, ‘it’s Volker so I had to defend everywhere.  I was happy to get that done and it was entertaining for everyone to watch’.  Volker said, ‘I took a lot of opportunities to pass JJ but he defended well.  We made a change to the car but it made it way too stable.  I pushed really hard but I had understeer so I couldn’t get by. We will try to get more steering for the next one’.

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Defending Champion Marc Rheinard and his Infinity team-mate Viktor Wilck put wins on the board at the Reedy Race of Champions with Rheinard winning the more interesting of the Round 2 encounters at Steel City RC Speedway.  Starting third on the grid, Rheinard took almost the entire race to get by pole man Jan Ratheisky, the pass coming with two laps to go.  With contact during the pass hampering Round 1 winner Ronald Volker who was running third, it would be the the other of the Round 1 winners Meen Vejrak who would finish second with Ratheisky third and Volker 4th.  Wilck would take his win from fifth on the grid ahead of Akio Sobue and Ryan Cavalieri.  Starting on pole, Cavalieri built up an early gap helped by Wilck making contact with team-mate Sobue and having to wait while the battled over second.  The offroad star soon had the touring car Pros back on his case with them each going through on separate occasions when the Yokomo driver ran wide.

Summing up his comfortable win over Sobue, 2012 Champion Wilck said, ‘It was an easy heat this time.  I got together a little with Akio and had to wait for him but I could then make a clean pass and and when Cav had a slide I could pass him.’  Second in the opening round behind Vejrak, Wilck now shares the early points leads.  Asked about the traction, the Swede replied, ‘It was a lot better this time but I think the second heat is helped by heat 1 because they cleaned the track for us after the wait before invite (class) starts’.

‘It’s a win’, was Rheinard’s reaction after his second round encounter, the 7 time winner still unhappy with the feeling of his car. He continued, ‘Jan did a good job. He is a hard fighter.  The whole field was closing so I couldn’t do anything stupid to pass him. Finally I could make a pass down his inside’.  Having changed his set-up between rounds, the German said, ‘It still feels like driving on ice’, adding it was ‘hard to say if car was any better or it the traction that is strange’.

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The 22nd running of the Reedy Race of Champions is underway, with the sun finally turning up after rain washed out yesterday’s practice day.  With just two heats of racing per round for the 22 car field, it was Meen Vejrak who registered the first win on the events debut at the Steel City RC Speedway.  Starting from pole, the Yokomo driver managed to stay out front throughout the more stacked of the two races despite pressure from Viktor Wilck who made contact with the Thai driver on more than one occasion.  Behind them defending champion Marc Rheinard would open his campaign with a P3 after Jan Ratheisky got the jump on him at the start that saw a good battle between the two Germans.  In the other encounter, which featured no less than 8 US drivers, it was the visitors that came through to complete the Top 3.  Starting 10th on the grid Ronald Volker was up to third by the hairpin on the opening lap and soon after was out front for a dominant win.  Lining up 11th for the start, RROC debutant Lucas Urbain would take his Awesomatix through to second with young up & coming Japanese star Takuma Sasaki third.

Commenting on his win, former podium finisher Vejrak said, ‘it is great to start the Reedy Race with a win but I had a lucky draw’.  He continued, ‘starting from pole was super risky because its our first time here and we have very little running so the track is different every time’.  On his battle with Wilck, he said, ‘me and Viktor were super close but I was able to control the race until 3-minutes. Then my car slowed down and I had to block him’.  With a new format putting the race winner of the previous round in the same race for the following round, Vejrak will line-up alongside team-mate Volker for Round 2 saying, ‘I hope we can both get a good result’.

On his race Volker said, ‘I was drawn to start 10th on the grid but at the first corner I was able to gain 7 spots around the outside line and I was up to 3rd by the hairpin.’  He continued, ‘It was great team start with Meen winning his heat which had the stronger line-up.  On his car, the former champion said, ‘it was good but the grip was a little down again because of the gap between the last race and the wind.  We will make a small adjustment now to get more stability in the rear’.

Chasing his 8th Reedy Race title this weekend, Rheinard summed up his 3rd place by saying, ‘I lost the start to Jan (Ratheisky) and then got stuck behind him.  We had a good battle but by the time I got passed the others were gone’.  A huge fan of the Tamiya track, the Infinity driver said he didn’t get the Reedy Race feeling from the opening race but is hoping for a better second run.  He said, ‘I am still struggling with the car. It doesn’t feel right.  The grip is strange but I have a big change I will try for the next one’.

View the event image gallery here.