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Leewis takes strong second in Dutch National (12/06/2007)

By:: Laurant

Rob Kuijper reports in the 3rd Round of the Dutch 1:8 National Championship.

Under great weather conditions the 3rd round of the Dutch Championship was held at the Real 80 track in Ironings. During practice on Saturday, we found a set up that worked on the bumpy surface, and we concentrated on the tyre wear situation, with the surface of the track being hard on the tyres. Saturday ended in spectacular style with a big Thunderstorm, so all grip laid down was flushed away again....

Luckily Sunday started nice and sunny and the whole day was run under perfect conditions! After Qualifying it was Rick V out in front, with the first 2 Dutch rounds winner Serpent 960 racer John Ermen in second slot, third was Rob Juniper's fourth Danny Leewis with a fine Run, so place 2 till 4 for the Serpent 960.

In The Nomac class it was a fierce battle between the young guns Miquel Hereijgers and local hero René van Dijk both putting in superb 20 lappers, and their 960's were working perfectly 3rd was Arie Manten, 4th was local racer Sybrand de Boer with his 960.

Finals:
First up was the Nomac Cup final and it was a 30 minute thriller between René and Miquel, René leading the final from the start since Miquel's engine cut at the start, René drove very good and decided not to make a tyre stop, Miqiuel did make a fast tire change halfway and this turned out to be the right strategy, overtaking René who was running out of tires in the final laps! Both did extremely well. In a very nice 3rd place was Arco Wijnen driving a very steady and controlled pace to get his 960 onto the Podium.

Then the NK Class was up, to finish a long and warm day of racing. John Ermen had a issue, before the start he ran into a standing still car waiting for the start procedure, this caused him to make a early pitstop after the start. Rick V took the lead and basically never looked back, made a 15 minute tire change and was in control of the final, meanwhile John ran into more trouble with a loose screw in his X bracket causing the throttle linkage to jam, this cost him about 2 minutes to repair. John ended up 6th.

Meanwhile there was a hot fight between Daniel v/d Drift and Danny Leewis with Rob in close contention, after 20 minutes Rob missed his refuel call and dropped back, and after a cramped hand Rob was out of contention, now it was Daniel in 2nd and Danny in 3rd, Danny was able to pass Daniel in the final stages while his car worked a little better on now very low tires. Both Daniel and Danny did no tire change and ended up with a rear tire diameter of 66 mm ! A very fine drive from young Joey Sober gave him a great 5th place with his Serpent 960, we will hear more from this young man soon!

Dutch 1:8 National Championship
Round 3, Real 80

1. Rick V - Eugen/Ninja/Tornado/GORP
2. Danny Leewis - Serpent 960/Mega ZX/Merlin/GRP
3. Daniel v/d Drift - Motonica/Nova/Runnertime/ATS

I would like to thank the Real 80 club and NOMAC for organizing the great event and we will all be back for the fourth round in Gouda. (thanks to Hans Leewis for the pictures)

C-ya

Rob
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Serpent Motorsport

Danny Leewis and his Serpent 960

Danny's Mega powered 960

Danny on the podium at Real 80