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Sabrina Lechner reports from Europe (17/06/2009)

By:
Reporter

Linked to:
Serpent 966 1/8 scale 4WD EVO, Serpent 966 -TE 1/8 scale 4WD, Serpent 966 -TE v2 1/8 scale 4WD


Dear racers,

here is a brief summary of a the last few weeks filled with intense racing action all over Europe and even Asia:

First stop: 1/8th scale European B-Championships in Cassino, Italy.

We arrived to a beautiful racing facility and the people there made us feel very welcome and were always willing to help out when it was needed.

After timed practice I was in 17th place and things were looking very positive, but once qualifying started I was plagued by engine trouble and couldn’t get one good qualifying run together. This put me into the 1/64th final on Saturday, which I was able to win comfortably and bump up to the 1/32nd.
In the 32nd final it was also relatively smooth sailing and I won with a lap on second place..

In the 16th final I fought my way to the front and took the lead after about 5 minutes..
I pulled about half a lap on second place when disaster struck and my front belt started to slip and loose it’s teeth. I suppose that 3 finals in a row was a bit much for the car.. Needless to say that I was not able to go at the same pace anymore and I fell back to 5th place which meant the end of the Euros for me.
Nevertheless, it was a great week of racing and new experiences which we all enjoyed very much.

Arriving back home from Cassino on Monday, there was no time to be wasted, but to prepare for our trip to Turkey on Wednesday!


Next stop: Bumod Grand Prix, Bursa, Turkey.

Early Wednesday morning we boarded a plane to Istanbul. Arriving in Turkey we were welcomed by the race organizer of the Bumod club, who also had organized the shuttle transfer from Istanbul to Bursa, which took about 4 hours. The shuttle bus was packed with about 10 racers and mechanics from Europe as well as D.J.Apolaro and Scott Rister who made the long trip from the U.S..
Just as Cassino, we found an incredible racing facility that has everything an RC racer could wish for.
I liked the layout of the track very much and after people started to turn their laps, the grip came up and lap times went down.

After the qualifying runs I ended up in 5th place, missing direct qualification for the final by 3 seconds and therefore had to run the half final. Being in the lead of the ½ final, my front belt got teething problems again and I fell back to second place, which still got me into the 60 minute final.
Starting from the 7th place I was able to make a pass for 5th early on. After 3 minutes Michael salven had to leave the drivers stand and Patrick Schäfer followed soon after.
I was up to 3rd place with 12 minutes to go when my engine decided that it was time to quit.

The race was won by Robert Pietsch with D.J. Apolaro in second and local Turkish ace Alparslan Ozanturk in third.

1/8th scale final results
1. Robert Pietsch (DE) - 191 Laps in 60:05.139
2. DJ Apolaro (USA) - 189 Laps in 60:18.703 Serpent
3. Alparslan Ozanturk (TUR) - 166 Laps in 60:22.748
4. Pacor Ender - (CH) - 150 Laps in 60:18.054
5. Borislav Tranchev (BUL) - 138 Laps in 57:22.174
6. Sabrina Lechner (DE) - 137 Laps in 49:20.897 Serpent
7. Damian Petrov (BUL) - 131 Laps in 60:02.865
8. Gokmen Cakan (TUR) - 123 Laps in 46:19.696
9. Patrick Schaefer (DE) - 22 Laps in 7:34.623
10.Michael Salven (DE) - 3 Laps in 1:12.374 Serpent




1/10th scale final results
1. Dirk Wishcnewski (DE) - 173 Laps in 60:08.222
2. Surikarn C. (TH) - 172 Laps in 60:20.288
3. Gerhard Kandelhardt (A) - 169 Laps in 60:13.025
4. Dirk Stammler - (DE) - 169 Laps in 60:17.036 Serpent
5. Richard Furtner (A) - 168 Laps in 60:10.824
6. Scott Rister (USA) - 162 Laps in 60:10.652
7. Gorkerm Gur (TUR) - 159 Laps in 60:15.641
8. Jilles Groskamp (NL) - 147 Laps in 60:09.237 Serpent
9. Martin Petrov (BUL) - 142 Laps in 60:06.037
10.Serdar Sakallioglu (TUR) - 122 Laps in 60:02.718

Arriving back from Turkey on Monday , I had to work only two days, since we had a bank holiday on Thursday. So, Wednesday evening we packed up once more and headed to Türkheim, where the German sedan nationals will be held in September. The Southern qualifying race was also the warm up event for the nationals which attracted racers from all over the country.


Last stop: Southern German qualifying race in Türkheim, Bavaria.

To qualify for the nationals I needed one more race result in 200mm sedan and therefore I signed up with my Serpent 720.
On Friday my new Max Power engine arrived just in time to break it in for the weekend. On Saturday we had more free practice in the morning, followed by two timed practice runs to seed the drivers.
In the afternoon we ran 4 qualifiers and a last one on Sunday morning. Sitting in 15th place on Saturday, I wasn’t able to improve Sunday morning and dropped back into the quarter final.
I won the ¼ one lap clear of Serpent team mate Steve Baumgarten and we both bumped up.

In the half final I was also able to make my way to the front with Christoph Pietsch finishing second.
So I started the 30 minute final from 7th and was able to get up to 4th pretty quickly. Unfortunately, I got tangled up with another car and my engine stalled. After I was finally back running I was dead last and had to try and work my way back up through the field.

After getting back into seventh place, my engine ran dry and stalled again, so I ended up where I started.

Final results:

200mm Scale:
1. Ralf Krause
2. Thomas Günsel
3. Michael Heinrich

1/8 Klasse 1
1. Andreas Hammerl
2. Norbert Mayerhofer
3. Christian Schmidkonz

1/8 Klasse 2
1. Sasha Wettengel
2. Maxi Vogl
3. Andre Giesy Serpent

best Junior:  Max Günther, Serpent 966

I would like to thank my sponsors Serpent, Max Power, IDM tyres, MLC FUEL and especially my Papa and mechanic Klaus Lechner, who is always there to help and support me.

Sabrina