Daniel Kobbevik doubles at Norwegian EP Buggy Nats Rd1

The opening round of Norwegian 1/10th Buggy Nationals was hosted by the KMBK club, located in Grimstad in the south of Norway. The track wasn’t huge but hospitality was, which made for a great weekend thanks to the professional club. The weekend kicked off with free practice on Friday and with the track layout being unchanged for some time, things would be very tight especially in the main 4WD class as most of the club’s members race in the ultra-fast wheeler category. Fast local driver Gisle Brøvig is a very strong driver and the biggest local hope for the race. On Saturday it was straight into 2WD qualifying – four rounds and best two counts. Daniel Kobbevkik took all qualify rounds by a huge margin, it was very open on podium spots behind Daniel, and nothing was settled before last A-main. Four drivers were fighting for the remaining podium spots: Adrian Sognestad had two 2nd place finished, but both Petter Berntsen and Oyvind Stusdal had one 3rd place each, and if they could take a win in last final they would push him down to 3rd. Vincent Ruger, another young and upcoming driver, was also in the mix for the podium, and he also needed a win to make it.

A3 started and after just a few laps Adrian made some huge mistakes and he had to stop, so now it was up to the other guys to decide how the podium would end up. Vincent had found really good pace and was leading in front of Øyvind, who started to close in, and Petter was chasing in 3rd, but Vincent did a perfect run and could take the win, giving him 3rd overall.

2WD final results:
1. Daniel Kobbevik – Xray/Hobbywing/Sunpadow
2. Adrian Sognestad – Team Associated/Absima/Sunpadow
3. Vincent Ruger – Xray/Hobbywing/Sunpadow
4. Øyvind Stusdal – Serpent/Hobbywing/Sunpadow
5. Petter Berntsen – Yokomo/-/-
6. Roger Berntsen – Yokomo/-/EZ Power
7. Mathias Fink – Team Associated/Hobbywing/LRP
8. Bastian Andreassen – Xray/Hobbywing/Sunpadow
9. Peter Stein – Team Associated/Absima/Sunpadow
10.Ola Løvbrekke – PR/Hobbywing/Sunpadow

Then it was on to 4WD on Sunday morning and the big riddle was if Gisle Brøvig could match up with Daniel’s speed. These two guys were definitely the two fastest in this class, and when the qualifying started, Gisle had a little tougher job than Daniel to do, since he had to run in a lower heat, and that can sometimes cause some extra traffic, but he did a good job and sorted things out well. Daniel won again all four rounds with good margins, and was in his own class of speed, but when finals start there is a new game starting. Gisle was going to start 2nd on the grid in the mains. So he had still the chance to hang in the game. The first A-main started and Daniel checked out right away, took a comfy win with 28 laps in front of 27 laps and Adrian 25 laps, while rest of the main was on 25 laps. A2 started the same way with Daniel pulling away and taking the win with 29 laps, Gisle with 27 laps, and this time Mathias Fink had found good speed and took 3rd with 26 laps. So again things needed to be settled in A3 about who was going to take 2nd and 3rd. Daniel decided to run A3, and this was also going to be his fastest run the whole weekend. Gisle protected his 2nd place with a good margin, but over the 3rd place it was a fight between Mathias and Adrian, but Mathias pulled away early and secured the podium, also with his fastest run of the weekend.

4WD final results:
1. Daniel Kobbevik – Xray/Hobbywing/Sunpadow
2. Gisle Brøvig – Xray/Hobbywing/EZ
3. Mathias Fink – Team Associated/Hobbywing/LRP
4. Adrian Sognestad – Team Associated/Absima/Sunpadow
5. Øyvind Stusdal – Xray/Hobbywing/Sunpadow
6.Jaran Flaath – Xray/Hobbywing/Sunpadow
7. Bastian Andreassen – Xray/Hobbywing/Sunpadow
8. Peter Stein – Team Associated/Absima/Sunpadow
9. Daniel Solberg – Team Associated/Reedy/Reedy
10.Kristoffer Liane – Xray/Hobbywing/Sunpadow

Thanks to Magne Kobbevik for the report.