Hepp & Buerge champions of Nitro West Masters

Tobias Hepp in the 1/8 nitro class and Sebastian Buerge in the 1/10 scale nitro class have captured the titles in the Nitro West Masters, a series of four races held in Western Germany. At the fourth and final round at Dormagen in the North of Cologne Serpent driver Hepp won the race and left no doubt in winning the 1/8 championship also. In 1/10 it was Mugen racer Benny Lehmann winning the race but third place was enough for Buerge to catch the Masters crown.

70 entries were registered for this late race in three classes, the two regular Masters categories 1/8 and 1/10 as well as the KWC (Kyosho World Cup). As usual throughout the season rain hit the event. There was no practice on Saturday. But the total of 57 racers which came back on Sunday, were surprisingly welcomed by a dry track which offered an unexpected high level of grip.

In the 1/8 class Uwe Baldes was able to catch pole position with 19 laps in 5.02,000 minutes. Christian Wurst was second with 19 laps in 5.02,817 to make it a 1-2 for the new Mugen MRX5 in the front row of the grid. Second row went to Serpent with Tobias Hepp (18/5.00,957) and Ralf Vahrenkamp (18/5.05,541). When pushing for pole position Uwe Baldes set a new overall lap record for the 267 meter track with 15,179 seconds, beating the old record of Michael Salven (15,210).

From semi final A Ralf Wacker (Serpent), Sebastian Scheidweiler (Serpent), Heinz Faigle (Mugen) and Markus Bastians (Mugen) stepped up, from semi final B Detlef Kueppers (Mugen) and Udo Tappertzhofen (Kyosho). At the start of the 30 minutes final Uwe Baldes took advantage from his pole but he could enjoy the lead only for a short time when his MRX5 was hampered by traction roll because of too big tyres and a wrong ride height. So Christian Wurst took over but at half time he was caused to retire when hitting the concrete wall. From that point there was no real challenger left for Tobias Hepp who crossed the line three laps ahead of Uwe Baldes. Ralf Vahrenkamp came on third another seven laps down. The battle for the title was decided, Hepp crowned himself with a clear run. Vahrenkamp would have needed to take second position to become champion but wasn´t able to follow the pace in the final. Frank Schewiola, the third title aspirant, missed race day because he became father on Saturday evening.

Result of the 1/8 final:
1. Tobias Hepp, 110 laps – Serpent / Novarossi / Shepherd tyres
2. Uwe Baldes, 107 – Mugen / Orcan / Xceed
3. Ralf Vahrenkamp, 100 – Serpent / Novarossi / Xceed
4. Detlef Kueppers, 93 – Mugen / Novarossi / Shepherd tyres
5. Udo Tappertzhofen, 93 – Kyosho / Team Orion / Matrix
6. Markus Bastians, 93 – Mugen / Ninja / RPM
7. Heinz Faigle, 63 – Mugen / Novarossi / UFRA
8. Ralf Wacker, 58 – Serpent / Novarossi / Xceed
9. Christian Wurst, 50 – Mugen / Sirio / Matrix
10. Sebastian Scheidweiler, 17 – Serpent / Max / Xceed

Statistics: Five Mugen, among them two new MRX5, were joined by four Serpent and one Kyosho. Five cars were powered by Novarossi engines and each one by Orcan, Team Orion, Ninja, Sirio and Max. Four cars have been running on Xceed tyres (Enetti), two each on Shepherd tyres (Enetti) and Matrix, and one each on RPM (Matrix) and UFRA.

The final ranking of the 1/8 Nitro West Masters are topped by Tobias Hepp who collected 590 points and has been on fourth before the final round. Close behind Ralf Vahrenkamp (581) is ranked second. Both took two victories, a second place for Hepp and a third for Vahrenkamp made the difference. A total of 30 competitors joined the races in the 1/8 class.

The top 10 in the 1/8 ranking of the 2010 Nitro West Masters:
1. Tobias Hepp, Serpent / Novarossi – 590 points
2. Ralf Vahrenkamp, Serpent / Novarossi – 581
3. Frank Schewiola, Serpent / Novarossi – 561
4. Udo Tappertzhofen, Kyosho / Team Orion – 472
5. Christian Roenicke, Mugen / Novarossi – 454
6. Christian Wurst, Mugen / Sirio – 414
7. Jean-Pierre Roenicke, Serpent / Novarossi – 401
8. Detlef Kueppers, Mugen / Novarossi – 333
9. Ralf Wacker, Serpent / Novarossi – 332
10. Sebastian Scheidweiler, Serpent / Max – 303

In the 1/10 class Mugen team driver René Puepke earned pole position with 18 laps in 5.13,809 minutes, followed by Bernd Rausch (Kyosho/18/5.16,831), Sebastian Buerge (Mugen/18/5.18,193) and Daniel Thiele (Mugen/17/5.00,299). From semi final A Andreas Weyhoven (Xray), Marco Nenner (Kyosho), Michael Heltzel (Xray) and Hartmut Rose (Xray) qualified for the main race as well as Benny Lehmann (Mugen) and Reinhard Zick (Mugen) from semi final B.

After only two laps the title dreams of Andreas Weyhoven came to a sudden end. Also the hopes of René Puepke, who was leading from the start, of winning the race ended too early right after half time when his engine collapsed. Marco Nenner, Bernd Rausch, Hartmut Rose and Reinhard Zick didn´t complete the 30 minutes race either. Finally Benny Lehmann captured victory with 100 laps in front of Daniel Thiele (98) and Sebastian Buerge (95) to make it an all Mugen podium. Michael Heltzel brought his Xray home on fourth. Also in 1/10 a new lap record as set by Benny Lehmann lapping the so called “German RC Monaco” in 16,887 seconds.

Result of the 1/10 final:
1. Benjamin Lehmann, 100 – Mugen / O.S. / Xceed
2. Daniel Thiele, 98 – Mugen / O.S. / RPM
3. Sebastian Buerge, 95 – Mugen / Reds / RPM
4. Michael Heltzel, 93 – Xray / Novarossi / Shepherd tyres
5. Reinhard Zick, 75 – Mugen / Novarossi / Black Star
6. Hartmut Rose, 68 – Xray / Orcan / Orcan
7. Rene Puepke, 63 – Mugen / Reds / UFRA
8. Bernd Rausch, 31 – Kyosho / Team Orion / Matrix
9. Marco Nenner, 17 – Kyosho / Novarossi / Matrix
10. Andreas Weyhoven, 2 – Xray / Orcan / Orcan

Statistics: Mugen had five chassis in the final with three Xray and two Kyosho. On the engine side it was three for Novarossi, two each for Reds, O.S. and Orcan, one for Team Orion. Two each of the ten cars in the final were running on RPM, Orcan and Matrix, one each on Xceed, Shepherd tyres, Black Star and UFRA.

While race winner Lehmann took 200 points and jumped up to third position in the Masters ranking with a total of 541 points to push Weyhoven down to fourth (514), third place in the race was enough for Sebastian Buerge to catch the Masters title with 571 points. Runner-up became Daniel Thiele with 553 points. A total of 40 drivers have collected points in the 1/10 class.

The top 10 in the 1/10 ranking of the 2010 Nitro West Masters:
1. Sebastian Buerge, Mugen / Reds – 571 points
2. Daniel Thiele, Mugen / O.S. – 553
3. Benjamin Lehmann, Mugen / O.S. – 541
4. Andreas Weyhoven, Xray / Orcan – 514
5. René Puepke, Mugen / Reds – 506
6. Werner Vogel, Kyosho / Team Orion – 444
7. Hartmut Rose, Xray / Orcan – 439
8. Bernd Rausch, Kyosho / Team Orion – 435
9. Michael Heltzel, Xray / Novarossi – 413
10. Daniel Toennessen, Mugen / Novaross – 397

In the KWC class Holger Wittek with 17 laps in 5.14,826 minutes was leading the ranking following three heats. He was the only one to do 17 laps. Georg Goehlich followed on seconds ahead of Carsten Diekmann. It was remarkable that the final – with 13 drivers on the track – order was the same on the first three positions after 30 minutes of racing: Wittek won, Goehling was second two laps down and Diekmann third another four laps down.

The top 10 in the KWC race:
1. Holger Wittek, 94 laps
2. Georg Goehlich, 92
3. Carsten Diekmann, 88
4. Sebastian Barlak, 86
5. Tobias Kluge, 73
6. Juergen Duill, 70
7. Marvin Schumann, 60
8. Michael Stein, 53
9. Ali cem Oezsoenmez, 31
10. Guido Burghartz, 12

The 2010 Nitro West Masters with its significant long finals turned out as a successful championship in Western Germany. All events were characterized by an excellent atmosphere in the paddock and with clean and fair racing on the track.

Source: Nitro West [nitro-west.de]