Daniel Kobbevik takes double Norwegian 1/8 Buggy title

The third round of the Norwegian 1/8th Off-road Nationals was held at the Hvervenbukta Raceway in Oslo. The weekend started out with heavy rain on Friday afternoon, so track was ready for a boat race, not cars. Thankfully the weather got better so limited practice was possible before the race start on Saturday morning. Saturday kicked off with Daniel Kobbevik taking a solid TQ in the opening Nitro qualifier, and he would carry on that way so take the overall TQ after the four qualifying rounds. The closest driver was Mugen driver Hans Magne Berg, who had a really good pace this weekend. One more qualifier was held on Sunday morning and Daniel won that one as well. This weekend was especially important for Daniel to get into the final in both classes to take the overall wins, since the last race is on the same date as the 1/8th Electric Euros and the start of the EOS.

Over in the electric class, that saw three rounds of qualifying, Daniel TQ’d all three rounds to take the overall TQ as well.

Then it was time for the lower and semi finals and it was again Daniel Kobbevik (Xray) on top with Egil Amtedal (Serpent) and Bastian Andreassen (Serpent) completing the Nitro top 3. The final racer to secure a spot in the Nitro A-main was Eivind Wilberg that won the Last Chance Final after a crazy race with lots of fun and action.

Between the Nitro finals the Electric mains were held. The opening final started out with Daniel pushing hard from the start and when he had one lap lead over the runner-up driver, Daniel’s transmitter battery ran out of power, allowing Vincent Rüger (HB Racing) to take the win in front off Torbjørn Døler (Xray) and Mathias Fink (Xray). In A2 Daniel again pushed away and this time he secured the win. The young man did the same in A3, and with the trouble Daniel had in A1, it meant that it was going to be a tight fight for the 2nd and 3rd spot on podium. Torbjørn and Mathias fought until the closing stages when Mathias made a crucial mistake and Torbjørn could cruise to a safe second place and with it the runner-up spot on the podium. Ultimately the 3rd place on the podium went to Vincent Rüger. With this result Daniel secured the overall title in the 2018 series with one round still to go.

1/8th Electric top 3 results:
1. Daniel Kobbevik – Xray/Hobbywing/EZ power
2.Thorbjørn Døler – Xray/LRP/LRP
3.Vincent Rüger – HB Racing/Team Orion/Team Orion

Over in the Nitro A-main Daniel, coming from the 1 spot, immediately took control over the field. Taking the hole shot, behind him it got a little chaotic and one of the victims was Hans Magne Berg who had been fast all weekend but he lost the chance to race for the podium. Behind Daniel, Mathias Fink and Bastian Andreassen had a very good race and Bastian took a maiden Nationals 2nd place from another maiden podium finisher, Mathias, who usually ends higher in ranking in electric but this time he scored the final nitro podium spot. For the first time the podium was filled with Juniors only with the winner being 13, 2nd place being 16 and 3rd place being 15 years old. Overall in the championship it was again Daniel with the overall, securing the title with one round to spare.

Thanks to Magne Kobbevik for the report.