Norwegian Championships & Swedish Cup Rd3 – Report

The Norwegian 1/8th IC Track Championships and round three of the Swedish Cup where held at the Hverven Raceway, outside of Oslo. Mixed weather conditions made it difficult to complete the race as planned, but the drivers would get at least two rounds of dry track qualifying on Saturday evening and Sunday morning. After the qualifiers, Lars Haugen (NOR) would hold the TQ position in front of Tom Erik Haaversen (NOR), Trygve Berntsen  (NOR) and Karl Ullenius (SWE), who completed the top four.

Qualifying top 4:
1. Lars Haugen – ARC/O.S. – 24L 5:05
2. Tom Erik Haaversen – ARC/O.S. – 23L 5:00
3. Trygve Berntsen – Mugen /O.S. – 23L 5:01
4. Carl Ullenius – BMT/Orcan – 23L 5:03

With some drops of rain in the two semifinals, three drivers from each leg would proceed to the main final. After some tough racing, it was Magnus Bengtsson (SWE) in front of Frode Rasch Olsen (NOR) and Lasse Andresen (NOR) from the semi A and Bengt Andersson (SWE) in front of Svein Harald Ytternes (NOR) and Hans Lyxell (SWE) who bumped up from the semi B.

A-main grid:
1. Lars Haugen – ARC/O.S.
2. Tom Erik Haaversen – ARC/O.S.
3. Trygve Berntsen – Mugen/O.S.
4. Karl Ullenius – BMT/Orcan
5. Bengt Andersson – Mugen/Picco
6. Magnus Bengtsson – Mugen/Picco
7. Svein Harald Ytternes – Mugen/O.S.
8. Frode Rasch Olsen – ARC/O.S.
9. Hans Lyxell – Mugen/Picco
10.Lasse Andresen – Serpent/Novarossi

All was set for an exciting 45 minutes final on a perfectly dry track. TQ driver Lars Haugen got a really bad start, when his otherwise excellent mechanic did not let go the car on the signal, leaving it to flip on the roof. This allowed Tom Erik to jump into the lead with Lars chasing the end of the pack. At the point of the first pit stops, Lars had been driving hard and was ten seconds behind Karl Ullenius with Tom Erik in third, who suffered from a small mistake. Karl and Lars were chasing each other, separated by only 0.2 seconds with Tom Erk in tow, 2 seconds behind. After the second refuelling Lars got into the lead and from there he built a good gap to second and third. After the incident at the start Lars laid down a perfect race, finishing 8 laps in front of Karl. Tom Erik got in some trouble and lost a lot of time. Lasse Andresen took advantage of this, taking the final podium spot.

Final results:
1. Lars Haugen – ARC/O.S. – 204L 45:03
2. Karl Ullenius – BMT/Orcan – 196L 45:00
3. Lasse Andresen – Serpent/Novarossi – 188L 45:10

As for the Norwegian Championship it was Lars Haugen who took the title from Lasse Andresen in second and Trygve Berntsen in third.

Norwegian Championships top 3:
1. Lars Haugen – ARC/O.S.
2. Lasse Andresen – Serpent/Novarossi
3. Trygve Berntsen – Mugen/O.S.

Thanks to Svein Harald Ytternes for the report.