Maifield takes A3 but tiebreaker decides Coelho winner

The season finale of the Euro Offroad Series at the Modellbau Wels in Austria provided thrilling entertainment for show goers with the 2WD A-Main coming down to the tiebreaker after a dramatic A3. With Joona Haatanen winning A1 and Bruno Coelho taking the second encounter, the race for the overall win was wide opening going into third leg.  Like in A1 it looked like Top Qualifier Coelho was in control but a mistake entering the kicker turned the race on its head opening the door for EOS debutant Ryan Maifield to have a shot at a maiden victory. With the crowd behind the American, the excitement looked to be short lived as a lap later the Yokomo driver went off the track at the end of the straight but Coelho had another mistake in his system and with three laps to go Maifield pressured it out of the Xray driver to go to the front with 3-laps to go.  Taking a hugely popular win, Maifield’s crash was to be the undoing of a debut EOS win as Coelho took the tiebreaker with his A2 winning time which was 1.5-seconds quicker, Maifield’s crash costing him over 2-seconds.  While a mistake in A3 would leave Haatanen with a P5, the Team Associated driver had done enough in the previous two legs to see him complete the podium for the fifth round.

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