"Offroad"
Euro 1:12 / 08.-10. April 2005
 The weekend 08.-10.April 2005 was set for the 1:12 scale European
Championship in Swifterbant in the north of Amsterdam in
Netherlands. The modell car racing club lelystad has invited all the top 1:12 scale drivers from across Europe.
They are gathered in an industry hall in swifterbant to battle
it out during this 3 day event. On Friday it was open and controlled
training. Suterday we saw 5 qualifying rounds and on sunday there
was only the finals. Outside the weather conditions are very cold an
rainy on
this weekend, and the hall was without the possibility to heat. So
we had temperatures of 4 degrees in the morning and 7-9 degrees in
the afternoon and early evening in the hall. The layout of the track
was challenging and o.k.for a euro. But the underground was very
uneven with several bumps. All this bad conditions are not worthy to
make a euro. The efra should have a better look to the organization
and the conditions before a club can get a euro.
Qualifying:
 Already
in the first qualifying round the euro champion of 2004 Simo
Ahoniemi with his corally had a very good pace and comes up to 36
rounds. No other driver could reach in the first heat 36 rounds,
only 3 drivers Groskamp-Mobers-Bopp ended in 35 rounds and all other
drivers in 34 or less rounds. The oriondriver Bernhard Bopp /
Germany with his CRC was on a good run in this first round, then in
the last minute was some trouble and he ended in 35 Rd. 12 sec over.
In the other qualifying rounds it was not possible for him to
improve, and so he ended in the qualifying ranking on place 12 on
suterday evening. The other 3 orion or peak drivers had done a more
better job, and so started Jilles Groskamp from Netherland after
round 5 with his CRC from place 2 in the A-Final. A very good
performance showed us the austrian orion driver Thomas Pumpler with
his yokomo. He was one of the 4 of all modified drivers who reached
36 rounds and started from 4.place in the A-final. The new
oriondriver and touringcar eurochampion 99 Andrew Griffiths can come
up to qualifying ranking place 7.
Final qualifying result:
1. Simo Ahoniemi Finland Corally 36 8.05,21
2. Gilles Groskamp Netherland CRC / Peak 36 8.09,18
3. Sakke Ahoniemi Finland Corally 36 8.10,63
4. Thomas Pumpler Austria Yokomo / Orion 36 8.13,15
5. Markus Mobers Germany CRC / Fantom 35 8.00,06
6. Mikael Nilsson Sweden Corally 35 8.00,74
7. Andrew Griffiths Great Britain Orion 35 8.04,00
8. Hubert Hönigl Austria CRC / LRP 35 8.04,73
9. Teemu Saarinen Finland Corally 35 8.08,23
10. Olly Jefferies Great Britain Asso 35 8.08,74
11. Keith Robertson Great Britain 35 8.10,40
12. Bernhard Bopp Germany CRC / Orion 35 8.12,13
13. Robert Klier Germany CRC / GM 35 8.12,38
The Finals:
 In
the first a-final heat TQ Simo Ahoniemi could not win from his pole.
He makes mistakes and so Gilles and Sakke are able to come in the
lead. Gilles goes out in round 19 and so corally driver Sakke
Ahoniemi tooks home the win in 35 rd 8.00 three seconds before
his brother Simo. And this result should become very worthy for him,
because this euro should be decided very closely. On place 3 ended
Hupo Hönigl CRC/LRP, on 4. Mikael Nilsson and on 5. the german
champion 2005 Markus Mobers with his CRC.
Also in a-final round 2 it was not on TQ Simo to make the win.
Gilles Groskamp comes in front and makes a fantastic victory with
his peak-orion fired CRC. On place 2 ended Sakke and on 3.place
corally driver Mikael Nilsson from Sweden.
Final 3 brought a very close decision. The best possibilities to win
was by Sakke and Gilles, the winners of finals 1 and 2. But both
drivers cannot come up to the top places in this 3. final. Gilles
goes out in round 30 and Sakke ended on 6. place - one round behind
the winner. It was on the austrian drivers Thomas Pumpler / orion
(3.) - Hubert Hönigl / LRP (2.) and finlands lastyear champion Simo
Ahoniemi / corally (1.) to dominate the last final. So we had seen 3
different winners. But the "fox" Sakke comes after this 3.final very
quickly around the corner to the drivers monitor - a short look and
he knew - the new european 1:12 champion was himself Sakke Ahoniemi.
In his victory race in final 1 he had a faster run over the 8
minutes with 35 rd 8.00 as his brother Simo in his victory race in
round 3 with 35 rd 8.07. So each fo them had one win and one second
place, but the faster winning-race was by Sakke.
Final result:
A-Final
1. Sakke Ahoniemi Finland Corally
2. Simo Ahoniemi Finland Corally
3. Hubert Hönigl Austria CRC / LRP
4. Mikael Nilsson Sweden Corally
5. Thomas Pumpler Austria Yokomo / Orion
6. Gilles Groskamp Netherland CRC / Peak
7. Markus Mobers Germany CRC / Fantom
8. Olly Jefferies Great Britain Asso
9. Andrew Griffiths Great Britain Orion
10.Teemu Saarinen Finland Corally
------------------------------------------------------------------------
B-Final
11. Keith Robertson Great Britain
12. Philip Huber Switzerland Corally
13. Axel Hellwig Germany CRC
14. Carlos Heras Spain
15. Darren Houghton Great Britain
16. Bernhard Bopp Germany CRC / Orion
17. Andrew Sawyer Great Britain
18. Roger Manwaring Great Britain
19. Robert Klier Germany CRC / GM
20. Mick Farell Great Britain
---------------------------------------------
C-Final
21. D. Fleischmann Germany CRC / Orion
On the picture below in the left side you see the 1:12-team from SLR
Ingolstadt, all on track with CRC cars - from left to right Theodor
Schnattinger (wins the d-final) - Christian Leber (third of f-final)
- oriondriver Bernhard Bopp (6. b-final) and oriondriver Dominik
Fleischmann (wins the c-final). On the right picture you see the
german team in swifterbant 2005, quite left Jan Asmer who tooks the
win in the standard a-final. On the second place in standard a-final
ended Peter Kiefer (quite right on the picture).
 
Your german team-manager and the organizer of SLR Ingolstadt / Germany - HP. Bopp
All for now, see you again at the euro 2006 in italy and in 2007 in Ingolstadt/Germany
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