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Sunday in Zolder Part 3 – Livid Lacko storms to victory from last on the grid

Sunday in Zolder Part 3 – Livid Lacko storms to victory from last on the grid

18. September 2016Zolder - It turned out that failure in a fuel injector had cut Lacko off at the knees in the first race. The damage was repaired in next to no time, but the 20 points he was sure he’d pocketed had vanished into thin air.
The Czech was absolutely seething as he went into the final race watched by 15,000 fans – from the end of the field.
André Kursim, by contrast, will have been anything but mad at the first pole of his truck racing career, but he was extremely tense and also, we suspect, rather nervous. Sascha Lenz, lined up alongside, was a study in contrasts – he was totally relaxed, having now started three races in Most and here from the front row.
But before they could get going, there was a bit of a stir on the grid – the Schwabentruck team was a bit nervous as the mechanics furiously worked on the steering axle of the Iveco while Körber kept turning the wheel.
On the formation lap behind the pace truck Körber kept weaving in and out – a procedure quite normal in other forms of motorsport (to warm one’s tyres up to their grippiest state) but unusual in the least in truck racing. The Iveco then followed the pace truck back into the pits. Körber must have decided that trying to race with a recalcitrant steering was pointless.
Polesitter Kursim took off in the lead, but lost it to Lenz just a few hundred metres down the road. The Mercedes pilot was then overtaken by Steffi Halm and Janiec in short order. If Lenz thought he could extend his lead while his pursuers wore themselves down with their own battles, he was mistaken. Sure enough, Halm’s clearly faster blue MAN was right up at his rear crash guard, but there was nothing the WOW! warrioress could do to subdue the iron knight in orange.
Kiss meanwhile, like Körber before him, retired to the refuge of pit lane after three laps – the steering problem on his Mercedes seemed only to have gotten worse.
At this point Lacko, who had ploughed through almost the entire field with a frightful vehemence, was now 4th, behind Janiec. But the Frenchman’s resistance couldn’t hold under such a fearsome onslaught, and both he, and Halm ahead of him, were quickly quelled.
One lap later – midway through the race – Lacko was clear into the lead. Now that he’d been overtaken by the Czech, Lenz’s defensive wall suddenly crumbled and the MAN pilot was overtaken first by Halm, then by Hahn (who’d just not been able to keep pace with Lacko halfway), and finally by Janiec and Reinert.
Lenz was now in 6th place, just ahead of his companion from the start grid, Mercedes pilot Kursim.
Later it was revealed that a wallop on the rear of Lenz’s MAN had broken the stabiliser, which explains the German’s apparent capitulation.
While Lacko hurtled on unchallenged to victory, Hahn was doing everything he could to seize 2nd place, which in this race would mean a single-point deficit to his championship rival.
The thrice-champ eventually succeeded on the very last lap, outbraking Steffi Halm into the chicane at the end of the back straight.
Janiec crossed the line in 4th, ahead of Reinert, Lenz, and Kursim. They were followed home by Lohr, Forman, and Rodrigues. Forman was given a 30 second retroactive penalty that dumped him out of the points and handed the ultimate point to Dutch Scania pilot Erwin Kleinnagelvoort.
Reinert Adventure (Hahn / Reinert) climbed the top step of the podium for the teams for the second time today. Buggyra (Lacko / Forman) was second and Lion Truckracing-Lenz (Janiec / Lenz) third.
Hahn has broken free in the overall standings and stretched his advantage over Lacko (321 points) to 35. Reinert is next with 180, followed so very closely by Kiss (179), Halm (174), and Janiec (169).

Impressions:

Sunday in Zolder Part 3 – Livid Lacko storms to victory from last on the grid
Sunday in Zolder Part 3 – Livid Lacko storms to victory from last on the grid
Sunday in Zolder Part 3 – Livid Lacko storms to victory from last on the grid
Sunday in Zolder Part 3 – Livid Lacko storms to victory from last on the grid
Sunday in Zolder Part 3 – Livid Lacko storms to victory from last on the grid