Saturday in Most Part 2 - Hahn leads all the way to the flag

02. September 2017Most - Following a somewhat extended and well populated grid walk, the first race got underway in the afternoon. It was still dry and polesitter Jochen Hahn took the lead, with Kiss clinging on to his rear crash guard and home hero Lacko sat on the tankpool24 pilot’s tail. Steffi Halm had wrested 4th from Albacete, and teammate Lenz too had gained ground in his MAN, climbing two places. Vršecký lay in 7th, followed by Körber.
The several battles down the order weren’t of the slightest consequence for Hahn, whose only race, it seemed, was against himself. The Iveco pilot kept stretching his lead till the flag fell.
Lacko attacked Kiss’s Mercedes relentlessly till mid-race, when – to wild cheering from the Czech fans – he finally snuck ahead. The Buggyra pilot proceeded to pull out a hefty gap on the Hungarian, but wasn’t able to get really closer to Hahn.
The top two steps on the podium were thus decided; Kiss, however, soon saw his position in jeopardy as Steffi Halm and Albacete rapidly closed in over the final laps. He did eventually manage to salvage 3rd place by four tenths from the MAN pilotess and eight tenths from the Spaniard.
For much of the race Lenz appeared comfortably placed in 6th. But he came under severe pressure from Vršecký towards the close, and on the penultimate lap the Czech showed the young German who’s top dog.
Eighth place, and with it pole position on the grid for Race 2, was the most fascinating contest – Brits Brereton and Smith kept pushing Körber till, halfway into the heat, they were both past – first Brereton, and then Smith. That left the German with the poor consolation of 10th place and a single point.
The two Englishmen continued their dogged slugfest till, on the last lap but two, Smith finally subdued his countryman to take the prized pole for the following race.
Ninth place was good enough to win Brereton top spot in the Promoter’s Cup, ahead of
MAN pilot Frankie Vojtíšek (CZE) and Dutchman Erwin Kleinnagelvoort (Scania).
„Die Bullen von Iveco Magirus“ (Hahn / Körber) was the top team, followed by Buggyra Racing 1969 (Vršecký / Lacko) and Reinert Adventure (Halm / Lenz).

Impressions: