Saturday in Misano Part 3 - Kiss wins race of many turns

24. May 2014Misano - For Steffi Halm, starting from pole was like staring into the unknown. Reinert, right next to her, made the more focused start, so that their two MANs were side by side into the first corner. Reinert’s truck nosed ahead going into the left corner that follows immediately after, but couldn’t avoid being hammered by the yellow Lion MAN, for which he’d left no room in his charge towards the gentle right-hand curve that leads to the double-90° bend. For a moment it looked like Reinert would spin, but the Lusatian was able to keep control — and keep going. Halm, however, lost her second place to Kiss, and then dropped back steadily till she retired at the end of the third lap with problems on her steer axle.
Kiss meanwhile set off in pursuit of Reinert, eventually overtaking him in a manoeuvre the German was convinced wasn’t above board. From there on it was a gallop to the flag for the Hungarian, but Reinert was left to fend off the advances of the rapidly closing-in quartet of Bösiger, Hahn, Vršecký, and Albacete, every single one of whom is supposed to be – at least nominally – quicker than he. But the Lusatian bravely held off his pursuers till the finish, crossing the line almost seven seconds behind Kiss.
And so you might expect Bösiger to have finished third, leaving Hahn out in the cold in fourth place. But the champion was having none of that, and made his move in the penultimate corner, mounting a spectacular assault that took both trucks off the track, letting most of the field move ahead. In the event Vršecký finished third, followed by Albacete, Körber, Bösiger, Lacko, Hahn, Teodosio, and the French race-by-race-pilot Jérémy Robineau (MAN) in the top 10.
The prizegiving ceremony took this finishing order into account. In the team ranking, Team Reinert Adventure came out on top, followed by Buggyra and Truck Sport Lutz Bernau. But then the stewards weighed in. Vršecký and Albacete were handed 30-second penalties for knocking over penalty markers, dropping the Czech down to 10th place, and Albacete out of the points altogether. But the decision was vehemently disputed by Buggyra, as a result of which several action replays and long deliberations followed.
The definitive result was finally announced more than two hours after the end of the race. Now even Hahn had picked up a penalty for his attack on Bösiger. With 30 seconds added to his elapsed time, he was now the first driver out of the points in 11th. And so, at the end of it all, Körber was pronounced third, followed by Bösiger, Lacko, Teodosio, Robineau, Frankie Vojtíšek (CZE) in an MAN, Vršecký, and Albacete.
The team ranking too had to be redrawn — curiously enough it remained the same even though all three teams had actually finished level on points, as a result of which the ranks were awarded following the order of the respective teams’ best-placed finishers.

Impressions: