Saturday in Zolder Part 2 - Hahn takes it away from Lacko

17. September 2016Zolder - It was a somewhat warmer 20° when the first race started, with no sign of rain. The action in the race itself wasn’t all that hot either. Polesitter Lacko put the snout of his Buggyra ahead at the start, but let Hahn seize the lead just a few hundred metres down the road. The MAN pilot managed to put an adequately safe buffer behind him, and from then on all signs pointed to a clean victory for the German. But in the final couple of laps the Fatfox was right up on the rear crash guard of the MAN-in-blue-and-white. It was déjà vu - only a fortnight ago in Most, the two were right here in the same situation. Sure enough the trucks touched, but this time Lacko was the one who lost out, allowing Hahn to pull out a bigger gap over the Czech than the recorded lap times would lead you to believe.
Steffi Halm drove a rather solitary race in third place, too far behind the leaders to benefit from their scrap and a too far ahead to be bothered by anyone else.
The fight for fourth place was, well, quite a fight.
Janiec had three-time champion Körber and reigning twice-champ Kiss hang like millstones round his neck, but the Frenchman determinedly defended his 4th place right till the flag. The trio crossed the finish line one second apart.
Lenz drove home undisturbed to 7th, which not only earned the young MAN pilot four points but also got him a place on the front row of the grid for the second race alongside Forman, who finished 8th.
Robineau and Lohr finished 9th and 10th.
René Reinert was laid low - and thrown out of the reckoning - by a malfunctioning speed governor. After his superb 3rd place in qualifying, the MAN pilot had a very good chance of finishing on the podium. But soon after the start the freakish device suddenly cut in at a speed that was nowhere close to the regulation 160 km/h. Reinert dropped way down the field, and realising that it was pointless to stay on in the race, puttered back down pit lane after the third lap.
Buggyra International (Lacko / Forman) took the team honours, ahead of Reinert Adventure (Hahn / Reinert) and Lion Truckracing-Lenz (Janiec / Lenz).

Impressions: