THIRD ROUND EPC 2010 - 1st Campeonato Italiano Plafit (DPM), July 10-11, 2010: RONCOLE VERDI (I) (IOC Race Level 2) 

NOCKEMANN-UHLIG-SCHNITZLER WIN FROM RIEHL'S X-ROOKIES

Racefun.dk  (3rd) confirms progress - Scuderia Minimale (4th) complete Danish revival

July 17, 2010 - We received the following report from Gorm Norgaard (DK).
The third race in the European Plafit Championship in Roncole Verdi Italy, showed to be a battle between North and South.
The North European teams consisting of two German and two Danish teams finished the race in top four, with a gap ahead of the rest, who all were from Spain and Italy.
Plastikquäler won an expected victory, but only 6-7 laps ahead of X-rookies, Racefun and Sc.Minimale on the following three places. Untill the end of the race there was great excitement on the final result for top 2-4.
Plastikquäler and X-rookies showed in usual strong line-up, Racefun was strengthened  with European champion Jan Schaffland from Plastkquäler2 (who drove a fantastique stint in lane 8, with 4 laps more than his comrades from Plastikquäler did in the same lane).
CricCrac and ADF did have fast cars, but they had too many deslottings.
The 8-lane track in Roncole Verdi is a great track to race. However, it is difficult to see who is ahead of who before the end of the race, because the lane length differs more than 4 meters between lane 1 and 8.
All teams were struggling with high temperatures around the track - up till 35 degrees. The deck where hand out of spares and technical control took place held a steady temperature at 45-50 degrees.
The atmosphere at the race was very friendly with a lot of mingling and joking between the teams.
Race results can be found in the Italian race report from the race. This report also holds a lot of pictures:
http://www.italiaslot.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3513 and a video on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFDYIxYkpc4
The difference between the North European teams are getting smaller, and the Latin teams are learning, so next and final race in the European Championship, in Gualala (CricCrac country) will be a spectacular event, showing racing with almost even cars, thanks to a straight rule set, gives both fun and exciting racing.
The best regards from Disneyland Paris. [GN]

SECOND ROUND EPC 2010 -12th Deutsche Plafit Meisterschaft (DPM), May 13-14, 2010: DIETZENBACH (D) (IOC Race Level 1) 

12TH DPM: NDW REACHES HIS ULTIMATE GOAL AND WINS

Kraner Racing beats Plastikquäler & A.C.R. -  Racefun.dk causes a stir by finishing 7th O.A.

May 16, 2010 - Nick de Wachter (NL) realised this year his highest ambition, winning the fabulous DPM. Indeed who can put on his trophy's cupboard the DPM trophy can be proud to be a complete model car racer. Last year Nick finished already second at his fifth attempt to win the DPM. This year his team, with Andreas Laufenberg (D) and Stephan Bolz (D), started the last segment in third position. Better motivated than anyone on the world, with a knife between his teeth, he drove the best 12 minutes of his career, succeeding not only to undo his arrears on Plastikquäler I - the team having won last year the three Plafit races, and having won this year the DKPM - and on A.C.R., but lapping them twice!  This was the same NDW we saw at the end of 2009 at Dison, a top racer wanting more than anyone else to win. During the last segment the A.C.R. team of Ralph Seif (D), Alexander Ortmann (D) and Caroline Schnitzler (D) lost for two small segments its second place to Plastikquäler I of ex-world champion Christian Schnitzler (D) and of the pros Sebastian Nockemann (D) - who did only two of the eight stints - and Thomas Nötzel (D). 
This year 56 teams subscribed for the 2010 DPM, same number as last year. The Beaver Zink Model Car Sport team from Japan didn't show. In total 12 non-German teams were entered: 3 from Switzerland, 2 from Denmark and Italy, 1 from Austria, Holland, England, Spain and Portugal. As organiser Kurt Petri is famous for his hospitality none of those teams has to go through the hell of the semi-finals. Indeed the 20 best German teams and the 12 non-German teams are qualified for the main race over 8 x 12 minutes. That implied that 23 German teams had to go to the 8 x 6 minutes semi-finals, where only the best 8 can make the move to the main race with 40 teams. Those semi-finals were won by Slot Tigers of Frank Schüler (D) with 365.42 laps, ahead of Nascar Slot Racing II, Racing is Life, Top Speed Racing, Team Franken I, Teuto Corse, Slottec and Wit(s)ch Power. Team MSCB   was the first missing the move to the big race, coming 1 lap and 21 segments short to make the move.  DO Slot Racing, having recently released a splendid model car chassis in 4 versions (will be homologated by July 1, 2010), failed to qualify. 
At the start of the main race with 40 teams we found 13 pro racers, ranked among the 130 first of the IOC list. To Mark Campbell and Philippe de Lespinay, being nearly alone to critisize the IOC list, I wish to say: "Look at the results" and you find the pros really on top. Only Fola Osu (NIG) and Gabe Inäbnit (CH), having entered teams without great DPM experience, were not found in front. Missing at the start was "Piki" (B), who won this year three world championships, who was expected to join the Bad Boys with Michael Niemas and Philipp Kremer as co-racers. As Cercle Brugge, the underdog in Belgian soccer, reached the same day of the DPM 2010 the Cup Final, "Piki" - who is since 25 years a heavy supporter of Cercle - preferred to go to see the match at the Brussels Heizel stadium. Not very professional for a racer having won ten worlds in his career and being ranked as the best all-time model car racer.  
NOTE: The IOC-list has been updated. NDW is now at only 8.5 points from Michael Niemas.

At the qualifications Nick de Wachter (NL) was the fastest in 7"240, beating Ralph Seif (D) in 7"268 and Christian Schnitzler (D) in 7"300. Times were slower than last year, when the pole was realised in 7"139. Biggest surprise was that the reigning world champion sprint, Michael Niemas (D), having won three times the DPM, failed to reach the top-8, so that he was not qualified for the fastest heat. Of the twelve non-German teams, six were hardly more than field fillers, realising times far under those of teams having missed the move to the big race.
Of the eight teams having made the move, Nascar II of Uwe Bönisch (D) was the fastest, finishing eventually as sixteenth, with Team Franken II as twentieth and Slot Tigers of Frank Schüler as twenty-first. With the two last heats still to go the Jäger Team of Joachim Welsch, Mike Hempel & Pierre stern was leading Slot Mittelrhein of Dirk Wolff and Dr. Slot of Martin Bartelmes.
At the one but last heat the Bad Boys, where "Piki" had been replaced by Dietmar Schmeer, seemed on their way to improve easily the 739.31 laps realised by the Jäger Team. Unfortunately the car suffered from braids problems, loosing some ten laps, enough for Racefun.dk of Iversen/Høfler/Jacobsen to cause a stir by winning the heat. Eventually they finished as seventh overall, the best place a Danish team reached ever at the DPM. Another non-German team, the Austrian Grenzland Slot finished some segments further, enough to be twelfth overall. The team of Michi Hirt finished seventeenth overall, preceding the disappointing Plastikquäler II team of Jan Uhlig/Jan Schaffland & Stefan Washow. Of the better non-German teams the Dutch BE-NE Racing of Harrie van Avensaath (NL) finished twenty-third O.A., two ranks higher as the Danish Scuderia Minimale, confirming once more their progress in international racing.
Of the eight teams having qualified for the last heat No Limits of Krollmann, Oberbillig & Hoffmann finished behind Racefun.dk and Bad Boys, taking rank nine O.A. Another top-team, Bahnmeister, having qualified as eighth, ran in troubles and came no further tan nineteenth O.A. Struggle for the eventual victory raged between the three teams we mentioned at the begin of this article. Three other teams had a gruelling combat for the fourth place. Here the Dr Slot Juniors, where Armin Seldmayr had be replaced by Julian Halsberger, won that fourth place, nine segments ahead over Nascar I of Manfred & Oliver Stork, now with Patrick Meister as third racer, in replacement of Mirko Weber. Three Slotringer - Andre Linberg, Marc Kurella and Sven Manti (Ramon Trimborn being absent), racing under the name A.C.R. Juniors, improved their eighth place of last year, by finishing now sixth O.A. Number of achieved laps by most teams was slightly lower than in 2009. After twelve splendid editions of the DPM time has come that international racers realise once and for ever, that the DPM is so much more than a local German race. I'll propose RvC, the organiser of the 2011 & 2012 IMCA Worlds, to accept in 2012 no longer European racers at the start if they were absent at the 13th DPM. [JPVR]

22nd IMCA World Championships, April 2-5, 2010: WEZEMBEEK-OPPEM (B) 

2010 WORLDS DOMINATED BY "PIKI" & NIEMAS

Sublime Gawronski wins Gianotti Trophy - Nations Cup to Belgium

Main final of the 1/24th Sprint Worlds for Pros: six Gods (golden lettering) and two future Gods (yellow lettering) driving nearly perfect equal BMW M1 cars.

April 6 - The 2010 IMCA Worlds are probably the last in history, but there can be not the smallest doubt that it were the most beautiful and the most thrilling races ever organised. That is what will be said by any racer who saw the finals. Although one had to start with the organiser himself - Raymond van Campenhout - in hospital less than four hours before the start, the Worlds were where ANY organiser can only dream about: a strong entry field, superb cars, and races were positions are still changing until the very last lap. At the 124 Sprint Worlds for pros we had four different leaders during the last laps and the four cars finished in the same metre, despite a merciless combat. Even more thrilling were the Ferrari F40 Worlds for semi-pros. Here a 12-year old kid passed four cars in the two last laps, winning the battle with only two sections. Even if we should have asked Alfred Hitchkock to write a breath-taking slot-racing thriller, he could never have done netter than that. This was racing at its upper-best, dominated by "Piki" (3 new world titles), Niemas (2 new world titles) & Gawronski (the sublime winner of the 2010 Franco Gianotti Trophy). Reports & pics will follow. [JPVR]