Shepherd Win 1:8 at R3 of the Central German Champs
Last weekend, the third round of the Central German Championship took place at Wiesbaden, this years host for the European Championship 40+ at the beginning of July. Shepherd factory members Armin Weihert, Alex Kempe and team leader Patrick Schäfer attended the race to give support to all Shepherd customers among the 44 entrants. The track was in good shape and practice started on Friday followed by additional practice on Saturday morning. In the afternoon, the first two rounds of qualifying were scheduled, but rain effected the timetable. After the track had dried up, the race started with damp conditions in the first round but in the second round the track was completely dry. Everybody made a safe run as the weather forecast for Sunday predicted showers. Luckily the track stayed dry all day and some fine racing took place.
In the 1:10 class it was former European Champion Dirk Wischnewski who took pole followed by local hero and new Team Shepherd member Patrick Gassauer in second place and Patrick Schäfer third. In the 1:8 amateur class it was Velox racer Florian Wagner who claimed the TQ spot in front of Shepherd chief mechanic Armin Weihert in second and Andreas Schade third. In the 1:8 expert class, two Shepherd drivers could be found on the top of the list. Olaf Engelmann had the fastest qualifying run followed by round one winner Peter Poldvere in second place. Maximilian Federmann had the third fastest qualifying time.
The first main final held was the 1:10 scale final. From the start Wischnewski took the lead followed by Gassauer and Schäfer, all running the new Novarossi Flash.12PTS engines. In the first minutes, Schäfer had to endure traction rolling and lost around a lap and a half on the leaders so Sebastian Kunz, also racing for Team Shepherd, took over the third place followed by Simon Balk and Schäfer. Wischnewski slightly increased his lead while the battle for the remaining podium spots continued. A few laps before the end, Gassauer and Balk ran out of tyres and Schäfer regained third place while Kunz moved up to second with his Novarossi-powered Velox V10 “eleven”. This was also the final order and with six cars in total Shepherd had the most cars of all manufacturers in the final.
The 1:8 amateur final saw many changes of positions throughout the race. Pole sitter Florian Wagner lost some time at the beginning when his Novarossi engine stopped after another car turned his Velox upside down. But with an excellent performance, he managed to pass Detlef Dickes for the lead a few minutes before the end and crossed the finishing line in first position followed by Dickes. With his constant driving Weihert claimed the last spot on the podium another lap down.
Like at round two of the Central German Championship in Kirchhain, Team Shepherd could celebrate a double victory in the 1:8 expert class. Pole man Engelmann drove a constant race and finished in first position just thtree seconds in front of team mate Poldvere, both driving the Velox V8 “eleven” powered by Novarossi engines. Local club member Alex Schmitt finished on third place. With six out of nine possible podium places, it was an excellent weekend for Team Shepherd.
Source: Shepherd Micro Racing
