Rheinard wins DHI Cup on fluffy carpet

The German two time World champion Marc Rheinard won the 2009 DHI cup in the Odense Congress Center in Denmark. Swedish top qualifier Alexander Hagberg finished second after problems in the finals. His X-Ray teammate Teemu Leino completed the podium. In the Super Stock class it was the Swedish Red Bull sponsored Tommy Bergfeldt who was on top of the podium, Finish Tamiya driver Henry Salmén finished second and German X-Ray driver Bastian Hennig third.

Big loser of the weekend was the carpet. Although the grip was good, a lot of fluff balls were a big problem for the drivers. The fluff got stuck in the bearings, causing problems for a lot of drivers. DHI-cup organiser Kim Bendiksen made a clear statement: ”We thought we ordered the same carpet as last year, but this carpet was really bad. We will do our bests to make sure that for the tenth anniversary edition next year the carpet will be good.”

Super Stock

In the super stock it was Bergfeldt who was unbeatable during qualifying. The Hot Bodies driver proved he was unbeatable during the first final. Behind him it was German X-Ray driver Matthias Lang who was battling with Salmén for the second position. After almost half of the race was completed Lang and Salmén bumped into each other too hard both losing control. It was a good example of where two people fight, the third one wins. It was fourth place qualifier Hennig who took full advantage of the collision in front of him overtaking both, and to hold the spot till the flag dropped. Salmén still was able to finish in third. Lang fell back to fifth spot behind Christoph Tiele.

In the second final the race got exciting again when Bergfeldt suffered problems with his car at the start. His car glitched a lot and hesitated. Due to that Bergfeldt dropped back to last place, not being able to get a single position back. Salmén who had problems with a tweaked car in the first final after his collision was back on a roll. He claimed the second final and was very confident in the car: “The car reacts perfectly now, I think I can take it on with Tommy.” Thiele finished in second and Hennig in third.

In the last final it was Bergfeldt who had his sponsor’s wings back, being the only stock driver who managed to race a twenty lap run. And after winning the first final he took overall victory, being the successor of British Jimmy Maddison.

Modified

In modified it was Hagberg who took his first international TQ in front of Rheinard and Leino. But it was Rheinard taking the inside coming up the straight in the first lap already taking the lead, and Leino following Rheinard’s line passing Hagberg too. A little later on it is Viktor Wilck taking third spot away from his fellow countryman. After two minutes racing it was Leino hitting the dots and rolling over, losing a lot of positions, and giving Wilck a second spot. The Tamiya driver was able to hold this position until the finish behind is teammate Rheinard. It was German Marc Fischer who was able to finish third with his new Corally Phi 2, after a series of collisions at the end of the run.

In the second final it was Hagberg who was able to convert his TQ in the second leg victory. His secret for this leg were new scrubbed in tyres. It was Rheinard finishing second right in front of Leino. Rheinard decided to try a different additive for the third and decisive final for the ninth DHI cup.

With only three people left who were still able to win the DHI cup the battle would be between TQ man Alexander Hagberg, world champion Marc Rheinard, and the reigning DHI cup champion, Viktor Wilck. Right after the start is looked more like destruction derby than normal racing. It was Dutch Tamiya driver Groskamp hitting Hagberg, who dropped a lot of position due to the collision. A few laps later it was Leino doing the exact same thing to Groskamp. Due to all the collisions it was Wilck who had to retire, thereby giving away his DHI cup title to either Rheinard, who was leading or Hagberg who was in a battle for 4^th position. It was Rheinard who took the third leg win, which was enough for the German two-time world champion to win his second DHI cup trophy after winning it for the first time in 2006. In the final lap Fischer proved that it was still possible to race in a good and clean way, he was on a direct ramming course for Leino in the final lap, but being able to brake even on the dots, and making sure both Leino and Fischer were able to finish the race in second and third without problems. In spite of the 2 podium finished for Fischer he didn’t make it to the overall podium seeing both Scandinavian X-ray drivers Hagberg (2^nd) and Leino (3^rd) completing the podium.

Report made by Rick Thomson, pictures by Alexander Hagberg