Review of 2009

And so, 2009 is behind us and its time to summarize last years season before we start the new one in 2010.

Quackenbrück
There was a barely a year since we drove the first race in 2009, and it was in the annual indoor race in Quackenbrück, Germany and for that race David would test an Orion motor for the first time.
It is always a fun atmosphere at the races in Germany although Quackenbrück race is in the middle of winter so it is a race that must be run.
Cannot remember the results exactly, but David missed the final with a place.

Bischofsheim Warmup
The second race this year was the Warmup race in Frankfurt on the nice track of Bischofsheim. This was the first time that we were using the new Alpha engine, which was exciting.
The race went better than expected and David qualified for semi and final. Once in the finals so it went well until a loose flywheel nut stopped the race after 40 minutes which was unfortunate even though it was nice to see that he was hanging on the fast drivers in speed.

Euro A, Warmup
After Frankfurt it was time to go to Austria for the EC-A warmup. The weather was really nice and the track was good.
We worked together with Adrien all weekend to find a good setup, and in the end we found a good base setup that David have been using almost all races after that.
The result on the race was not so good as he broke the car in the 1 / 8 final after a bad landing.

Swedish Cup
Then it was time for the first Swedish race which was the Swedish Cup and the first race of Skövde. It was here that we saw this would be an exciting year as he showed a total dominance by taking TQ, fastest lap, win semi-finals to finally win the whole competition.

Kyosho Masters
Kyosho Masters in Frankfurt also ran on the track in Bischofsheim and this time it was both buggy and Truggy. In the Truggy David won and in the buggy he was 7th.

Swedish Cup
The second race in the Swedish Cup was held in Eskilstuna, and even here David showed a total dominance by once again becoming TQ, run the fastest lap and finally win the finals after running up from last place in a thrilling final.

European Championship B
In June it was time to go to the Gland in Switzerland to run the Euro-B for the third consecutive year. In 2008 David ended 8th place and the goal this year was to get on the podium, but there were many talented drivers in place and we knew it would be tough.

At Friday's practice it went bad, but we tested different settings, and felt that we had enough good speed to challenge. Adrien Bertin was again at the race to give support to David and his other Team Orion drivers.
After Ales Bayer took the first 2 rounds of quali David got 3rd and 2nd place in those, he won the 2 ending rounds of qualifying rounds and became TQ after having increased the tempo when the track became bumpier.
In the semi-finals, he was 17 seconds infront of the second fastest driver, which gave us hopes of a good final where David took the lead directly and held it all the way to the finished. He won the race with just over a lap.

So this race gave several titles:
• Winner of the EM-B
• TQ
• Best Junior
• Sweden as the best nation

Kyosho Masters
The weekend after the European Championship B, it was time running Kyosho Masters in Paris. This is a race you just have to run as a Kyosho driver and it was fun to go there with the victory of EC-B the week before.
This was a Buggy and Truggy race and in Truggy David ended up 3rd place.
The Buggy it was a Swedish - American fight where Cody King won, followed by David and Tyler Vik at the 3rd place.

European Championship
After 2 weeks of resting it was time to once again go to Austria for the EC-A. This was the first ever European Championship for David and it was exciting to see how he would perform.
After two days with very good qualifying he finished at a 9th place after being 3rd in the 5th round, which gave a place in the semi-finals. He could not keep up in the Semi-final after some mistakes and didn´t reach the final.
His driving raised more than one eyebrow at this race and there were many congratulations.

Swedish Cup
At the 3rd round of the Swedish Cup in Skarpnäck David had the chance to take overall victory in the cup, but we knew it would be incredibly hard when there were many fast drivers on that track.
After some electronic problems and rainy weather he was starting as number one in the final which he led from start to finish.
He was now the winner of the Swedish Cup for 2009.

Swedish Championship 2009
This year's Swedish prestigious competition would undoubtedly be the Swedish championship, which only runs every 3rd year ( between those it´s runs a national championship). We were completely convinced that it would be tough competition for there were many who really wanted to win this race, especially with some fast local drivers.
Practice went well and he was slightly ahead of Andreas Edvinsson which would provide the toughest opposition.
With good driving David won round 1, 2 and 5, which resulted in the TQ, and the times spoke for themselves as he was 7 seconds faster than anyone else and lap time as he was about 1 second faster than anyone else.
The final was over 60 minutes and for the first 15 minutes it was some fighting but after that David increased his lead more and more. After 51 minutes the cooling head of the engine broke and he slowed down leading with almost 2 laps. After 60 minutes he finished 1,5 lap ahead of the second car and he became the youngest winner of the Swedish Championships only 13-years old.




Swedish Nationals 1/10 electric buggy
David wanted to run the national championships in the 1 / 10 electric buggy as a fun thing to see how he could perform. In the 2WD class, he finished 4th after a great run but with a few too many mistakes.
In the 4WD class he dominated totally, and won the training, all the qualifying heats and three finals – this with a borrowed car that we did not change one thing on.

Swedish Cup
The last Swedish cup we was not really forced to run as the victory already was secured, but of course we did it anyway. The race was this year's big rain race which caused some hassles in qualification with broken power and other things that happened. In the finals, it was partly fight with Robert Gustafsson but David was once again the tough opposition for the rest of the field and he won the contest with 4 victories in 4 races of the cup.

Nordic Championship
The Nordic Championships were run in the Greve, Denmark and became a race with very varied weather when the 120 drivers from Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland would make up the NC title.
Training was a bit unstable, but when the qualifications began he once again showed his stable and fast driving and he become TQ.
After some fighting in the semi-finals it was time for a 60-minute exciting final in which David after 30 minutes of fighting took leadership for not releasing it again. After 60 minutes he became Nordic Champion in 2009.

Pierrefeu
In November we went to Pierrefeu in France to run a GP. The reason for this race really was that we wanted to extend the season when the Swedish weather made it impossible to drive at home.
After the Nordic Championship David did not run the 1 / 8 buggy for 7 weeks and we had no great hopes on a prominent place, but once the race started David won the first qualifying round and finished in 2nd after the qualifications.
The weather was erratic this weekend but the final day was really good and after some changer on the car before the finals it went really well on this course that was a bit special to drive.
After a bad start in the final, but with a impressive driving David ended as second place between Yannick Aigion and Martin Bayer.
This was a very nice race and it's always nice to get to know new people on the races. We will also thank Yannick who took the role of the Swedish team manager and gave us all the information in a language we understand 

Kyosho Masters
The week after France we went to Tokyo to attend the Japanese Kyosho Master conducted on Kanais home track in Tokyo. After a Friday with a lot of driving the Saturday's qualifying was canceled because of rain and the race was moved to Sunday.
After 2 qualifying rounds that gave David TQ before the 15 min-long finale (due to the race on Saturday the timetable was rebuilt ).
The start went well but he was hit on the first lap so after a few laps he was on the last place. We gamble a bit with the fuel times, which didn´t went well as he got out-of-fuel on the last lap.
This was a very nice race and a interesting experience to drive this race and also visit Kyosho Japan.


Finally 2009 has been a fantastic year where David has increased his driving skills and smoothness on the track. We've also gotten to know many new people which was been very nice.

David and me want this to thank everyone who helped us to make this season possible, and especially very grateful to Adrien Bertin, whose assistance has largely contributed to the success