Adam Kerenyi celebrates a sucessful comeback with a second place at the third King of Europe race in the heat of Piestany, Slovakia.
Temperatures close to 40 ° C, heated duels and the world premiere of the Dotz Helicam provided the framework for the 3rd race of the King of Europe series.
About 80 kilometers northeast of Bratislava, at the airport of Piestany, it came to a world premiere at the third race of the King of Europe drift series 2012: for the first time in a drift race the Dotz Helicam was in use, capturing the explosive drift series for the first time from the air. The remote-controlled helicopter delivers digital photos and HD video sequences.
38 drifters met in Slovakia in order to meet the challenges of the trail after the driver parade in the city.
The top-three finishers after two races, Benjamin Boulbès, Francesco Conti and local hero Roman Kolesar, announced even before the race a showdown. The strong Bud Mat team from Poland, which had dominated the first round in Poland and ...
... the runner-up from last year, Dotz teamrider Adam Kerenyi, called out an attack. Kerenyi came to Slovakia with his newly built E36/46.
The Dotz team was - next to Kerenyi - presented by the two Italians Marco Blastutta and Diego Quaranta, ...
...but also by Viking Stian Jacobsen, who took the long journey from Norway after a good season in the Scandinavian series so far in order to compete with the European elite.
After the qualifying Dotz teamrider Marco Blasutta was clear ahead with two perfect runs, followed by Polish Maciej Bochenek , who won in Poznan the first round of the KoE, and Italian Amerigo Monteverde.
Adam Kerenyi, King of Europe champion in 2010, followed at 7th place.
Stian Jacobsen could finish the qualifying with his radical style in the middle of the best and finished at excellent 10th place.
Defending KoE-champion and Dotz teamrider Diego Quaranta had some trouble in the first two runs and qualified with a safety run at position 20.
Before the race then went into the hot phase, it was time for a little cooling down. And nothing was better suited for that occasion than the Dotz chill out base in the paddock.
Where you could relax in the pool or...
... take a round with the Dotz cultbike through the park. Of course in style with a Fast Seven drift edition.
Less cooling but rather providing more heat was Dotz girl Steffi and ...
...the girls in the pit lane polishing Diegos car.
But Quaranta had no too much advantage of that cause he left out in the first knockout round. The same fate was suffered by Stian Jacobsen, the Viking in the Dotz team. Stian was eliminated in spite of superiority by a driving error.
In the second round of the knock-out-stage came the big hit Blastutta against the overall leader Benjamin Boulbès. The Frenchman confirmed his perfect shape with two nearly perfect runs and managed to win twice with 6:4 against Blasutta.
However, since Boulbès and Conti couldn´t make it past the quarterfinals, the remaining riders had the chance to gain ground in the overall standings.
In the semifinals Ciortan Calin, who is sponsored on a national basis by Dotz, met with Dawid Karkosik from Poland. The Romanian carved his best drifts into the concrete, while Karkosik took too much risk, had two turners and had to give in to Calin with twice 0-10.
Also among the final four: Adam Kerenyi, who is back to former strength his newly built BMW, and the Pole Adrian Pekala. In the first run, the Hungarian came through clearly with 7-3 because of a better drift angle. The re-run ended with 5-5 and helped the Dotz teamrider ultimately to take a place in the finals.
Ciortan vs. Kerenyi was then the showdown in the third round of the King of Europe. The first race Calin was in front and again confirmed his form and took the race by 6-4.
But at the revenge-round Kerenyi could counter with the same result. A so-called recall had to make a decision. Calin again won by 6-4, in the re-run the Romanian could fend off the vehement attacks by Kerenyi and take home a 5-5 for his victory in Slovakia.
Winner Ciortan Calin with Adam Kerenyi (right) and third placed Dawid Karkosik. In the overall standings of the King of Europe Benjamin Boulbès stays in front ahead of Conti and Calin. The Dotz teamriders: Quaranta is ranked 6, Blasutta is 8 and Kereyni moved up to 11th overall rank with his second place in Piestany.
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posted: 04.07.2012