The Darzatehnika.lv Play Off Prize competition for the Folkreis 4WD class has reached the final phase – on Saturday in Ludza we will find out the winner of the third place, and in August in Aizkraukle the Grand Prize will be won. The participants of both these duels are known, of course!
Since the first stage in Smiltene, the participants of the 4WD class of the Folkrace have been fighting for the Darzatehnika.lv Play Off prize, which takes place parallel to the usual Summer Cup format. Unlike the classical counting of points in motorsport to determine the winner, the fight for this award is played out using the elimination system method – the winner of the duel moves on, the loser ends the fight. Of the 14 who started in the first stage, the best four are currently known. And this Top-4 composition has brought surprises!
On Saturday in Ludza, Folkrace debutant Aleksejs Brokans, who ran his first race in Smiltene, will compete for third place. He will face Kaspars Zugickis, who, in turn, was considered one of the main contenders for the award. Kaspars is the winner of last year’s Summer Cup, besides, he could overcome the first round of the Play Off battle without a duel. But everything was decided by the previous stage in Vecpilis, when he retired in the final due to technical problems. Dzintars Filipsons passed him, reaching the grand final.
Brokan did not participate in the previous stage – Play Off semi-final – as he was unable to prepare for the race. However, it would be difficult to get to the final even if he participated, because he had to fight with Edgars Thrall. Edgars is the leader of the overall standings and won in Vecpilis, therefore it was quite certain that Aleksei would be in the fight for third place instead of first.
So, in Ludza, the battle for the third place of the Darzatehnika.lv Award.
ALEKSEJ BROKANS : KASPARS ZUĘICKIS
It is difficult to find weapons that would give Alexei a potential advantage over Kaspar. Not because Brokan drives badly – simply because we don’t know this athlete yet, because he has only completed two races on the track. With one skipped stage, he entered the fight for third place – that’s already a lot!
On the other hand, about Zuģicki, on the contrary, one could write songs of praise in the volume of the book. About how he achieved the overall victory of the Folkrace 4WD Summer Cup last year, about the fact that he has the most wins in this class (three, plus two at the beginning of the class, when the car buying era was not yet open)… And yet, Kaspar is on the same branch as the debutant Brokan. Do we already know the third place winner, or will this seeming predictability prove to be deceiving?
Meanwhile, on August 5, the final of the Darzatehnika.lv prize competition will be held in Aizkraukle!
EDGAR TRALLA : AMBER PHILLIPSON
It is clear that Edgar’s arrival in the finals is self-evident – since the winter, the man from Smeli has made significant progress, making his debut in the F4WD class. In the summer cup, two victories were achieved in three stages and one second place behind Zuģicks, Priekulė. Undoubted favorite of this duel.
However, Dzintars Philipson reaching the Play Off final is a major surprise. Not even because this position does not suit him – Dzintar may be stuck with the stability of results and durability of technique, but episodically he can win races even in very big competition. What is more surprising is that he has reached the final, having retired from the final in Smiltene in the first stage and remaining in 12th place in the results – third from the end! How can you reach the final after such a result?!
Maybe, because Smiltene was very lucky: his duel partner Kristers Siliņš retired even faster and remained lower in the results. But his success factor did not end there – in the second stage in Priekule, his quarter-final opponent Ermīns Vācietis was unable to assemble the motor completed in Smiltene, and Filipson entered the semi-finals. Good luck there too – Dzintars had to face Zuģicki, and once again luck was right there for Filipsons, because Kaspars Vecpilīs, as mentioned, retired.
It is interesting that both finalists before the Ludza race were very specifically interested in the situation in the Play Off battle, both, not wanting to make a mistake, asked whether their result in Ludza really did not matter in this game and the most important thing would happen in Aizkraukle. In the strategic game, Dzintars will miss the Ludza stage – not by planning, but more because the car was seriously damaged in the previous stage. Meanwhile, Edgars sent the application to Ludza in the last hours of application, tickling the nerves of fans for a long time about his plans.
So what, two decisive duels, in both of which one is a clear favorite, while the other got so high apparently with the help of luck. What will the Sports Gods decide?
Resources used:
Autocross.lv
2023-07-21 11:01:00
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