Tire failure cost Ronnefalk Swedish Cup title, while Palsson scored upset victory

0 Aug. 2, 2016, 11:26 a.m.

By Aaron Waldron
LiveRC.com

The three-race Swedish Cup wrapped up last weekend in Höör, with disappointment for title favorite David Ronnefalk - and unbridled joy for 13-year-old Swedish racer Jessica Pålsson.

Both Ronnefalk and Pålsson entered the final round with a win each in the best-two-of-three series, though as Ronnefalk had missed one of the previous two races (in order to attend the Worlds Warm-Up in Las Vegas) he needed to beat Pålsson to win the overall title.

Ronnefalk earned TQ at the event, and both he and Pålsson won their semifinals to set up the championship-deciding final. Pålsson led the opening 18 minutes of the race before Ronnefalk took the lead and stretched out a 15-second gap.

With about ten minutes remaining in the 45-minute final, all four of Ronnefalk’s tires started separating from the wheel - not coming unglued, but tearing at the sidewalls.

Pålsson took the lead about four minutes later, and Ronnefalk barely clung to a lead-lap finish after losing nearly a full lap in the final five minutes.

Finishing order:

Jessica Palsson - 71/45:03.229
David Ronnefalk - 71/45:42.321
Hampus Berg - 70/45:26.476
Marcus Sandberg - 69/45:05.504
Victor Gunnarsson - 69/45:33.705
Oskar Levin - 67/45:06.393
Emil Edlund - 67/45:21.742
Albin Tärning - 67/45:25.333
Marcus Larsen - 66/45:01.043
Simon Boklund - 66/45:37.529
Max Johansson - 61/45:07.346
Alex Johnson - 58/45:14.761

With two TQ’s, a win and a second place finish, Ronnefalk tied with Pålsson in overall points, but Pålsson’s two round wins broke the tie for the overall.

Here are the two drivers’ race reports from Facebook:

Jessica Palsson (via Facebook):

I WON! I WON! I WON!!! :) :) :)

I won final race in Swedish Cup and All Swedish Cup 2016!!!

I can`t believe! I can`t believe! It`s crazy! I WON! :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

I won my semi final and started 1# in A-Final with 13 seconds to 2#

I lead the final first 18 min, than I done one small mistake but with 6 min left to go I took lead back and finished first! :) :) :)

It was a fantastic fight between me and David, so thanks for this super final!

Car done amazing job on the track, All my equipment has done fantastic job! I enjoyed every lap today!

So happy for my car!!!😍❤💗❤😍

Thanks to my coach and mechanic Micke who done so great job with my car and all equipment; car, engine, tires, electronic. All was perfect!

A BIG. BIG, BIG THANK YOU TO ALL MY SPONSORS:

KYOSHO
SANWA
O.S. SPEED
PROLINE
BYRON
PSR
TEAM ORION
RC-STICKERS
MICRORACING.SE

Now is " bunny Stampe time" and cake to celabration my win. :) :) :)

.... I am Best Junior too :)

David Ronnefalk (via Facebook):

Well.. Looks like my bad luck continues😩😩😩

Had to win this race to finish 1st in the Cup this year as I only were able to do 2 out of 3 races. Because someone decided to move the first race to the same week as I attended the Worlds warmup in May earlier this year so I missed that one..

So with two TQs, a win and a second place I ended up on the same points as Jessica. But as she had two wins, she got first place in the overall.

She drove really good all week, but I pulled away and had about a 10-15 seconds lead when my tires started to come off with 10min to go.. And it was not just one, but all four at the same time😔😔😔 Were still able to take the car to the finish line even if I lost almost a lap to Jessica in the last 5-min..

Now I will start to work as hard as I possibly can to get fully ready for the Worlds, and hopefully things will go my way there!

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