Mountain Cup: Happy and sad hero
BÜRKI AHEAD, REDING BACK At the final in Les Paccots, there was the expected upheaval in the overall standings in the Mountain Cup. Martin Bürki took the third title, while the previous leader Rolf Reding plummeted from first to fifth place due to a lack of opponents. The mood could not have been more contrary. At the upper end of the emotional scale was Martin Bürki. [...]
The mood could not have been more contrasting. At the upper end of the emotional scale was Martin Bürki. With his once again sensationally driven VW Polo, he set record times on the 2.5 km track from Châtel-St-Denis to Les Paccots.
For the 50-year-old garage owner from Uetendorf, it is the third title in this sub-ranking of the mountain championship for smaller-displacement touring cars and historic vehicles after 2014 and 2015. The two years after that, MB concentrated on the slaloms due to scheduling conflicts. And here, the next title is up for grabs next Sunday in Drognens.
Never lost and yet not won
At the lower end of the scale, Rolf Reding was the tragic hero. Since he has been racing in the mountains, the man from Schwyz has yet to lose a race. Neither in the four rounds of the Berg-SM Junior 2017, nor in the 2018 mountain championship in the SuperSeries up to two liters, always with a rented Toyota GT86 from Swiss Driving Event in Seelisberg.
But victories alone are of no use if you don't have enough opponents to beat. Reding beat them all, even beating the class record of last year's champion Giuliano Piccinato at the first attempt in Anzère in July. The closest to him was last year's junior colleague Raphael Feigenwinter in Piccinato's former champion's car.
Where are they?
Unfortunately, Reding's opponents, almost all of them on 100 kg lighter and only 10 hp weaker Honda Integra, were outnumbered not only at the always weakly attended hill climb in Massongex. Also in Anzère, Oberhallau and most recently in Paccots, the five class competitors necessary for full points did not come together.
While he was still the sole leader before the final round, the automotive specialist from Immensee slipped to a thankless fifth place in the championship after taking into account the two strike results.
Even the new master showed compassion.
Martin Bürki: "I would have wished it on Reding if he had stayed at the front or at least on a podium. Sensational what he delivered. It's a pity that more didn't join forces in this class..."
The affected person himself struggled with his fate.
Rolf Reding: "The whole year I worked enormously on myself and on the car set-up to give the best... and then you fall so far behind in the last race. I can't do more than win."
Even Alain Pfefferlé, who doesn't care about the Mountain Cup at all, ended up finishing ahead of Reding in fourth place.
With the 40-year-old Porsche 935 Turbo, the Valais native still sets super times, but had no equal opponents in the Historic group. Until Thomas Amweg came along with the Martini-BMW F2 and was clearly the fastest in Group H in Oberhallau and at Gurnigel. Otherwise, Pfefferlé would even have been runner-up, as in 2017.
Philipp Krebs is runner-up
This unofficial title goes to Philipp Krebs. He won the Clio class in five of the seven hillclimb races that count towards the Renault Classic Cup and are scored for the Berg Cup. Thus, the Bernese only advanced to the medal ranks in the last race. He now wants to dress up especially nicely for the ASS championship celebration in Bern...
After three consecutive victories, Christoph Mattmüller joined Bürki and Reding at the top of the table. Like last time in Anzère, Stephan Burri in the VW Polo did not give him a chance in the IS-1600s.
The tuner of his VW Scirocco could get over it, Mattmüller still remains on the podium in the 2018 Berg-Pokal as third. Also, his chances in the private Interswiss Trophy still remain intact.
Rolf Reding, on the other hand, will not get a second chance to win a title in the current season.
