The MFR Cup 2009 - stage IV

On July 25 the 4^th competition of The MFR Cup was held together with The Russian Championship. The joint race of STK women and SSP 400 opened this busy racing day. By the fourth stage the girls from Yakhnich Motorsport Nataliya Lyubimova and Nadezda Yakhnich had got 50 and 40 points correspondingly. Tatjana Semenova in her turn had 52 points.

The tough racing graphic which preceded the start of the 4^th stage race let Nataliya and Nadezda have only two training races in the opposite direction in Mjachkovo in contrast to their rivals who had begun practicing right after the third stage competition.

The girls had to worry a little because of the cloudy weather. In the early morning it rained on and off making the track wet. The question arose what kind of tyres to choose. But STK women were lucky and all the races (practice, qualification and main race) went on the dry track

The pole-position was taken by Nataliya Lyubimova with time 1:49. She was followed by Tatjana Semenova and Nadezda Yakhnich (both 1:52). The fourth position was taken by Ludmila Korkina.

 

The race started.

Nadia Yakhnich and Tatjana Semenova pulled out in front of the others followed by Nataliya Lyubimova. From the first turns Nadia set high pace of the race. Unfortunately, Tatjana Semenova fell in one of the high-speed turns of the first lap. The race went on accompanied by the Safety car having drawn up all the pilots one after another. After the race had been resumed the leader of the race Nadia Yakhnich continued her fight showing the best time 1:48.551, but she had to undergo Stop&Go procedure because of the false start. Nataliya Lyubimova got the leadership and held it till the end of the race.

In her turn Nadezda Yakhnich after Stop&Go procedure returned to the race just in front of Lyudmila Korkina. Lyudmila’s time was 1:53 but since that moment, having caught hold of the faster sportswomen Nadia Yakhnich, she managed to shave off 2 seconds showing 1:51. That is an excellent result!

 

The girls finished in the following order:

 

1. Lyyubimova Nataliya 1:49.381
2. Yakhnich Nadia 1:48.551
3. Korkina Lyudmila 1:51.377
4. Matjushkina Svetlana 1:56.346
5. Rutskova Ekaterina 1:59.096

Standings after the 4^th competition

Lyubimova Nataliya (75 points)

Yakhnich Nadia (60 points)

Semenova Tatyana (52 points)

Korkina Lyudmila (45 points)

Rutskova Ekaterina (45 points)

Matjushkina Svetlana (37 points).