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TEAM SERPENT DOMINATE BUT VICTORY ESCAPES IN DRAMATIC FINAL SECONDS (14/04/2006)
- By:
- Laurant
Report by Jose Sousa
Last weekend the second round of the Portuguese Cup for 1/10-200 took place at the Monsanto track in Lisbon, host circuit for the 2006 Serpent Nations Cup. The race was attended by 42 drivers with Serpent cars being the most popular choice of drivers - 14 X Serpent, 10 X Kyosho, 7 X Mugen, 7 X G4, 2 X Associated, 1 X Yokomo and 1 X HoBao.
After the qualifying heats 12 drivers where on same lap, 15 laps, and the promise of a very challenging race.
Top qualifier was Team Serpent driver Filipe Costa with his 710 / Mega ZX .12, followed by young Bruno Coelho with Mugen / JP, Rafael Murjal with Kyosho, Ricardo Nogueira Team driver Serpent 710 / Vega.
The final was being totally dominated by Serpent Team driver Filipe Costa until a dramatic final few seconds. On the last corner the Fail Safe stops his car. This handed the lead to fellow Serpent driver João Malveiro but his car runs out of fuel 2 meters from the finish line allowing Bruno Coelho (Mugen) to pass and take the win by just .03 of a second.
A dramatic and disappointing end to a day that was dominated by Team Serpent right until the dying seconds of the final. But the team can’t be too disappointed as their cars filled three of the top four places. Also in the final was Ricardo Nogueira who took 8th position after a stone on the main straight caused him to crash heavily resulting in damage his side belt.
Overall it was a good days racing and with the dramatic finish behind them, Team Serpent are in confident mood for Round 3 of the Portuguese Cup.
Final Results
1 – Bruno Coelho – Mugen – 86 laps in 30:12.241
2 – João Malveiro – Serpent – 86 laps in 30:12.372
3 – Filipe Costa – Serpent – 86 laps in 30:22.211
4 – João Batista – Serpent – 84 laps in 30:21.140
5 – Hassan Zalzala – G4 – 83 laps in 30:01.374
6 – Pedro Silva – Kyosho – 83 laps in 30:14.777
7 – Fernando Cordeiro – Kyosho – 78 laps in 30:05.426
8 – Ricardo Nogueira – Serpent – 75 laps in 30:07.200
9 – Luís Costa – Mugen – 62 laps in 24:41.945
10- Jaime Silva – Associated – 57 laps in 23:39.854
Filipe Costa took pole and looked set to convert it into a dominant win
The Mega powered 710 of pole sitter Filipe Costa
João Malveiro's 710 just missed out on victory by .03 after running out of fuel
The Serpent 710 of Ricardo Nogueira in action in the 'Main' final
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