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CABEZAS CHALLENGES FOR ZARAGOZA WIN (16/05/2006)

By:: Laurant

The Spanish 1/8th National Championship travelled to Zaragoza last weekend and once again 'Serpent Driver Development' member Oscar Cabezas, winner of the opening round 1, proved himself to be a leading candidate for the 2006 title.

Suffering from what he originally thought to be radio interference on the main straight which caused the car to intermittently flick right, Oscar lost all of Friday and Saturday morning's practice changing radio gear. It later transpired that the problem was being caused by a drive shaft problem.

Having little no time to fine tune the setting of his 960 before qualifying, but with the drive shaft problem fixed, Oscar just missed out on qualifying directly for the main final posting 5th fastest time.

After qualifying complete the 19-year-old, from Madrid, had time to perfect the setting of both his car and Mega DSII engine ahead of starting from pole for the A semi.

With the car now to his liking Oscar cruised to victory in the semi to line up 5th on the grid for the main final.

A good start moved him up to 3rd after the opening lap and shortly afterwards he was up to second. Closing on the leader, Oscar opted to wait till his fourth fuel stop to try and pass for the lead as the track offers little over taking opportunities. With a tire change scheduled for his fourth stop, Oscar was confident his car would be good for the win.

A titanic battle followed as Oscar put the leader under pressure but on one of the fast corners the SDD driver drifted wide clipping the wall resulting in a broken lower rear wishbone. A disappointing end to a fantastic drive by the promising young racer.

Qualifying positions for Main Final

1. Josue Artiles
2. Carlos Peracho
3. Sergio Montesinos
4. Nacho Lopez
5. OSCAR CABEZAS
6. Victor Gonzalez
7. Juan Hidalgo
8. Vicente Eres
9. Esteban Aranda
10.Tomas Romero

Final Results

1. Josue Artiles
2. Nacho Lopez
3. Sergio Montesinos
4. Tomas Romero
5. Vicente Eres
6. Carlos Peracho
7. Daniel Maqueda
8. OSCAR CABEZAS
9. Esteban Aranda
10.Juan Hidalgo

Oscar won his semi final in Zaragoza but was out of luck in the main final

The Zaragoza race attracted 73 1/8th entries

Oscar's Mega DSII powered 960