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720 WINS ON SOUTH AFRICAN DEBUT (05/09/2006)

By:: Laurant

Serpent’s new 720 continued it impressive list of debut achievements when Mike Wiseman steered the new Rene Cornella designed 1:10 car to victory in the penultimate round of the South African National Championships at Durban.

With the new car only arriving in South Africa just days before the event, drivers had little time to get to grips with their new packages but as soon as the new cars hit the track they were making an impression producing new lap record times despite the lack of local track time.

This gave the drivers plenty of confidence for qualifying and the result was three 720 cars in the top 10. Mike Wiseman, driving his Mega powered example, took the lead early in the final and steadily opened up the gap over Dean Steenmans to give the new car a debut win at the tight Durban Track.

Tony D’ Oliviera finished 6th with his example while the third 720 was forced to retire due to a servo failure.

It was a great weekend for Mike Wiseman as he also TQ'ed in the 1/8 class with his Mega powered Serpent 960. Starting from pole he went on to win by 4 laps from Jacques Liebenberg's Motonica with Wayne Joelson's Mugen third. Wiseman's run also smashed the circuit record by 4 laps.

The event drew a record entry for a South African National event with 95 cars spread over 3 classes. With the 235mm class, in 2WD format, still popular in South Africa, Dave Wiseman secured the TQ spot but it was Faizel Salie who set a new track record enroute to victory with his Serpent 835.

The final leg of the South African Nationals moves to Pretoria in October to the new TRAP venue.

Mike Wiseman took the 720 to a debut win in South Africa

1:8 Podium - Wayne Joelson (3rd), Mike Wiseman (Winner) and Jacques Liebenberg (2nd)

The 4th round of the SA Nationals attracted a record entry