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2006 SERPENT NATIONS CUP - full report (24/10/2006)

By:: Laurant

NETHERLANDS WIN TITANIC SERPENT NATIONS CUP BATTLE

The 2006 Serpent Nations Cup took teams to Lisbon, Portugal for the 2nd edition of this unique team event. Hosted by the Monsanto Club, which are bidding for the 2008 1:10 World Championships, they welcomed 10 teams representing seven nations for three days of intense racing which would see the battle for Nations Cup glory go right down to the final race.

Heading into the event defending champions Team Great Britain looked in a strong position to defend their crown. With two recently crowned National Champions on their squad the only thing missing from 2005 was Team Manager John Russell who played a huge part in their Valencia success.

Having proved their potential in 2005 by finishing on the podium in Spain, Team Portugal had to be favourites by virtue that they were on home ground and that they had four teams competing in the event.

Having had the unenviable record of finishing last a year earlier, Team Netherlands’ record was less than impressive however on paper their 2006 line-up had everyone talking about the Nations Cup travelling back to Holland, home of the Serpent Model Racing Car company.

Team Austria, the last team to confirm their entry, did so in style announcing a very strong line up. With a four time European Champion on the team, the Austrian’s immediately warranted serious attention.

Team Spain, runners-up last time, had the hugely talented Oscar Cabezas as team leader of the biggest team in the event. With five drivers wanting to represent the 2005 Nations Cup hosts and Vice-Champions, Serpent Motorsport gave the Spanish special clearance to field a five-car team. Cabezas whose talent was spotted at the 2005 event by Michael Salven, leading him to becoming a member of the Serpent Driver Development program, would once again do his country proud leaving the Monsanto circuit as the new 1:8 lap record holder.

Team Poland, who showed great promise in 2005 hit the headlines in Portugal not for their on track endeavours but for their efforts to once again be represented in the Nations Cup. The team made the trip from Poland to Lisbon by car – a 6,800km round trip. That’s dedication and something that got huge admiration from fellow competitors.

Also making the trip to Lisbon was Team Ireland who once again fielded the youngest line-up with Sean Doyle the youngest driver in the event. The Irish team was another who made great efforts to attend spending most of Friday as guests of airlines and airports. From Dublin, they first flew to Frankfurt in German before waiting five hours to get a connecting flight to Lisbon airport.

Day 1 of the event was open free practice with each team allowed to have just one car on the track at any time. Starting at 09:00 the practice day turned into a marathon 11-hour session with all teams taking to the track with the exception of Team Austria following their late arrival to Lisbon. The day ended with the host nations heading back to the official event hotel, situated in central Lisbon, in high spirits as the impressive Joao Malveiro topped the time sheets from neighbours Spain (Oscar Cabezas) and Team Netherlands (Rob Kuijpers).

The race format for the Nations Cup would see drivers race 6 times a day in a mix of races lasting 6, 8, 12 and 20 minutes. Run over 2 Legs, each consisting of 24 point scoring races, once racing got underway on Saturday morning there would little or no time for a break.

Saturday morning was extra busy for the teams as they all had to present themselves for group photos. Team Portugal, Team Netherlands, Team Ireland and Team Great Britain receiving compliments for the presentation of their cars.

To get drivers into the rhythm each team member was give a 10-minute warm-up before the important race action each day.

With racing finally getting underway, the honour of taking the opening victory of the 2006 event went to Team Spain thanks to Oscar Cabezas who finished ahead of testing pace setter Joao Malveiro of Team Portugal(1). Oscar would go on to claim all 4 of Team Spain's victories.

After an intense day of racing in beautiful conditions with temperatures reaching 25 degrees, six teams had managed to register wins. Heading the ranking on wins was Team Portugal (4) with a very impressive tally of 8 wins with each team member taking a victory.

Team Austria took four wins thanks to impressive driving by Daniel Tomaschko (3 wins) and Gerhard Kandelhart. Also claiming four wins was Team Netherlands, Rob Kuijpers and Danny Leewis taking two wins each, and Team Portugal (1) thanks to Malveiro. Defending Champions Team Great Britain managed just one win thanks to Richard Hicklin.

With dropped scored taken into account this left Team Netherlands as the overnight Nations Cup points leaders and Leg 1 winners. Team Portugal (4) despite the massive tally of wins held second from Great Britain and Team Portugal (1) with Team Austria in fifth. Having missed out on Friday’s free practice Team Austria has a tough open few races but over the second half of Leg 1 showed they had the pace to challenge for the title.

Saturday night offered teams the opportunity to relax a little ahead of Sunday’s Leg 2. A banquet organised by Serpent’s Portuguese distributor gave racers and their families the chance to make new friends and enjoy the beautiful food and hospitality of Portugal.

Another early start on Sunday morning saw the first cars on track at 09:00 and this time the honours of first win went to the hosts with Malveiro winning for Team Portugal (1).

After the second round of racing a three way battle started to emerge. The Nations Cup crown was going to be a very close race between Leg 1 winners Team Netherlands, Team Portugal (4) and the rapidly closing Team Austria who had climbed from fifth in the overnight standings.

With the lead of the standings switching between the Portuguese and the Dutch with each race and the Austrian’s closing the gap all the time, the fight would go down to the very last race – Race No 48.

Portugal (4) took the early lead but 3 minutes into the race they were involved in an accident with Team Portugal (3) resulting in instant retirement and an end to their title aspirations. This left Team Netherlands and Team Austria to battle it out for the title. Team GB took the race win from Tomaschko (A) with Leewis (NL) in fourth for Holland. Had Holland done enough? Yes they had, just, the Dutch securing the title by just 3 points from Austria whose fine effects on Day 2 earned them the Leg 2 winner’s trophy. For Team Portugal they once again had to settle for the third step on the podium just 5 points adrift of the winners. A thrilling climax to a very exciting event.

Team GB took fourth ahead of Team Portugal (1) while team Portugal (2) and Poland tied for 6th position. Team Spain finished 8th ahead of Portugal 3 with Team Ireland finishing 10th after a weekend which saw the ‘luck of the Irish’ desert them.

An event that puts the emphasis on sharing information and team spirit, the Nations Cup once again achieved its goal but it also unearthed some great driving talents. Daniel Tomaschko was a real star for Team Austria, Poland’s Norbert Omelanczuk impressed with his speed while locals Joao Malveiro and Ricardo Nogueira also shone.

Monsanto proved themselves to be a very capable club getting through the huge amount of racing without incident. To give you an idea of the amount of racing that took place during the Nations Cup here are some interesting facts –

A total of 11,637 race laps were completed (not including race warm-up or 11 hours of free practice!!).

That’s an average of 1,163 laps per team or 290 laps per competitor.

In distance that’s 3,826Km – enough to get the Polish team back home with some kilometres to spare.

Serpent Motorsport would like to thank everyone who made the event possible. Our distributor Jose Sousa and his wife, the teams for making the trip to Portugal. A special thanks also to all the members of the Monsanto club who did a great job and who made everyone feel so welcome.

Roll on the 2007 Serpent Nations Cup.

2006 Serpent Nations Cup
Lisbon, Portugal
Final Result

1. Team Netherlands - 269 points

2. Team Austria - 266

3. Team Portugal (4) - 264

4. Team Great Britain - 244

5. Team Portugal (1) - 216

6. Team Portugal (2) - 203

= Team Poland - 203

8. Team Spain - 176

9. Team Portugal (3) - 146

10.Team Ireland - 144

Roll of Honour

Team Netherlands (9 wins)
- Danny Leewis
- Stanley Bauer
- Rob Kuijper

Team Austria (12 wins)
- Daniel Tomaschko
- Gerhard Kandelhart
- Alain Levy

Team Portugal 4 (12 Wins)
- Joao Pedro Sousa
- Ricardo Nogueira
- Claudio Lopes
- Ze Pqeuito

Team Great Britain (3 Wins)
- Richard Hicklin
- Jason Frost
- Chris Edwards
- Ian Campbell

Team Portugal 1 (6 Wins)
- Joao Malveiro
- Rafael Murjal
- Gabriel Silva
- Domingos Faria

Team Portugal 2 (1 Win)
- Joao Batista Inacio
- Jose Felix
- Lapa Real
- Almeida

Team Poland (1 Win)
- Rafał Zeljaś
- Norbert Omelańczuk
- Andrzej Trella
- Marcin Grochała

Team Spain (4 Wins)
- Oscar Cabezas
- Francisco Lara
- Alberto Fernandez
- Javier Rodriguez Fernandez
- Patxi Albeniz

Team Portugal 3 (0 Wins)
- Fernando Dantas
- Idalio Candeias
- Mauro
- Filipe