The 2008 Spanish National Championship got underway over the weekend at the new Cadiz track situated in the southeast of Spain and reigning champion Oscar Cabezas was once again the pace setter but in the final the young star was out of luck.
In controlled practice for the event Oscar used his 960 '08 to be the only driver to break into the 19 second lap times setting a new track record of 19.6 with his Mega powered car.
Unfortunately before the start of the qualifying heats rain started to fall and drivers had to take to a wet track for the first time. Choosing a foam wet while others went with Kiss tyres Oscar struggled somewhat but still managed to posted the second fastest time. With the rain continuing to fail the proceeding rounds of heats saw no improvements in times.
Starting from the front row of the grid on a drying track Oscar took an the early race lead and by the 15-minute mark he had a 1-lap advantage over second and the 2007 Champion looked on target for a great start to his title defence. 23 minutes into the final that was all to change as Oscar suffered a first gear failure. Despite the best efforts of his mechanic & father he would suffer 2 further failures leaving him to finish a disappointing 9th.
Happy in the knowledge that he has winning pace again in 2008, Oscar will put the disappointment behind him as he now makes preparations for his next race which will see him switch to the Serpent 720 '08 for the World Championships Warm Up race in Lisbon, Portugal, on March 21-23.