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USA: DJ Apolaro TQ's and wins Florida state series (10/11/2008)

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Reporter

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Serpent 720 08 1/10th scale 200mm, Serpent 720 -09 1/10th scale 200mm


State Race report for Round 3 at Kissimmee..

We have just completed Round 3 of the Florida State Series which was held at the awesome Kissimmee race track in the Orlando Florida area. Paolo and I made our way to the track on Friday afternoon and decided to get some practice. Paolo ran 1/8 and I ran sedan. We shared pit work and tried to get our cars ready for the weekend.
 
On Saturday I wanted to test the set up I ran and the Nationals, as it was different than I normally use. I ran the first 2 qualifiers and played with some minor adjustments. The car was really good, but not what I am use to. I had to change my driving style a little to fit the car. In both rounds I ran 18 laps and did it both times with 5:07. I was within a couple of tenth's on both runs. The car was really good, but now I wanted to try my basic set up that I start with at all tracks. I changed the entire car just to see the difference and improved my time by just 1 second. Although I only went 1 second faster the car was better. My main problem was the braking. I was not able to drive a consistent line, as I lost my brakes about 1 minute into the 5 minute run. I was happy to have gone faster at all, considering the lack of brakes.
 


Sunday would be one more round and the track is usually a little faster on Sunday mornings. I was thinking a possible 19 lap run could be done, however I made some changes and they did not improve the car. That combined with some back markers made it hard to go any faster. I ended the Qualifying in TQ position and felt good going into the main. Paolo had set the TQ pace in 1/8 scale turning the only 20 lap run. With both of us taking the TQ's for both classes it was looking good for Serpent and the Main Events. Paolo was up first and from the start was pulling on the field. He was a consistent .4 seconds faster than the next fastest driver. With this we decided to pit early and play it safe. Then it happened, the motor that was running great all weekend started blowing plugs for no reason. Well we thought it was for no reason until the conrod snapped. Now we know why the plugs started to fail.
 


We recovered from this misfortune and looked to the sedan race. At the beginning I had the same plan for my race. I would push at the beginning and see were the other drivers stood. My car was awesome. With the car working really well and Paolo getting the car in and out of the pits with great speed, we were able to bring home the win. The Serpent 720 08' was great, driving really flat, having a good balance and carrying good corner speed. It was great to get the victory, especially after the 1/8 scale issues.


I would like to thank Kevin H. with Kissimmee Raceway for having one of the best tracks in the US and it being available to use in our State Series.  That plus hotels only costing $40.00/day was great. Thanks to the entire crew for putting on the event and to Forgass for having the series every year. Also thanks to David Larry for the photos.
 
Also to my sponsors for the awesome race products. Serpent, Serpent America, Xceed, Novarossi World, Maxy's Fuel and Twister Tires USA. These products are among the most competitive products a racer could ask for. Always strong and competitive at every level.
 
Till next race!!!!!!!!!
 
DJ Apolaro