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Apolaro takes TQ honours and Morganti wins with S960 (11/01/2009)

By:: Reporter
Linked to:: Serpent 960 08 1/8 scale 4WD

Apolaro TQ's and Morganti Wins

Team Serpent had a very good result at this past weekend Florida State Series race with the Serpent 960.

The Ft. Myers crew prepped the track very good, with great traction for both Saturday and Sunday. A lot of racers were trying to get in one last oppurtunity to race and practice at the Ft. Myers track before the Winternats.

DJ Apolaro showed everyone the fast way around the track with his 960 in qualifying.He bumped his teammate Paolo Morganti from Top Qualifier honors in the last round with a very fast 25 lap qualifier. Paolo's race came up and he was on a blistering 26 lap TQ run. Then as he was completing his 25th lap he started to run out of fuel and was not able to make the elusive 26 laps and became the 2nd fastest qualifier.

The start of the A Final was not good for DJ. His engine stalled as the cars were staging for the start. He would have to start from the pit lane almost 1 full lap down.

Paolo immediately took the lead and began to pull away from most of the field. Meanwhile DJ was on a mission and by the second round of fuel stops had worked himself into 2nd position. This is the way they raced until the last 2 minutes. Then with less than 2 minutes remaining, DJ crashed at full speed in the treacherous chicane, ending his race and not being able to challenge Paolo.

The entire race Paolo never touched a barrier or made a mistake with his Serpent 96X. Both drivers should do very well and look well prepared for the Winternats which is the first international fuel race of 2009.

The Ft. Myers crew did a great job of getting the track and facility prepared for this event. The traction was great, the weather was almost as good as the traction and a good time was had by all.

Final Results
Laps Time Name
145 30:13.67 Paolo Morganti Serpent 96X
141 30:18.72 Scotty Gray
138 28:50.82 DJ Apolaro Serpent 96x
135 30:19.59 Joaquin Desoto
133 30:09.22 Tony Rice
123 30:00.44 Marco Vanni
88 21:50.90 Roniel Regalado
87 23:24.58 Rafael Angulo
39 8:11.93 Danny Horta
DNS Joe Sumasky

Morganti and Apolaro should do very well and look well prepared for the Winternats which is the first international fuel race of 2009.

The Ft. Myers crew did a great job of getting the track and facility prepared for this event. The traction was great, the weather was almost as good as the traction and a good time was had by all.

Apolaro report and set-up to follow.

Team Serpent America

This weekend we had a State Race at Fort Myers which is also considered a Warm-up race for the Winternats. Paolo and myself decided to get to the track on Friday and do some testing. I started with my same set-up from the Toys for Tots race in Homestead. On Friday I wanted to break in a motor and just get some stick time with the 1/8 scale. I decided not to run sedan and just focus on 1/8 scale for this race. When Paolo got to the track I helped him put my set-up on his car, since he wanted to try it out. From the start the traction was already good and we could do sub 12 second laps. By the end of the day Friday we were both happy and our cars looked good. We had Marco Vanni from out of town and some fast racers from Florida (Scotty Gray, Danny Horta, etc.) so it looked like a good time to see what Paolo and I could do.

Saturday came and we started Qualifying. We would have 3 round on Saturday and 1 round Sunday morning. I have no real points in the series for 1/8 scale and had to qualify in the lower heats. On all of Saturday my car was good. I was in TQ at some point and on the last round Paolo took it away. Paolo was the over night TQ and things were looking good for the both of us. After the racing we all hit a local pub and had some beers and wings. All and all the day was an A+....

For Sunday Paolo and I both felt that we could do 26 laps and be apart of that special club. I was up first and my car was good. I had the package to get it done, however with the traffic it was just impossible. I ended up with a 25 5:01 and out of those 25 laps about 1/2 were with a lot of traffic. Maybe at the Winternats I can get it done. With this run I was still able to take the TQ from Paolo. In the last round Paolo also had a chance at the 26 laps, however fuel struck him on the 24th lap and he had to pit and lost out on that chance. He was hoping to pit on the 25 lap, but the car was already running out of fuel. In the end, the day was good. I was TQ and Paolo was 2nd. We had about 9-10 seconds on the 3rd qualifier and we were much faster than the rest of the field.

For the main Paolo I decided to push at the beginning and then pit early. We figured we could afford extra pits. This way we could run the motors on the safe side and save them. In warm up my car was good even with the bigger and harder tires. Paolo said his was the same also. At the start of the race my car stalled and I had to start from the pits. This put me about 3/4 of a lap down from the start. I started to chase down the field with the exception of Paolo. With me working through traffic from the start he was able to get on my back door. I had some trying time getting through traffic and he had a little easier one. He was able to get by me and I was about 3 seconds behind him. At about the 6 or 7 minute mark, I think, I was able to get all the way back to second place. Now I was in second and on Paolo's tail coming into the next pit stop. I was able to get out first and now start pushing to see if I could catch him. I was testing myself and the car to see just how hard I could push. This last for a while and I was able to get within 1/2 a lap of Paolo. However with about 2 minutes to go I just touched the chicane in front of the drivers stand and that was it. My race was over and I ended up in the 3rd spot. I had about 3 laps on second, but there was too much time on the clock and they got those laps back. Paolo finished with the win, showing again that the Serpent products are for real.....

All in all I had a great time and felt really happy with my showing. I feel ready for the Winternats and will be running both classes.

I would like to thank the entire Fort Myers crew for the outstanding track preparations. The weather was great and there were no delays. Thanks to Kevin for the pit work and to Doug for the help during testing. This weekend was a true team effort. I also want to the thank my sponsors for the great products; Serpent, Serpent America, Xceed, Novarossi World, Maxy's Fuel, Twister Tires USA and Parma. Special thanks to Pete Pepe for the great looking body. (To be used at the Winternats).

Till the Winternats !!!!!!!!!

DJ Apolaro