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France: Elite class 1/8 (report Riccobono ) (04/05/2009)

By:: Reporter
Linked to:: Serpent 966 1/8 scale 4WD EVO, Serpent 966 -TE 1/8 scale 4WD, Serpent 966 -TE v2 1/8 scale 4WD

« Just back from the 3rd round of the french championship, in EVRY, in the south of Paris.

We had a very good weather during the 3 days.
On Friday, the grip wasn’t very high, and a few parts of the track were very slippery, so a lot of drivers have been surprised and have broken their car going out of the big curve in which we usually go full throttle. I was one of them…

On Saturday, the grip was quite better for the heats, and I could take the 3rd place of the qualifications, just behind Stéphane Bouche and Adrien Bertin who TQed. So, the same 3 drivers as last month in Concarneau, at the same 3 first places !

The last direct qualifier was my Team-mate Anthony Abisset (RB / SERPENT 966), who was very disappointed because his second (out of 3) heat, in which he was very fast, was cancelled, due to a too big fuel tank (the technical inspection wasn’t aspiring the fuel, but blowing into the fuel tank… They changed the method after this problem).

The Top 4 were in 3 seconds. Serge Christiany (RB / SERPENT 966), who did his comeback in the beginning of this year in competition, after he retired a few years ago, and restarted training in May 2008, took the 5th place, less than 1 second behind the top 4, which is a very good performance ! It shows that even if he’s not anymore a “young beginning” driver, he can still be damn fast, and HE’S BACK ! (It must be noticed that he’s helped, because he’s got a “winning” name...) ;-)

In the main final, the start was OK for me this time, even if a little slow with big tires. I let Anthony go ahead, because he was fast enough to chase Adrien and Stéphane Bouche. Unfortunately, his glow died, and he lost his chances to fight for the victory.
I was a little bit “shaked” 3 or 4 times by other drivers who pushed me out of the track during the first half of the race, so even if I was very fast, I lost a few places and a lot of time… But I could close the gap to the 3rd place until the end of the race. 2 minutes before the end, I was chasing Romain Picard for the 2nd place, because he was obliged to add some fuel, but a slower driver closed the door a few times and touched me, brokening a wheel, so the car was now very hard to drive. I made a small mistake, and it was impossible to take the 2nd place, but I finished on the podium anyway, which is my best result.

So, the final results in Elite Class, is, after 45 minutes :

1 BERTIN Adrien (Kyosho/Orion) 159 45:16.49
2 PICARD Romain (Velox/JP) 157 45:06.92
3 RICCOBONO Stéphane (Serpent/RB) 157 45:16.05
4 TOLOMELLI Sylvain (Mugen/Nova) 155 45:02.16
5 AYGON Christophe (Serpent/RB) 154 44:38.69
6 ZATLA Laurent (Kyosho/JP) 150 45:02.77
7 ABISSET Anthony (Serpent/RB) 150 45:03.95
8 CHRISTIANY Serge (Serpent/RB) 143 45:17.14
9 BOUCHE Stéphane (Velox/JP) 117 42:55.63
10 PAPACONSTANTINOS Jérôme (Kyosho/Orion) 62 18:25.68

Team Serpent celebrations .....

and more team-work in progress.

This week-end showed once again the performance of the 966, that more and more drivers are using with success.

Next race for us is the Euro B in Cassino, at the end of May, and then the 4th round of the French championship, in the beginning of June.

Stéphane Riccobono (RB C9/Serpent 966).”