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Serpent Asia Tour 2010: great party, 150 drivers (19/01/2010)

By:: Reporter
Linked to:: Serpent 733-EVO 1/10 scale 4wd, Serpent 733-TE 1/10 scale 4wd, Serpent Asia Tour 2010

The 2010 Serpent Asia Tour 2010, staged in HongKong, Aco track, atttracted close to 150 drivers in 1/10 and 1/8 together, Serpent only !

The event was great with drivers from HongKong, China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Sweden, Germany and Taiwan attending.

Really nice atmosfere, great weather, superb organisation by the host club Aco and by SerpentAsia and WorldModel together, great Chinese food, superfast racing until late at night, nice trofees, super tombola with 4 x Serpent car-kits, 5 x Sirio engines, KO radio's !!

Also a free new Protoform 1/10 body, Serpent decals, unique Serpent Asia Tour t-shirt and Tornado fuel included.

All in all an event not to be missed, so 2011 there will be for sure a new Tour but then in either Taiwan, China, Thailand or Malaysia.

Serpent designer/owner Michael Salven was present, together with manager/owner Ronald Baar. Accompanied by Stef Helvensteijn the sales and logistics manager and mechanic for Salven this time. He normally pits for Mark Green at the EC and WC races.

From Japan the Sahashi brothers Yuya and Tadahiko were present. Suruth from Thailand still in good shape too, and then many fast local drivers as well.

It was great to see that the level of racing in Asia is also very high and has developed a lot over the years.

The 1/10 scale race with over 60 racers ( with Serpent 720 and Serpent 733 cars) , made 7 minute qualifying. The intended 10 minute runs were not possible due to the many racers present.

Still one fuel-stop needed for most drivers.

In the end Tadahiko from Japan took TQ in the last heat, with Michael in 2nd and Lay Yiu Kei in 3rd.

The final result top 3 was: 45 minutes
1. Chan Chau Man 113 laps
2. Pon Chiu Him 112 laps
3. Lau Yiu Kei 112 laps
all very close till the very end.

Salven chunked a tyre in the race and could not push, where Tadahiko had carb issues that dropped him out. Fastest lap was for Chiu Kai Leung, with an incredible 22.2 !!

In 1/8 scale with over 80 drivers with mainly Serpent 960 and Serpent 966 cars, it was Yuya Sahashi setting the pace, but he could not put in a clean run in, still his laptimes were impressive.

TQ honors went to local driver Lau Chi On with a very stable and fast runs in every heat. Yuya in 2nd. In 3rd is was Suruth from Thailand.

In the final, which ended in darkness but assisted by perfect floodlight, it was a very close and intensive race. Fastest man was Yuya from Japan, but problems early in the race, threw him few laps back. During the race Yuya was really flying and between half sec and a second faster per lap. Wen closing in on the leaders, he rolled one more time after pushing it too much and stalled the engine. After the restart wit just 15 minutes to go, he had to make another attempt to catch the leaders which in the end worked and even build a 2 lap lead. Also Lau Chi On and Suruth pushed like crazy to stay ahead in this 45 monutes final. Great race to watch !!

Final
1. Yuya Sahashi, (20.02 sec as fastest lap)
2. Lau Chi On
3. Suruth Vatinyapramote,

The sunday ended after the finals with price ceremony, great tombola and then a fabulous buffet party with great food and drinks at the track.

A more detailed report and many more images to be published later this week.

Again we like to thank all Serpent drivers, all co-sponsors, the Aco Club with all staff, SerpentAsia and WorldModel for this fantastic and memorable event.

See you next time !

Team Serpent