The Irish on-road nitro racing season got underway on Sunday with Team Serpent Ireland enjoying a positive start to their 2008 campaign as Keith Dempsey TQ\'d his 720 \'08 and was joined on the podium by fellow Serpent driver Colm Gaffney.

The first round of the ORCA Championship was a cold affair but Dempsey made the most of Mega MF power unit and Xceed tyres to claim the top spot in qualifying.

In the final Dempsey, who is only in his second season of r/c competition, continued to show great pace as he battled for the race lead with former National Champion Eoin Doran. Despite setting the fastest lap of the race, the pole sitter was denied the win after an error during his final pit stop but the former 1:1 racer was still happy to open his 2008 season with a podium finish.

Joining him on the podium with a solid drive to take third was Colm Gaffney with his Mega ZX powered 720 who was also running Xceed tyres making it a great start to the year for Team Serpent Ireland.

Serpent also enjoyed a podium finish in the 1:8 A Final as racing returnee Michael Byrne took his 960 to second.

Next race will be on April 6th again at the St. Annes track in the Irish capital city of Dublin.