The Winter Caribbean Cup 2008 took place on December 11 to 14, Puerto Rico.
An exciting four days of racing with two days of practice Thrusday and Friday, five rounds of qualifiers on Saturday and all mains on Sunday. There were some attendance from top racers of the
US, including Serpents Paolo Morganti and Mugen Mike Swauger.
Paolo arrived at the track midday along with Edgar Tirado. Jesus Rivera was already at the track early morning along with Geovannie Gonzalez.
The track was wet in the morning from early rain. After it dried up, the track was prepped for racing with a home-made mixture. Traction was fairly good, some of the drivers had trouble with
traction rolling. So a few setup changes were needed in order to put in a good qualifier the next day.
After a day of practice, the team felt ready for the qualifiers. Rain in the morning delayed the start of the qualifiers, and also made the track feel a bit loose.
Paolo (Serpent 720-08) was able to take TQ in sedan with ease, setting a new track record of 14 laps.
Other Serpent team drivers in the final main A were Juan C Rodriguez, Geovannie Gonzalez and Guillermo Camacho. Jesus Rivera and Edgar Tirado had some bad luck with traffic and setup during the qualifiers and were not able to put in a good run. Although, Edgar was able to take TQ in the Outlaw class.
The B Main Sedan was to take place with 45 minutes of racing. Jesus Rivera started in the second pole position, with Edgar at the back of the pack. By the end of the first lap, Edgar was
already positioned himself behind Jesus Rivera in the third position, while Jesus was chasing the leader waiting for a pass. At the seven lap mark, Jesus was able to take the pass on a mistake on the leader, but in the next turn the car he
passed crashed with Jesus ripping one of the rear shock out of place. Edgar continued with his pace and was able to take the win after the 45 minutes.
The A Main Sedan was to run one hour. Many of the racers opted for very hard tires in order to prevent changing tires during the main. Serpents Paolo started from the pole position and started to build a lead over the pack. At the beginning of the race, he was followed closely by teammate Juan C Rodriguez who had to drop out near the end of the race due to dead battery. Edgar also suffered from the same problem, he also had to
drop out from a dead battery.
Paolo had a flawless run conserving tires and also keeping up the pace. Excellent victory for Serpent 720.
The A Main Outlaw was not able to run. Hard rain came down on the third minute mark and we were not able to continue with the race. At the third minute mark, we saw Edgar Tirado already in the lead.
Better Caribbean weather needed for next time ....
