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Race report by Dotan Halevy |
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The first round of the Israel Super League was at "Shikein" race track in Rishpon. It was the first race of eight that will be at four different tracks across the country. |
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For the Team XRAY it was also the first race with the new XB808, which proved to be a strong performer, and very reliable. |
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We got to the track early to prepare the track and equipment for the race, and suffered from electricity failure that delayed the event start, which later on led the officials decide not to run the main final because we ran out of daylight. Instead the result of the two semi-finals used to declare the final results. |
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Qualifying:
Qualifying was quite good for us. I set the TQ with the only 9 lap run, Dan Price set the third fastest time not far behind, his brother Paul was sixth and Ronen Alkaly ninth, placing four XRAY drivers in the semi-final.
Asi Bitton and Omer London qualified for the first position in both quarter finals (Omer is driving XRAY XB8 TQ and it was his first time on this track!). Adir Zvuluni was also one of the fastest drivers on the track but suffered engine problems and couldn’t get high place for the finals. |
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Finals
In the quarter finals Asi and Omer both drove very good, Asi finished second in his run and Omer first.
Semi finals, Paul qualified to the even semi, while me, Dan and Ronen to the odd semi.
Paul had a very close race with two other drivers, changing the lead constantly, and finished third in his semi only 3 seconds behind the first place finisher. Omer also bumped up to this semi and secured the fifth place.
In my semi I had very close battle from the start with Dan, who took the lead after several minutes. We both drove very consistently with very few mistakes for the majority of the race. As the race was closer to finish, I closed the gap slowly and eventually took advantage when Dan made a mistake and had the lead back, holding it to finish line. |
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As I mentioned earlier, a delay in the morning forced the officials to use the semi-finals result for final results, as shown below:
1. Dotan Halevy XRAY XB808
2. Guy Rinkevich
3. Dan Price XRAY XB808
4. Yaniv Levy
5. Paul Price XRAY XB808
6. Dvir Hirak
7. Idan Kizel
8. Golan Levy
9. Ronen Alkaly XRAY XB808
10. Omer London XRAY XB8TQ
Overall, very good first race for the team, double podium finish and five out of the first ten. |
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