The first race of the 2005 Greek National Championship, attended by a lot of participants, marked the beginning of a new and competitive race season. This year, and for the first time, a single tire & insert rule was implemented; TAKE-OFF CS27 tire and TAKE-OFF medium insert. A lot of practice had taken place prior to this event as there were at least 12 competitors who would be challenging for the win.
1st Round Qualifying
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In the first round of qualifying, 2004 National Champion Harris Katikas (Losi) showed his form and it was obvious that he would be hard to beat; he made 16 laps in 5:09:820 . I followed him in 2nd place close behind him until I dumped near the end of the qualifier and dropped behind nearly 10 seconds - recording 16 laps in 5:19:360. In 3rd place was the young and very quick Kostas Z(Losi) who just missed on making 16 laps with 15 laps in 5:00:40.
2nd Round Qualifying
In the second round of qualifying, Harris pushed really hard early on but I managed to stay close behind him all the way until half way through. At that point he was unfortunate and hit a back marker, messing up his rhythm. From then on it was easy for me to stay in front but I also pushed hard thinking it was a good chance for me to make a good qualifier.
3rd Round Qualifying (Final)
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In the third (final) round of qualifying, I decided to stay out as I was confident that my current time was good enough for pole position. In the end it turned out I was correct and the top 10 after the last round of qualifying was as follows:
1. John Doucakis - XRAY
2. Harris Katikas
3. Kostas Zacharopoulos
4. Vaggelis Papachristos.
5. George Amaxas 6. Vangelis Alexopoulos - XRAY
7. Dimitris Mitropoulos
8. George Koritsidis
9. Bill Gavriilidis
10. Paris Martinos
1st Final
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In the first final I had a clean start with Harris following very close behind me. After the second lap Harris was all over me and I decided not to put up much of a fight and risk an accident. The rest of the field had stayed a couple of seconds behind us. In the end Harris crossed the line in 1st place followed by me in 2nd place.
2nd Final
In the second final I made some changes to my motor and that gave me enough of an advantage to pull away from Harris and win easily by a 4 second margin. In third place was young Kostas Z. followed by Vangelis Papachristos 5 seconds behind him.
3rd (Last) Final
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In the third and final attempt the winner would be decided. From the start Harris and I pulled away from the field. Harris was determined to stay in touch with me and challenge for the win. He was very close behind me, trying everything he could to overtake me but I kept my cool and never left him enough room to dive in. At some point I just lost him and he was no longer close behind me. (After the race he informed me that somehow his body got caught on his rear wheel.) Finally I drove to 1st place in this final and overall win.
Final Standings
1. John Doucakis - XRAY
2. Harris Katikas
3. Kostas Zacharopoulos
4. George Koritsidis
5. Bill Gavriilidis 6. Dimitris Alexopoulos - XRAY
7. George Amaxas
8. Vaggelis Papachristos.
9. Dimitris Mitropoulos
10. Paris Martinos
A big thanks goes to XRAY for making such a great car and to NOSRAM speed control and batteries, and ORION V2 motors for plenty and consistent power.
