III International de Cascais 2nd-5th October 1998 - F2C Event

    The Cascais international is organised by Julio Isidro - A portuguese TV personality who not only puts work in with the organisation of the event but also finances much of the extras including the banquet on the Saturday night and a visit to the Estoril Casino on the Sunday night.

    This year was unfortunate in that the weather let them down with mixtures of heavy rain and high winds having a drastic effect on the racing but the events were completed in the two days allocated.

    Racing in F2C got underway around midday on the saturday with the first race being between Barragan/Barragan (ESP), Isidro/Janeiro (POR) and Miles/Yeldham (GBR). The Spanish pair managed to pick up the portuguese teams lines at the first pitstop giving them a DQ and the portuguese a refly. At this point the jury blundered by calling Miles/Yeldham down and giving them a refly when they had been on 54 laps when the incident happened and should have been allowed to continue. The rest of the round did not produce much in the way of fast times and a number of teams had their chances spoilt due to races being held in torrential rain. At the end of round one the Portuguese pair of Mortinho/Goulao were the only team inside 3:30 with a 3:25.2 and Tribe/Bollen (GBR) were in second place with a 3:35 followed closely by Maret/Perret (FRA) on 3:36.

    The second round on the Sunday gave flyers a much better chance as it was dry albeit rather windy (causing the organisers to opt for 2-up racing). A number of teams had hard runs but were able to cope with it in the 2-up conditions thus proving the advantage of 2-ups over 3-up races. Oterino/Serrano (ESP) managed a 3:25.6 and several teams managed to record times in the low 3:30's

    Only 6 teams participated in the semis due to the low entry of 13 but the extra team rule for 3-up semis was yet again to have an impact. The Spanish team of Oterino/Serrano were fastest with a 3:29.4, followed by Miles/Yeldham with a 3:28.8 (an average of two strange times on the clocks) and Elisio/Sanchez with a 3:30.8 when Wakkerman/Van de Weerd (NED) were caled in as the extra team. They then put in a 3:23.9 (26 seconds inside there best heat time) and pushed the second spanish pair out of the final. I still find it strange that a team can put just one time in and be allowed to displace a pair that had put three good times in in the difficult conditions that had prevailed throughout the weekend.

    In the final the Dutch team withdrew on 86 laps and Miles/Yeldham (who looked on for an easy victory) managed to pick up the Spanish lines on the last pitstop causing a DQ. Oterino/Serrano then plodded home to record an 8:29.3 in what turned out to be a dissapointing final.

    The banquet was held at the headquarters of the local voluntary fire brigade and was free to all entrants and any partners that accompanied them. A good aray of certificates and trophies were presented and the visit to the floor show at the casino (again free) topped a most enjoyable weeked.

    This is an excellent weekends break in an interesting region of portugal and creates a great opportunity to take your partners along with you - definitely a trip to recommend - next year ??