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Team XRAY has once again proved itself to be the dominant force at the World's largest RC car race - the famous US Snowbird Nationals.
The 2007 Snowbird Nationals annual event was again a spectacular race with almost 800 entries, making it the largest and most popular RC event worldwide, factory teams from every top manufature go to compete for top honors. Team XRAY has been the most successful team in previous years, dominating and winning the main categories in the last 3 years. Moreover, with the excellent results and debut of the T2'007 at the International Indoor Championship and 2007 US Touring Championship â” where Team XRAY swept up almost all main trophies â” the pressure was on the team. |
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| In qualifications, XRAY team drivers were switching leading positions most of the time in all different categories with the final TQs being set by Travis Schreven in 19T foam, and by Martin Hudy in 19T rubber. The most spectacular, exciting, competitive racing was of course seen in the Modified category where during the entire practice and early qualifications it was the T2'007 in the hands of different XRAY team drivers that were leading and setting the (fast) pace. As grip increased the lap times dropped, and it was expected that the last qualification heat would set TQ. Both Jilles Groskamp and Paul Lemieux were fastest right from the start but battles with traffic cost them valuable time; at the end it was Mike Dumas who set the TQ. With five XRAY T2'007 in the A-Main final, again making Team XRAY the most successful team at this race. |
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The single finals are always very demanding due to traffic, challenging driversâ™ racing skills as one small mistake could cost anyone a podium finish
In both 19T foam and 19T rubber categories, XRAY team drivers Travis Schreven and Martin Hudy did not give any chances to the rest of the field, and with very calm and precise wire to wire wins ⦠taking home not only the TQ trophy but also the overall winning trophy! In 19T foam Travis was accompanied on the podium by his teammate Paul Lemieux, who used his considerable skills to achieve a final 3rd place finish. |
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| Again the main thrill and exciting racing was in the pro modified category where Jilles challenged his skills with the performance of the T2'007 and despite starting from the second position took the lead soon after the start and did not give chance to anybody else and WON the race in style. Just behind him was Paul Lemieux who was fighting an excellent drive and made it at the end to the podium on the third position, securing another second podium finish in the modified class for the XRAY T2â™007. |
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| The 2007 Snowbird Nationals was again fully packed with a lot of exciting racing, adrenaline, and thrills, making it (again) one of the biggest and most fascinating races on the planet. Team XRAY is very proud to be the only team in RC history to be able to dominate the race in the last four years â” winning in 2004 - 2005 - 2006 - 2007 â” making a tremendous mark in the eventâ™s history. |
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| Final 2007 Snowbird Nationals results: |
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Touring Pro Mod
1. Jilles Groskamp - XRAY T2'007
2. Chris Tosolini
3. Paul Lemieux - XRAY T2'007
4. Mike Dumas
5. Teemu Leino - XRAY T2'007
6. Simo Ahoniemi
7. Bobby Flack - XRAY T2'007
8. Barry Baker - XRAY T2'007
9. Joel Myrberg
10. Juho Levanen
Touring 19T Foam
1. + TQ - Travis Schreven - XRAY T2'007
2. Juho Levanen
3. Paul Lemieux - XRAY T2'007
4. Atsushi Hara
5. Jilles Groskamp - XRAY T2'007
6. Chris Tosolini
7. Billy Easton
8. Mike Dumas
9. Bobby Flack - XRAY T2'007
10. Jeff Cuffs
Touring 19T Rubber
1. + TQ - Martin Hudy - XRAY T2'007
2. Brandon Melton
3. Jason Ertrachter
4. Mike Haynes
5. Dave Bowser - XRAY T2'007
6. Sean Carmen - XRAY T2'007
7. David Croy
8. Walter Cosico - XRAY T2'007
9. Tony Fiorella
10. Shad Galante |
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A big âśThank youâť goes out to Dipl. Eng. Juraj Hudy for designing masterpiece touring cars and for providing drivers with his invaluable help at the race. A thanks goes to RCAmerica for supporting and bringing the XRAY USA team to this event (Ralph Burch, Paul Lemieux, Barry Baker, Bobby Flack, Travis Schreven, Chris Doseck) and to the XRAY European all-star team (Martin Hudy, Jilles Groskamp, Teemu Leino and Martin Christensen). Thanks to the organizers for an excellent race as usual and thanks to all teams and drivers making this a spectacular race once again.
XRAY - the Art of Performance |
| Snowbirds 2007 Race report by Martin Hudy |
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| The Snowbird Nationals 2007 â” the biggest race in the world with more than 800 entries â” was held in the Orlando Plaza Hotel Resort. Team XRAY was again the strongest team in this event with top drivers from the USA and Europe. Team RC America was represented by Ralph Burch, Paul Lemieux, Barry Baker, Bobby Flack, Travis Schreven, Ray Daroch, Chris Doseck, Drew Ellis, and many more. Jared Scott was at the race as well but this time was acting as mechanic for Travis in order to help him to make the best result as possible. Team XRAY Europe was represented by Jilles Groskamp, Teemu Leino, Martin and Juraj Hudy, and new teammate top nitro driver Martin Christensen. |
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Ralph Burch working on his T2'007
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The race started on Tuesday at 4AM with open practice. Timed practice in heats was held on Wednesday, and continued with four qualifying rounds on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Saturday was also âśbump upâť day where drivers from all B main finals had a chance to bump up to the Sunday mains, but these chances were only possible for the winners of the classes.
Open practice went very well for most of guys in the XRAY pits. Ralph Burch seemed to be the fastest in practice, so after open practice everyone was changing their setup to be the same as Ralphâ™s. We were fastest in the timed practice with Jilles first and Martin second. Many times in the timed practice and also in the qualifiers, the Modified class looked like a demolition derby; the races started with 10 drivers and many times finished with only 2 or 3. After the first day of qualifiers Jilles was super fast and his car looked easy to drive and stable, so everyone moved from Ralphâ™s setup to Jillesâ™ setup⦠Ralph included. Only Paul went for his own setup and he found a very good setup for himself for the last day of qualifiers. Team XRAY was the strongest team not only on the track but also in the pits because drivers shared their setup ideas not only among team drivers but also among all drivers who drove XRAY cars. |
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Travis Schreven was super successful in 19T
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| Qualifiers â” Modified |
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| This class was definitely the most difficult class because more than 90 % of all drivers were team drivers. Team XRAY did a very good job by putting 5 cars in the A main. Although we missed out on TQ when we lost it in the last qualifier, we had a very strong result with Jilles who finished 2nd and Paul 3rd. Barry finished 5th in a very good last round of qualifiers. Bobby Flack proved once again that he belongs among top US drivers and made the A main as well (8th). Teemu had a lot of bad luck with traffic but still was able to make the A main (9th). The rest of the XRAY guys had tough luck or made mistakes and unfortunately did not make the A main. However, it was still possible for one driver from B main to bump up to the A main : Ray Darroch, Ralph Burch, and Chris Doseck were in the hunt for this. Although all these guys were super fast in the B main nobody from them won. The biggest chance was by Ray who was supper fast and lead two times, but made small mistakes. So 5 XRAY drivers were in the A main. |
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Jarred Scott taking care of Travis' car
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| Qualifiers â” 19T Foam |
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| Almost all XRAY guys chose the 19T Foam class as their second class and expectations were again on the our Modified guys, but top US stock driver Travis Schreven was unbelievably fast and beat the best US and European drivers. Travis had a perfect last round and won ahead of Juho Levanen, Paul Lemieux, and Atsushi Hara. All XRAY guys were really happy with Travisâ™ great performance and again with the great XRAY result : 4 cars in the A main and Martin Hudy in the B main (finished 12th only 1 sec behind A main). Martin was very fast in his B main final while he was closely following Craig Drescher after the start and after 2 minutes he took a lead but unfortunately made a mistake and Chris Tosolini took the lead. Although Martin was closely following Chris he did not give him any opportunity to pass and so Martin finished 2nd. |
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Teemu Leino
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| Qualifiers 19T Rubber |
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| Martin and Juraj decided to compete in the 19T Rubber class. Many drivers in rubber classes use XRAY cars, so in order to help them with setup they had to drive this class as well. Martin was dominating this class by winning all qualifiers round and finished 1st by 4 seconds ahead of Mike Hayens. Juraj was unlucky with traffic and finished 10th. He was unlucky in the B main as well and did not bump into the A main. |
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Paul LeMieux relaxing before the final run
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| Finals â” Modified |
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| XRAY drivers at the front of the pack had a very good start and were closely following Mike Dumas until Mike made a mistake. At that point Jilles took the lead and Paul was in 2nd. However, Paul made a small mistake and lost this position. Chris Tosolini took advantage of this and moved into 2nd. Paul was pushing very hard and after few laps he was closely following Chris, who then made a small mistake so Paul moved into 2nd place again⦠only to make a small mistake again. At the end he hit Chris but as a fair play driver he waiting for him. However, in the last lap Chris Tosolini dumped and when Paul tried to pass him on the straight, Chris turned into Paul which did not allow Paul to pass and finished 3rd. Everyone was very happy because Jilles won the Modified class for the second time and he proved that he belongs among the best foam drivers although he only drives this class 2 or 3 times per year. Teemu finished 5th; he lost his 4th place in the last lap when he was lapping Simo and got into collision. Bobby was unlucky with traffic and finished 7th and Barry 8th when he had to stop in the second minute because his body was broken. |
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(click to enlarge) |
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| Finals â” 19T Foam |
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| This final was an exhibition of one driver, Team XRAY driver Travis Schreven, who won this highly-competitive final from start-to-finish. He jumped into a good lead right from the start and although he looked nervous in the last two laps he won ahead of Juho Levanen and Paul Lemieux. Paul was driving in 2nd place (which he moved into from the start after being gridded 4th ) but he made a small mistake which cost him his 2nd place. Jilles finished 5th and Bobby 9th. |
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Drew Ellis
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| Finals â” 19T Rubber |
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Martin won this race in the same style as Travis, start-to-finish. Although Mike Hayens tried to pressure Martin, he made a mistake and Martin won by 7sec ahead of Brandon Melton.
Overall, Team XRAY had great results again by winning 3 classes out of 5. Although we could not celebrate huge success, because we had to immediately depart after the prize ceremony to go to Fort Myers for the US Winternats, everyone was satisfied and happy with the great teamwork and performance of the cars. For Team XRAY it was already the 4th year to keep the win of this highly competitive race. We are all looking forward the 2008 Snowbirds.
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19T Rubber podium
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Martin Hudy taking home the TQ and Winner trophy
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Travis Schreven on the 19T foam podium
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Jilles Groskamp taking home the Modified class trophy already second time
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