| Race report by Barry Baker |
|
|
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
When we arrived at CEFX Raceway we were all amazed at the great facility they have there.Very nice looking track with a great pitting arrangment.Recently they added an upstairs area for pitting which looked very nice.The track layout was very technical(almost like an old 12th layout from old day Cleveland)which means a clean run is very important.
On Tuesday of the race it was open practice during the day with a club race during the evening.Since it was officially the first day the team all tried different set ups. During qualifing of the club race it looked as if the Xray team was once again the team to beat as I set on pole for the club race with Paul LeMieux in the second position and Bobby Flack in the third spot on the grid.We had some fun in the Club Race and at the end of it all Bobby took the Checked flag first.... |
|
Track
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
Wednesday and Thursday was controlled practice for the Nationals. During the 2 days of practice we all were still tryng different set ups at one point in practice myself, Paul and Ralph Burch were the 3 fastest cars all on different set ups which only goes to show that the T2 007 can be set up in many different way and still be fast! I myself was feeling very good after practice had ended. In the Stock and 19 turn Classes the Xray cars were very fast also with the Champ from the Snowbirds, Travis Schreven, looking very good!
Friday was the start of Qualifing....In the Stock Division it was apperent that Travis was the man to Beat, along with his teammates Andrew Ellis and Jim Herrman(who was TQ after the 2nd round)...In 19 turn Travis proved to everyone that the win at the Snowbirds was no fluke as he displayed his mad skills by TQing the 1st and 2nd rounds!...Mod TC was very close at one point the difference between TQ and 4th was only 1.5 seconds...At the end of the day it was Paul in the 3rd position and myself in the 4th spot on the grid... |
|
Paul's T2'007 car
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
| Saturday was the Final day for qualifing....In stock Travis regain TQ and never looked back his car was AWESOME! Andrew Ellis put in a great run to move up to 3rd on the grid and Jimmy was 4th..In 19 turn Paul laid it down in the last round to move to the pole! Travis was second on the grid....Mod TC came down to the last qualifier...it was nailbiting time for some. In the 3rd round of qulifing my car was very hard to drive for the first 2 minutes of the run but after that it was very fast. So I decided to run the same tires again in the last round. It sure paid off for me as from the word go my car was flying! I was on a 31 lap pace(TQ was a 30 5:00.2) with 1 minute to go I made a small mistake on one of the corners at I dropped to a 30 5:00.4 at the end of the run. That small mistake cost me TQ. But I was very confident going into the mains! |
|
Driver stand - Stock
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
So after Qualifing in Stock we had 4 cars....Travis Schreven,Andrew Ellis,Jim Herrman,and Paul Ciccarello....19 turn we also had 4 cars....Paul LeMeiux,Travis Schreven,Andrew Ellis,and Ralph Burch.....And in Mod TC we had once again 4 cars....Myself,Paul LeMeiux,Ray Darroch, and Ralph Burch....Bobby Flack and Chris Doseck just missed the main by a few seconds both of who were just as fast but had bad luck in the qualifiers!
Sunday...Main day....
In Stock it was the Travis Schreven show! Travis won the first 2 mains to make him the National Champion! In the 3rd final Andrew Ellis came through with the big win to Vault him up to the 2nd position overall and Jimmy finished 4th overall...3 out of the top 4 not to bad!
In 19 turn it was Paul LeMeiux winning the first 2 legs of the finals making him the National Champion(back to back). In the 3rd final Travis drove awesome again to win it which placed him 2nd overall...so once again it was XRAY 1-2! |
|
Driver stand - 19t
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
| So now it was time for the Mod TC Races.....In the first main the start was good for myself but Paul was out of the race right away for a first lap incident.On the second lap I made a huge mistake and dropped to 7th..By the end of the race I made my way back to 4th! In the 2nd main The start was good again for myself.I followed Chris(Tosolini) who was TQ for the first 4 mins no more then 2 feet from his rear bumper.Then he made a slight mistake and I rubbed his car slightly while trying to pass and his body got tucked up.That allowed me to have a comfortable lead and go on to the win in the 2nd main. It all came down to the 3rd main Myself,Chris both had wins. The start was again a good one for me and then about 3/4 of the way through the fist lap in got really crazy..Chris went alittle wide through one corner so I went for a pass he grabbed alot of throttle and we went side by side for 4 corners,side by side, the crowd was going crazy then as we entered a tight right handed corner he got caught up with a flapper and that was all I needed as I streched out a comfortable lead and kept it to the finish line!Winning the Nationals means so much to me! |
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
So that made it 2 TQ's and 3 Wins....not to shabby!!!!!!!!!!!
So that Not only made it a sweep for Xray at the Nationals but also a Sweep of all the major Foam tire Modified races for the whole year!
All I can say is WOW what a great car!
I would like to say Thank you to all my teammates thoughout the world, RC America, XRAY and Hudy for making this year of racing such an enjoyment!
Now its time to kick some butt on the pavement!
Barry |
|
Stock XRAY drivers
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
1/10th Touring Modified
1. Baker, Barry XRAY T2'007
2. Tosolini, Chris
3. Blackstock, Mike
4. Dumas, Mike
5. Cyrul, Josh
6. Hodge, Todd
7. Darroch, Ray XRAY T2'007
8. Dayger, Jeff
9. LeMieux, Paul XRAY T2'007
10. Burch, Ralph XRAY T2'007
1/10th Touring 19Turn
1. LeMieux, Paul XRAY T2'007
2. Schreven, Travis XRAY T2'007
3. Cyrul, Josh
4. Dayger, Jeff
5. Dumas, Mike
6. Blackstock, Mike
7. Ellis, Andrew XRAY T2'007
8. Tosolini, Chris
9. Burch, Ralph XRAY T2'007
10. Heiser, Tim
1/10th Touring Stock
1. Schreven, Travis XRAY T2'007
2. Ellis, Andrew XRAY T2'007
3. Goetz, Chris
4. Herrmann, Jim XRAY T2'007
5. Johnson, Brad
6. Ciccarello, Paul XRAY T2'007
7. Power, Andy
8. Boice, Stephen
9. Ezrow, Eli
10. Pulfer, Mike
Travis' overview:
This years 2007 Roar Carpet natioanals was awsome and the result was almost perfect winning stock and 2nd in 19turn. Before the race Drew Ellis came up with a setup that he had run on his local track and we decided to start the nat's with that setup. The first day of practice I left my car alone to get used to the track layout because the setup was very close. As the practice days went by the traction began to pick up, and the car began to oversteer. Drew put on a silver front swaybar and I followed suit. I also lowered my front camberlink and that helped my car get into the corner a little bit smoother. When I ran the car in the last practice session before qualifying the car was pretty much perfect. I knew if I drove clean that I had a good chance at winning with how good the car was working so I did not change anything else on the car. I focused on driving clean and the everything went well. I ended up Tqing Stock Touring after 4 tough rounds. And ended up second in 19turn behind Paulie and ahead of another awsome field of modified racers. I could not have asked for a better car for the finals.
Stock Touring Car Finals went according to plan as I drove 5 minutes clean not pushing the envelope and I cruised the win in first final and did the same in the 2nd final to secure the Stock Touring National Championship. Drew Ellis finished right behind me "shake n' bake" to also secure an Xray 1-2 finish. In 19turn a first a-main crash deminished my chances of victory over goliath lemieux. Congrat's to Paulie on his win, and I could not be happier about finishing 2nd after three hard fought a-mains against the talent of paul and the rest of the united states best racers. My 007 was perfect and I could not ask for a better handling car. I have to thank RCAmerica for the support, Garrett Smith for the motor building and to Danny for the batteries and Jack for the Jaco Tires also. And to everybody at XRAY - Mario, Martin, Juraj your support had been awsome. |
|
XRAY TEAM USA
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
Barry Baker - Winner of Modified
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
Paul LeMieux - Winner of 19T
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
Paul together with Travis - Winner of Stock
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
Podium Modified
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
| Photos copyright www.rc50.com |
|
