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Race report by Drew Ellis
XRAY / RCAmerica attended the 2011 Winternats held in Fort Myers FL. This race was the first for a few things. It would be the first race for new XRAY driver Mike Swauger and the debut of the XRAY RX8. In attendance for Team XRAY were Ralph Burch, Mike Swauger, Paul Lemieux, Loran Whiting, Emily Whiting, Jeff Whiting, Francesco Martini, Chris Metheny, Tommy Porfilio and Jerome Renaux. Drew Ellis was there for support for the team.

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The Fort Myers track had just got new asphalt and looked great. Many people call it the test track to the world. It is a very fast track with an even faster pace if you can hang on to your car. It is a demanding track and a true test to the driver’s and there equipment.

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Practice started on Tuesday with open practice all day. Wednesday was half controlled practice and two qualifiers. Thursday was practice in the morning with three qualifiers. Friday they ran the lower mains then opened the track for practice for those who did not race on Friday. Saturday was the mains.
In practice the XRAY team was looking real good. Ralph was setting pace in 1/10 and Mike was doing the same in 1/8. This was Paul’s first race with 1/8 since 2006 and he was wheeling the RX8 around like a true 1/8 racer. Coming out of practice the whole team was looking good. It seems in 1/10 it would be mostly an XRAY NT1 main. The four RX8’s were showing very good paces at the demanding Winternat’s track.

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Ralph had this to say after the first time driving the XRAY RX8:
"The RX8 makes a lot of traction and is very stable. The car responds well to input. It’s very easy to drive."

Qualifying went well for Team XRAY. Ralph set the track record in 1/10 with his Max Powered XRAY NT1 with a 24/5:07.Paul held TQ in 1/8 for the first 4 rounds with Mike taking it away from him in the last qualifier by 2 seconds.

Qualifying order 1/10: The top ten saw 8 XRAY Nt1’s.
1st Ralph Burch XRAY NT1 24/5:07.05 (Track Record)
2nd Scotty Grey
3rd Paul Lemieux XRAY NT1
4th Mike Swauger XRAY NT1
5th Scott Rister XRAY NT1
6th Francesco Martini XRAY NT1
7th Chris Methany XRAY NT1
8th Jerome Renaux XRAY NT1
9th Loran Whiting XRAY NT1

10th Peter Breton

Qualifying order for 1/8:
1st Mike Swauger XRAY RX8 26/5:10.49 (The only 26 lap run at the event)
2nd Paul Lemieux XRAY RX8

3rd Sean Lue
4th Roniel Regaldo
5th Paul Chiccarello
6th Marco Vanni
7th Rafael Angulo
8th JJ Wang
9th Ted Hammer
10th Ralph Burch XRAY RX8

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The mains were set and it was time to go racing for the win. The 1/10 final would be first and it was looking to be a good one. After the bumps we ended up with 7 out of 10 cars being XRAY NT1’s. A great result for Team XRAY as the whole team was working well with each other for this result.

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Nitro Touring Car Final:
At the tone Ralph pretty much walked away with his Max Power XRAY NT1. Paul had a slight problem with his body on the second lap, but come in and got that fixed rejoining the race in 5th. At this time Ralph was leading and Mike was in second with Scott Rister holding down third. Paul started moving up and saw his self in third. At this time XRAY was 1,2,3,4 on the track. Scott Rister ran into a problem with his engine and had to be re- started. Then a few minutes after that New Team XRAY Driver Mike Swauger ran into some issue and had to retire from the race.

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Now it came down to Ralph and Paul and it was a good one. They were the only two on the same lap and raced nose to tail around the track swapping first and second. This went on for about ten minutes then Paul had a flam out. Paul was able to rejoin the race in second but was 2 laps down to Ralph. Ralph set it in cruise control to take the 2011 Winternats Championship. Paul was able to hang on to second. Congrats to all the XRAY Driver’s.

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1/8 Nitro Final:
The tone went off and Mike Swauger lead the drivers around the track for the first lap. After that Mike started to put a gap between him and Paul. Ralph started 9th but by the 7th lap was in third and he was moving fast setting some of the fastest laps in the main. At this time Ralph and Paul started racing like the touring car final. Paul let Ralph go as for Paul was trying not to make a tire stop. About the 15 minute Mike already had half the field lapped. With catching everyone so quick, Mike ran into a problem with some back markers getting hung up on a board. At this time Ralph had taking the lead with Mike in second and Paul in third. XRAY RX8 1, 2, 3 at this point.

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It was great to see these guys racing and pushing each other. Now the race was getting crazy with all the drivers except for Mike, Ralph and Paul on the same lap. Ralph ran into one of the lappers and smashed his body and we think moved his engine because a few laps later he striped second gear. At this point Mike and Paul were going at it and Paul was showing a very strong running for first place. Mike came in to do a tire change and Paul stayed out putting Mike 2 laps back, but Mike was running the fastest times on the track and was gaining on Paul. At the end it was Mike Swauger crowned the 2011 Winternats Champ with his XRAY RX8. Paul held on to finish second. A great first race and win for the New XRAY RX8.

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Nitro Touring Car Final Results:
1. Ralph Burch XRAY NT1 2011
2. Paul Lemieux XRAY NT1 2011

3. Scotty Gray
4. Scott Rister XRAY NT1WE
5. Francesco Martini XRAY NT1 2011
6. Jerome Renaux XRAY NT1 2011

7. Chris Metheny XRAY NT1WE
8. Marcos Moten
9. Ted Hammer
10. Mike Swauger XRAY NT1 2011

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1/8 Nitro Final Results:
1. Mike Swauger XRAY RX8
2. Paul Lemieux XRAY RX8

3. Paul Chiccarello
4. Joe Sumansky
5. Marco Vanni
6. Sean Lue
7. JJ Wang
8. Rafael Angulo
9. Ralph Burch XRAY RX8
10. Roniel Regaldo

I would like to thank the Red Cup Racing crew for a job well done. Those guys really know how to run a race. Thanks to XRAY for the support and making such great products that can withstand the Winternats demanding track. Thanks to the whole team for getting such a great result at the race. Everyone worked hard and at the end it paid off.
See you at the next one. Till then keep racing.

Set-up sheets
Ralph Burch
Paul Lemieux

Videos
XRAY RX8 of Mike Swauger:




XRAY RX8 set TQ run:




Touring A-main




1/8 A-main


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