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| Race report by Paul Lemieux and Drew Ellis |
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As it is every year the 2011 "GLC" was held in Toledo OH at the One Eighth Racers of Toledo. Over the past decade the GLC has been a major stop on the nitro on road circuit in the US. The race had 4 classes. Those classes were 10th scale sedan, 8th scale GT, 8th scale masters and 8th scale open.
Many teams attended this event. For Team Xray USA it was Drew Ellis, Jeff Zuccarell, Paul Lemieux, Skip Starkey, Eli Ezrow, Lon Burling III, Nick and Ethan Lefebvre, the entire Whiting family, Jason Lutz, Espo and many others were on hand. |
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| MAINS: |
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| 10th Scale: At the Tone Lemieux got the hole shot with Vincent Jackson in toe. Jackson was fast in the opening laps staying close to Lemieux's bumper, just a couple laps in Jackson Tagged the back of Lemieux and waited which would drop them back in the order. Now it was Andy Power, Craig Xavier and Apolaro up front. After the first pit Lemieux resumed the lead with Craig Xavier running really well in second. DJ Apolaro came out on the bad end of a racing issue which would drop him way back and Vincent Jackson had his own issues which would take him out of the final, also Andy Power would retire early with problems. Paul and His NT1 would stretch out a large lead and win the 40min final by a good margin. DJ Apolaro would Claw his way back up in the standings to finish second and Brad Toffelmire would run a great race to come from ninth on the grid to round out the podium in third. |
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Masters: The Masters Final would prove to be a great race. In the Beginning of the race it was Joaquin Desoto, Eli Ezrow, David Lee and Skip Starkey up front. After things settled in Skip Starkey with good driving and Quick Pit work By Drew Ellis would get in to the lead. After that Skip was smooth and steady out front with Joaquin Desoto showing his pace and putting pressure on threw out the remainder of the final. In the closing minutes Joaquin was looking to close the last of the gap and try and get by Starkey, Starkey would stay the course and capitalize on a final Pit stop error which left Joaquin having to be turn marshaled in pit lane. With that Skip Starkey and his RX8 would take the win in the highly contested Masters A-Main. Second would go to Desoto, third saw a tight race at the end between David Lee and Rick Davis with Lee getting across the line to round out the podium.
8th scale GT: TQ rick Vessel would give up the lead to second qualifier Scott McNish in the early going. A short time in to the race Rick would re assume the lead and start running his race. Rick was able to slowly pull away over the long final and keep the race in his grasp. In the end Rick opened up about a one lap lead and took the win with Scott McNish in second and the fourth qualifier Bill Sydor getting on to the podium.
8th scale open: At the tone it was Kimbrow and Morganti got the jump and stretched a small lead over the first few laps. Lemieux from 5th on the grid quickly worked his way up to third and was trailing the top two keeping the distance at about 2 sec. playing it safe with a 4:30 pit strategy Lemieux pitted first, Great Pit speed from Drew Ellis and good pace allowed Paul to assume the lead with Kimbrow right on his bumper as they all had one pit under their belts. Paul was then able to pull away slightly over Kimbrow and Morganti. Small Crashes from Morganti then Kimbrow allowed Lemieux to open the lead to over a few of seconds. At about the 20min mark Morganti running second started to close the gap on Lemieux. The strategies were definitely unfolding between the two drivers. Coming out of the last pit stop it was Lemieux with about straightaway lead over the closing Morganti. At the two min to go mark Morganti was right there looking to take the race in to his own hands, a small mistake from Morganti allowed Lemieux to open up the lead again but Morganti did not give up. On the final lap Morganti was again getting closer but time was up and Lemieux and his RX8 crossed the finish and took the Win by just a few tenths of a second over Morganti, Scott Kimbrow would round out the podium in third.
Overall the GLC was a great event again this year, Thanks to Ted Hammer and all the GLC Crew who worked so hard to put this race on.
XRAY would like to thank all in attendance and congratulate all of the finalists and winners. |
| Final results |
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1/10:
1. Paul Lemieux XRAY NT1
2. DJ Apolaro
3. Brad Toffelmire XRAY NT1
4. Scott Fisher XRAY NT1
5. Ted Hammer
6. Chay Blount
7. Nick Lefebvre XRAY NT1
8. Louis Vanderway XRAY NT1
9. Troy Woodson XRAY NT1
10. Melvin Austin
11. Craig Xavier XRAY NT1
12. Loran Whiting XRAY NT1
13. Vincent Jackson
14. Andy Power XRAY NT1
1/8 Masters:
1. Skip Starkey XRAY RX8
2. Joaquin Desoto Sr
3. David Lee
4. Rick Davis
5. Don Jones
6. Dan Louis
7. Eli Ezrow XRAY RX8
8. Rick St Cyr
9. Mark Sweeney
10. Bob Block
11. Jeff Whiting XRAY RX8
12. OV Opheim XRAY RX8
1/8 Open:
1. Paul Lemieux XRAY RX8
2. Paolo Morganti
3. Scott Kimbrow
4. Uriah Murnan
5. Michael Palazzola
6. Richard Siriano
7. Terry Rott
8. Jari Taskila
9. Louis Vanderway
10. Lon Burling II XRAY RX8
11. Jeff Zuccarell XRAY RX8
12. Andrew Nicholas |
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| This is a Video filmed by Mike Myers from Sgrid.com of the last six minutes of the A main 1/8 open. |
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