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Paul LeMieux Total Winner
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Team XRAY debuted the all-new T2'007 at the prestigious International Indoor Championship with a great success. Team XRAY set 4x TQ and WON in 3 categories: 19T foam, Stock and Modified Foam.
Moreover Paul LeMieux achieved the best combined result of the Modified Foam and Modified Rubber categories with the XRAY T2'007. |
| Race report by Martin Hudy |
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The International Indoor Championship (IIC) has only had its 2nd annual race on schedule, and already it has become one of the most popular races. Why?
Here are my 5 reasons why this has become the best race of the season and why you should not be missing this race:
1. IIC starts the indoor carpet season so everybody is so very excited to race on carpet again, to clean-up the carpet racing skills⦠you simply have to be here.
2. IIC is the only race where classes are run on both foams and rubber tires, so if you want to get some really exciting racing and show your skills, you can race in both categories. The touring car class was run in all popular categories: modified, 19T and stock so every level of driver could find their favorite class to run in.
3. IIC is organized by Scotty who has become an RC speaker legend⦠again, you have to be at this race because of the whole atmosphere. Moreover the organization is some of the best and you really have fun at this race.
4. IIC takes place in Vegas, the so-called âśFabulous City of Nevada,âť so you get all the bells-and-whistles, non-stop Casino life, and the whole night life atmosphere that just meshes with RC racing somehow and gets your adrenaline pumping even more.
5. IIC stands for âśInternational Indoor Championshipâś and the 2006 event was definitely the Indoor World Championship contest featuring all the worldâ™s best drivers⦠featuring World Champions and all the factory teams.
6. Reason number #6 to be at the IIC was the fact that XRAY team has presented and debuted the brand new T2â™007 and for the first time the debut to the public was at the same time when the hall opened the public could experience the complete presentation of the new T2â™007 at XRAYâ™s web site. |
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XRAY Team
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| Team XRAY brought the best factory team to showcase the new T2â™007. RCAmerica brought the best US team consisting of: Ralph Burch, Paul Lemiux, Mike Blacstock, Jared Scott, Barry Baker, Bobby Flack, Travis Schreven, Peter Robinson, Andrew Ellis, Chris Doseck, Tom Esposito, Ray Darroch, and Steve Rossi. From Europe it was Swedish trio Joel, Andreas, Victor, our famous forum moderator Tony Vredenerg, Frans Heinsbroek, Martin Lissau and of course factory representatives Juraj and Martin Hudy. |
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For international support it was Ryan Lee (South Korea) and Korgae Scales (Canada) who represented XRAY. European superstar Jilles Groskamp should fly-in from the 1/10 Nitro World Championship from Australia but his flight was canceled and was not able to get to the race on time.
Several team drivers received the new T2â™007 only a few days before the race so not much time was left for drivers for practice... but all the initial responses were very positive so we felt comfortable and motivated when the door of the hallway opened early on Wednesday. |
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XRAY pit
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| Debuting a brand new car at the race fully loaded with competition drivers of such caliber could be either a disaster or total domination so careful scrutiny was given to the new T2â™007 the first time it was put on the track; needless to say we were a bit nervous. Nervousness was replaced by excitement after the first practice heats when it was obvious that the T2â™007 has again pushed the performance limits by another big step forward. For the rubber racing we used the final production T2â™007 EU Rubber-Spec car while for all foam races we used the production T2â™007 US Foam-Spec car. |
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Juraj working with Barry
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| The most noticeable difference on the rubber tires was the improved traction which made the car more stable, allowing you to handle the car more comfortable which paid off in more consistent lap times. A significant improvement was noticeable in the foam categories where the US Foam-Spec kit was given two thumbs up by the team drivers as a big improvement both in performance and reliability. Thanks to the thick chassis, stiff suspension and wide top deck the car was very stable and easy to drive. |
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| Not only was the improved performance more noticeable, but the car was in very good shape even after crashes. The long flex of the car with having the top deck super long made the car more forgiving in serious crashes and significantly reduced the tweak, allowing us to concentrate more on the race even if your coordination was not perfect and you got into collisions. The minimized tweak was one of the most applauded improvements which every driver loved. |
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Mike Blackstock's T2'007
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Practice went perfectly for the new T2â™007 and our expectations paid off â“ Mike Blackstock was 0.3 second per lap faster than anybody else and the T2â™007 dominated in the foam modified practice already.
Being in Las Vegas, everybody would expect that after playing with the toys during the day that we would spend the night in Casinos⦠but the opposite was the true. Even though the car worked very well from the beginning, the whole team continued their hard work testing different set-up ideas. |
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With the excellent, non-stop team work and cooperation we were able to quickly find the best set-ups. The very high competition and the very hard work were really very demanding for everybody and we usually had no more than 4 hours of rest during the night. But what else would you expect at such highly-competitive race where all the factory teams are working very hard to showcase their best?
The qualifiers continued with domination and leads by Team XRAY. |
| 19T Foam â” Qualifying |
Bobby Flack's T2'007
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| Travis Schreven, who was super fast in practice, had some problems with traffic in the qualifiers so it was then Bobby Flack who was the fastest and easily set the TQ â“ which brought the first TQ for the T2â™007 with final time 27 laps and 4seconds. Just 3 second behind was Travis, followed by his teammate Peter Robinson in 4th, Mike McMahon in 6th and Andrew Ellis in 10th⦠excellent results and a good start to the event. |
| Stock Foam â” Qualifying |
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| Travis had a bit more luck in this category where he was able to showcase his racing skills and the T2â™007 performance by totally dominating this category and setting TQ â“ the second TQ on account for the T2â™007. The only other driver who was able to keep up with Travis was another XRAY driver â“ Peter Robinson who qualified 2nd right behind Travis. With the two TQs on the account, the day was getting better for the team. |
| Modified Rubber â” Qualifying |
Barry Baker's T2'007
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| The modified rubber category was definitely the very competitive and really demanding. It was not only the number of top drivers of world caliber that made this category so demanding, but it was the combination of tires, additive, carpet and super power that resulted in minimum traction on the track. Such difficult conditions made it very demanding for the drivers to find the best setup and of course thatâ™s where racing experience and skills came into play once you hit the track and you felt the car sliding just by touching the throttle. |
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| Team XRAY again proved its leadership role by setting the tempo and performance in this category, too. After each run the team analyzed every XRAY car, what was good and what was not and with mutual cooperation we were able to quickly build up a very good setup. With perfect team work and support the XRAY cars were improving all the time. Barry Baker â” for whom this was the first big event after joining Team XRAY â” was very happy with both the team support and car, and after a very long time he was able to qualify in the A main in a respectable 4th position. Mike Blackstock had traffic issues which did not allow him to repeat his performance from the practice, but was still able to qualify in the A main in 8th place. The European drivers had nothing just bad luck and Viktor, Martin, and Andreas qualified in B main. The biggest and best surprise for everybody was the excellent result of Paul Lemieux who dominated the qualifiers by claiming TQ in the last round â“ making this the 3rd TQ for the T2â™007! The team was especially very happy for this TQ because Paul is not as specialized in rubber-tire racing as the other competition drivers, but still with the new T2â™007 EU Rubber-Spec edition was able to TQ in the highly-competitive field easily proving the performance and the big potential of the new platform. |
| Modified Foam â” Qualifying |
Paul in pit
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| The first rounds of qualifiers in the modified foam category did not start very well as the setup we used from the practice did not work so well with the increased traction so everybody experienced a âśpushing carâť. After the first round we organized a team session where we worked out the setup strategy, and then worked mutually on setup improvements in the coming rounds. Mike Blackstock helped with the setup and Paul was a perfect help with tire tricks which were lacking by European team who do not have so much experience with foam tires. |
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Ralph and Barry
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| The very effective teamwork again paid off as we have found the correct setup which moved XRAY cars back to the lead and made the T2â™007 dominate again. After the qualifier Team XRAY was again the most successful team by placing 5 cars â“ all of them the new T2â™007 US Foam-Spec â“ into the A main. Paul Lemieux set the TQ â“ the 4th TQ on account for the T2â™007 and the second TQ for Paul himself. Just behind Paul it was Mike Blackstock who qualified only 0.2sec behind Paul in second position. From the rest of the team it was Bobby (6th), Ralph (7th) and Barry who was again very happy to be in the A main by placing in the 9th position. Fifty percent (50%) of the cars were XRAY. |
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Paul LeMieux's T2'007
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| Saturdayâ™s qualifications ended perfectly for our team. The debut of the new T2â™007 could not have been better, we have dominated, achieving 4x TQ. With the very good qualifying results we still kept a big respect to the Sundayâ™s finals since only 1 final run is on schedule where you either have good luck or you lose. |
| 19T Foam â” Final |
Peter and Bobby
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Bobby Flack had an excellent start in the 19T foam final and showcasing his racing skills and the carâ™s performance. He lead from start to finish without making a single mistake although he was under pressure for a long time by Paul Ciccarello who at the end made several mistakes which allowed Bobby to take a comfortable win. Both Travis and Peter did not have so much good luck and got lost in traffic which means automatically no chance for a good result. First final race, first WIN for Team XRAY and the T2â™007.
19T Foam
1. Bobby Flack - XRAY T2'007
2. Paul Ciccarello
3. Mo Denton
4. Jeff Cuffs
5. Jeff Dayger
6. Mike McMahon - XRAY T2
7. Travis Schreven - XRAY T2
8. TJ Bradley
9. Andrew Gray
10. Peter Robinson - XRAY T2 |
| Stock Foam â” Final |
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Travis wanted to improve his score card after his bad luck in the 19T category so he was ready to do that in the Stock Foam category which he TQed. Having a 1st starting position on the grid was an obvious advantage he did not let go of, and as soon as the clock started Travis jumped into the lead and never looked back. XRAY teammates Peter Robinson and Drew Ellis finished 5th and 6th respectively. Second final â“ second WIN for Team XRAY and the T2â™007.
Stock Foam
1. Travis Schreven - XRAY T2'007
2. Jason Schreffler
3. Craig Xavier
4. Peter Robinson - XRAY T2
5. Andrew Ellis - XRAY T2
6. TJ Bradley
7. Stephen Boice
8. Tom Firsching
9. Mo Denton
10. Jeff Cuffs |
| Modified Rubber â” Final |
Podium
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| The modified rubber class was spectacular to watch. Paul starting from the TQ position and the start went very well for him⦠he was closely followed by Atsushi Hara. The start was no good for Barry who was crashed in the first lap by Andy, putting Barry down the field. Paul was in the lead and was trying to get away but unfortunately he made a mistake in one corner when he flipped over and marshal turned him back but again on the roof, so Paul lost plenty of time. |
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This allowed to Hara and Rheinard to take off from the field. Paul started an unforgettable charge through the field and was catching on the leaders and despite being caught in traffic again he was able to work up to 3rd position and was right on the tail of Rheinard (2nd position) but time ran out. In the same race, Barry showed also very nice driving and despite a bad start he ran very cleanly and worked through the field and finished in a respectable 4th position. Mike Blackstock again had traffic problems when he got caught several times during the race, ultimately finishing in 7th position.
Modified Rubber
1. Atsushi Hara
2. Marc Rheinard
3. Paul LeMieux - XRAY T2'007
4. Barry Baker - XRAY T2'007
5. Ronald Volker
6. Simo Ahoniemi
7. Mike Blackstock - XRAY T2'007
8. Chris Tosolini
9. Andy Moore
10. Mike Dumas |
| Modified Foam â” Final |
XRAY T2'007 Winners
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The rubber modified final race was very exciting to watch but the last final race of foam modified class superseded it easily â“ it was the most thrilling and exciting race to watch.
Paul was started from the TQ position and wanted to improve his mood at least by winning this class. The race got very exciting just after the start, when Paul made a small mistake in the first lap allowing Mike Blackstock to get into the lead. |
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Paul could close him but he knew that he shouldnâ™t push to the limit as it could result in a crash for both of them. After the start Bobby Flack showed the excellent performance of the T2â™007 and thanks to the insane amount of steering he had while having plenty of tracion he moved from the 6th position to 3rd position.
After the first laps there were 3x XRAY cars in the lead with Ralph Burch in the 5th spot. Barry again had a bad start and crashed, and had to start from the last 10th position. The fight for the lead was getting more and more close, and in one corner Bobby got into an accident with Paul and they crashed together. Ralph also crashed by Chris Tossolini. After all the big crashes and plenty of chaos on the track it was still Mike Blackstock who was comfortably leading the field. Paul was doing his very best cruising the track very closely around the corner dots and was trying to improve but time was getting short and after the buzzer sounded Mike Blackstock finished 1st, Paul finished 4th, Bobby 6th, Ralph 8th and Barry 9th â” making it the 3rd WIN for Team XRAY and the T2â™007!
Modified Foam
1. Mike Blackstock - XRAY T2'007
2. Mike Dumas
3. Chris Tosolini
4. Paul LeMieux - XRAY T2'007
5. Andy Moore
6. Bobby Flack - XRAY T2'007
7. Andrew Gray
8. Ralph Burch - XRAY T2'007
9. Barry Baker - XRAY T2'007
10. Marc Rheinard |
| Total Win â” King of the Hill |
Paul LeMieux
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| Paul was the most unlucky XRAY driver because after setting two TQs and dominating the qualifiers he had so much bad luck in the finals and fell from his leading positions but still was able to finished in respectable 3rd and 4th positions in both rubber and foam classes. As the organizer announced a special competition for the overall winner â” the King of the Hill â” it was at the end Paul Lemieux who set the best combined result, which secured him the crown of the Kind of the Hill and awarded him a cash prize from the organizer. |
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| The 2006 International Indoor Championship was a spectacular race and a perfect debut for the T2â™007. The new car has proved in all categories and in hands of all drivers that both US Foam-Spec and EU Rubber-Spec editions are a step forward in the terms of handling, performance, and reliability. Team XRAY left this race very satisfied and happy with final results of 4x TQ, 3x WIN and the Total Win set by Paul Lemieux. |
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Congratulations go out to all winners, and a big thanks goes to all XRAY drivers for their excellent team work and perfect showcasing of the T2â™007. Another big thanks goes to all the drivers making this a thrilling and unforgetable race, and to the organisers for making such a great event. Thank you to RCAmerica for sponsoring and bringing the XRAY USA team to this event. See you the next year!
My final thoughts about why this has been a perfect race:
* The domination of the T2â™007 was the best debut we could ever hope for
* I was very happy that the T2â™007 has worked so well and consistenly all the time in all the different categories, proving that regular customers will be super happy with this car
* Team XRAY was definitely the best and most professional team at the event... working night-to-night very closely, actively, and effectively
* RCAmerica provided two new T2â™007 cars for two winners of the lowest finals in both 19T and Stock, making Eddy Bussiere and Tyler Phelps very happy new owners of the new T2â™007.
* John, owner of RCAmerica, organized a great team party in his room. All XRAY car owners were invited to join the XRAY party and there was plenty of seafood, sandwiches and other delicision snacks for all XRAY drivers. Another reason why to have an XRAY car â“ to be treated like a VIP.
* Andreas, Joel and Barry wanted to try their luck in the casino instead on the track but were not very lucky. The luckiest RC driver was Mr. Kimbrough who won 000
* Despite hundreds of winning slot machines automats which drew your attention to insert at least a few coins, we did not put even a cent into any of the games â“ we would rather put the money towards new tires or batteries. :o)
* Scotty is the man to beat when it comes to commenting at races and making the racing so much exciting â“ another great good job as usual. |
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