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News  Racing
RX8 wins 2013 ROAR Nationals, USA |
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| Race report by Mike Swauger |
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The 2013 ROAR Nationals was held by the Greater LA Club in Gardena, California. This is the first time the ROAR Nationals have been in California since 2006. Before I begin with the race report I would like to thank the Greater LA Club for their hard work and extend an extra special thank you to Brad Rasmussen and Don Hirami for setting up the XRAY Team on âśXRAY Islandâť.
Open practice started on Wednesday morning, though most of the XRAY team waited until the afternoon to begin. This allowed the VHT to set into the track and gave us a better feel for the traction. I began practice with my RX8 and was really surprised at how high the traction was! I made a few minor changes to the front camber and castor that really made the car easy to drive with the high bite. I was happy with the RX8 so I decided to start testing with the NT1. The car was ok from the start but with the high bite it wanted to traction roll. I changed the front castor and rear roll center which really improved the car. |
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When practice began on Thursday, my main goal was to make sure I could go five minutes in both classes. After the second round of practice qualifying I was confident that I could run five minutes without any problems from either car. I was happy that I had TQ'ed in both classes going into qualifying.
Friday was the first day of qualifying and by the end of the day Ralph, DJ and I each had a TQ round under our belts. On the last run of the day I set a new track record with 20 laps. In the 1/8th class I was able to TQ in all three rounds as well as set another new track record.
Saturday was the final day for qualifying. I wanted to concentrate on a second TQ in sedan and try a few setup changes to the RX8 knowing that I had three TQ runs under my belt. I knew in the sedan class it would come down to Ralph and I battling for TQ as we had the two fastest cars that day. Ralph and I were tied at the end of qualifying; the tie breaker was awarded to the fastest run, which I clinched Friday night. Ralph and I started 1-2 for the Main Event. In the 1/8th class I was able to TQ four out of the six rounds of qualifying. I was very happy with my car as it was fast and easy to drive. Ralph and I started 1-4 on the grid.
Sunday was the Main Day and the races opened with 1/8th scale. I had a clean start and began to pull away, but on the 10th lap, there was a car stopped at the end of the straightaway and I hit him wide open! After the collision my car failed to turn right, so I brought it into the pits. My pitman Mike Strack fixed the body damage, bent the bumper up, refueled the car and sent me on my way. When I finally got back on the track I was two laps down but there was still 56 minutes left in the race. With the car still running very well I slowly made my way up through the pack. By the 25 minute mark I was battling Paolo for the lead. Paolo came in for a tire change (changing only the left side tires) at the 30 minute mark. A few minutes later, I made a stop for a tire change but because of the extra time it took to change all four tires, I lost a few seconds to Paolo. Once back on the track, it only took me a few minutes to catch up and our battle for the lead continued. After about four minutes, I was finally able to pass Paolo. I pulled away and won the Main by over a lap. Ralph also ran a good race - placing 3rd, which gave XRAY a 1-3 finish!
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Next up was the Sedans. Once again I started out on pole and was able to get a real clean start. Ralphâ™s pitman put his car down a little late so there was a pileup behind me that gave me a nice gap. I was pulling away from the 2nd place car DJ but on the 6th lap I went into the sweeper and traction rolled. Upon the car landing, the car flamed out and had to be restarted. When I was able to get back on track, I was four laps down but just like in the 1/8th race, I still had almost the entire race to catch up. Ralph was having a good race and was cruising behind DJ for the lead when he started having engine problems that would lead to his retirement. By the end of the race I was able to get up to 2nd place and make up two of the four laps I had been down, and set fast lap of the Main Event. I would like to congratulate the entire XRAY Sedan finalists that made the final. We had seven out of twelve cars in the final.
I would like to thank all of my sponsors for making this a successful race for me. RC America, XRAY, Picco, Hudy, Matrix Tires, KO Propo America, Byrons Fuel, Protoform, Kevco Racing and Acorn Racing USA.
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| Sedan |
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1. Apolaro, DJ
2. (TQ)-Swauger, Mike - XRAY NT1
3. Morganti, Paolo
4. Perez, Steve
5. Jones, KJ
6. Barnes, Scott - XRAY NT1
7. Quesenberry, Andrew - XRAY NT1
8. Takahashi, Ray - XRAY NT1
9. Burch, Ralph - XRAY NT1
10. Jackson, Vincent
11. Corrado, Jamie - XRAY NT1
12. Collymore, Diatta - XRAY NT1
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| 1/8th open |
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1. (TQ)-Swauger, Mike - XRAY RX8
2. Morganti, Paolo
3. Burch, Ralph - XRAY RX8
4. Desoto Jr, Joaquin
5. Verano, Chris
6. Lue, Sean
7. Lopez, Christian
8. Diaz, Walter
9. Prather, Jonathan
10. Cho, Brandon
11. Thomas, Brian
12. Jackson, Vincent
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| Masters 1/8th (Over 45) |
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1. Smeltzer, Dana
2. Desoto Sr., Joaquin
3. Rapp, Jerry 12
4. Rasmussen, Brad - XRAY RX8
5. Esser, Greg
6. Hayes, Bob
7. Miyamoto, Donald
8. HIRAMI, DONALD - XRAY RX8
9. Jones, Kenny
10. Kam, Reynold - XRAY RX8
11. Mckee, Dana - XRAY RX8
12. Louis, Dan - XRAY RX8
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