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| The layout was fast but challenging and technical, with the inclusion of a few dots and providing a strong European feel which many racers thoroughly enjoyed. Stock Wars was created by Robbie last season in the absence of IIC and it spotlights arguably the most popular onroad classes in the U.S., including 17.5 TC, 17.5 1/12, USGT and F1. It also gives racers the chance to compete in the "Pro" TC and 1/12 division, which includes the top 17.5 racers in the country, or in the "Open" TC and 1/12 division, which allows some up and coming star drivers to showcase their abilities. Racers from all over the country came out to race in this event which has been regarded as a great opportunity to prepare for the ROAR Carpet Nationals, which will be held here in March 2017. In total, 92 drivers made up 147 entries between the 6 classes, and competition in each class was fierce! |
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| On Thursday December 8, the track opened up at 10AM for open practice with an optional club race starting at 7PM. EA & Robbie were on track early, learning the layout & getting a feel for the cars and track layout which proved to be tricky. Throughout the day, more and more racers started pouring in for practice, some for club racing, and some to get ready for the controlled practice & seeding round scheduled for the following day. |
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| Friday December 9, doors opened at 7AM and with the arrival of Craig Xavier the night before, the XRAY team was ready to do battle. The trio of XRAY drivers tested and adjusted their T4'17 setups through the day as traction continued to rise, preparing for a 5PM seeding round. Later in the day, Robbie would begin working on 1/12 and face electrical problems, later discovering that an expired speed control was the issue. This would result in no seeding time run for that class. In TC Pro, Robbie, Eric and Craig would seed 3rd, 6th and 8th respectively for Saturday's opening round. |
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| Saturday morning came and we were set for 3 rounds of quals. Qualifying was close all day with all 3 drivers having good pace and challenging for top spots in TC Pro. In round 3 the team hit on a setup change that would bring all 3 of us into the fight for TQ for round 4 on Sunday. In 1/12, things were not as simple as a loss of practice time resulted in chasing a good setup in quals for Robbie. However, XRAY 1/12 driver Shawn Rayfield put in a few solid runs and was threatening for an A-Main starting spot all day, his car looking really strong. |
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| Sunday morning, round 4 of 4 and mains were the agenda for the day. Round 4 kicked off with Robbie putting in a 1/12 run barely missing the A, about 3 tenths off of the tenth place qualifier. Shawn Rayfield would end up qualifying just 2 spots and 2 tenths behind Robbie in what was super tight qualifying. Ken Miller would also place his XRAY X12 in the B main, only 2 seconds behind Robbie & Shawn. A great effort by the 1/12 team came up just a little short. In TC Pro, round 4 would be tight the entire 5 minutes, with EA, Robbie and Xavier all leading laps, and challenging for TQ. In the end, Xavier would qualify 2nd, Robbie 4th and EA 6th. Qualifying was so tight, even the slightest taps would drop you 3 positions! The changes made Saturday really feeling good for our guys as well as other XRAY drivers at the event, we were confident going into the mains that we would be able to race hard for the win. |
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| At the end of quals, the top 11 drivers in the TC Pro class were separated by just 3 seconds, while the top 20 were within a lap of TQ Mike Gee. 1/12 Pro saw a similarly tight field, with the top 13 drivers being just 6 seconds off of TQ Jeff Dayger and again, the top 20 being within 1 lap of TQ. 1/12 Open was TQ'ed by a local friend to racing, Al Sodano, a track owner himself, putting in 4 great runs to get the 1 spot narrowly over event announcer & RC celebrity, Alex Valdes. In F1, newcomer to the class Kyle Klingforth from Denver, CO would TQ by a few seconds over F1 stars Bryan Wynn and Mario Ficco. TC Open would see Al Sodano with another narrow TQ over a couple other local fast guys. USGT would have a familiar face on top in Bill Sydor, with local hero Phil Trotta starting 2nd with his XRAY TC. |
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| The excitement has been building for days, the grids were set and we were ready for mains. Up first were lower mains which provided some exciting action and great memories for drivers & spectators. In 1/12 Open, Greg Dobrosky would win the 8 minute B-Main and for his efforts, received a brand new XRAY X12'17 kit donated by RC America! The 1/12 Open A Main would see event announcer Alex Valdes come out on top with an exciting drive. To be the event announcer and win a class is something special, congrats Alex and thank you! Gael Lambre and Jonathon Sohl would place 2nd and 3rd respectively. In 1/12 Pro, Joe Trandell got off to an amazing start and passed TQ Jeff Dayger before even reaching turn 1! Joe would take the win from there with a superb drive. Jeff Dayger and Jari Taskila would round out the top 3. The USGT A was a thriller, with Bill Sydor being the favorite to win, Manny Flores brought the fight, looking high and low several times but ultimately settling for 2nd and local Joachim Bruneau 3rd. F1 would pretty much end as they qualified with Kyle taking it flag to flag, Wynn 2nd and Ficco 3rd. TC Open was another exciting race with Joachim Bruneau challenging Al Sodano hard, Sodano making a mistake and Bruneau getting through to take the win. Gael Lambre and Albin Melendez would finish out the podium. The final event of the weekend was the TC Pro A-Main. Another exciting race to watch as it would start out with 2nd and 3rd getting tangled up in turn 1, causing a bit of trouble for the cars behind. Ultimately, Craig Xavier would come out finishing where he qualified in 2nd, Sam Isaacs rounding out the podium. Robbie and EA would place 6th and 10th respectively with some unfortunate luck. |
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| 1/12 Open: |
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1. Alex Valdes
2. Gael Lambre
3. Jonathan Sohl
4. Al Sodano
5. Dominick Pettinelli
6. Craig Santry
7. Dan Pawling
8. Mike Pags
9. Joachim Bruneau
10. Rob Stillwell
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| 1/12 Pro: |
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1. Joe Trandell
2. Jeff Dayger
3. Jari Taskila
4. Brian Wynn
5. Johnny Themelis
6. Sal Amato
7. Monti Panzica
8. Larry Fairtrace
9. Paul Ciccarello
10. Ralph Morella
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| USGT: |
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1. Bill Sydor
2. Manny Flores
3. Joachim Bruneau
4. Phil Trotta - XRAY T4
5. Brent Klingforth
6. Scott Jakes
7. Rayboogie Quiles
8. Aja Archibald
9. Clayton Young - XRAY T4
10. Kolbey Harris
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| F1: |
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1. Kyle Klingforth
2. Brian Wynn
3. Mario Ficco
4. John Koblek - XRAY X1
5. Tom Trez
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| TC Open: |
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1. Joachim Bruneau
2. Gael Lambre
3. Albin Melendez
4. Marvin Morris - XRAY T4
5. Brandon Hughes
6. Guner Mehmet - XRAY T4
7. Clayton Young - XRAY T4
8. Dan Pawling - XRAY T4
9. Charlie Williams - XRAY T4
10. Al Sodano
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| TC Pro: |
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1. Mike Gee
2. Craig Xavier - XRAY T4
3. Sam Isaacs
4. Jeff Dayger
5. Paul Ciccarello
6. Robbie Dodge - XRAY T4
7. Bill Sydor
8. Monti Panzica
9. Kyle Klingforth
10. Eric Anderson - XRAY T4
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