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News  Racing
XRAY dominates at IIC, USA |
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| Race Report by Alexander Hagberg |
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| The 2018 edition of the world famous IIC event was held once again at the Westgate Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. Our XRAY team was represented by some of the best RC America racers, as well as a couple European additions! The track layout this year was fast, yet challenging, and grip levels came up rather high as the qualifiers started. |
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In the modified class, I was on pace early on, and could fight for the TQ in each round. I eventually lost out on the TQ in the rocket round by 1.4s, after some small mistakes.
An important new feature to this year's event was triple A finals for everyone! This changed this around a bit from the single main system that had been used since the first edition of this race, 13 years back.
On main day, I had switched from an aluminium flex to a solid aluminium chassis - and I could instantly see that it was the right thing to do. My car carried loads of corner speed while still being easy to drive. I really felt that I had an advantage going into the finals on the Sunday. In A1 I could cruise to victory after an early mistake from Ronald. A2 was a much tougher challenge. I knew that I had to drive aggressively from early on to try and stay with Ronald and possibly force an error. A minute or so into the final, Ronald hit a dot which meant that I could dive on the inside. I had the inside line coming up the front straight, but we came together just before the turn. Luckily I came out first, and could take the lead, which I held until the finish line - I was extremely happy to have taken my first IIC win in the touring car class!
I am proud not only of my win, but of the team effort this week. I feel that we worked really closely together to find a good set-up. This can be clearly reflected in the modified result - as XRAY had 4 cars in the top 5! Well done Jan Ratheisky on the 3rd place, Paul Lemieux on the 4th, and Drew Ellis in 5th!
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| Modified Results |
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1. Alexander Hagberg â“ XRAY T4
2. Ronald Volker
3. Jan Ratheisky â“ XRAY T4
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| In the 1/12 modified class - I found a good setup at the end of practice, which I only fine tuned for the rest of the event. My car was really easy to drive, but with lots of grip and steering. I was able to take a convincing TQ, which I converted into a win after the first two A-finals. The aluminium chassis was the best choice, as usual for these conditions, but in the end, I settled for the EU front end. I have to compliment my HW/Sunpadow power package as well, which definitely gave me an edge at this high speed track. |
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| 1/12 Modified Results |
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1. Alexander Hagberg â“ XRAY X12
2. Kevin Hebert
3. Andrew Knapp
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| Jan Ratheisky took his X1 car to a great TQ and victory in the Formula class! Jan won the first two A-finals from tone to tone and didn't put a wheel wrong all day! |
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| F1 Results |
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1. Jan Ratheisky â“ XRAY X1
2. Andrew Knapp
3. EJ Evans
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| In the TC super stock class, qualifying was an extremely close affair. Our team driver Jan Ratheisky showed great pace all week, but unfortunately, he had some tough luck in the Q4 "rocket round" which demoted him to 4th on the grid. Jan eventually moved up to 3rd after the finals, but I know that he had potential for more. Drew Ellis and Luke Pittman also made the A-final for our team! |
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| Super Stock Results |
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1. Brandon Clements
2. Ray Darroch
3. Jan Ratheisky â“ XRAY T4
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| In the TC 21.5 class, our fellow Canadian Luke Pittman did a stellar job, TQ'ing the race in a great fashion. Unfortunately, Luke ran into some issues with traffic in both A1 & 2, which would cost him the win. Darren Shank came in a strong 3rd for our team! Marc McGurren and David Panter also made the A-final for XRAY/RC America! |
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| Stock Results |
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1. Armand DeForest
2. Luke Pittman - XRAY T4
3. Darren Shank - XRAY T4
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| I want to thank all XRAY and RC America team drivers for their support and great work during the week! It's been a blast as always - until next time! Last but not least, I would like to wish our team the best of luck at the Indoor Champs in Cleveland this coming weekend! |
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| Race Report by Jan Ratheisky |
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Hi together ;)
Last week the one and only Scotty Ernst was hosting the well known International Indoor Championships. Easy called âžIICâś in the bling bling city Las Vegas. So I will write you a little report about that great race including some background information and what is going on in my mind ^^
Tuesday; As I arrived Monday I took my rc stuff and went throw the casino up to the convention center which is in the same building. We were allowed to make our pit setup and meet friends from all over the worlds. (Lazy peoples like me also use the time to rebuild the car hehe)
As there is no practice on Tuesday its still a very special one because as we are in Las Vegas its not just a easy drivers meeting. We went all together to a ballroom which was filled with a lot food and drinks. Drivers meeting in style !
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Wednesday and Thursday: Both days we had 45 mins of free practice in the morning to bring up the traction followed by 2 rounds of practice. The last two are already counting for seeding so I had to bring the cars on point after already 3 packs. As created a great basic setting for that carpet I just fine tuned my setup for the always changing conditions.
Friday and Saturday: Those two days are the qualies days and because the US guys like to use that âžrocked roundâś counting system we used the first two rounds more or less as practice because we know its not in the counting at the end. However ;)
In F1 I was able to set TQ with a bit of luck I have to say. Got crashed by mistake in the warmup I run the complete last qualifications with a broken wishbone.
With my Stock car I felt very good for the first 4 minutes and was chasing the leader good as I can but traction rolled absolutely unexpected out of the corner. As I said we used rocked round for the counting this mistake costs me a couple of spots and I was placed 4th on the grid.
My more or less side class modified went very well from the beginning. Big thanks to my team mate Alex for giving me a last minute setup idea which worked awesome I was able to start 3rd on the grid.
Sunday: Bring on the finals ! âžweâś, the European drivers are very happy to hear we are running 3 A mains now instead of just a single final for each class so following happened in the finals:
F1: Well I was under pressure from Andrew very hard right from the beggining but he pushed a bit over the limit and traction rolled in both A1 and A2. Because of that he needed to fight back for some spots and I was able to pull away more or less without any pressure. |
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Super Stock:
A1: I pushed hard to improve my 4th spot and was able to overtake Ray and put some pressure on my German mate Max which ended in a tiny mistake of him so I was ending the race without taking any more risk on P2.
A2: Well more or less the the exact same thing was gonna happen just the forcing and mistake of Max was coming in the very last lap of the races which sets me 2nd also in A2.
A3: As I knew a lot about that points system I tried my best to secure my 2nd place overall. Badly from my point of view Ray was able to overtake Max and I absolutely find no way to overtake Max this time. As I drove best as I can I was extremely close to him at any time. As a wise man said before: âžThis paper thin bodies...âś results in a tiny body stuck. I could not avoid that but it was me who was doing that I felt like I have to wait for him and let him pass. As I was not able to take one more attack on him I dropped on overall P3 on the countings. Unlucky... but at least a fair race ;)
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By the way... I was joking about the bodyshells because we have to run the heavy weight versions now also in US ^^
Mod:
Well I can not much say about that class ^^ in A1 Ronald made a mistake which put me 2nd and I could end the final with a safe gap.
In A2 I was not able to follow Ronald and Alex so I took it easy. Ronald made a small traction roll which gave me 2nd but I loosed it again after a couple of laps because I dont hit the straight perfect and he goes inside me on the straight. Nice pass so I ´m happy about my third.
A3: As Alex already won the didn´t run A3 wich results in a battle between Ronald and me. Surprisingly I was able to follow him for a couple of minutes but not close enough to press him into a mistake or any overtake tries. Take it more easy for the last to minutes I finished 2nd in A3 which resulted in the overall P3 in mod. Not to bad for a stock finger hehe ;)
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Alright guys that´s it... Best greetings out of the Airport Lounge at the Las Vegas Airport with an amazing view of the Strip. What I can promise you now already ? Well... I try all I can to be back here next year and want to welcome everybody to send me lots of questions about whatever you want to ;)
See you soon
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