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By Aaron Waldron
LiveRC.com
Race report from XRAY:
www.teamxray.com
XRAY wins at 2016 Snowbird Nationals. 4x WIN 4x TQ
One of the biggest RC events in the world, the Snowbird Nationals, was once again held in Orlando, Florida, and attracted racers from all over North America as well as the rest of the world!
New for this year was the CRC 2 carpet used for the event. A brand new type of carpet which provided very high grip right from the start. Racers had to get accustomed to these new conditions.
In co-operation with RC America and EA Motorsports, I held a seminar for the drivers of the Amateur TC division, right after practice finished on the Tuesday night. I handed out basic setup sheets, and answered questions, for drivers to quicker be able to find a basic setup and working car. This initiative was much appreciated by the drivers.
As the week went on, it was clear that the XRAY team was getting their cars dialed in.
In the TC 13.5 Stock category, Jan Ratheisky just missed out on TQ to Keven Hebert, and just like last year, had to chase him down in the final. Jan eventually pushed a bit too hard which led to him making a mistake in the sweeper. Eventually he returned to the track and held on to the 2nd place. Eric Anderson made it through to 3rd after a great drive in the main. Drew Ellis, Matt Lyons and Cory Parsons also made the main with their XRAY T4'16 cars!
In the Formula class, our Formula expert Jan Ratheisky took a convincing TQ which he converted into a win, defending his position well from a hard charging Suzuki in the main final. That makes it two in a row for Jan in the F1 class at the Birds!
1/12 Stock 17.5T saw a close battle between Andrew Knapp and XRAY driver Robbie Dodge in qualifying. In the end, Knapp managed to hang on to TQ just in front of Robbie. In the final, Robbie definitely had the pace to challenge Knapp, but in the end, had to settle for 2nd after a couple of small mistakes. Still a great showing for the X12 in the Stock class, since Craig Xavier rounded out the podium for XRAY! Cory Parsons finished 5th in his first 1/12 race ever, also running the X12 car!
TC 17.5T was TQed by Eric Anderson after a very strong qualifying performance. Unfortunately Eric made a mistake in the early stages of the race, which gave the lead to Robbie Dodge. Jan Ratheisky was chasing Robbie at first but eventually slowed down a bit, to finish 2nd overall.
In TC Modified, my car was good all through practice as I had already found a good basic setup, while testing at Thunder in Nashville. Some minor tweaks throughout the week, eventually gave me the car to TQ all qualifiers, as well as win the final with a big margin! The car was super consistent and easy to drive even when the track conditions changed. Jan Ratheisky made a strong run to finish 3rd overall in the Modified category!
I was particularly proud of my TQ and win in 1/12 Modified. This category remains particularly important to me due to my involvement in the X12 project. The X12'16 was running extremely well throughout the event, after some small changes to accomodate for the very high grip surface - such as smaller tires, less camber and caster in the front end, as well as a wider rear track width. I TQed all rounds of qualifying and led the final from tone to tone! Max Kuenning made a strong run to 5th with his XRAY X12 as well.
Winning both Modified classes also awarded me with the overall champion trophy! I am very happy to have repeat this achievement from last year! The XRAY team proved to be very strong in most classes at this important event. I want to thank everyone for your support! I am looking forward to next year! Thank you to RC America for the great support of the brand at this big event, we have a great team in the US, which shows from the results and the atmosphere in the pits!
Results TC Modified:
Results TC 13.5T Super Stock:
Results TC 17.5T Stock:
Results Formula 1:
Results 1/12 Modified:
Results 1/12 17.5T Stock:
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