It's sad to post this but after a post-election strong USD currency we have had our dollar devalue by about 14% as compared to the Euro over the last 9 months (Euro-Dollar moved from 1.05 to 1.20 just last month). The weakness in USD vs Euro is forcing a price change for AwesomatixUSA as we must pay Awesomatix in Euro.
Price change will go into effect on Oct 1st for all Awesomatix kits and on October 15th for all Awesomatix parts. The rationale to split the price change dates is totally driven by the fact the team will be in Las Vegas, NV competing at Scotty Ernst's IIC event, and looking to bring home more wins.
We hope our customers understand that our aggressive price adjustment on the 2017 A800X series of kits, down from the 2016 A800 series was driven entirely via changes in the strength of the USD.
Looking forward to seeing many customers, racers and friends at the end of the Month in Vegas, baby!
Finally, with the upcoming price change, there is no better time than now to pick up a new A800X series kit. Kit back orders will be accepted at the current low prices....
The 2017 ROAR Carpet Nationals held at 360V2 RC Raceway in New Rochelle, New York was a major success! The track crew, including Donny Lia, Sal Amato, and Alex Valdes, among others, did an incredible job to prepare the track and facility in what was one of the best ROAR Nationals in recent memory.
For Team Awesomatix USA, the racing went as well as we could have ever asked for—taking down wins in 17.5 Touring car, Modified touring car, as well as USGT, and 2 TQ’s to go along with it!
Modified TC
Modified TC was the most exciting class of the weekend, with several National Champions in the building locked and loaded for some close racing. After four rounds of Rocket Round qualifying, it was the XRay of Paul Lemieux with a perfect drive to take the pole, followed closely by the Team Associated ride of Keven Hebert and the Awesomatix of Sam Isaacs rounding out the top 3 starting spots. For Awesomatix USA, we would have a total of 4 cars in the A-main: Sam Isaacs 3rd, Mike Gee starting 8th, Kyle Klingforth in 9th, and Donny Lia in 10th, rounding out the grid, filling nearly half the A main lineup!
Qualifying order for the A-main:
1 Paul Lemieux
2 Keven Hebert
3 Sam Isaacs (Awesomatix/Mon-Tech)
4 Ralph Burch
5 Chris Tosolini (Mon-Tech)
6 Chris Adams
7 Andrew Ellis (Mon-Tech)
8 Mike Gee (Awesomatix/Mon-Tech)
9 Kyle Klingforth (Awesomatix/Mon-Tech)
10 Donny Lia (Awesomatix)
The set of triple A mains for modified touring was sure to be interesting, with the best 2 of three races to count in typical ROAR Racing format. A1 would start in grid order, with a perfect start for Paul, Keven, and Sam pulling away from the rest of the field. The trio would remain in grid order until a mistake by leader Paul Lemieux flipping his car. Keven would assume the lead, which he would hold until the finish line to claim A1 in a close battle with Sam only 3/10th of a second behind at the buzzer. Surely, A2 would be even more interesting!
Modified touring leg 2 began in a similar fashion, with a perfect start for nearly the entire field, with the top three having some room to do battle! Paul would tap the carousel onto the straight away allowing Keven to assume the lead, followed closely by Paul and Sam. Paul and Sam began to close on the leader, and an incident between Keven and Paul on the left side of the track gave Sam plenty of space to go through and cruise to an A2 victory. The overall title would come down to A main number 3, with both Keven and Sam having one victory apiece.
After an intense leg 2, A3 proved to be just as entertaining and action packed. As in the previous 2 mains, the top three quickly broke away from the rest of the field to race for the title. After two races, Sam led in points with a first and a second place finish, with Keven the only one who could challenge Sam for the overall title, having a first place result already to his credit. As the race ensued, Keven was able to make a nice pass on the inside of Lemieux at the early stages of the race. Sam continued to apply serious pressure to the back of Lemieux for the second position. Slightly over halfway through the race, Paul and Sam put on a charge to catch the leader, Keven, and began to close on him. With less than 2 minutes to go, Keven would put his car on 2 wheels through the carousel, throwing his car off the racing line, allowing Paul to take the inside line. Keven, attempting to regain his first position, would run into the back of Paul, causing his car to flip and Paul’s body to tuck. Sam, just half a turn back, was able to drive through the commotion and cruise for the last minute and a half to take A3 and the Modified National Championship Title! In the end, Awesomatix USA had 4 cars in the A main final, with Sam taking the W, Mike Gee in 8th, Donny Lia in 9th, and Kyle Klingforth rounding out the main in 10th.
Finishing order and points:
1 Sam Isaacs 2pts
2 Keven Hebert 4pts
3 Ralph Burch 6pts
4 Chris Tosolini 7pts
5 Paul Lemieux 8pts
6 Andrew Ellis 9pts
7 Chris Adams 9pts
8 Mike Gee 11pts
9 Donny Lia 15pts
10 Kyle Klingforth 20pts
17.5 TC
The 17.5 TC division once again proved to be the largest class with over 50 participants. After 4 rounds of close and intense qualifying, Sam Isaacs was able to take top TQ honors with teammate Mike Gee keeping him honest, only about a second behind. Kyle Klingforth would put his name out there to qualify 4th on the grid, running the A800X behind Xray’s Eric Anderson. Bill Sydor qualified 7th and Sal Amato would round out the A main grid in 10th for a total of 5 Awesomatix cars in the show—more than any other brand!
Qualifying order for the A-main:
1 Sam Isaacs (Awesomatix/Mon-Tech)
2 Mike Gee (Awesomatix/Mon-Tech)
3 Eric Anderson (Mon-Tech)
4 Kyle Klingforth (Awesomatix/Mon-Tech)
5 Mike Haynes
6 Martin Crisp
7 Bill Sydor (Awesomatix/Mon-Tech)
8 Andrew Ellis (Mon-Tech)
9 John Themelis
10 Sal Amato (Awesomatix/Mon-Tech)
The triple A mains in 17.5 TC played out as they started. Sam was able to take tone-to-tone victories in A1 and A2 to take the overall National Champion title! Mike Gee proved victorious in A3, taking a tone-to-tone win to finish in the second spot overall! Kyle Klingforth, racing closely with Eric Anderson, was able to take third on the podium after some excellent drives. All in all, 17.5 TC was an Awesomatix and Mon-Tech Racing USA podium sweep, with Billy Sydor finishing 6th overall and Sal Amato in 7th.
Finishing order and points:
1 Sam Isaacs 2pts
2 Mike Gee 3pts
3 Kyle Klingforth 5pts
4 Eric Anderson 7pts
5 Mike Haynes 7pts
6 Bill Sydor 11pts
7 Sal Amato 12pts
8 Martin Crisp 13pts
9 John Themelis 17pts
10 Andrew Ellis 17pts
USGT
Awesomatix USA drivers showed great pace in USGT, with Billy Sydor taking the TQ honors by a few second over Jared Mowery and Awesomatix driver Brandon Hughes. Courtney Townend would qualify 8th with Ralph Morella in 9th to add two more Awesomatix cars to the A main grid. The main event was shaping up to be a great show, and an excellent chance for an Awesomatix victory with 4 cars in the A final!
Qualifying order for the A-main:
1 Bill Sydor (Awesomatix)
2 Jared Mowery
3 Brandon Hughes (Awesomatix)
4 Scott Jakes
5 Joachim Bruneau
6 Clayton Young
7 Jose Almonte
8 Courtney Townend (Awesomatix)
9 Ralph Morella (Awesomatix)
10 Walo Walker
Bill Sydor would lead tone to tone in A1 to take a commanding victory. An early mistake in A2 by Sydor would put Brandon Hughes, running the A800A, to the top spot, which he would hold for the majority of the race until an incident in the chicane with traffic, causing him to drop down the order. This allowed Sydor to again take over that top spot and claim the USGT National Championship with an A2 win! A great A3 win earned Brandon Hughes 2nd overall, a great result for the young up and coming racer. Ralph Morella would move from 9th on the grid to finish 6th, and Courtney Townend would wind up 8th overall.
Finishing order and points:
1 Bill Sydor 2pts
2 Brandon Hughes 3pts
3 Joachim Bruneau 5pts
4 Scott Jakes 5pts
5 Clayton Young 8pts
6 Ralph Morella 11pts
7 Jose Almonte 12pts
8 Courtney Townend 12pts
9 Jared Mowery 15pts
10 Walo Walker 16pts
The Team
The Awesomatix team showed great teamwork, paying off in three race victories and National Titles! Next up is the 2017 Mile High Indoor Championships at 5280 Raceway, in Denver, Colorado!
The 2017 Snowbird Nationals was held January 31st to February 5th featuring 24 hours of On-Road and Oval racing excitement. AwesomatixUSA drivers were competing in four TC classes - Modified, 17.5, 21.5 and USGT. When it was all said and done, the team would walk away with three TQs, two wins and nearly two other wins in the fastest classes. An additional shout out goes to our friend Victor Kao, a privateer, who took the TQ + Win in Touring Amateur 25.5.
Stock Touring 21.5
21.5 TC was positioned as the new Stock Touring class for 2017 due to the ever increasing speeds of 17.5 TC. This adjusted class for 2017 featured some of the closest qualifying and racing we would see all weekend. When the dust was settled, the top 3 positions were taken by Awesomatix drivers and a total of 6 Awesomatix touring cars were in the big show. Bill Sydor would capture two TQs for the weekend, followed closely by Mark Burt, Monti Panzica, Austin Wolfe, Luke Pitman and Cory Parsons. Only 2 seconds separating the top 6.
Qualifying order for the A-main:
1 Bill Sydor (Awesomatix / Mon-Tech)
2 Mark Burt (Awesomatix / Mon-Tech)
3 Monti Panzica (Awesomatix / Mon-Tech)
4 Austin Wolfe (Mon-Tech)
5 Luke Pittman
6 Cory Parsons
7 Brent Klingforth (Awesomatix / Mon-Tech)
8 Brian Card (Awesomatix / Mon-Tech)
9 Justin Lyons (Awesomatix)
10 Diatta Collymore
In the main, the battle up front would be the top three Awesomatix drivers - Sydor, Burt and Panzica. Brent Klingforth would charge up from 7th at the beginning to slot in 4th overall in the early minutes. Mark Burt would recovery from an early bobble and put a sweet pass on Bill with just a 1m 15s left on the clock. Mark would hold off Panzica and Luke Pittman would finish 3rd overall.
Finishing order:
1 Mark Burt
2 Monti Panzica
3 Luke Pittman
4 Bill Sydor
6 Brent Klingforth
7 Diatta Collymore
8 Brian Card
9 Justin Lyons
10 Cory Parsons
After the race Mark had to say "I need to thank Trinity for helping me power my racing addiction for the past 8 years and Awesomatix USA for the innovative chassis for the past 4 years. I wouldn't have been able to do it without you guys."
USGT
AwesomatixUSA's own Bill Sydor would prove to be a dominant force in USGT, much as he has done throughout the past few seasons, by taking TQ by 2 seconds of Jared Mowery. 3 seconds behind Mowery would be Jeremiah Ward.
Qualifying order for the A-main:
1 Bill Sydor (Awesomatix)
2 Jared Mowery
3 Jeremiah Ward
4 Scott Jakes
5 Justin Lyons (Awesomatix)
6 Brian Lettrich
7 John Cravotta
8 Jimbo Dove
9 John Barron II
10 Steve Kuithe
In the A-main Bill would control the pace and stretch his lead to 2 seconds over a hard charging Jeremiah Ward, with Jared Mowery taking 3rd after an early race tap out.
Finishing order:
1 Bill Sydor
2 Jeremiah Ward
3 Jared Mowery
4 Scott Jakes
5 John Cravotta
6 Jimbo Dove
7 John Barron II
8 Steve Kuithe
9 Brian Lettrich
10 Justin Lyons
Super Stock Touring 17.5
17.5 TC was the largest touring class at Snowbirds this year. In the highly competitive class we saw many favorites miss the A-main due to the high level of competition. Three drivers set themselves apart from the rest of the field by obtaining 30 laps in qualifying - Sam Isaacs, Robbie Dodge - last year's winner, and Jan Ratheisky.
Qualifying order for the A-main:
1 Sam Isaacs (Awesomatix / Mon-Tech)
2 Robbie Dodge
3 Jan Ratheisky
4 Martin Crisp
5 Craig Xavier
6 Austin Wolfe
7 Drew Ellis
8 Cory Parsons
9 Matt Lyons (Awesomatix)
10 Mark Burt (Awesomatix / Mon-Tech)
At the tone, Sam and Jan walked away from the pack as Robbie rolled on the first lap. Sam looked to have the race in the bag until a last minute incident with traffic caused him to get caught up allowing Jan by. Sam pushed hard to get back to Jan but would crash out of second allowing Jan to cruise to the win and Robbie to move up to 2nd on the last lap.
Finishing order:
1 Jan Ratheisky (Mon-Tech)
2 Robbie Dodge
3 Sam Isaacs (Awesomatix / Mon-Tech)
4 Cory Parsons
5 Martin Crisp
6 Craig Xavier
7 Austin Wolfe (Mon-Tech)
8 Matt Lyons (Awesomatix)
9 Drew Ellis
10 Mark Burt (Awesomatix / Mon-Tech)
Mod TC
From the beginning of practice, Alex Hagberg set the pace for everyone to follow. Hayato Ishioka hung with Alex on the same lap in qualifying and our Sam Isaacs was the best of the rest on 31 laps with a strong Q4 qualification just edging out Keven Hebert.
Qualifying order for the A-main:
1 Alexander Hagberg
2 Hayato Ishioka (Mon-Tech)
3 Sam Isaacs (Awesomatix / Mon-Tech)
4 Keven Hebert
5 Paul Lemieux
6 Dominic Vogl (Mon-Tech)
7 Jan Ratheisky (Mon-Tech)
8 Chris Tosolini
9 Josh Cyrul
10 Drew Ellis
At the tone, Alex stretched out his lead and Hayato flipped on lap one promoting Sam to 2nd. Once Sam got into a groove he pulled away from Keven and Paul who would then get entangled in their own battle. Paul and Keven would come together on the 2nd to last lap by start/finish but Paul was a true champion asking Keven to be promoted to 3rd overall. Sam was disappointed about the 17.5 result, but the Modified TC finish made him forget about any of that prior trouble.
Finishing order:
1 Alexander Hagberg
2 Sam Isaacs (Awesomatix / Mon-Tech)
3 Keven Hebert
4 Paul Lemieux
5 Dominic Vogl (Mon-Tech)
6 Hayato Ishioka (Mon-Tech)
7 Drew Ellis
8 Jan Ratheisky (Mon-Tech)
9 Josh Cyrul
10 Chris Tosolini
Touring Amateur 25.5
Maryland/Virgina driver, Victor Kao, took down the TQ + Win in Amateur with his Awesomatix A800A.
Finishing order:
1 Victor Kao (Awesomatix / Mon-Tech)
2 Gilbert Santos
3 Jordan Singletary
4 Tim Moore
5 Joseph McMackin (Mon-Tech)
6 Jason Stump
7 Jeff Kaplan (Mon-Tech)
8 Chad Outlaw (Mon-Tech)
9 Starling Gibson
10 Gabriel Shappell
The Team
All of the success couldn't of been accomplished without this cast of characters. With 4 overall TQs, and 3 wins its impossible to call it a bad weekend. Another great accomplishment was the 3 of 4 TQ + Wins for Mon-Tech body shells in 21.5, 17.5 and 25.5 Amateur.
Big thanks again to everyone for putting forth their best effort always!
After a 1 year absence as the Riviera was torn down, drivers from around the world were excited for the return of the International Indoor Championships at the Westgate. Scotty Ernst and crew put together one of the nicest tracks the US has seen 120'x60' in size, complete with real curbs that proved to be a hit. The CRC black carpet initially provided lower grip than expected, but with some teamwork and setup changes, everyone in the Awesomatix camp was looking fast for qualifying.
17.5 TC was the biggest class of the event, fielding 70 entries. After 4 rounds of qualifying, Awesomatix team driver Mike Gee would be TQ, with the XRays of Eric Anderson and Jan Ratheisky second and third. Awesomatix would have 5 cars make the show, with Sam Isaacs, Brad Johnson, Kyle Klingforth, and Mike Hanulec bumping in from the B. In the final, Mike Gee would run away from the field at the tone, amassing over a 6 second lead by the end. Jan and Jimmy Maddison would round out the podium.
17.5 Results 1. Mike Gee (TQ) - Awesomatix 2. Jan Ratheisky 3. Jimmy Maddison 4. Brad Johnson -Awesomatix 5. Craig Xavier 6. Eric Anderson 7. Sam Isaacs -Awesomatix 8. Michael Hanulec -Awesomatix 9. Sandro Speck 10. Kyle Klingforth -Awesomatix
The Spec GT class would prove to have super close racing all week, thanks to having handout motor and speed control, as well as a FDR limit. In qualifying, Rod Canare would take the TQ spot, with Devin Patterson starting 2nd and the Awesomatix of Bill Sydor starting 3rd. In the main, a tap from Canare on the first lap would put him back in the pack, moving Patterson and Sydor to the top. Sydor would follow in Patterson's shadow for a few laps, and on lap 8 Patterson made a small mistake on the curbing, allowing just enough space for Sydor to go through, giving him the lead which he would not relinquish.
Spec GT results 1. Bill Sydor -Awesomatix 2. Devin Patterson 3. Bill Jeric 4. Fabio Evangelista -Awesomatix 5. Duy Khuong 6. Art Scrimo -Awesomatix 7. Rod Canare (TQ) 8. Robert Brandow 9. Monte Hess 10. Eric Epp
In 13.5 TC, it would be Jan Ratheisky setting the TQ pace, with the Associated of Keven Hebert starting P2, and Mike Gee P3. Awesomatix would put 4 cars in the A main with Gee, Sam, Brad and Kyle, the most of any brand in the 13.5 main. In the final, and early mistake from Hebert would promote Gee and Sam to P2 and P3. After a few minutes, Gee would turn up the heat on Ratheisky, but a late bobble would give Jan enough cushion to take the win, with Gee and Sam filling the podium
13.5 Results 1. Jan Ratheisky (TQ) 2. Mike Gee -Awesomatix 3. Sam Isaacs -Awesomatix 4. Kyle Klingforth -Awesomatix 5. Josh Cyrul 6. Martin Hudy 7. Keven Hebert 8. Jesse Davis 9. Brad Johnson -Awesomatix 10. Eric Albano
Mod TC had a strong field of 50 drivers, including 6 current and former world champions, so everyone's work was cut out. Bruno Coelho would TQ and go on to win in convincing fashion, but for Awesomatix Sam Isaacs would finish 4th in the B, the highest placed US driver at the event. Not bad for Sam's first big mod race on carpet! Korey Harbke would also make the mod B main, finishing 7th.
Finally, big thanks to the entire crew of drivers and customers, many of which recently switched to Awesomatix in 2016 for helping make our largest turn out of competitors yet! So many dudes, we couldn't coral them into a single picture at the same time!?!
