Sunday, October 24, 2021

B.Johnson and Trandell win at the 2021 Halloween Classic

 This weekend the R/C world return to Cleveland, Ohio for the 2021 Halloween Classic held at The Gate in Brunswick, Ohio.  Team Awesomatix USA was able to take two TQs and wins at the event.  This year's event would feature a tight and challenging layout such that all mains were limited to 8 drivers.  


Super Stock TC

Awesomatix USA's Brad Johnson would take the TQ in round 4 from the b-sort.  Awesomatix A800MMXA cars would take the Top 3 positions in qualifying with Bill Sydor and Clayton Young starting behind Brad.  In total Awesomatix would have 6 of the 8 competitors in the A-main.  The race had some good battles behind and that allowed Brad Johnson to check out and cruise to the win.

A-main finishing order-

  1. Brad Johnson [Awesomatix] [TQ]
  2. Clayton Young [Awesomatix]
  3. Bill Sydor [Awesomatix]
  4. Max Kuenning
  5. Bobby Rorison [Awesomatix]
  6. Michael Skeen [Awesomatix]
  7. Marc Livermore
  8. Jeff Rowland [Awesomatix]

Stock 1/12th

Awesomatix USA's Michael Hanulec would take TQ of the event in round 3.  Top 3 qualifiers ran the Awesomatix A12 with Joe Trandell and Clayton Young completing the starting line up.  Awesomatix placed the most cars into the A-main of any manufacturer.  Shockingly the open motor 17.5 would produce one of the largest separations in qualifying with 3 laps spanning the 8 car field.  During the A-main Michael Hanulec would run into the famous Gate "failnado" and after having to drive thru a pile of cars in the chicane he then blew out handing the race to Awesomatix USA's Joe Trandell to take a commanding lead and cruise to the win.

A-main finishing order-
  1. Joe Trandell [Awesomatix]
  2. Dana Bailes
  3. Tom Firsching
  4. Michael Hanulec [Awesomatix] [TQ]
  5. Andrew Knapp
  6. Jeff Dayger
  7. Shawn Rayfield [Awesomatix]
  8. Clayton Young [Awesomatix]

Stock TC

Stock TC was a hotly contested class at this year's event with 3.3 seconds covering the top 10 in qualifying -- but only 8 would make the A-main.  Awesomatix had 6 drivers going into the A-main.  Carnage on the first lap would allow Marc Livermore to cruise to the win from pole.  Bill Sydor [Awesomatix] elevated himself from 5th starting position to finish 2nd after a tight battle with Rob Love for the whole 5 minute race.

A-main finishing order-
  1. Marc Livermore [TQ]
  2. Bill Sydor [Awesomatix]
  3. Rob Love
  4. Clayton Young [Awesomatix]
  5. Michael Skeen [Awesomatix]
  6. Jeff Rowland [Awesomatix]
  7. Dave Johnson [Awesomatix]
  8. Bobby Rorison [Awesomatix]

Super Stock 1/12th

Super Stock 1/12th had a tighter qualifying field with only two laps separating the field.  Awesomatix USA drivers Michael Hanulec and Joe Trandell would start 6th and 7th in the A-main after having some challenges in qualifying.  Upon the A-main start Max would get away cleanly while the field cleaned each other out behind him.  Joe Trandell and Michael Hanulec drove through the smoke and raced up to second and third by the finish.  

A-main finishing order-
  1. Max Kuenning [TQ]
  2. Joe Trandell [Awesomatix]
  3. Michael Hanulec [Awesomatix]
  4. Andrew Knapp
  5. Tom Firsching
  6. Steve Radecky
  7. Jeff Dayger
  8. John Dickson