Hanulec and Fairtrace win 2014 Snowbirds

The 2014 Snowbird Nationals was the 20th running of this event held in Orlando, Florida.  Snowbirds features nearly 24 hours of racing excitement with both on-road and oval classes sharing the track during a 24 hour period.  On-road racing starts early at Snowbirds, with 4am open practice.  Team Awesomatix USA was proud to sponsor this year's Snowbird Nationals allowing everyone to get a good look at our new products from the Evo to 2mm Alloy Chassis.

17.5T Touring

In the largest class - 17.5 TC - with over 70 entires, Larry Fairtrace would TQ the tight field during round 3 - but he did so with a different car brand.  For round 4 Larry would run his A700 Evo for the first time in 17.5 (this is his 13.5 race car) and just miss re-setting TQ by 0.071 seconds.  Hot on Larry's heels in each round was Cory Parson in the XRay.  The TOP 11 after four rounds of qualifying featured four Awesomatix TCs -- but with the famous Snowbirds B-Screw, Brian Wynn was forced to run the B-Main in order make the show.

• 1)Larry Fairtrace (Awesomatix)28/5:02.916 (R3)
• 2)Cory Parsons28/5:03.185 (R3)
• 3)Eric Anderson28/5:04.252 (R4)
• 4)Michael Herald Jr.28/5:05.250 (R4)
• 5)Danny Jenkins28/5:05.850 (R3)
• 6)Craig Xavier28/5:07.053 (R4)
• 7)Dave Johnson28/5:11.278 (R4)
• 8)Sal Amato27/5:00.069 (R4)
• 9)Michael Hanulec (Awesomatix)27/5:00.100 (R3)
• 10)Brian Wynn (Awesomatix)27/5:00.309 (R3)
• 11)Karl Hoffmeister (Awesomatix)27/5:00.502 (R2)

During the B-Main Brian would not be so lucky, and that allowed Karl Hoffmeister to drive to the win, and find his way into 10th place in the A-Main.

The 17.5 TC A-main was uneventful for Larry as he shot out to a quick lead over Cory.  After a minute Cory would crash sending himself off track and allowing Eric Anderson to move into the 2nd spot.  Corey would drive hard through the pack back to finish 3rd.

os	Driver	Car #	Laps	Time	Fast	Behind	Qual #	Consistency	Std. Dev.
1	Larry Fairtrace (Awesomatix)	1	28	5:09.875	10.554		1	96.57%	0.38
2	Eric Anderson	3	27	5:00.609	10.781		3	95.68%	0.48
3	Cory Parsons	2	27	5:03.251	10.726	2.642	2	90.64%	1.05
4	Michael Herald Jr.	4	27	5:07.035	10.838	3.784	4	93.94%	0.69
5	Craig Xavier	6	27	5:10.453	10.815	3.418	6	92.68%	0.84
6	Sal Amato	8	27	5:11.846	10.990	1.393	8	93.89%	0.71
7	Michael Hanulec (Awesomatix)	9	27	5:12.320	10.856	0.474	9	93.46%	0.76
8	Danny Jenkins	5	26	5:10.679	10.807		5	89.02%	1.31
9	Karl Hoffmeister (Awesomatix)	10	8	1:36.543	11.052		0	91.35%	1.04
10	Dave Johnson	7	0	0.000	0.000		7	---	---
Top Qualifier is Fairtrace, Larry 28/5:02.917 (Rnd 3)

Larry said-
"Round 4 was the first pack of 17.5 I had run on that car. And with no warm up laps being instituted I was not familiar with what the car was going to do with the 17.5 so my first couple laps were slow. Had I gotten any practice with the car in 17.5 prior to that round I would of for sure gone faster than my Tq. .071 difference and zero laps on that car in stock all weekend up to that point.

I ran the Shaft car on Sunday (mains day) because I tried them both in the morning and the track was slightly changed and the Awesomatix was absolutely amazing on Sunday and clearly the correct choice for both classes (17.5 and 13.5). It was one of the best cars I have ever driven on Sunday. Plus I thought the super free drive train could take another tooth and I wanted to get out to a lead and then cruise. My plan worked."

USVTA

In USVTA, Dave Johnson (VBC) would TQ over Dave Ehrlich (VBC) and Jim Piersol (XRay).  In the A-main Michael Hanulec (Awesomatix) would steal the win from the rest of the field crusing to win over Dave Ehrlich and Jim Piersol.

Pos	Driver	Car #	Laps	Time	Fast	Behind	Qual #	Consistency	Std. Dev.
1	Michael Hanulec (Awesomatix)	5	38	8:03.530	12.186		5	97.00%	0.38
2	Dave Ehrlich	2	38	8:09.541	12.383	6.011	2	94.33%	0.73
3	Jim Piersol	3	38	8:11.018	12.355	1.477	3	94.98%	0.65
4	Robert Dirla	9	37	8:10.614	12.331		9	90.72%	1.23
5	Brian Busse	7	37	8:11.177	11.894	0.563	7	91.67%	1.11
6	Manny Flores	10	37	8:12.180	12.268	1.003	0	92.02%	1.06
7	David Bowser	4	37	8:12.739	12.051	0.559	4	90.18%	1.31
8	Robert Brandow	8	36	8:00.525	12.329		8	93.05%	0.93
9	Michael Jones	6	36	8:07.175	12.648	6.650	6	91.62%	1.13
10	Dave Johnson	1	0	0.000	0.000		1	---	---
Top Qualifier is Johnson, Dave 24/5:00.279 (Rnd 2)

Modified Touring

In modified Paul Lemieux (XRay) would TQ over Marc Fischer (Serpent) and Keven Hebert (Associated).  Going into the A-main, Josh Cyrul, starting 8th on the grid, would have a rocket start upto 4th place by the 2nd lap.  He would get as high as 3rd overall before making a mistake and falling back to 5th.  He finished the 5 minute race 4th overall.  

Pos	Driver	Car #	Laps	Time	Fast	Behind	Qual #	Consistency	Std. Dev.
1	Paul Lemieux	1	29	5:06.264	10.308		1	98.02%	0.21
2	Marc Fischer	2	29	5:08.196	10.292	1.932	2	95.87%	0.44
3	Keven Hebert	3	28	5:00.801	10.471		3	96.63%	0.36
4	Josh Cyrul (Awesomatix)	8	28	5:02.040	10.391	1.239	8	94.88%	0.55
5	Andrew Hardman	4	28	5:02.225	10.410	0.185	4	93.74%	0.68
6	Mike Haynes	10	28	5:05.511	10.423	3.286	0	93.83%	0.67
7	Robbie Dodge	6	28	5:05.721	10.586	0.210	6	95.96%	0.44
8	Chris Adams	9	28	5:08.855	10.483	3.134	9	91.58%	0.93
9	JJ Wang	5	23	4:10.513	10.343		5	89.74%	1.12
10	Cory Parsons	7	22	4:05.760	10.532		7	90.93%	1.01
Top Qualifier is Lemieux, Paul 29/5:00.349 (Rnd 4)

13.5T Touring

Throughout qualifying of the 13.5T class, the trio of Keven Hebert, Cory Parsons and Larry Fairtrace would battle for the TQ over the four rounds.  The TOP 11 after four rounds of qualifying featured two Awesomatix TCs -- but with the famous Snowbirds B-Screw, Karl Hoffmeister was forced to run the B-Main in order make the show.  

• 1)Keven Hebert29/5:10.228 (R3)
• 2)Cory Parsons29/5:10.536 (R4)
• 3)Larry Fairtrace (Awesomatix)29/5:10.692 (R2)
• 4)Andrew Hardman28/5:00.877 (R2)
• 5)Raymond Darroch28/5:01.980 (R4)
• 6)Chris Adams28/5:02.762 (R1)
• 7)Eric Anderson28/5:03.269 (R4)
• 8)Mike Haynes28/5:06.387 (R3)
• 9)Drew Ellis28/5:08.367 (R4)
• 10)Karl Hoffmeister (Awesomatix)28/5:08.646 (R2)
• 11)Paul Ciccarello28/5:09.223 (R4)

During the B-Main Karl would not be so lucky, and that allowed Paul Ciccarello to drive to the win, and find his way into 10th place in the A-Main.

The 13.5 TC A-main was action packed as Larry would challenge Cory not once, but twice for 2nd place putting two fantastic passes on Cory before a 1 cent e-clip would side line Larry's car.  Keven would run uncontested and only on the last lap would Cory lose 2nd place to his XRay teammate Chris Adams coming from 6th to take 2nd.

Pos	Driver	Car #	Laps	Time	Fast	Behind	Qual #	Consistency	Std. Dev.
1	Keven Hebert	1	28	5:02.480	10.651		1	98.92%	0.12
2	Chris Adams	6	28	5:08.105	10.701	5.625	6	95.50%	0.50
3	Cory Parsons	2	28	5:08.215	10.602	0.110	2	94.19%	0.64
4	Andrew Hardman	4	28	5:08.648	10.555	0.433	4	90.79%	1.02
5	Mike Haynes	8	28	5:10.437	10.710	1.789	8	94.77%	0.58
6	Raymond Darroch	5	28	5:10.651	10.671	0.214	5	91.99%	0.89
7	Eric Anderson	7	27	5:03.979	10.641		7	88.95%	1.24
8	Drew Ellis	9	27	5:04.312	10.569	0.333	9	91.80%	0.92
9	Paul Ciccarello	10	26	5:05.940	10.619		0	78.80%	2.49
10	Larry Fairtrace (Awesomatix)	3	16	2:54.269	10.578		3	94.94%	0.55
Top Qualifier is Hebert, Keven 29/5:10.229 (Rnd 3)

The Team

Finally, and most importantly, the ever growing Team Awesomatix USA made a strong showing at the 2014 Snowbirds.  We'd like to thank Mike Boylan and his entire race crew for putting on a great show.  We will be back next year -- watch out!

Videos

17.5T TC A-main

USVTA A-main

Modified TC A-main

Setups

• Larry Fairtrace A700 Evo USA SPEC 17.5 Winner
• Michael Hanulec A700L USVTA Winner
• Josh Cyrul A700 Evo USA SPEC Modified

Awesomatix USA signs Josh Cyrul

Awesomatix USA is proud to announce that Josh Cyrul is joining as a racer for the 2014 season.  Josh brings along his long history of racing experience to help strengthen the Awesomatix USA Team.  Josh's first race will be at the 2014 Snowbird Nationals.

Josh had this to say:

"I want to give a HUGE THANKS to Mike Hanulec and Oleg Babich for putting things together for me so fast for this year's Snowbird Nationals. I inquired to Mike about Awesomatix after hearing rave reviews from Danny Strasser at Apex R/C, as well as seeing the great size and just great people that he had been able to pull together into his US team so quickly. I was impressed with the car, the designs but most importantly the people and dedication to making Awesomatix a front running name in the TC market. I am very proud to join their team and looking forward to some great races in the near future!!"

Dual ROAR Regional 17.5T TC Wins - Mike Gee/Region 2 & Monti Panzica/Region 5

This past weekend Team Awesomatix USA took on their local ROAR Regional Carpet Championships and won the 17.5T Touring Car classes.

Access RacePlace in Springfield, Ohio held a two day race for the Region 5 Championship.  Monti Panzica drove from mid-pack to take the win after a battle with Junior Norton.

1. Monti Panica

2. Mike Wise

3. Brandon Shells

Monti Panzica - Region 5 Winner

Horsham RC in Horsham, PA held a one day race for the Region 2 Championship.  Mike Gee, starting from 3rd made his way past Jeff Cuffs and then set his sights on the TQ Sal Amato.  At the 4:30 mark Sal tapped out in the sweeper allowing Mike to cruse to the win.  

1. Mike Gee

2. Jeff Cuffs

3. Sal Amato

Mike Gee - Region 2 Winner

Mike Malkinson TQ + Win at Round 5 of Western Canadian Indoor Championship Series

Awesomatix drivers from the Northwest USA and Canada had great result at Round 5 of the Western Canadian Indoor Championship Series (WCICS) held by IROCC (Victoria) & NRC (Nanaimo RC), Victoria, BC, Canada.  With 220 entries running in 8 different classes, there where 24 entries in Mod TC, and 36 in stock TC. The three day indoor carpet event featured only one set of sweep QTS tires over four qualifiers and one single main.

In Stock TC Awesomatix Drivers finished 1st and 3rd. Mike Malkinson with his A700L USA Spec driving rock solid the entire weekend took TQ and under intense pressure never gave up his position for the win. Frank Bortolazzo did a great job as well, finishing 3rd.

In the Awesomatix Sponsored Mod Touring car class, Kody Knudtson placed 2nd in qualifying and finished 2nd. Kody drove very well with the new A700 Evo USA Spec chassis, at times leading qualifying runs and maintaining pressure on the winner , Canada's Keven Hebert of Associated. Awesomatix driver Blake Bell also finished on the podium, considering he was race directing and was a significant part of putting on the event, it was quite an achievement to finish 3rd.  Four Awesomatix Drivers were in the Mod TC A main : Kody Knudtson Finished 2nd, Blake Bell 3rd, Korgae Scales 7th, Jake Danilchik finished 10th.

Videos-

17.5T A-Main

Mod A-Main

Results-

Evo Kits and FFG Upgrades Back Order Update

The first shipment of 2014 is inbound to Awesomatix USA now and all of the customers who will be receiving their back orders fulfilled within this first order have been notified via their order at shop.awesomatixusa.com

A second shipment is pending prior to Snowbirds.  We will update the remaining pending orders once tracking information is available for this shipment.

Keep Calm and Race On

See the A700 Evo in action at Snowbirds

This week we received confirmation that Awesomatix USA will be a proud sponsor of the 20th Snowbirds Nationals in sunny Orlando, FL from January 27th to February 2nd 2014.  We will have a large pit in the grand ballroom and encourage everyone to stop by, say hello to the team, and of course see the brand new A700 Evo 1/10th Scale Touring Car kit.

If you cannot wait until Snowbirds -- please make sure to look at the video from JD Racing profiling the Floating Front Gearbox installed in an A700EXL.