Anderson kicks off NYGP title defence with TQ run
Defending Montech NYGP 1:12 Modified Champion Kemp Anderson has opened the 7th edition of the New York based event with a TQ run, the Awesomatix driver fastest from team-mate Sam Isaacs and CRC’s Ollie Payne. Having topped seeding in AbsoluteHobbyz 1:12 Modified class, the 23-year-old carried that form in to the first of the four scheduled qualifiers at the 360V2 track taking the 8-minute run by almost 3-seconds from Isaacs. After a strong start, Payne dropped back finishing a further 2.3-seconds off the TQ pace. Organiser of the NYGP, Donny Lia would get a fourth for the round despite the multiple World Championship finalist struggling to get his Awesomatix to his liking. Excelerate’s Josh Cyrul and 1:12 Spec World Champion Max Mächler completed the Top 6, with the later having to be marshaled, which cost his almost 6-seconds on a track where Anderson’s fastest was an 8.415.
‘It’s feeling pretty good’, that was Anderson’s reaction after Q1. He continued, ‘so it’s just small changes from here. My car has been pretty good since I got here. I made a couple of small changes, it was a little too aggressive at first so we backed it off a little and it’s now pretty good.’ For the second of today’s qualifiers, the World Championship Top Qualifier said he plans a little change explaining, ‘I think I need to go back the other way make it a little more aggressive. I got a solid run in so now it’s time to push.’ Asked about the track, he said, ‘it is very similar to last year, the left side is slightly different with the circle of curbs I think it was squarer last year but it’s very similar. I love it. I has got a bunch of fast speed stuff and then two 180s in the middle. It’s a good mixture.’
Winner of the ROAR Nationals which were held at 360V2 earlier this year, 1:12 Mod Champion Isaacs said his first qualifier, ‘was decent first run’ adding ‘the car is a little hard for me to drive so I’m not the most consistent with it right now but a decent run so I’ll take it.’ Asked what he needed to improve for Q2, the 31-year-old replied, ‘I just need to make it round the corners a little bit better and be a little bit smoother so I can push it harder right from the start instead of waiting a minute or two in.’ A late withdrawal from last year’s NYGP as the then defending champion, as the difference between the National layout and the 2025 NYGP layout, he said, ‘I think both layouts are great, the way Donny does the curbing and the coloured infield, it looks beautiful, but I think this layout is maybe a little more difficult than the Nationals, the lap times are little slower, but another great layout from Donny and his crew for sure.’
Making a return to the event, his last visit to New Rochelle being in 2022, Payne summed up his Q1 with, ‘it wasn’t too bad, the car started off pretty well but it developed a push pretty early on, too early on for this level of grip so I ended up over working the tyre a little too much so for the last 2-minutes I had not tyre left to compete so I just had to settle for where I was.’ The reigning 1:12 Spec European Champion, on the track layout, ‘it flows quite nicely but it’s a little more open to what we are used to in Europe. The grip is high but I can’t really comment because I think it has been higher here before but obviously for me it’s a lot harder to what I am used to.’ Having spent much of yesterday’s free practice day working on his 13.5 car for the Excelerate RC Super Stock class, the 26-year-old has only got 2 or 3 runs with the Modified car saying, ‘there is still a lot of changes to make in Modified to get it to where it needs to be.’
Asked how he felt his opening run went, Lia replied, ‘I am struggling with the car. I have tried three different cars, destroyed one car, so I think it was a decent run.’ He continued, ‘I’m struggling with drivability and grip. Right now I am just disconnected from the car and no matter which car I tried, and different set-ups, different tyres, it feels disconnected. We are getting close but it’s still not great. We just haven’t found what we need, I don’t now why or what it is but we’re working on it.’
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