Isaacs claims third NYGP 1:12 Mod win
From a grid that was lead out by the past three 1:12 Modified Champions of the Montech New York Grand Prix, it was the high profile East Coast race’s most successful driver Sam Isaacs who took the big win at the 7th edition of the 360v2 hosted event. Starting P2 on the grid behind 2021 Champion Donny Lia, and in front of defending Champion Kemp Anderson, while Isaacs mounted a number of charges on Lia over the 8-minutes it was a backmarker that ultimately decided the race. Running as an impressive high speed train for over 6-minutes, CRC’s Ollie Payne also in the mix, Lia’s efforts would come undone when he collected a back marker who was out of shape having just launched his car off the curbing. With Isaacs and Anderson going through, Lia would set about a charge getting back by Anderson but running out of time to deny Isaacs his 3rd win in the AbsoluteHobbyz 1:12 Modified class, the final gap 0.885. Anderson would complete the podium in New Rochelle with 2019 Champion Payne claiming fourth on his NYGP return while Excelerate’s Josh Cyrul round of the Top 5.
Reacting this his win, the NYGP one of favourites events, Isaacs said ‘It was a pretty cool 4 car freight train for a while and I think Donny was just getting used to his car and then the pace started to pick. I had a couple of spots at the beginning where I though maybe I could get by him but it probably wasn’t worth trying it if it wasn’t going to be for sure clean.’ The 31-year-old, who won his latest National title here earlier in the year, continued, ‘The last minute & a half we were going around about the same distance we were but unfortunately he got caught up in traffic and I was just able to go a round that. It would have been nice to race to the end, I feel bad that that happened for him but unfortunately that’s how it goes sometimes in 1:12 Mod racing.’
‘It’s part of racing, shit happens, what are you going to do’, was how Lia summed up the unfortunate incident. The man responsible for putting on the NYGP, he continued, ‘I had good race and I am glad everyone is here and that really all that matters. If I do well at this race every race that’s just a little bit of a bonus.’ On his race up to the incident, Lia said, ‘I was just maintaining the gap, kind of cruising and maintaining the gap to second and then when that happened it was a little too late in the race to really make up any time.’ Asked about the charges from Isaacs, the two World Championship finalist said, ‘that’s kind of 12th scale Mod racing. It’s so hard to push hard all the time but you can make runs. When you are leading it’s hard to push hard so when you are leading you just want to maintain. Sam was going to push hard and put pressure on me to try and make a mistake and he was trying and I did clip a couple of curbs. We raced well and clean just wish we could have raced it out you know. I had a little left in the tank, there was no need to push too hard. Every time Sam made a run and put pressure on me I would respond. I guess shit happens. What happened was with a good friend of mine, he is more upset than I am, it is what it is, I don’t care.’ Starting P2 in the Excelerate RC 1:12 Super Stock class as the defending Champion, unfortunately Lia’s day didn’t get any better as a mistake led to multiple impacts and a body that needed to be popped back into shape and he finished 6th.
Asked about his final, Anderson said, ‘It was a really good race, Top 4 nose to tall most of the race, my car was pretty good and I was having to lift a little bit. At the end Donny got collected by some traffic and I made one mistake after that that let him get back by.’ On his podium result, the World Championship Top Qualifier said, ‘3rd is not too bad, I’m happy. A podium lock out again for Awesomatix so it’s pretty good.’
On his 4th place finish in 1:12 Mod, Payne said, ‘the car was a little but pushy so I couldn’t quite stay on the pace of the front guys but the car was pretty consistent I was just missing a little bit of steering’. Also competing in the Excelerate RC 1:12 Super Stock class, the British driver would dominate proceedings. Taking the TQ he would win the final by a comfortable 2.5-seconds over 1:12 Spec World Champion Max Mächler and Jeff Dayger completing the podium. On his performance the European & British Spec Champion said, ‘It’s been pretty much perfect the whole way through, there is nothing much I would change about it if I was to do it again. In the Main obviously Donny had that issue and as soon as that happened I just settled down and just gave myself a foot everywhere to just finish. It couldn’t have been much better.’
