Isaacs does the double at Montech NYGP
Having won 1:12 Modified, Awesomatix’s Sam Isaacs has gone on to complete the double at the 7th edition of the Montech NYGP by also winning Mod Touring Car at 360v2 in New Rochelle today. Securing the TQ for the Speedzone Modified Touring Car class ahead of team-mates Kemp Anderson and first time NYGP visitor Lucas Urbain, the previous two time winner was the class of the field setting the fastest lap of the single 5-minute A-Main to win by just of 2-seconds from Anderson. A further 1.3-seconds back Lucas Urbain made it another podium lock out for Awesomatix. With Xray taking the win last year thanks to Keven Hebert, it was NYGP debutant Jan Ratheisky armed with the all new X4’26 who led their challenge this year finishing P4. Also racing in the Jaco 21.5 Super Stock Touring class, the German would go one better finishing third, Craig Xavier’s Awesomatix taking the TQ & win ahead of the last year’s winner Eric Anderson.
Reacting to his win, Isaacs said, ‘It was a good race. I was able to keep it clean and the car felt pretty good maybe a little bit pushier than qualifying but a pretty safe race car so it worked out.’ With the win bring his NYGP wins tally to 6, the United State’s leading electric onroad racer said, ‘I felt like I was driving pretty well this weekend so I’ll try to keep it going especially into the Paved US National next week.’ On making the transition from NYGP carpet to the asphalt for the ROAR National Championships, the 31-year-old said, ‘It’s little difficult and it may take a practice run or two but that surface is complete different, a sealed lower to medium asphalt track, so it will definitely be an adjustment and then going from a climate controlled environment to something hot outdoors it will be tough too. But this is definitely a nice win to have going into it.’
Coming out of the blocks looking very racy, Anderson said, ‘The car started off good and then just lost a bunch of grip so I didn’t have the pace to keep up with Sam.’ The 23-year-old, who also finished P2 in Touring Car last year, continued, ‘after that I just tried to circulate around and try and stay ahead of Lucas.’
Asked to sum up his first NYGP, Urbain said, ‘The main went alright, I guess according to plan. These two in front are quicker and I was quicker than Jan. I thought at some point I could make a bit of an impression on Kemp, he had a few bobbles here & there but I was never close enough.’ With the race marking his first ever US race on carpet, the Frenchman continued, ‘So yeah it was pretty much how it’s been the whole time, same gap, maybe a little bit close now I closed the gap very slightly. I guess it unfinished business and we need to come back next year and do better I guess.’
Giving his reaction after the final, Ratheisky said, ‘The final was very good. I was happy to be able to follow Lucas for like two & a half minutes but it took too much risk to follow him so I decided to back off a little bit to finish 4th instead of sending my car to the wall again. I feel like our set-up work was going in the correct direction unfortunately the race is over right now but it’s a good start with the new car for sure.’ On his Super Stock podium, he said, ‘People who know me know I am a final driver and I was able to overtake EA but then unfortunately I hit a curb and made a light roll and I was not able to recover to be able to attack again so I secured the third instead of maybe throwing it away.’ A regular visitor to US races, asked his thoughts on his first NYGP, he replied, ‘Amazing. It is also the most exhausting race also because you have almost unlimited practice runs which is great but very very challenging on the body. I don’t remember the last time I went to bed that I wasn’t able to think about anything as I immediately feel asleep. I would love to come back, it’s a really good race.’
Class Winners Round Up
With a total of 9 class wins up for grabs at the MonTech NYGP, in 1:12 Stock by CRC it was British visitor Morgan Williams and his CRC who took the win as the Top Qualifier. Behind him Jeff Dayger and Fabio Evangelista completed the podium. In 25.5 Stock Touring by Snag RC the win went to pole sitter Andy Brooks while the 21.5 LMH12R by TQ Wire victor was Joe Wright. The 1up Racing sponsored FWD class saw Michael Skeen take the win from 3rd on the grid with Top Qualifier Andy Brooks second and Esse Castro third. From the pole Charles Bruno won the 25.5 LMH by Interstate Hobby Sport from Charles Edwards and Dan Arnold.