Isaacs tops 2nd qualifier at Montech NYGP
Sam Isaacs has topped the second round of qualifying at Montech Grand Prix, the Awesomatix driver fastest in the AbsoluteHobbyz 1:12 Modified class ahead of CRC’s Ollie Payne. After losing all the side wall glue off his front left tyre, leading to his car spinning out on right hand turn, this put Q1 winner Kemp Anderson out of contention. With the defending Champion eventually pulling off at the 5-minute mark, Isaacs was able to improve on his opening time by more that 2.6 seconds, however it would be 3/10ths shy of bettering Anderson’s FTQ pace from the first round. Happier with his car around the 360v2 track, Payne would also better his time and ends the first day of qualifying sitting P3 ahead of track owner Donny Lia, Excelerate designer Josh Cyrul and Awesomatix team manager Max Mächler. Also completing in the Excelerate RC 1:12 Super Stock 13.5 class, Payne had the perfect day topping both qualifiers, his first run just fractionally faster than his second. Lia is currently his closest challenger in the for the TQ honors with Mächler sitting third with two more qualifiers on Saturday’s schedule.
Summing up his Q2 run, Isaacs said, ‘that was a better run’. He continued, ‘I think the car was easier to drive, it had a a little more steering. It was pretty close to the TQ in the end but just didn’t have quite enough and just missed it.’ Looking to tomorrow second day of qualifying, he US National Champion said, ‘the car is definitely better and there is still some room to make some improvements but I got to think about what to be honest.’
Asked how he felt Q2 had gone, Payne said, ‘The car was actually a lot better that time, I just had a tyre the rear left tyre came unglued so they car became really hard to drive and unpredictable. We definitely took the right step in terms of set-up and I am going to try a different compound of tyre which will hopefully last a bit better in practice this evening and we will go from there.’ Asked about Super Stock, the European and British Champion said, ‘Super Stock is the same thing really, the car was incredible again and came out of the blocks really really good but the outside edge of the tyre I think is just a little bit too soft for how the traction is now so again towards the end of the run it was sliding a little bit too much and didn’t really carry enough corner speed. So this evening will be tyre testing and trying to make last the whole run better.’
Reacting to his second Modified attempt Lia said, ‘It was better. I’m like an adjustment or 2 away, if they are the right adjustments, from being there, so we are trying to figure that out. We are there actually really in Mod I just have to sleep is what I need to do.’ In 13.5 I think we are good. Ollie is very good, he is driving really good, honestly he is just driving better than me. If I can get on my game, rest up, I might have something for him. We are talking about practicing and making changes and I think going to bed is going to be the biggest change for us. It is going to be a fun battle in 13.5 and even in Mod. We are all going to end up pretty close, we’ll all kind of figuring it out. The track is really throwing us for a loop. I don’t know what is going on. I don’t know of it is tyres or if it is track, or me, but I’m struggling. The other guys are struggling but there just driving better than me.’ Asked what was different about the track, he said, ‘Kemp sounds like he is comfortable, but me, Sam and Ollie too, it’s been very hard to place the car where we want. We are kind of having to anticipate in advance when we turn the wheel where we are going to end up, it’s disconnected a little bit, so we are trying out what is causing that, we are going close but it’s not there yet for me. It’s a bit of a challenge but that’s what makes it interesting I guess.’
‘Modified is a little sketchy, I am just try not to crash with those guys’, was how Cyrul summed up his P4 in the second round. A stalwart of the America onroad racing scene he said, ‘the car is getting a little better. I was a bad mechanic Round 1 and forgot to tighten some screws and in a 1:12 Mod car that is always a bad thing. It was more drivable in the second one but the difficult part is just the spacing of all those guys running within hundredths on the clock. So when one comes up I let that one go and that kind of puts me in the dirt and the I slide for a corner or two and the next guy is there pretty quick so I am just trying to time when I let them go a little bit better to give myself a shot. I did a better job that last run. With Sam, Kemp, Donny, Max and Ollie, I am going to be sixth so that’s my job and finish sixth and no crash them and enjoy the event.’ With the Excelerate Prodigy 1:12 project a year old now, on his creation he said, ‘we have some new bits but we’ve already released most of the other stuff. Compared to last year we have a steel chassis now, we have a little bit different offset in the ackermann for our steering blocks and then we have just been working on our bump stops which kind of works like our centre shock. Just refining little things and learning a long the way. It’s kind of weird seeing so many purple cars at a lot of tracks here in the US. With more racers running it I am getting more feedback and we’re cleaning up some of our mistakes from the original release.’
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