2023 US Indoor Championships Podiums

Press Release From Team Xray:
www.teamxray.com

Report by Alexander Hagberg

The 2023 US Indoor Championships was held at the Embassy Suites hotel in Independence, near Cleveland, Ohio. The race saw a total of 300+ entries in 14 classes. XRAY and RC America were present with a big team, ready to fight for the win every category. Open practice started on Thursday morning, and continued all through the night, until qualifying started on Friday morning. A rocket round qualifying system was used, which meant that the fastest round would count towards the starting position in the finals. Three classes featured triple A-finals: 12th scale modified, 25.5T TC, and 21.5T TC.

In the premier modified TC class, Keven Hebert took a strong TC position with his X4’24 chassis. Keven was able to convert his TQ into a win, after a tone-to-tone affair in the single A-final. I was able to finish in 4th spot, just missing out on the podium. The up-and-coming youngsters, Chase Lemieux and Bryce Frechette also made the A-final with their X4’24 cars! This meant that XRAY had 4 cars in the main final.

Modified TC results:

1. Keven Hebert (TQ)- XRAY X4’24
2. Marc Rheinard
3. Sam Isaacs

Super Stock TC was dominated from start to finish by our team driver Mike Gee. Mike took off from his pole position and never looked back – securing the overall win for the 2nd consecutive time in this class at the USIC! Marc Livermore had a fantastic main, finishing 2nd overall, making it a strong 1-2 finish for the team! Not to forget Dylan Fuge in 5th position, which meant 3x XRAY X4’24 cars in the top 5 – a very strong result in this category!

Super Stock TC results:

1. Mike Gee (TQ) - XRAY X4’24
2. Marc Livermore - XRAY X4’24
3. Michael Skeen

In the new 25.5T TC category, Martin Lecuyer took a strong runner up spot with his X4’24 chassis! Martin took the A1 win a convincing fashion, which eventually helped him secure 2nd place overall. Andy Brooks and Matthew Abey also made the A-final with their X4’24 cars!

25.5 TC results:

1. Bobby Rorison
2. Martin Lecuyer - XRAY X4’24
3. Aiden Hensdill

FWD saw a strong TQ from the RC America team driver Andy Brooks! Andy had to settle for the runner up spot in the single A-final, after a mistake halfway through the race.

FWD results:

1. Mike Zufelt
2. Andy Brooks (TQ) - XRAY X4F’24
3. Mark Tiamson

In the popular GT12 class, Skip Starkey put his XRAY X12 car on the TQ spot for the final. Unfortunately, Skip had to settle for 2nd overall after the main final. Congratulations Skip on a strong performance!

GT12 results:

1. Tom Firsching
2. Skip Starkey - XRAY X12
3. Jim Piersol

USGT saw several contenders for the overall win from our team. The strongest in qualifying was our Canadian team driver, Martin Lecuyer, in 2nd place. After the finals however, it was Patrick St-Germain who moved up to the runner up spot, with another XRAY of Andrew Doherty, in the 3rd and final podium position. This meant that there were 3x XRAY cars in the top 4 in this category!

USGT results:

1. Manny Flores
2. Patrick St-Germain - XRAY X4’24
3. Andrew Doherty - XRAY X4’24

USVTA saw a TQ and win by Kenny Thornton, closely followed by Brandan Hickson in 2nd place, making it a 1-2 finish for XRAY!

USVTA results:

1. Kenny Thornton (TQ) - XRAY X4’23
2. Brandan Hickson - XRAY X4’24
3. Von Perry

Thanks to all XRAY drivers for your great teamwork and great efforts in all classes! XRAY had drivers in the A-finals of almost all categories!

I’d like to thank the organizer of the race, Scotty Ernst, Paul Lemieux and their team for a fantastic event with both good competition and a great atmosphere! We are certainly looking forward to coming back next year!