Marc Fischer is crowned the 2013 Snowbird Nationals Onroad Champion

    

The 19th annual running of the Snowbird Nationals, the World’s Largest R/C Car race, went down in Orlando, Florida last week, with PROTOform drivers taking the win in 8 different on-road classes. It’s a one-of-a-kind event with both on-road and oval classes, providing ’round-the-clock racing action.
 
In Touring Car Modified, Swedish Ace and defending champion Alexander Hagberg set the early pace through practice and qualifying with his Mazdaspeed6, but it was not without challenge. Young Canadian Andrew Hardman nipped at his heels throughout the 4 rounds, coming up just .29 seconds short of a major TQ upset. Hagberg locked up TQ and then led the A-main wire-to-wire for his 2nd straight Snowbirds win, ahead of fellow ETS driver Marc Fischer and Canadian Keven Hebert. Mazdaspeed6s were again the prevalent race body of choice for the ultra-high grip carpet surface at the Snowbirds.
 
In the 1/12th Modified Class sponsored by PROTOform, Paul Lemieux led qualifying early in the week but it was Fischer who grabbed the TQ spot with his AMR-12. The main was pure dominance from Fischer, cruising to victory over Hebert and Hagberg. A very cool feature of the Snowbirds is the Overall Championships, which add up finishes in Touring Car Mod and 1/12th Mod to crown an Overall Champion. Fisher’s 1st and 2nd place finishes just beat out Hagberg’s 1st and 3rd, earning him a big shiny ring (pictured above) just like the winners of the NFL’s Super Bowl would receive later that evening.
 
Andrew Hardman, along with team mechanic Corey Whiteman, continued to be one of the big stories of the week, TQ’ing and winning Touring Car Superstock 13.5 with a Mazdaspeed6. Showing pace and maturity far beyond his years, 14-year old Hardman is certainly a name to watch out for in the international on-road scene in the next few years. In an interview with on-road fixture Josh Cyrul, he expects Hardman to up challenging super-stars like Volker and Rheinard in the coming years. That’s high praise for a driver who can’t legally buy a drink in his native Canada for another 5 years!

  

PROTOform drivers also took wins in 1/12th Superstock (Donny Lia, AMR-12), World GT (Brian Wynn, Sophia GT), Touring Car 17.5 (Eric Anderson, LTC-R), Touring Car Amateur (Ed Shaffer, Mazdaspeed6), and Vintage Trans-Am (Jim Piersol, J71).

  

All in all, it was a fantastic event: a huge turnout with round-the-clock, competitive racing and professional organization. PROTOform congratulates all of the 2013 Snowbirds winners!

  

To see PROTOform’s complete On-Road gallery with podium shots from the event, click here.

 

(Marc Fischer - Overall Onroad Champion) 

  

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