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Photon does double wins at ROAR Carpet Nationals 2010!
Following TOP Racing’s Photon recent win at the Snowbirds (by Jason Schreffler), Josh Cyrul and Vincent Jackson piloted their Photon’s to victory at the 2010 ROAR Carpet Nationals. Vincent Jackson won the 13.5 Rubber Division. Jackson stayed calm and collected while enduring some unlucky breaks in the main to pull out off the victory. Cyrul TQ’d and won the Rubber Modified Division saying his car was excellent and felt great all week.
From TOP Racing, Great Job Guys!!!!!!!!!!!
Josh will post setups soon!
T.O.P. Racing wins Snowbirds 2010!
Jason Schreffler pilots his TOP Racing Photon to TQ and Win the Snowbirds Nationals in 13.5 Rubber!
Larry Faritrace also had a good showing by qualifying 3rd in the same class.
Qualifying top 10 order in 13.5 Rubber:
Jason Schreffler (TOP Photon)
Kevin Hebert
Larry Fairtrace (TOP Photon)
Martin Crisp
Francesco Martini
Barry Baker
Jeff Cuffs
Austin Harrison
Brad Johnson
Drew Ellis
Final top 10 in 13.5 Rubber:
Jason Schreffler (TOP Photon)
Kevin Hebert
Martin Crisp
Francesco Martini
Austin Harrison
Drew Ellis
Brad Johnson
Barry Baker
Larry Fairtrace (TOP Photon)
Jeff Cuffs
Jason's Snowbirds Race Report:
Tuesday:
So it's Tuesday, first day of practice and the 13.5 Rubber and Mod classes are at the end of the practice list. It was a blessing as it let others run the track in before us. Only issue was the groove wasn't getting dark. Round 1 of practice really wasn't much more than just getting to know the track layout. Nobody worried about lap times. Just that they got around without making mistakes and just learning the layout. My 13.5 did feel neutral and my mod car was suffering from understeer. That didn't surprise me as that was the same behavior I had at home at Horsham R/C. When round 2 of practice on Tuesday rolled around, the track started coming around, but still wasn't quite there. Larry and I spent a LOT of time at Horsham R/C getting setups down and they're based on tracks with high traction levels. Since the track still wasn't up to higher levels, we still just waited for traction to build up and not worry much about times.
Wednesday:
Wednesday... 1 round of class controlled practice, then practice by heat. This time, the track started getting better. Times were getting better and the cars were starting to show their true colors. My 13.5 car felt great. It had a decent amount of steering, but wanted a touch more. The mod car felt much the same way. After the controlled round was over, we were setup to run by heats. This was great to be able to size up the competition. My heat was pretty good. I had one of my main competitors, Keven Hebert, in my heat. That was great to have a good gauge as to where we both were with our cars. I was able to TQ the practice round over everyone and felt VERY confident going into qualifying. The car was steering well, easy to drive, and VERY fast. Also, Larry and I noticed that tires were going to be an important part of going fast as the new spec tires seemed better when they were new.
Thursday:
Thursday... 2 rounds of qualifying. This is a stressful day, lemme tell ya. With heats being reshuffled after round 1, you CANNOT make a mistake in the 1st round. You have to finish and finish clean. I practiced first thing in the morning on old tires and the car felt much the same as it did the prior 2 days of practice. Since the tires had a couple more runs on them, the car was understeering a little, but was still quick. So Round 1 13.5 rubber rolls around, everybody is on brand new tires and we got a good glimpse of what's going to happen. I'm in the first heat with Keven. We both get decent runs and I set TQ early on with a 25 5:00. That's slower than what I did in the practice heat the day before, but it was an Insurance run. I didn't want to make a mistake, break the car, and not be in the top heat. Barry Baker set TQ for the round with a 26 5:11. That put it at Barry, Myself, Keven, Martin Crisp, Francesco Martini, and Larry. No one seemed to have a squeaky clean run, but solid enough not to worry. So now Round 2 rolls around and the top guns are shuffled together. The top 3, Barry, Keven, and myself were all very close on the clock, but we are all making small mistakes. Right at the end of the heat, I made a fairly large mistake that took me out of the running for TQ. Barry finished the round with a new TQ, Keven finished 2nd bumping me to 3rd on the grid. Larry picked his time up a few seconds to be sitting 5th behind Martin Crisp. With the day over for us, Larry and I had time to think about what we wanted to do. The cars were good enough, it was just a matter of not making mistakes.
Friday:
Friday... 1 round of qualifying. Larry and I got up first thing in the morning (4:45am) to hit the track by 5am. Practice was a huge thing as it was important to get those laps in the morning. It's more just to refresh yourself from not running from the day before. Well, this morning came as an awesome surprise. I put my 13.5 car down with everything it had in it from the day before. 3 run tires, same battery, everything. Our lap times dropped big time. We're talking 2 tenths a lap QUICKER than the day before or for the whole weekend for us. We didn't touch the cars at all. The track came to us. This usually somehow always happens to us too. LOL. So Round 3 of qualifying is up for 13.5 rubber. I'm feeling REALLY good about my chances at TQ now. The car felt great in practice and horsepower was not an issue thanks to Tekin and ThunderPower. I roll off the grid 3rd and get going. The start didn't quite go well for any of us. Barry spins in the middle chicane directly in front of Keven. Keven nails Barry in the door. The ricochet caught my car and threw it into the wall. Keven gets out first, then me, Barry no where in site. So now I have to put my head down. The first lap was already long. The rest of the guys in the heat didn't have a wreck on lap one, so Keven and I had to wheel. I caught Keven and passed him about 6 laps into the heat. I'm now listening to Fox (the race director) and he's announcing the pace. I slowly work the time under TQ and start pushing. I rip off an 11.4 and several 11.5s to get the pace down to a 26 5:06 (5 seconds faster than TQ!). At this point, I had a good gap on Keven. I started slowing down a little to finish the run and not to blow out. Larry is on a flying run too right behind me and took 2nd in the heat with 2 laps to go. When time expired, I set new TQ, 26 5:07.40, Keven 2nd 26 5:08.6, and Larry made a mistake on the last lap costing him 2nd in the heat and grid finished with a 26 5:09.6. What a heat. The car was fantastic and everything just went great. If it weren't for the lap 1 wreck, TQ would have been almost 2 seconds faster, which would have qualified me well up in MOD!
Saturday:
Saturday... Last round of qualifying. Again, Larry and I wake up crack of dawn to get some track time. The cars feel good, but not quite as good as the day before. We chalk it up to the fact that oval had just run 2 qualifiers the night before. We're basically assuming there won't be much in way of new TQ times set in this round, but we were wrong. All the prior classes to 13.5 set new TQs, so we know we gotta push in round 4. So I get to start from the front this time, Keven 2nd, and Larry 3rd. We take off, but Larry makes a mistake on lap 1 and breaks his car. This leaves the fight for TQ between Barry, Keven, and myself. The beginning pace was underwhelming though. We were no faster than TQ. I started pushing and got under TQ, but not by much... only 1/2 second. I start putting a small gap on Keven and Barry made mistakes taking him out of contention for TQ. I, for some reason, start taking it easy. It was more knowing I pretty much have TQ locked up. With 45 seconds to go, I'm still under TQ pace, but Keven this run is not quick enough to beat my old time. I finish the race driving conservative and win the heat/round. Nobody improved their times. The grid was set. What a relief. LOL. I will start first on the grid!
Sunday:
Sunday Sunday Sunday!! Mains day. Again, Larry and I wake up uber early and get more track time. I ran on old tires and the car felt good, but not great. I knew that NEW tires were going to be the ticket so I decided not to worry myself over lap times. I spent a lot of time changing setups on my mod car trying to make improvements in that class as I made the A main in mod too. Funny thing is, my best qualifying round in mod was with using my 13.5 car. I chose not to use my 13.5 car in mod the whole week cuz I knew I had a chance at doing very well in 13.5. Once practice was over, I talked to Keven and he says... "my car is really good, I did an 11.4 this morning". I can only chalk that up to a psych out. My best lap of the morning was an 11.6 on old tires. I go back to my pit and keep wrenching getting things prepared. Working on 3 cars for 3 A mains gets a little cumbersome after a week of racing. LOL. So now it's time for the show... the 13.5 Rubber A Main. 3 years in a row, I start from the TQ position in the "super stock/19t" style class. In 2008, I won 19T foam over Paul Lemiuex. In 2009, I TQed over Keven Hebert in 13.5 Foam only to make a mistake with a straight away lead and cost myself a shot at the win. This year, I wanted to redeem myself. I didn't want to make the same mistake I made the year prior. I was more focused, more confident, and the Photon felt great... no horsepower issues to think of... it's ALL me. Driver introductions end, I shake Keven's hand as he's a great friend and I know he races clean. We take off from the tone and WOW, a fantastic start for both of us. A clean first corner is all you can ask for. After 2 laps, I'm sorta taking it too easy. When you're rhythm isn't the same as you have been racing, it lends yourself to a mistake... and it happened. I go through the chicane and tap the exit of the chicane. It gets my car out of shape and Keven attempted to make a move on the inside. Only issue was, that's where my car was heading due to hitting the wall. I hit Keven, but it doesn't hurt us that bad. We both rip the trigger and shoot down the straight. I'm still in the lead. That was too close for comfort. LOL. From this point, I'm dead set on no more mistakes. I kept it clean for the following 4 minutes and 30 seconds. Not one wall tap, not one mistake. It drove just fast enough to keep a 5-10 car length gap to Keven. The tone goes off, I won!! It was like a weight lifted off my shoulders. Larry was stoked although he didn't finish the run. He got taken out by another racer that finished the main for him. None the less... TOP wins SnowBirds!!! After 3 successful years with Losi... we started off 2010 blazing with TOP and it'll only get better.
Jason's Gear
Car: TOP Photon
Speedcontroller: Tekin (www.teamtekin.com)
Battery: Thunder Power (www.thunderpowerrc.com)
Radio: Spektrum (www.spektrumrc.com)
Pictures of Jason's car coming soon!
Josh Cyrul Finishes 3rd in Modified Rubber at Snowbirds
Final top 10 in Modified Rubber:
Jilles Groskamp
Kevin Hebert
Josh Cyrul (TOP Photon)
Paul Lemieux
Barry Baker
Jason Schreffler (TOP Photon)
Martin Crisp
Mike Haynes
Francesco Martini
Chris Tosolini
T.O.P. Racing welcomes Jason Schreffler and Larry Fairtrace
Jason was the 2008 Snowbirds 27 turn and 19 turn foam class champion.
Larry was the Reedy Race 2008 13.5 division champion
T.O.P. Racing TQ's and Wins REEDY RACE 2009!
With its debut of the PHOTON, T.O.P. Racing is again on top of the podium at the Reedy Race. This time it was team driver EJ Evans that TQ'd and WON both 13.5 and RCGT class. In the 13.5 class EJ TQ'd 3 of the 4 rounds of qualifying. Winning the first 2 A mains and clinching the title. In the RCGT it was a similar story. EJ TQ'd 4 of the 4 rounds of qualifying and won the first 2 A mains.
This year the invite format was a little different. But all there TOP Racing team drivers qualified for the Reedy Cup. Leading the field was the Photon's designer Josh Cyrul (7th), followed by Kevin Jelcih last years open winner (9th). Rounding out the field was Scott Kimbrow in his first ever electric touring car race (11th). Scott is no stranger to racing having won the 1/8th Fuel On-Road nationals last year.
Special thanks to Michael O'Donnell for helping us with everthing from car setup to pit support.
From left to right: Josh Cyrul, Scott Kimbrow, EJ Evans, Michael O'Donnell, Kevin Jelich, Eric "Minimod" Alabano.
All drivers used TOP Racing's new Photon 1/10th scale touring car.
Setups, pictures, and race report will be posted soon!
Race coverage can also be viewed at rcevilempire.com.
T.O.P. Racing at the IIC 08!
T.O.P. has increased their sponsorship level to gold! Contine reading.....IIC!
T.O.P. Racing TQ's and Wins REEDY RACE 08!
May 25, 2008
T.O.P. Racing had a pretty good weekend at the Reedy. It was Kevin Jelich on top TQ'ing the frist two rounds of qualifiying putting him on pole. He followed this up with victories in Main 2 and 3 over very fast Christer Andersson. Kyle Bergstrom of T.O.P. used the forth round to TQ the spec class. Also in the class was T.O.P. fellow team driver Jason Ertrachter qualified 3rd and E.J. Evans qualified 5th. In the end it was Losi's Larry Fertrace taking the win with Bergstrom in 2nd and Evans in 3rd.
In the Open Mod Class Kevin Jelich (TOP Racing) was the big winner with a TQ and an A-main win. He finished ahead of Finlands Christer Andersson and 3rd place Jimmy Jacobson.
The 13.5T Class was won by Larry Fairtrace over 2nd place and TQ racer Kyle Bergstom (TOP Racing) and 3rd place EJ Evans (TOP Racing).
TOP Team: from left to right EJ Evans, Jason Ertrachter, Kyle Bergstrom, Josh Cyrul, Kevin Jelich. Missing from the photo but in attendace: Marc Mendoza, Martin Salgado, Jonothan Hernandez.
Special thanks to Michael O'Donnell for all the help at the Reedy. He was "PB" for the team drivers, doing everything from building our batteries to putting cars down. Wasn't able to snap some pics of him at the Reedy, but this his him.
All T.O.P. Racing team drivers drove the Scythe 2008 Kit.
Josh Cyrul wins 10.5 at the ROAR Carpet Nats
Not long after being with T.O.P. Racing, Josh Cyrul TQ'd and won the 2008 ROAR Carpet Nationals in the 10.5 Foam Division. The race was held at Hobby Plex in Omaha Nebraska.
Josh's Car
Josh Cyrul Joins T.O.P. Racing!
February 25, 2008 – 6:48 pm
Tokyo hobbies Optional Parts (T.O.P.) would like to announce that they have entered into a contract with Josh Cyrul. Josh will represent T.O.P. as a driver and engineer.
Masato and Vincent Yip of T.O.P. Racing say: “We are extremely happy that Josh has decided to race for us. Not only is he a world class driver, but also a respected inventor and innovator. We are dedicated to making an impact in the R/C industry and we feel Josh is the right person to lead us.”I want to personally welcome Josh to the team. We sent him a car 5 days before the Snowbirds for testing and critique. Within having the kit for a couple hours he was already sending us build updates. The following day we were receiving updates on his testing. These updates were not one sentence emails, but rather lengthy emails regarding technical aspects of the car, results of testing, what he liked, and what he thought could be better. So far he says he’s very happy with the car, but I’ll let him tell you that for himself.
I’ve never worked with Josh before this, and from what I can tell so far he is dedicated and passionate about our industry. His engineering knowledge about touring cars is second to none. We are very fortunate to have him and will utilize his engineering talents to produce the best products for the racer.
EJ Evans
T.O.P. Racing USA
Scythe Wins!
February 25, 2008 – 6:15 pm
Scythe wins the Northwest Carpet Championships
T.O.P. Racing team driver E.J. Evans wins Spec Modified at the recent Northwest Carpet Championships. The race was held at the Stockton R/C Raceway (home of the 2006 Roar Carpet Nationals), December 7, 8, and 9.Top ten results for Spec Modified:
- E.J. Evans
- Aaron Young
- Jesse Stark
- Tony Fiorella
- Walter Cosico
- Jeff Hastings
- Derek Stephansen
- Jason Ertrachter
- Eric Albano
- Kevin Gown
T.O.P Racing team driver Adam Brigden finishes 3rd in Expert Stock.Top ten results for Expert Stock
- Aaron Young
- Tony Fiorella
- Adam Brigden
- Austin Brumblay
- Jason Ertrachter
- Mike Molina
- Scott Barnes
- Javier Arroyo
- Clint Riley
- Ken Brumbay
T.O.P. Racing Welcomes Jason Ertrachter
Thursday, December 20th, 2007
T.O.P. Racing welcomes Jason Ertrachter to the team. Jason was the 2006 IIC Stock Champion and 2007 Snowbirds Stock Champion. He will be attending the 2008 Snowbirds, Roar Carpet Nationals, Roar Asphalt Nationals, Reedy Race, and the IIC.
Welcome
December 19, 2007 – 4:12 pm
T.O.P. Racing USA is the North America distributor for T.O.P. Racing Products. Our products include the Scythe 1/10th scale touring car and a complete line of support products.
You will find our upgrade parts for all touring cars which include alloy spacers, titanium screws, and ceramic bearings.
In our adhesive section we carry tire glue, highly bonding servo tape, and battery strapping tape that will keep your racing efforts together.
You’ll be able to carry your transmitter and other race gear to the track with T.O.P. storage products.
T.O.P. Racing USA