2009 TCS North American Finals

The 2009 TCS North American Finals are over and Tamiya have 3 new champions going to Japan. They are Timmy Valles of the GT-1 class, Lee Passehl of the GT-2 class and Michael Monaghan of the Mini class. Timmy Valles was able to clinch his title in the first 2 in the best of 3 A-Main races as was Lee Passehl, though it wasn’t easy. Timmy had to contend with Joe Glover and James Arluck as both of them were in the hunt to challenge Timmy. In the case of Lee Passehl it was Oliver Clipper and Orlando Sherman that brought their best A-Game to date. Both had cars and great setups to stay close enough to Passehl to give him good scare. In the end it was Lee that kept a cool head and can now be nicknamed the ICEMAN. In Michael Monighans’ case, it came to the third Final A-Main to decide his fate. His nerves in the first main caused him to drive a little erratic and he finished second in the first main.

In the second main he drove perfectly and took a 1st place. In the third main he was able to stay ahead for 4.59 minutes until Brandon Koslowsky stole the win in the final A-Main. Luckily for Michael, he was able to secure enough points to secure him the overall victory. Four more champions were also crowned. Craig Richter took home the GT-3 Championship by driving calm and clean, Austin Brumblay won the F-1 championship and basically gave a clinic to all the F-1 racers in attendance. No one is making fun of his F-1 pink car now! Hank Tadeusiak won the Spec Novice class championship by dominating the race from start to finish and Rod Canare took top honors in the Formula One Expert/past champions class by finding the right combination of foam tires and proper tire preparation. Congratulations to all of the winners and good luck to the winners going to Japan to represent the USA at the Tamiya World Championships held in Shizuoka City, Japan.

Source: Tamiya USA [tamiyausa.com]