What could draw a few hundred R/C racers away from their loved ones over the Thanksgiving Holiday week? If you’re an R/C racer who loves to race carpet, clearly the 27th annual U.S. Indoor Championships in Independence, Ohio, could.

Known around the world simply as “Cleveland,” this year was yet another successful event for Mr. Bill, the founder and organizer of the race, and his crew. With more tradition and heritage than you can cram into one building, or your turkey, the Champs rarely disappoint.

The Champs joined the brushless revolution as well, permitting brushless motors in all modified classes. Novak was in attendance with full race support and a bevy of very fast team drivers. We offer our race report for your reading enjoyment.

First the stats: 

The GTX was used to help win five of the eight classes, sweeping the top three of 1/12-Mod, TC Masters and 1/12-Stock; and first in 19-turn 1/12-scale, first and second in 1/12-Masters. 

In addition to great main stats, Team Novak was able to achieve some great final results as well.

The double double?

Eli Ezrow, one of the fastest guys from the middle part of the country, was able to secure the TQ position in both of the Masters’ classes piloting his Corally TC and CRC 1/12-Scale. To wrap it up, he topped it all with two first place finishes. Eli was also in the hunt to be an A-Main finalist in the19-turn TC, but luck was not on his side in that class.

Congratulations on a great weekend and two more huge wins, Eli!

Another double top qualifier, who recently returned to Team Novak in Vegas, Drew Ellis put his XRAY on top of the Stock Touring Class and his brand new CEFX 1/12-Scale on the top of the 1/12-Stock field. No easy task as this event. But a slight miscalculation cost Drew the win in TC, but he held on for second. However, 1/12-Stock was no easy task. Fending off a few different challenges and using just a little blocking, he was able to hold on to the win. Thanks to Mark Calandra and Tom Firsching – both running CRC cars –   Novak swept the top three of 1/12-Stock.

Now onto the racing.

The Champs take place over roughly five days. However, there are so many races that practices run through the night. Once qualifying starts, the crew has you on a slightly better schedule with races starting at 7 a.m. and finishing around midnight. But there is more than just setup, driving and mechanics to worry about, you also need to manage your sleep deprivation.

19-turn 1/12-Scale is a somewhat new class in the ranks but is well accepted by the racers. Reedy motor expert Sean “Puffy” Cochran put his car in the TQ spot; unfortunately Sean ended up third with Mike Haynes coming in second. Newest Novak driver and very well known for his 1/12-Scale prowess, CEFX owner Josh Cyrul calmly chipped away at the lead until moving his way into the top spot. Though only three drivers were Novak equipped, Cyrul took home the most important finishing spot with his GTX equipped CEFX 1/12-Scale. Mark Smyka and Tom Firsching rounded out the rest of the Orange Powered.

Stock TC was a bit light on the Novak users. Ellis had TQ’d but a bobble pushed him back and allowed Jeff Cuffs to walk off with the win. Novak would also like to congratulate Rob Shaffer of AE and Jarrod Langlois for putting their GTX powered rides safely into the A-Main. Congratulations, Mr. Cuffs, on another great win.

Master TC as we know was won by Ezrow, but Eli led a three man Novak sweep of the top three! Thanks go to Jim Piersol and Kelly Bean for putting on one great battle over the second spot all while “keeping it clean.” Great job, guys, and thanks for running Novak. Tom “Expo” Esposito and Steve “Chocolate” Rossi also used the GTX to help put them in the main. Thanks, guys!

The same was almost true in the Masters TC. Ezrow was “head and beard” above the rest. Frank Calandra Jr. took home second with Bean (4th), Piersol (5th), Rossi (6th), Chuck Lonergan (7th) and David Morrow (9th,) all Novak equipped.  Lonergan was bidding for second early but found the worst end of a tangle and could not climb back up the ladder. Masters had the biggest Orange Streak with seven of 10 finalists running the GTX.

1/12-Stock was quite exciting. Ellis had to fend off a hard charge from Cuffs. I can’t say there wasn’t contact but “racing deal” comes to mind. The contact pushed Cuffs way back, but he lead the way for another Novak sweep of the top three with Ellis, Calandra and Firsching finishing first, second and third, respectively. Mark Smyka and Mike Pulfer were fifth and seventh, bringing the total to five of 10 Novak drivers.

Although the 19-turn TC field had four of 10 GTX equipped cars, racing luck was not on Team Novak’s side. Andrew Gray, Ellis, Mike Blackstock, Bobby Flack and Baker finished sixth through 10th, respectively. And the 19-turn main only had five cars finish – if that tells you anything. Paul Lemieux was the TQ and walked off with a clean sheet win.  Congratulations and good work, Paulie!

Touring Modified is one of the most fun divisions to watch – unless the leader wins by half a lap – Mr. Lemieux strikes again with a TQ and a Mod TC win. With five of 10 Mod TC finalists running Novak, we were hoping for some good results, and we’re not disappointed. Barry Baker from seventh on the grid worked all the way up to the second finishing position. Blackstock was only two seconds back, and Ralph Burch finished fourth. Two out of four were using the GTX; some users you may have heard mentioned a few times. Billy Easton and Chris Doseck were both off the track early with some bad race luck.

This race is known for 1/12-Scale, so I’ve saved it for the end. This was one of the more exciting races; there were position swaps, damaged cars and freak malfunctions. 
Jon Orr, a veteran 1/12 racer, started out front but was put under pressure from Dumas early on. This caused the field to get a bit bunched up and resulted in a pile up. The cars came out in an entirely new order, minus Orr who suffered an unknown failure that stopped his car. Dumas and his GTX equipped SpeedMerchant moved to the front followed by Baker and Easton. Cyrul, running a Novak GTB/Orion BL motor, was simply biding his time mid pack. The race was progressing when suddenly Dumas’s car rolled to slow stop. ESC failure? Motor failure? RX failure? Nope, a mechanic error. One of the cold solder joints on the motor let go with just under a minute to go in the race. D’oh! So who’s leading? Barry Baker, the fabulous one, cruised home to take his first ever U.S. Indoor Championship 1/12-Mod Title. A huge accomplishment for Barry, especially considering this was only his second race with SpeedMerchant. Easton in his debut with the SpeedMerchant team – flying directly from the Japan Nats to Cleveland – would end up second, a feat almost more impressive. Cyrul, using the Novak GTB, calmly diced his way to the third spot. Another great sweep for Novak. Dumas would end up seventh, and Blackstock was off before it started.  

Another Thanksgiving, another Champs. It’s always great to see old friends and good racing all in one place. Mr. Bill and the crew did another bang up job!

Congratulations to all the winners, and we send a huge thanks to all the racers that picked the Orange stuff. We’re hoping to see all of you at the races!