Article - 2007 PN Racing Mini-Z World Cup U.S. Southern Regional

We christened our new AtomicMods.com Test Track by hosting the 2007 PN Racing Mini-Z World Cup U.S. Southern Regional on the weekend of August 4 and 5. Lots of spectators, killer door prizes, and great competition resulted in a very fun event.

The Race In Action



Race Results


Three categories were run for the weekend, including Stock Mini-Z, Formula 1 Mini-Z and Modified Mini-Z.

Stock (Heat A)

Qualifier 1

Qualifier 2

Qualifier 3

Main

Stock (Heat B)

Qualifier 1

Qualifier 2

Qualifier 3

Main

F-1

Qualifier 1

Qualifier 2

Qualifier 3

Main

Modified

Qualifier 1

Qualifier 2

Qualifier 3

Main


New Mini-Z AtomicBuilt Team Edition F1 Mod


This was a new setup that we had been working on for the last couple of months. When we gave it to Jacob he fell in love with it and started practicing with it at our AtomicMods Club Races a couple of weeks before the race. The car proved to be nothing short of perfect and dominated the F1 class. We have posted the complete setup of this car under the AtomicBuilt section. 
Class Driver Honors Setup
F-1 Jacob Feinstein 1st Place, Top Qualifier, Fastest Laps in Class AtomicBuilt 2007 Team Edition F1 Mod

The Story


Qualifying
The Stock class was a struggle between Hector Zachrisson and our very own fearless leader, Robert Byrd. They battled from the first round of qualifying constantly stealing the Top Qualifying position from each other. In the last qualifying round, Hector was able to string together some really fast laps during the race which led him to snatch the Top Qualifying spot from Rob by only about 8 seconds. Rosendo Villareal, who made the trip all the way from Monterrey, Mexico, qualified third.

Formula 1 was the smallest class, but was still one of the most fun to watch. This category was a battle between Robert Rocha (aka FRANK) and Jacob Feinstein all day long. Even though Jacob held TQ honors for pretty much all of the day, it wasn’t without Frank putting the pressure on him constantly.

In Modified, Mini-Z Team AtomicMods driver Cristian Tabush dominated qualifying all day long. Cristian won each of the qualifying rounds by at least a lap over team mates Jacob Feinstein, who qualified in the number 2 spot and Frank Rocha who was number 3.

The Mains
The first A main run was the stock A-Main. This was probably the most exciting main the whole day. At the start of the race, Top Qualifier Hector Zachrisson built a considerable lead over the pack, as Rob Byrd spend a tough time battling with Rosendo for 2nd place. At about the halfway point Hector was on Rob’s bumper, about to lap him. This is when Rob put it back together and actually pulled away from Hector slowly, eventually catching him again at about the 2 minute mark when he took over the lead. The last 2 minutes were very exciting to watch! The two racers battled cleanly for 1st place, swapping spots several times up until the 30 seconds left mark, where Rob made a couple of mistakes which allowed Hector to come across the finish line 6 seconds ahead of Rob.

The Formula 1 A-main again proved to be very exciting. Second place qualifier Frank Rocha took the hole shot going into the first corner and pulled a way a bit from Jacob Feinstein for the first lap or so. Jacob made a move about 2 laps into the race and took the lead away from Frank. The two leaders went at it bumper to bumper for the first half of the race until Frank finally made a mistake and allowed Jacob to pull away for the win.

The Modified Main started off fairly uneventful. At the buzzer, the Top Qualifier, Cristian Tabush, took the hole-shot and managed to build almost a lap lead on the whole field. Half-way through the race, Cristian had a big collision with a lapped car at the end of the straightaway that cracked the front of his body. This created some handling problems with his car and allowed Jacob Feinstein to slowly catch up. Several laps later Jacob took over the lead and never looked back. In the end it was Jacob, Cristian and Frank Rocha finishing 1-2-3 place. Rob must have forgotten to sprinkle the magic pixie dust on his car because he came in dead last beaten by the "Cole Train".

Door Prizes
We put up quite a few prizes ourselves and when this was combined with the generosity of our vendors we started out with way too much stuff to give away. The large items like Mini-Z ReadySets and RCP Tracks were no problem, but we had too many small items such as batteries, tires, upgrades, stickers and lots of other miscellaneous parts. Had we given these items away individually we would have been there all day, so we decided to create "Bags-O-Stuff" out of these sundry parts. After combining them we had 28 prizes to give away and ended up with only 36 tickets in the bowl. We allowed spectators, as well as racers, to participate in the drawing making this the high point of the day for many of the spectators who made away like bandits because the odds were so good. A big thanks goes out to RCP Tracks, Kyosho America, and PN Racing for donating some great prizes! RCP donated several track kits that went to some very deserving winners. We had plenty of goodies so nearly everyone walked away with something.

The Photos


Cristian Tabush served as our race director and is a Mini-Z World Champion driver himself. 
He was having some computer trouble so we brought in someone more competent.
The consultant left a hefty bill and a stain that wont come out, but now everything is A-OK. 
Man, this place is the pits...
Say hello to Devin Brown. You couldn't tell it from looking at him, but this guy is actually a brilliant IT consultant who works for Rob's other company; Truewater
In the front corner is "Cole Train" and his father Ash. If you look closely you will see our Operations Manager; John Shanklin in the very back. He ripped off his shirt moments after this photo, but alas, my camera battery went dead. Guess you will have to settle for this little blast from the past
Jacob Feinstein and his father and pit crew Michael. Jacob is also a Mini-Z world champion driver who took two firsts this past year at the Mini-Z World Cup. And he didn't just win, but utterly smashed the competition by finishing amazing 4 laps up in the Pan Car class.
We had Rob's laptop set up with a wireless card for public use. These kids stayed very busy downloading gourmet recipes.
Rob shows of his awesome masculinity. He uses this tactic to intimidate the other drivers. For some reason it didn't work this time?
This was the modified class, Rob may have come in dead last, but he was clearly the most  handsomest by far.
From the far left we have the average looking Robert "Frank" Rocha, "Cole Train" Bailey-Classen, Cristian Tabush, Jacob Feinstein and finally our fearless leader Robert Byrd on the far right. In this classic profile shot you can fully appreciate just how really good looking Rob is.
The F-1 class had a light turnout, but Jacob and Frank were very exciting to watch as they are both incredibly talented drivers. Jacob drove the new  AtomicBuilt 2007 Team Edition F1 Mod and posted some impressive numbers.
We had quite a few spectators. The 9 foot tall guy in the back, is James Stender who does our  back end programming at AtomicMods. And the stunningly handsome guy sitting down needs no introduction.
Babes were everywhere!
Santa Rob handed out 28 smoking cool prizes. Well, they weren't really smoking, but they were very cool.
We had some technical difficulty and thought we may have to postpone the distribution of door prizes. It seems that Frank couldn't figure out how to get the tickets out of the bowl, but with Rob's expert assistance, the aforementioned seemingly insurmountable problem was overcome and the prizes were handed out without further difficulty.
This little whippersnapper won the first RCP Mini-96  track.
And this one took home the AWD ReadySet.
And "Cole Train" who is one of our best customers won 2 "Bags-O-Stuff"!
Bobby wins the other Mini-96. Bobby flys Helicopters for Uncle Sam. We sure hope he flys better than he drives...
Daniel won both of the RCP Wide L tracks. Just look at him with those beady little eyes and that smirky grin. Does he look trustworthy to you? If I hadn't pulled the tickets myself, I'd say he rigged it.
These kids drove all the way from Austin just to watch the race and ended up walking away with an impressive haul in door prizes! Wonder if mom's figured out they stole the family station wagon yet?

Written by: Cristian Tabush & Robert Byrd
Edited by: John Shanklin