10,000 Winter Slam at Warehouse Raceway

Report by Jason Branham

January 6-8th I was able to attend the 10,000 Winter Slam at Alan Burton’s Warehouse Raceway and home of his well known Speed Shop. Alan has done a great job with his facility and even with the tight racing space he was able to build a challenging and fun lay out. Team Agama showed up in good numbers with me, my brother Brian Rickard, Alan Burton, Corey Johnson and Drew Cassidy in attendance.

During Friday practice, in which I was really looking forward to, my Agama was pretty solid the first time I got a chance to run on the track. It was also going to be my first chance to race the new Beta line of tires and wheels. It was clear that a small pin tire was going to be the ticket, so I choose to go with Beta Cubez in the super soft compound with the new dual stage inserts. Still though I was wanting more steering, so I decided to try the long ackerman and this really gave the car a lot of steering which helped increase corner speed not only in the 180’s but also the sweeper. Most of the team tried the ackerman and really liked the results as well.

In qualifying the Agama buggies showed great pace with Corey Johnson leading the way in the Pro buggy class qualifying 2^nd with Brian Rickard qualifying 3^rd and Drew Cassidy making it three Agama’s in the main qualifying 4^th. In the Pay out Ebuggy class I was able to take the TQ position in the last round by setting the fastest run of the weekend clipping Max Flurer buy a couple of tenths and Billy Easton by just a second, not bad for my first time out with an Ebuggy. In the Payout Buggy class I TQ’ed the first round of qualifying and my time stood to claim TQ for the class followed by TLR/Arrow-Racing's Ryan Lopez in 2^nd, Serpent’s Billy Easton 3^rd, and Agama/Arrow-Racing's Corey Johnson 4^th.

The Pro Buggy main was close all race long with the lead changing hands countless times. The race between TLR/Bullitt driver Matt “Puddin” Sistrunk, Brian Rickard, and Drew Cassidy came down to the end with Drew Cassidy slipping by the battle with Sistrunk and Rickard to take the win followed closely by Brian Rickard 2^nd and Matt Sistrunk not even a second behind in 3^rd. Agama was able to take 1^st and 2^nd, great job!

The Payout Ebuggy main was a double A main format with each main 15 minutes in length. In A1 I got off to a terrible start missing the triple and landing off the track. This allowed Max and Billy to get away and I spent the first couple of minutes in the back of the pack. I was slowly working my way back to the lead pair when Billy lost a wheel which put him out of the race. With in the last minute of the race I had managed to catch Max but with another mistake by me he was able to take the win for A1. In A2 I got off to a better start but a couple minutes in I caught a pipe allowing Max and Billy to get by. Max drove a great main to stay out front and I caught Billy a couple of times but I was not able to get by. I would finish 3^rd behind Max and Billy. With my overall time from A1 and A2 I finished 2^nd overall for the event with the Agama and Beta Cubez.

In the Payout Buggy main we had three Agama’s again in this one with me as TQ, Corey Johnson qualifying 4^th, and Alan Burton taking the bump spot from the B main. I got off to a great start and led for the first 5 or 6 minutes but with constant traffic because of the small track I made some costly mistakes trying to get by traffic. This allowed Billy Easton to get by to take the lead and now I was battling with Losi’s Ryan Lopez for 2^nd. Ryan and I kept a close race until about the 20 minute mark when Ryan blew a plug which eventually ended his race and left me comfortably in 2^nd. I was unable to catch up to Billy in the last few minutes so I would have to settle for 2^nd but still it was another good outing for Agama and the new Beta line. Agama again would show well with me finishing 2^nd, Alan Burton finishing 5^th, and Corey Johnson finishing 7^th.

The 2011 Turkey Shootout held at the famous Hemet RC Raceway was jam packed with great racing and cold weather! 

We would like to congratulate Andrew Smolnik on his podium finish (2nd place).  Andrew's Agama A8 worked extremely well on the aggressive Hemet layout.  While finishing in 2nd Smolnik did obtain the lead for a portion of the main event, showing the Agama A8's "competitive level". 

Congrats to Adam Drake (winner)  and Ronda Drake (3rd) on their great performances as well!

1. Daniel Vega Frias Agama A8-Evo / Orion / VP-Pro
2. Daniel Pariente Agama A8-Evo / Orion / VP-Pro
3. Roberto Garcia
4. Oscar Navarro
5. Jose Carlos Ibarra Agama / novarossi / VP-Pro
6. Alberto Garcia
7. Chema Casado
8. Alvaro garcia
9. Antonio Montes
10. Antonio Ortega Agama A8-Evo / Orion Discovery/ VP-Pro
11. Eduardo Velasco
12. Juan Manuel Guillen

We are happy to announce that we have signed a Top USA Racer to drive the Agama Racing products exclusively in 2012.  This racer brings years of winning experience along with many National titles.  We will announce the drivers identity soon.

September 21, 2011

Race Report: 4th Round Mexican Nationals - Chihuahua, Mexico

Last weekend, Agama USA driver Daniel Ornelas had a great result at the Mexico Nationals. Daniel qualified 3rd after 3 rounds of qualifying. The track was amazing with a lot of camber changes. In the Semifinal, Daniel took the lead right at the start and went on to take the win. That gave him the pole position for the A Main. During the first quarter of the race, Daniel and Gil Alontaga battled for 1st place. Then Daniel took the lead and pushed hard to stretch his lead over 2nd place. No one came close to him at the end of the 40 min race. Daniel had a 3 lap lead over 2nd place.