Coupes on the Royal – 8/18/26
After a two-week summer break, an even dozen drivers showed up to run Coupes on the American Royal in this week’s return to MVH Tuesday Night Retro racing. The event was run on the middle six lanes over twelve heats with ample marshals and one person to run the race.
12 Coupes in Tech:
Since Ray Lee migrated back north in the spring, we’ve run three Tuesday night races on the Royal, and he won all three! Tonight it looked like a similar outcome was in store as Ray was the first driver to log a lap in the 3.5s and he consistently was posting high lap totals. However, there were five other drivers thinking they too had a shot, making for an evening of fast laps and close racing. Cody Pare’ and Woody Hazelwood eventually got into the 3.5s and were the only other drivers to do so. But three more drivers (Dave Panich, Noah Ball and Rob Hayes) managed to post 3.61 laps, so the outcome was going to be determined by who did better staying on the track and avoiding the inevitable.
When time ran out, so did Ray’s luck, as Woody was better at avoiding the inevitable, taking the win by thirteen track sections with both drivers posting identical 278 lap totals. Despite spending a bit more time out of the slot than he would have liked, Cody claimed the bottom step on the podium, finishing two laps back. In fourth, Dave led the 3.61 second pack, one lap behind Cody while Noah was fifth with Rob just one lap behind in sixth.
John Mills and Gil Aubin both set lap times in the 3.7s, but Gil dropped out towards the end of the race as John led the rest of the field in seventh place. Joe Yates trailed by eleven laps in eighth while Richard Payne suffered chassis failure and finished with a loaner, two laps behind Joe. Another two laps back, Rolly Lapierre Jr. finished tenth while Steven Sacchetti trailed by one in eleventh.
Ray posted the fastest lap of the night with a 3.562 in yellow with Cody fractionally slower at 3.568.
Finishing order, laps completed, best-lap time and best-lap lane
1) Woody Hazelwood 278/21 3.598 BL
2) Ray Lee 278/8 3.562 YL
3) Cody Pare’ 276/17 3.568 BL
4) Dave Panich 275/17 3.612 YL
5) Noah Ball 272/21 3.615 BL
6) Rob Hayes 271/22 3.617 BL
7) John Mills 249/15 3.795 OR
8) Joe Yates 238/19 3.917 BL
9) Richard Payne 236/15 3.800 OR
10) Rolly Lapierre Jr. 234/15 4.044 YL
11) Steven Sacchetti 233/15 3.996 YL
12) Gil Aubin 195 DNF 3.767 OR
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Next Week’s MVH Tuesday Night Retro Race:
Aug 25 Stock Cars on the Figure 8
NERR Season 14 – Race No. 1 at Modelville Hobby:
Saturday, August 29, 2026, NERR will kick off Season 14 with Race No. 1 featuring:
GT Coupes on the Royal
Stock Cars on the King*
*NOTE: this is a change of class from the original schedule!
Race No. 2 will be held at PJ Raceway in Ronkonkoma, NY will be held on September 19, 2026. We'll be racing:
F-1 on the Hillclimb
Can-Am on the Hillclimb
Podium: (L to R):
2nd Place – Ray Lee, 1st Place – Woody Hazelwood, 3rd Place – Cody Pare’
Woody’s 1st Place Chassis:
Ray’s 2nd Place Chassis:
Cody’s 3rd Place Chassis:
The four pink-dot motor is obviously what makes it so fast!
