SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Persistence pays off.

For the past seven seasons, Chris Alex of Way3 Hosting has made an impressive showing in the Phoenix leg of the YNOT Grand Prix’s international circuit. Although he took the second-place trophy in 2016, he’s never come out on top.

This was his year.

“Chris slaughtered the rest of the drivers,” said YNOT Group LLC co-owner Jay Kopita. “He had the best lap time of the day and won first place — nice vindication for last year’s upset.”

Two Norwegian drivers followed Chris through the checkered flag: Perennial YNOT Grand Prix golden boy Jorgen of PlugRush crossed the finish line in second place, and Bjorn of PlugRush came in third.

All three men deserve congratulations, because the field was the largest at The Phoenix Forum opener to date: More than 80 drivers participated, and several dozen other folks stood trackside and cheered. Even with such a large crowd, though, everything moved along smoothly, Kopita said.

“Everyone had a blast,” he said. “There were a lot of new faces there, and the overall vibe was just great. We enjoyed the tunes of David Hiri Feign, co-owner of Bateworld.com, and gave away some great prizes courtesy of Online IPS. Most people stayed the duration of the event, which ran a bit long — an extra hour, nearly.

“The Online IPS prizes were spectacular,” Kopita continued. “Chris got a really cool skateboard for winning first place, Jorgen got a watch and Sasha from imaXcash got a glass bong for tracking the fastest time of the female racers.”

In addition to Online IPS, sponsors included JuicyAds, BongaCash, Studio 20, Traffic Mansion. Thanks to them, drinks and a Mexican buffet for drivers and spectators was on the house. CCBill provided free transportation to and from the event.

Two additional races remain on the YNOT Grand Prix’s 2017 circuit: AWSummit in Mamaia, Romania, in June and The European Summit’s September show in Prague. To secure a seat as a driver or to investigate sponsorship opportunities at either or both, email Kopita or Skype him at LAJConsulting.

For more information about the YNOT Grand Prix, visit YNOTGP.com.

Images ©2017, Buster Brown, YNOT Shoot Me.