The Menotomy Motorsports Honda will be in contention for points in both the New England Road Racing Championship (NERRC) and North Atlantic Road Racing Championship (NARRC). My reserved number is #18 in class ITA.
2001 Schedule. Please check back for any updates!
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Fastest Lap |
| April 21 | NHIS | NER | 1:19.223 | ||
| May 12 | Lime Rock Park | NER | 1:07.654 | ||
| June 9 | Lime Rock Park | NER | 1:07.547 | ||
| July 14 | NHIS "Pig Roast" Double, race 1 | NER | 1:23.675 | ||
| July 15 | NHIS "Pig Roast" Double, race 2 | NER | 1:20.308 |
Sanction refers to the SCCA region sponsoring the event. Checkout out the SCCA web site for more regional information.
RACE REPORTS
NHIS, April 21 Lime Rock, May 12 NHIS, July 14 NHIS, July 15
Rolled the car onto the trailer at 11:30PM Friday night in Narragansett, RI. Home by 1, in bed at 2, up at 5 to get to the track for registration. No time to get new tires mounted, but managed to shave another half second off last season's best time on 6+ - race - old tires. Good dices with Ray Lee Chee's Mazda RX-7, until I realized it would be better if I stopped fighting, so both of us could go faster. Turned my fast lap following Ray as we caught up to the Honda of Windell Holmes. Windell's motor was losing oil pressure so I got by him as he slowed. The car felt great - next stop, try to break into the 1:18s!!!
Dry qualifying, but lots of traffic with several novices thrown in (2nd NER school was 5/11). Raised the ride height to avoid the driveshaft hitting the underside of the car. Got the new tires mounted. Only managed a 1:07 in qualifying - a little slower than last season's best. Clouded up after lunch, then the rains came for the end of group 2 and for group 3. By the time our race was scheduled to go (group 6), the sun was back out - but it was touch and go so everybody left tire choice to the last minute. Very heavy traffic. Still not entirely comfortble with LRP. Took a ride through the weeds off of the left hander and manged to rejoin the field in time to get lapped by the lead pack. Hoping for better at the June LRP race.
Weather on Saturday similar to the May LRP event - on and off rain. The ITS/ITB race had rain start abruptly about halfway through their session. For us, there were a few drops on grid, but by the end of the pace lap my windshield wipers were on. Gridded behind Dan Sheppard, who was behind his brother Jeremy. As they start better than I do, my plan was to glue myself to Dan's bumper and drive through any hole they made. The wet conditions put an end to that plan once we got to the newly sealed oval (with anti-freeze, oil, and speedy-dry left over from prior sessions). Exiting the oval I nearly avoided several spinning vehicles, but lost a couple of positions doing so. I got the positions back, and while I was two-wide through Turn 3, another competitor tried to split between us. In the dry that move MAY have worked - in the wet, he went straight into my (brand new) right front wheel. The alignment was knocked out big time! Had a good dice anyway with the Ford of Buddy Wenners and the Mazda of Sam Gardella. Made a bad decision in traffic on the last turn and Sam was able to cross the finish line inches in front of me.
Damage from Saturday's race was a little worse than anticipated. No body damage, by the right front suspension was totally bent, and the wheel studs were stripped. Took the hub apart to replace the studs, and aligned the car as best we could (measured -2.5 degrees camber with the camber plate adjusted fully out). Repair time caused me to miss qualifying, so I started from the back of the back. Scariest moment was driving through the ITC race for the lead. The three leaders were going at it tooth and nail - only to have me get involved. Got through them without incident, and made it up to 9th place.
If you're interested, check out our 1998 Results, our 1999 Results, or our 2000 Results.
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