Pig Roast race #2
"Hot Stuff" Regional, or The qualifying race on Saturday afternoon was "interesting". The first few drops of rain started on false grid... I got a good start, and didn't let anybody by me. The top 5 guys took off (leaving me pretty much alone), then the rain started a little more in earnest...
Blaney spun, and was just gathering it back up when Ray came through - and couldn't slow down because it was so slippery. The back of what was left of Tom's car could be used as a mold for an RX-7 front end - the impact even shattered Tom's Accusump. Ray's car is pretty much toast from in front of the A-pillar. Anthony tried to slow down, but was carrying a little too much speed, so he spun, and ended up backing into the wall (no serious damage). Double yellows were thrown. Anthony pulled into the pits to check damage, and Victor followed him (for no readily apparent reason - rookie mistake in thinking that double-yellow meant come into the pits). Drew and I stayed out. They threw the checker after a couple of pace laps which put me on outside pole behind Drew - with Peter Keane (Accord), Scott Haven (RX-7) and Fred White (ITC CRX) behind me.
Sunday was like starting with an inverted grid - Anthony and Victor were starting towards the rear along with Brian Mushnick (he missed Saturday's qualifying race with mechanical issues), and Ray got into Dave Faita's RX-7 (and Dave drove Dan Sheppard's Spec Miata as an ITA car), so I knew people would be charging through the field.
Got a good start - even beat Drew to the start/finish line. Peter got by me, then spun in the oval, so I was running pretty much alone again. Somebody spun and stalled in turn 3, so they through a pace car out (even though the incident cleared by the time we formed up). The re-start was a mess. An RX-7 got by me, then spun in front of me in 3, which made me slow down. Scott blew through the incident (which later meant a stop-and-go penalty for him), and Mushnick got by me (Fred was behind me). So, for most of the remaining laps it was Scott, Fred, Brian and me all running nose-to-tail, or 2-or-3 wide, it was pretty wild. I need to get a copy of Fred's video - it should be interesting. Ended up finishing 8th overall, 7th in class, but the car drove onto the trailer under its own power, and all of the body panels are where they started originally...
*qualifying results based on finishing position in qualifying race - see story above...
If you're interested, check out our 1998 Results, 1999 Results, 2000 Results, or 2001 results.
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The View from the Front - if only briefly
A very different race weekend... The format was qualifying Saturday morning, which determined starting position for Saturday afternoon's qualifying race. Your finishing position in the Saturday race determined your starting position for the REAL race on Sunday. I qualified 6th behind Tom Blaney (CRX), Ray Lee Chee (RX-7), Victor Gangi (Acura), Anthony Ruddy (CRX), and Drew Young (RX-7). Qualifying was like a time trial - NOBODY was around me.
