Points Race #3 June 27, 2010

Raceday arrived, the weather was perfect with warm temps of 23, sunshine and low humidity.

Qualifying: A field of 7 Minis took to the track and after a close 2 qualifier battle for the pole, Jamie Barrett edged out Mario Biscaro by 5 seconds. Rounding out the field were Ron Gray, John Tuszynski, Aaron Thaler, John Watkins and Evan Fox.

The SCAR class had a few more than last race with 8 entries. As usual the times were very close among the top 5 cars with Ed Lacika topping both qualifiers followed by Jay Devost, Dan Engelbreth, Ryan Fox, Mario Biscaro, Scott Stuart, all on 21 laps followed closely by Jamie Barrett, and John Watkins both with 20.

The ETC class had 7 entries: 1 very fast car followed by 6 normal cars. After 2 rounds of the 2 heats were completed, it was Lou Vanderwey on pole for the A, with 23 laps followed by Jay Devost a lap down, then Darrin Quinn, Jamie Barrett, and Con Vangalen another lap down. Dan Engelbreth and Kevin hill rounded out the field with 20 and 19 laps respectively.

6 cars took to the track in the VTA group, and Darrin Quinn had the measure of everyone topping both qualifiers to grab the pole. Next came Con Vangalen, Scott Stuart, Aaron Thaler, John Watkins, and Evan Fox.

The exciting NTC nitro sedans were the final group to qualify. After the 6 cars took to the tarmac, Lou Vanderwey came out on top of both rounds with Ty Grant 1 lap behind, followed by Grant Galloway, Kevin Hill, Dan Engelbreth who was debuting a new RB spec engine, and Tuan Do who was still sorting out his NT1.

Mains: 

When the horn sounded the start of the Mini main, pole sitter Jamie had a problem on the first lap and everyone got by. After 1 lap it was Ron Gray coming out with the lead followed closely by John T. The two would have a race long battle at the head of the pack trading the lead back and forth. Mario was not far behind though and at the horn it was Ron taking a well deserved win only 1 second clear of John T followed by Mario, John W., Aaron, Evan and Jamie who had retired by lap 5.

The SCAR group was so close in qualifying that it would be a "no mistakes" drive to take the win. At the horn Jay got a jump on the field followed by Dan, Ed, Mario, Ryan, Scott, John and Jamie. On lap 4 Dan caught a flapper and Ed took over 2^nd, another board meeting dropped Dan to 5^th. Ed and Jay were battling for the lead for most of the race and at the end of this close fought race it was Ed taking the win by a scant 0.1 sec over Jay, followed by Mario, Dan, Scott, Ryan, John, and Jamie.

The ETC group had 7 cars. At the start Lou just checked out with his ballistically fast Photon. At the end of the 6 minute run it was Lou with a 23 lapper, followed 2 laps down by Darrin, Jay, Kevin, Jamie, and Con, all with 21 laps. Dan was struggling with extreme understeer and finished 7^th.

The 6 VTA car main field was short 2 drivers; Darrin, Con, Aaron, John took the flag, but Scott and Evan were DNS. After the first lap everyone held their starting positions. This would be the eventual finishing order with Darrin holding a 5 sec lead over Con at the flag.

The fabulous NTC sedans had put in some fast qualifying and everyone was anxious to see how the 15 minute main would end up. The rolling start method was again a problem to get smooth and there were several flameouts trying to get this race started. Eventually, Ty would lead lap 1 followed by Lou. The two would end up battling for the lead most of the race, with Grant, Kevin, and Dan following. Kevin and Grant had a good battle, while Dan was having issues with the new RB spec motor and had a flameout and a dying receiver battery. Ty had a faulty transponder and had to have 4 laps added to the computer count. After the 15 minutes of hard running it was Ty by 6 seconds over Lou, both at the 60 lap mark followed by Grant and Kevin both with 53 then Dan with a DNF. Tuan was a DNS.

Next race is July 11 – hope we get some cooler weather!

Previous News

Points Race 2 - June 20, 2010

After the June 13 race was cancelled due to threatening weather, it was decided to run that race the following Sunday as the forecast was looking better. When Sunday arrived, the weather was perfect with warm temps of 25, sunshine and low humidity. A couple of new things were tried at this race – a "safer" barrier was placed in the sweeper to reduce the impact of a high speed board meeting. Secondly, a special traction compound was added to a couple of infield turns. Reaction was mixed as to whether it was an improvement or not, as it was slippery in practice but seemed to improve throughout the day. Next race I may try applying it much earlier.

Qualifying: A thin field of 5 Minis took to the track and after a close 2 qualifier battle for the pole, Jamie Barrett edged out Mario Biscaro by a mere 0.5 seconds. Rounding out the field were Ron Gray, John Watkins and Aaron Thaler.

The SCAR class had 6 entries. The times were very close among the top 5 cars with Mario Biscaro topping both qualifiers followed by Ryan Fox, Jamie Barrett, John Watkins, Scott Stuart, and Dan Engelbreth.

The ETC class had 8 entries and some very fast cars. After 2 rounds of the 2 heats were completed, it was Lou Vanderwey on pole for the A, with 23 laps followed by Gervais Grant a lap down, and Con Vangalen and Jamie Barrett another lap down. Top of the B was Kevin hill then Steve Vangalen both on 20 laps, with Dan Engelbreth and Mark Cosford rounding out the field.

5 cars took to the track in the VTA group, and Con had the measure of everyone topping both qualifiers to grab the pole. Next came Scott Stuart, Aaron Thaler, John Watkins, and Evan Fox.

The exciting NTC nitro sedans were the final group to qualify. After the 6 cars took to the tarmac, Lou Vanderwey came out on top of both rounds with Gervais Grant only 6 seconds behind, followed by Ty Grant, Grant Galloway, Kevin Hill and Dan Engelbreth who had a clutch problem in the second round.

Mains: 

When the horn sounded the start of the Mini main, pole sitter Jamie was overtaken on the first lap by Mario, who never gave up the lead for the full 23 laps although Jamie was never far behind, and only 1 second shy at the flag. Ron Gray drove a steady race with 22 laps followed by, John with a 22 and Aaron with a 20.

The SCAR group had an exciting race with some position changes. Ryan got the jump on pole sitter Mario at the start with Scott taking 3^rd followed by Jamie, John and Dan. Everyone held position until lap 17 when Scott’s car overheated allowing everyone behind him to move up a position. At the chequered flag it was Ryan, Mario, Jamie, John, Dan & Scott.

The B Main ETC group had only 3 cars as Steve had to leave after qualifying. So at the start Dan got a jump on Kevin, but could only hold onto the lead for one lap with the ill handling Photon.  At the end Kevin had put a 2 lap margin over Dan while Mark suffered an evil radio hit which ended his race early.

When the ETC A group took off into the fast sweeper, pole sitter Lou was surprised to see the bright pink car of Gervais ahead of him. Con followed close behind followed by Jamie. As Gervais and Lou battled it out for the lead, the pressure finally got to Gervais and on lap 5 he made a mistake and Lou never looked back after that. Con appeared to have 3^rd locked up until a disasterous lap 17 dropped him to 4^th and allowed Jamie to come through for 3^rd.  

The 5 VTA cars lined up in their grid positions; Con, Scott, Aaron, John and Evan. After the first lap everyone held their starting positions except Aaron had a bad first lap and dropped to 4^th allowing John to take over 3^rd. This would be the eventual finishing order. Evan was struggling but finished in 5^th.  

The screaming NTC sedans had put on a great show in qualifying and everyone was anxious to see how the 15 minute main would end up. The pit men had topped up all the tanks and the rolling start would see Lou leading the group onto the back straight.  A few cars seemed to pack up waiting for the "go" which caused some contact in the sweeper between a few cars. After the first lap it was Lou leading Gervais by a half second, followed by Grant, Dan, and Kevin. Ty had a problem at the start which kept him in the pits until 7 minutes in. Meanwhile, Lou had a problem on lap 2 and Gervais took over the lead. Dan and Grant were having a good duel and Dan moved into 3^rd on lap 4, while Kevin held down 5^th.  Everyone held position through the first and second fuel stop with Lou still trying to catch Gervais and Dan holding onto 3^rd.  On lap 42 Dan’s car flamed out and spent 1:14 in the pits, allowing Grant to take over 3^rd. At the finish, Lou couldn’t quite catch Gervais who took the win 4 seconds ahead of Lou, with Grant 3^rd, Dan 4^th, Kevin 5^th, and Ty ended up 6^th.

Next race is June 27 – hope we get good weather!