Race Report 2003 - Round 5

Date: September 21, 2003
Venue: Miller Field - Dalhart, TX
Results: 1st in Class (2 total), 1st Overall (25 total)

What a great event!  Great weather and a very fast course.  I was kinda disappointed that Steve Sucsy ('00 Honda S2000 in B-Stock) wasn't able to make it to this event, as he is my biggest competition and we're usually fighting it out for top PAX time at each event.  However, there were a few people that came over from the Rio Grande Region SCCA that were great competition and great folks.

There were a few people that normally help out with the course setup and registration that weren't able to make it to this event, so things were a little hectic during registration and the whole event was off to a late start.  I usually like to walk the course 3 or 4 times, but since everything was running late I only had time to walk the course once after registration, and one more time right before the second heat.  While I was working during the first heat, I was able to figure out what I'd have to run to be able to get the top PAX time, which would have to be at least a 52.740.  There was only one other car in my class, and it was on street tires, so I was mainly only concerned with the overall PAX results.  My car was again handling perfectly, so I was really focusing on my driving skills to produce faster runs.  My first few runs were decent, but weren't as fast as they should be because I was still learning the course (since I wasn't able to walk it much) and I had a passenger ride along with me.  After feeling out the course on my first couple of runs, I was able to start producing some faster times, and was even able to get down into the mid 52 second range, which was enough to secure me first place overall.  However, my fastest run, which was a 51.657, was within half a second of the C-Mod and B-Mod car's fastest raw times (for reference, the C/B-Mod cars are small open wheel indy-type cars that usually run 2 to 4 seconds faster than the fastest production cars on racing tires)!   It was one of those rare moments (for me) where I was able to go through each and every section of the course perfectly.  When I went through the finish lights on that run, I KNEW that it was an exceptionally fast run.

I had a little scare while unloading my car off of the trailer when I first got to the event... my front lower lip extension apparently caught one of the ramps as I was backing off and pulled it off the trailer (breaking the lip extension)!  Luckily the car is stiff enough that it rolled down off the trailer on one ramp and there was no other damage to the car.

There are only two events left for this season, and they're both at Dolaca Motorplex in Brownfield, TX.  Hopefully, I'll be able to put up a good fight for the overall win at each event and possibly have a shot at 3rd place in the Open Championship!