[size=4]Solid weekend all in all. It was exciting to have a large field and when you add Hyperfest on top of that the stage was set for some great racing. I grabbed pole on Saturday, Skip started P2…I lost the drag race into T1 by a car and a half so I spent the next two or so laps on his bumper. I regained the lead getting the 167 on the brakes into T1. Virgilio, Gagliardo, and Curran kept Skip busy for a few turns allowing me to pull a comfortable gap…not long after I saw oil smoke in my mirror. My oil pressure gauge looked good so I figured I might have had a small leak from an accusump fitting or something that was burning off on the exhaust…that pinhole leak must have gotten bigger because as I went into T3 I slipped on my own oil and went off track. I parked it outside of T3 before the oil level got dangerously low or I oiled down the track any further. Turns out it was one of my brand new oil cooler lines that had gone bad. The DNF ended my perfect season but I didn’t bend any metal, toast a motor, or catch on fire sooo I think I can just chalk it up to one of them racing deals.
I must say, after I stopped smoking, both literally and mentally…I started watching the race from the sidelines and was very impressed with the performance of one Rick Virgil Mariani. Rick was dialed in and making our NE guest put up a good fight for the lead…unfortunately there was some contact that knocked both of them out of the race leaving Rob Gagliardo and Skip B to duke it out. Looked like a great battled brewing but a full course caution came out and ended the race.
MASSIVE thanks to Sean Thompson for helping me out with a spare oil cooler/lines, and DriveGear for searching every inch of the gooseneck looking for one. Huge thanks to my Dad for turning the wrenches and getting the oil cooler changed out Saturday night so that we didn’t miss a beat Sunday morning. And to Skip for having plenty of oil in stock before OG opened up.
Woke up to rain Sunday morning, slapped the rains on and went qualifying at 8:50 AM in the wet. It was the first time I had driven in the wet on rain tires (went out on shaved tires for our wet quali in March) in quite some time and reminded me how much I love it! I was having so much fun I almost forgot it was qualifying. I put the car on Pole and Gagliardo qualified P2. Turns out we were 8th and 11th fastest overall in the wet quali session (out of 43 or so cars, many of whom had M badges). Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on who you are) the rain stopped and we had a dry race on our hands. Got a nice bump from Sam in the DriveGear car at the start and got into T1 clear of P2. Focused on the windshield for a few laps and pulled a nice gap. No more busted oil lines, brought the car home first and with the fastest lap getting a nice Father’s Day win for my Dad. Gagliardo P2, Curran P3.
Great to see everyone this weekend, a lot of close racing, not too much carnage, and plenty of good times. Big thanks to James Clay and Bimmerworld, Bimmerparts.com, TC Motorsports, Toyo, NASA, DriveGear and liaison Andrew P1 Zimmerman for all of their support of the series. 17 car fields happen for a reason.
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