Perfect weather, great SpecE30 bonding, hellacious racing.
SatQual
17 65 Scott McKay SpecE30 1:23.958
18 40 Whtinginger SpecE30 1:24.391
19 32 Espinosa SpecE30 1:24.512
20 81 Lako SpecE30 1:24.589
21 303 Stoops SpecE30 1:24.604
22 6 Gress SpecE30 1:24.939
23 111 Issa SpecE30 1:24.987
24 313 John Clark SpecE30 1:25.432
25 e30 Robert Patton SpecE30 1:25.440
26 218 Charles Taylor SpecE30 1:25.625
27 620 Damion Moses SpecE30 1:25.656
28 317 Smith SpecE30 1:25.839
29 711 Bratton SpecE30 1:25.902
30 911 Parkhurst SpecE30 1:25.903
31 531 Swtizer SpecE30 1:26.211
32 9 Joel Barber SpecE30 1:26.751
33 15 Aaron Whitinger SpecE30 1:28.621
We welcome Damion Moses back after being out for a year or so. I sucked less then usual, Fred and Rich sucked more than usual.
Sat race
Sandro Espinosa
Scott McKay
Ryan Whitinger
Steven Lako
jared stoops
Scott Gress
Robert Patton
Charles Taylor
Sumpter Smith
Fred Switzer
Joel Barber
Damion Moses
Aaron Whitinger
Team Parkhurst
Mark Issa
Richard Bratton
I had a very exciting race where I fought tooth and nail to hold my position. I’d qualified 6th on stickers but was racing on old tires. I’d intended to let the stickers rest overnight and race them on Sun. I’d qualified shockingly well on Saturday with a personal best time even tho I never got a clear lap and felt clumsy and imprecise behind the wheel. Saturday afternoon I was determined to hold my surprising qual position even tho I was swapping to old tires.
It was to be a relatively short race. A TR spun in 4 and ended up astrid the track. The flaggers were waving yellow, but the geometry of the problem was such that you couldn’t see the TR until the last minute, it was hard to tell if the gap was on the right or the left, and everyone was pretty bunched up because it was only the 2nd lap. Rich came thru a couple cars behind me, had a lot more traffic in front of him and didn’t see the TR astride the track. Rich smacked it pretty hard and we got pulled back to the grid for a bit.
Eventually we were back to green flag racing. I got past Jay Stoops on the front stretch after a TR slowed him down in 9. That put me in 5th which I was pretty stoked about. It didn’t last tho. Jay took a scenic route from 1 to 2, then spent 10min charging hard back up and got on my ass when they threw the white flag. I was struggling desperately with no traction to keep him behind me. As we headed into 8/9 we rapidly overtook the orange rabbit. I had to enter 9 from the marbles on the outside so I was way slow. I knew I was in trouble and at risk of Jay taking me before the checker 200yds away. Jay was sneaking up on my inside so I tried to stay close to the Rabbit so it would pick Jay off. The Rabbit tho moved WAY inside which opened up enough gap for Jay to get between us and he went for it. I got bumped as he went by and I was kinda pissed about that, but I think mostly I was reacting to the fury of losing 5th so close to the checker, and the spike of fear I felt when the car suddenly lurched under me right at the very worst place at RR to get bumped.
Sunday qual got cut short because a TR brewed up. Grid used Sat qual results. The group elected to do a standing start.
I started 6th. Sandro slid off the track at 1-2 so didn’t make it 3 turns with the front runners. I spent a lot of time in 4th behind Stoops, McKay and Whitinger. It was an awesome spectator event. It was everything I could do to hang with them and they were running those lap times at 12" spacing and running defensive lines. My video is killer.
Around 12m into the race Stoops got a little sideways in 9 trying to get past a Miata. This forced McKay to check up and hosed him for the front straight. That put me in 3rd. I’d never been 3rd in a SpecE30 race before so I was wearing a big-ass smile of determination.
Which is when I almost rolled the car.
Our tires were getting slippery as hell and I plumb ran out of track at the exit of one. I saw the track edge coming and I did everything I possibly could to squeeze just a little more traction out of the 4 corners so I wouldn’t slide off. Which is when I slid off. I went both feet in, ended up sliding thru the grass completely sideways, and both left side tires caught in something. I didn’t get 45deg like Al did a couple years ago at RA, but I bet I got 30deg. It was a big “UH OH” moment.
Unfortunately there was a fair amount of traffic so it took a couple long moments before I could re-enter the track safely. I did some more laps, but my heart wasn’t really in it. Then we went FCY and I thought “maybe I can still make something happen here.”
In front of me was a 944, Sumpter Smith and then an e36. Neither the 944 nor the e36 seemed t0o focused on catching up to and staying with the pack. I could see by the way Sumpter was riding the e36’s bumper that he was concerned.
Finally we came around 5 and I figured the Green might be coming. So I got right on the 944’s bumper and watched the towers like a hawk. Sure enough as I got into 9 the tower dropped Yellow and I was on it. Everyone was caught napping. I darted by the 944, got stymied for a moment because Sumpter was beside the e36, then the latter pulled away and took me with him. Doom on Sumpter.
I think that’s how we finished. I’m not sure how many places I lost trying to flip the car outside of 2. The lead group had gotten a fair amount ahead of the pack so maybe I only lost a couple positions and ended up 6th.
It was terrific hanging out with everyone. I finally met Joel Barber who has a shop in Greenville that does cages and can also build you a complete SpecE30 for surprisingly little. I also met a fellow Savannah type that is looking to buy a car.
Al couldn’t be at the race because some damage from Barber didn’t get discovered until a couple days ago. Rich’s car is going to the frameshop this week and should be ok. Rich might not be racing with us for several months tho. He’ll be off doing Army stuff.
