SCCA At Monterey Bay Double Regional 06/28-30/02

Saturday Results

Sunday Results

http://www.sfrscca.org/Results/20020630/

Day one, Friday:

Went out for practice in the morning and turned a 1:50.8. There were four of us running in the 1:50s so I was pretty happy with time, also it's in the better time range for me at Laguna. Qualifying was in the afternoon so we put the car up on stands and went to lunch.

Qualifying didn't go as well time ways but no problems to report. I turned in a 1:51 and since it was a split start with the Spec Miatas (SM) I qualified fourth. So it was just a matter of getting back to the 1:50s and racing with one or two of the RX-7s.

Day two Saturday:

We were up early since the race was at 9am. I was on the outside of row two which can be bad because it puts you on the outside of turn two. I was hoping the torque would give me an advantage and at least get me to the inside with or right behind the first three.

The green flag fell and I was able to move up a little on the third place car but decided to tuck in behind him since there was no one pressuring me for fourth and I wanted to be on the inside before someone did catch me. Through turn two, three, and four all in line Andy Banta was keeping up but far enough behind not to worry about, he was turning 1:52.6 as his fast lap. I was almost keeping up with the third place car of Tachi but "almost" doesn't count. The rest of the race was fairly uneventful. Since I my chances of racing with Tachi were slim and there was no one else in site I tried different lines and shift points. No issues with traffic either so no problems with that either. I finished fourth and turned in a best time of 1:51.7. First place went to Robert Quintero with a 1:48.3, second went to Steve Borlik 1:48.5, and third place went to Tachi Callas with a 1:49.8. By the way the fastest SM turned in a 1:50.6 so they are still running ITA times.

My crew talked to me a bit after the race and commented on how it didn't look like I was braking as hard. It may be that I'm braking earlier because the speed I'm now carrying. Or it could be that I'm avoiding the hard braking because a problem I'm sensing which I can't put a finger, subconscious kind of thing, which is what Tachi suggested I should be aware of. In any case I'm going to work on braking a little more and maybe even heel and toe again.

Day two part two, Saturday:

The qualifying session for Sunday was this afternoon. I qualified with a 1:52.3. I had hoped for better but we had changed the brake pads in the front and I was bedding them in for the first half. Now did I add enough gas for the session? NO! So just about when I was going to go for it the car was starving for gas in all of the fast right handers. I stayed and worked on hard braking and shifting in to the lowest gear possible. I did find that it made a difference. Couldn't tell by the times since the car was dead in couple of the fast corners, although I did get a 1:53.7 once. I also was able to stay with Quintero for much longer down the straights than I would have expected. I'll keep working on that when I can.

Day three, Sunday:

The race started at 11:20am and it was pretty darn warm for Laguna Seca. Gridded and did my pace lap no problems. The starting pace was great for the Fiero, problem was on the outside and it would be hard for me to advantage of it. The green flag flew and I did jump up in front of Borlik but not enough to get in front. I fell back in and took the inside entering turn two. Caleb Everret went on the outside of two, fifth qualifying?, and I followed Borlik. Tachi and Robert were in second and first respectively. I gave Everret enough room out of three and was not able to hold him off in turn three. So it was Robert, Tachi, Steve, Caleb, and me in to turn four followed by Jeff Francis (ITB). I was working to get passed Caleb but couldn't do it before turn six since the waving Yellow came out. As I exited the turn I saw Tachi coming across the track then off the wall and back out towards the middle of the track. He was side ways and I was heading straight for his door trying to figure out if I was going to go right or left. He stopped rolling and I went right and passed the incident, barely. Jeff had caught up because of the incident and rest of the ITAs where a half a turn away. Turn seven, eight, nine and no standing double yellows. Turn ten? Yep standing double yellow (full course yellow) and a pace car was going to meet us at turn one.

We bunched up and followed the pace car for two laps. The pace car pulled off and we looked for a green flag as we came out of turn eleven. The green flag flew and we were off again I was all over Caleb's and Steve's car. Somewhere between lap five (now) and lap seven Caleb and I passed Steve. We pulled away from Steve a little and I now worked again to pass Caleb's. It looked like his tires were starting to go so I started pushing. Putting myself in his mirrors every opportunity I could. There were several place where I could catch him give him a run but I didn't get by. I needed to set up a pass. I thought I had him set up on the exit of turn eleven but even though he hung the rear wheel off in the dirt I couldn't get a good run on him. By the way we were turning 1:53s during these laps. I set him up for a pass again in turn eleven. This time I put my nose even with the right rear quarter of his car on the exit. We both hung are wheels off in the dirt, bet it would have looked good on video, we straightened up and I was along side. Yippee! We went down the straight together I was pulling a little but could only get my bumper a hair in front of his. No it was time to brake late and hold the inside of turn two and get a good exit so that he was decidedly behind me. I braked hard and late and braked early so I had the turn. I put in second and fired out the turn. I then put it in third for turn three and away I went. During this time Steve had begun to catch up and that helped keep Caleb occupied once I had made it to turn six. At some point Steve go passed Caleb but I was never threatened by him during the rest of the race. I was now on lap ten and turning 1:51s I could still see Robert a turn or two away so I concentrated and being consistent and seeing if I could gain on him at all. I managed to get within a half a turn away before the end of the race. Traffic helped with that since I think he wasn't pushing the car to much. I figured that he might make a mistake or run in to more traffic so I kept the pace up until the end. In fact I turned my fastest lap on lap fifteen, a 1:51. 545.

So if you haven't figured it out yet I actually finished second in ITA and second overall. The other cool thing is that I turned the second fastest lap in the group. The results should be on the web by the end of the week. I'll give the highlights here:

1st ITA Robert Quintero 1:51.306
2nd ITA Alan Hamilton 1:51:545
3rd ITA Steve Borlik 1:52.541
4th SM Mike Courtney 1:51.859
5th ITB Jeff Francis 1:53.203
...
7th SM Gary Freeman 1:52.895
...
17th ITC Randy Mackintosh 1:57.048
18th ITC Kristofer Cowen 1:57.180