http://www.sfrscca.org/Results/20020707/
Practice in the morning went fine. Since my crew was not able to be there I went up T&S to see if they had timed the practice. They had and I had turned several 2:01s. They indicated that I was the third fastest ITA so not too bad. I was hoping to see the 2:00s but I was consistent so I'll take that for now.
Qualifying was in the afternoon. There were a couple spots on the track that didn't feel right. The exit of 8a seemed rough seemed to be a lot of suspension noise. Also the entrance to turn 2 had some pavement change that upset the car. To play it safe I double checked the rear suspension to make it was tight. There were a couple of links that I could tighten slightly. A couple of other competitors reported similar feelings so I don't think it was just my car.
My qualifying session went about the same as practice. I qualified with
a 2:01.142. I think that I might have been able to break in to the 2:00s
but the lap that might have happened on there was a car in tires at the
exit of turn 10. So I decided to come in thinking there would be a full
course yellow. I was wrong and probably gave up my best time. I qualified
10th and 4th in class. Here's a brief breakdown of the class times:
ITS Tom Wichersham 1:54.521
...
ITA Steve Borlik 1:58.757
ITA Robert Quintero 1:59.376
ITA Chuck Canepa 1:59.455
ITS Philip Cloud 1:59.676
ITS Peter Nurney 159.889
ITA Alan Hamilton 2:01.142
ITA Matt Mosley 2:01.500
ITC Bob Carter 2:01.679
ITB Jeff Francis 2:02.585
ITA Andy Banta 2:02.761
...
SM Barry Hartzel 1:59.781
SM David Vodden 2:00.048
The details will be posted when the results make the San Francisco SCCA
web site.
Lined up a on the pre-grid after adding a couple of gallons of fuel.
:-) Girded and then took off for a our warm up lap. The green flag flew
and I was able to tuck in to the inside of turn one and hold the line out
of turn two. Matt got by between turn 3 and 4. We then became a train and
rolled on. On the second lap I worked on setting up a pass on Matt when
I dropped a wheel off at the exit of turn 4. There's a curb there with
a big rut if you go off. The subframe hit the curb and I think that helped
turn the car around. I spun across the track and had to wait as the second
train came by. I got back on the track having dropped 8 positions. I passed
most of the cars that got by lap 10 and I was now behind Andy Banta. He
turned out to be very difficult to find a way to pass him. We were starting
to get the Spec Miatas trailing us and the leader got by me so he was between
us. I was really dogging Andy and was faster through 2, 5, and 8. I tried
to several times to pass out of turn 5 but I was not able to hold the pass
since I was on the outside entering turn 7. On the last lap I tried to
get a good run out of turn 4 so that I have a enough speed to complete
the pass before turn 7. Well I dropped the tire off the curb again. Almost
identical spin as in lap 2. I lost 2 positions and that's where I ended
up. I finished 17th overall and 4th in class. My fastest lap was 2:01.173.
A couple of the ITAs dropped out so that's how I ended up in 4th. Finishing
positions and times:
ITS Tom Wichersham 1:53.545 '70 240-Z
ITS Todd Wilson 1:56.084 '71 240-Z
...
ITA Robert Quintero 1:58.585 '77 RX-3
...
ITA Steve Borlik 1:58.808 '83 RX-7
...
SM Barry Hartzel 1:59.001 Miata
ITB Jeff Francis 2:02.007 '69 2002
...
ITA Andy Banta 2:02.093 '92 318is
...
ITA Alan Hamilton 2:01.173 '88 Fiero
There was another race in the afternoon, a short contingency dash.
The grid is the same. It's a short half point race that our regions occasionally
provides. I had a good start, since there wasn't the entire field I think
I ended up girding 7th instead 10th. I had a 240z next to me and the Chuck
and Steve in front. The start when fine. I tucked in behind the Z and managed
to hold off the ITC, ITB, and the ITA car of Andy. I was able to gain some
distance on the cars behind and keep the cars in front in sight. The Z
was able to get between Chuck and Steve. I was able to gain on Steve and
was slowly reeling him in. Then the checkered fell, oh well, no mistakes,
all 2:01s and a 4th in class. Steve said that I would have had him I we
had one more lap. I'm not sure that's true but it's a nice thought. :-)