Summit Point NEC race 1. Results??

[Roux]

Anyone want to bring us up to speed on what we missed??

[Barry Haynie]

Not sure if all these were NEC but here is the CF #1 & 2
J.D. King
Mark Kilpatrick

John Lyle took #1 in FF

Bob Lutz did not show
Chuck Van Nostrand crash during morning warmups and could race

Saturday 1st session was on a damp track with numerous spins etc. A mix of dry and wet tire runners. Weather would be improving so this session was a throw away.
2nd session weather was perfect and the grid was set during this session

Race day was cold but dry. Kilpatrick stay on King's gear box for the first few laps and they both pulled away from the remainder of the CF/FF field. King gradually pull out to about a 5-8 second lead as Kilpatrick faded in the latter stages.

Results should be posted soon at the DC region website.

[John Nesbitt]

It was a (mostly) filthy weekend, with rain and wind. The turnout was down, with a number of folks not making the trip. Results aren't posted on the DC Region site, but from memory:

Club Ford

1. JD King
2. Mark Kilpatrick
2. Joe Marcinski
4. Steve Wilson
5. Sam Eyer (DNF)


Formula Ford

1. John Lye

[J.D. King]

John hit the nail on the head about the "filthy" weather. Typical Spring type weather made for a lot of scrambling with tires for the Saturday morning session. Since we were 1st group and there was no warm-up to clean the line, we had to do it. Joe Marcinsky chose correctly by going out on rains. I changed to slicks, so basically ran with hard compound tires on a cold, damp, extremely slowly drying track, it was a handful. After the session we took off the tires and put them in the cooler to chill the drinks, lol. Lots of spins, but no real damage.
Saturday afternoon showed clearing skies, sunshine, with a 20-30 mph headwind down the front straight, making for a loooooong 3rd gear run out of 10. I managed to get a tow for about 200' from a passing continental on the straight which turned out to be enough to get the pole.
John Nesbitt suffered a stripped draw bolt thread issue in the input shaft, sidelining him from any further action.
Sunday morning dawned very chilly and a touch damp. Chuck VanOstrand went out to scrub a new left rear tire he had replaced a puntured one with. Unfortunately he looped it out of the carousel and found the tire barrier ripping his right rear upright, a cv joint and breaking a right front brake line. No big deal, but since we were group 1, there was just no time to effect repairs.
The race saw the earliest green flag I can remember ever seeing, I had the clutch in clearing the engine coming out of 10 and what's that? a waving green hanky already? sheeeeit!!! Luckily Kilpatrick was caught out too, and we had a nice drag race to turn 1, Mark inside of me, I stayed on the outside through 1-2, forcing him to be on the outside for 3. We stayed close for a good number of laps until the FCs came through to lap us, I lucked out and Mark didn't. He was forced to lift in places that handed me a nice cushion. Luck smiled on me as the FCs caught me in places that didn't slow me much. Mark was gaining on me in the closing laps as I just tried to concentrate and keep a steady pace, trying not to look in my mirrors to see where he was.
All in all a nice weekend, even though we had a couple of guys drop out, nobody was hurt and no cars damaged too badly. The comeraderie was great as always.
Now that we had Pocono type weather at Summit Point, maybe it'll be nice for NEC 2 at Pocono.

[Roux]

Congratulations JD!! Slimey conditions or not i would not have bet against you pulling it off. tense efforts at the Roux Scuderia to try to get all the damage out of the way and make #2.

[Bob Lutz DB-1 #54]

Congrats to J.D. -- lots of race savy and a little luck are a powerful combination! Congrats also to John Lye.

Problems with my tow vehicle are resolved and I WILL be at Pocono for NEC-2! I've got brand new rains and I hope to keep them in the trailer!