Brief report from the track this morning. Yesterday was very quiet, no incidents or issues with any of the cars. Tim Kautz is not here,, we heard that unfortunately he had some niggling issues with the Honda conversion that are still not sorted out so he didnt want to make the long tow here with a car that was not fully sorted. Tom Schweitz's Citation is not finished yet so he didnt make it. Colin Thompson is out at Indy. Several other regulars also not running, not sure why the turn-out is so low but only 16 cars here.
We had a quiet day, Bill getting used to the car again. He missed the test day because his fiance went in for emergency gallbladder surgery. The car ran fine all day, the track was changing constantly, but no issues until he went out for qualifying, as he pulled to the grid the rear locked up. Immediate thought was the R & P and that we were done for the weeked. However, when Jim opened up the gear case he found that 5th gear had broken. A few hours later and the car was good as new. Just finished the warm up and all looks good for the race, although Bill will be starting from the back.
The young guys, Matias, Garret and Brandon are the real deal, a well as Roberto Lorena. Good to see so many young guys running well.
Weather forecast looks good, possibility of thunder shower in the afternoon but right now the sun is out.
F2000 is another story. Big problems for the Radons, Steve McAleer in the #77 had a big crash. The story was a broken steering column. This plus the issues with the multiple rear suspension failures had them parked for a while for inspections but they are back on track now. Hilton Tallman also had a big crash in practice in his Mygale and could not fix the car and has left.
as he pulled to the grid the rear locked up. Immediate thought was the R & P and that we were done for the weeked. However, when Jim opened up the gear case he found that 5th gear had broken.
Tom, It's a good thing 5th gear broke. Your only allowed 4!
Hey Mike, you didn't take the bait, you're no fun!
Monty said it's too quiet on Apex, post something to get things going.
Race 1 for us was fun, lots of action all around. Not sure if Bill has anything for the guys up front but P3 through P 10 are real close. Should be a good race.
F2000 another big crash for Kyle Connery, he was leading by 6 seconds when he had contact in 1 with a lapper, must have damaged his car, he kept going and had a big off. He has a concussion and will sit out race 2 but otherwise he is OK.
Wyatt took home his first f2000 win which is nice, he's a great kid, very fast, drives very clean and precise.
Was watching from outside of turn 1 and with 5 to go they went full course caution to get Ross Devoe's car cleared from somewhere in the back of the track. Not sure what happened to him. Up till then Brandon Newey had been on top. He and Matias had been swapping the lead quite a bit in the first 10 or so laps, but then Newey got clear. On the restart with 3? to go the pack was of course bunched up and as they came down to T1 for the one lap to go Brandon had the inside covered and Art Foster and Matias were close behind and touched a hundred or so feet before the bridge. Both spun coming down under the bridge. It happended really fast. Tough to tell without video what exactly happened. Someone probably hit the Vector once it was spinning since it had a left rear corner torn up. Art's car was drivable, but he lost a really good shot at a second place finish. He had passed around the outside in T1 a few laps earlier, since the inside line was the defensive move the guys were using towards the end.
Glad the two spinners did not make hard end on contact with anything since they were at max speed when the trouble started and it looked like a wild ride in front of the whole field
Mattias actually made contact with the inside wall, and that's what busted up his left rear. He hit pretty hard but walked away without any injury, thankfully.
Here are some photos TJ and I took from the weekend. I hope to see more cars at New Jersey!
Roberto Lorena working out the kinks during practice
Joe Colasacco
Ross Devoe in Big Bend
John McCusker leading a pack up the hill
Mike Scanlan in front of the Drivers Club
Brandon Newey's Mygale in the Down HIll
Race 1 Start
Bob Detrick being hounded by Scanlan, Colasacco and Devoe
Bill and Steve Oseth had a good battle in Race 1
Jeremy Grenier and Sean Maisey in their Citations
Mattias Koykka, Brandon Newey and Jeremy Grenier after race 1
Newey and Koykka traded places for a number of laps
Art Foster into 1
Bill through the Right Hander onto no-name
A special sight reserved for the northeast, Ed Callo in his Bowman
Things started getting tight after the full course yellow
I was too deep in the corner to see the start of this accident, and my first glimpse of it was Art Foster spinning down the front straight heading towards the wall on driver's left. Somehow he managed to keep the car off the wall
Koykka's car, which initially made contact with Foster, ended up hitting the inside wall right before Turn 1
Art was understandably frustrated after missing out on a podium because of the incident. Think we've all been there and felt the same thing. These races are extremely competitive all the way through the field and it's a big deal to get on the podium with this level of skill battling you every lap.
Race 2 podium, Brandon Newey, Joe Colasacco, Jeremy Grenier
The competition was close across the entire field this weekend. In qualifying, p1 was in the 53s, p2-p6 were in the 54s, p7-p11 were in the 55s and the rest not far behind. I was mid-pack in both races battling with Scanlan and Detrick. Best racing I've had in last three years. Mike Rand and the boys know how to run a good show! I was fighting a loose car (apex-off) all weekend and in race two, I was trying to run away from Scanlan when the back end came finally came around too far in West Bend and I couldn't save it. I ended up just tapping the tire wall driver's on right with my right rear, but there wasn't any damage other than a scuff on the sidewall. My shift linkage moved and I couldn't grab any gear, so I needed a tow, which is what caused the . My b.
Although the entry fees aren't cheap, the racing is well worth it and I encourage all to come to NJMP at then end of June!
Dennis- Great pictures! Always impressive!
-Ross
__________________
"The winner ain't the one with the fastest car, it's the one who refuses to lose." - Dale Earnhardt Sr.
Last edited by R.DeVoe; May 27th, 2012 at 12:16 AM.
You guys want to see close racing? This picture from above was not taken on the straight, this is side-by-side through Big Bend, one of the coolest pictures I have ever seen of FFs:
I want to thank Mike Rand and the staff for a fantastic weekend of racing. If this turns out to be the only race we get to do this year it will not matter, we had a terrific time.
I really cannot stress enough how great these F1600 Championship weekends are. They are everything that Regional and National weekends are not: lots of track time, lots of great people and lots of really great drivers. These race weekends are Events, much like the Runoffs is an event. They have the exact same atmosphere as the Runoffs but on a much more personal level where you are not just one entrant out of 600.
That picture tells much of the story for the first half of Race 2. Koykka and Newey swapped the lead many times (10? 14?). The last half of the race the story was Art Foster as he moved up through the field, working his way into 2nd on the last lap before getting tagged. Me thinks a proper Kent can still compete.
Working pit lane can be uneventful. On friday the pit lane staff voted Trish the "best looking pit crew person". She proved to us that she was more than just another pretty girl when she went over the wall and started changing the shock settings on the Leading Edge car.
Bob Detrick (helipilot04) and Trish of Leading Edge Racing... obviously with Kent power.
Last edited by Purple Frog; July 7th, 2012 at 7:58 AM.
Working pit lane can be uneventful. On friday the pit lane staff voted Trish the "best looking pit crew person". She proved to us that she was more than just another pretty girl when she went over the wall and started changing the shock settings on the Leading Edge car.
Bob Detrick (helipilot04) and Trish of Leading Edge Racing... obviously with Kent power.
I almost forgot how much fun this series is! It felt great to get back behind the wheel this past weekend and give it a go for a shot at a podium. The caliber of competition is astounding this year (not like last year was much different!). For race 2, the top 9 or 10 guys were all running lap times in the 54 second range so it was really tough to either make up ground or even to keep pace. You had to really be up on the wheel the entire race and minimize mistakes to even stand a chance of keeping up.
It felt good to work with Jim and Harry of Drivers Services to bring an under steering car at the start of the weekend up to speed. All the changes Jim made were a step in the right direction and by the time race 2 went off the car was pretty good. Big thanks to Drivers Services for working their tails off to get the car ready for even this one race, and to work hard to get it closer to the front all weekend.
I don't know why the turnout for this past weekend was so light. Each time we participate in an F1600 event we have an amazing time, and this weekend was no exception. Even if you don't feel committed to do a full season, pick one or two races close to you and give it a shot. You won't be disappointed. Nothing compares to single class racing against some of the best FF talent around.
Thanks to the F1600 crew for putting on another great event. Best of luck to all the competitors this year and congrats to Matias and Brandon for taking home wins!
Lime Rock!
. My b. 
