Hey guys I went fishing today instead of updating all the posts. Tons of action and random stuff happened that will be covered in the post race report.
Congrats to Gavin Aitken, overall winner with 3 pinto wins, and Mitch Egner with 3 Zetec wins. Will have to double check points, but I believe Keray McEwan rounds out the overall podium with a very consistent weekend.
Weekend Point totals:
1. Aitken 39
2. Egner 34*
3. McEwan 24
4. Nadolny 18
4. Werner 18
6. Lensen 16*
7. B. Smetaniuk 14.5*
7. Yuen 14.5
9. Babkirk 13.5
10. R Smetaniuk 11.5*
11. Webb 10
12. Coffin 9
13. Ross 6*
14. Wilson 1.4
Season point totals
1. Egner 77*
2. Aitken 75.5
3. Coffin 53 (44 Zetec, 9 pinto)
4. Babkirk 40
5. Werner 38.5
6. Follett 38
7. Yuen 37.5
8. B Smetaniuk 25.5*
9. R Smetaniuk 24.5*
10. McEwan 24
11. Nadolny 18
12. Lensen 16*
13. Ross 15*
14. Webb 10
15. Morton 9*
16. Davis 8
17. Wilson 1.5
* = Zetec
Egner and Aitken have clinched the Pinto and Zetec championships.
Egner, Aitken, and Coffin (barely) are still capable of winning the overall championship heading into the last two races at Castrol on August 27-28th.
Mission NWFC Sunday podium
a few podium photo's from Sundays race at Mission Raceway
Couple more photos from Mission Raceway
Couple of photo's of Mitch & Gavin
Great to have all of you at Mission, folks!
Here is the incorrect way to take the 4-5-6 complex.
https://youtu.be/iNZ4hMzgGyE
Speaking as someone who has done precisely that in both my Formula Ford and a Honda CRX, I'd just like to say, that that's the incorrect way to take turn 4.Originally Posted by RSS
The official incorrect way to take the whole complex is to miss the braking point for 4, take the escape road, then wait for the marshal to release you back out at 6.
I'm sure that given enough time, both you and I can properly screw up the whole complex on some future occasion.
Points heading into the final weekend.
RACE REPORT: Mission Raceway 2016
For the series second year at Mission the weather cooperated a bit more than last year giving us some cooler temps leading to a fast track especially on the Sunday. 11 drivers managed to set new personal bests over the weekend as track conditions and competition improved.
Early season leader Greg Coffin’s bad luck at Mission continued on from last season, as he would only finish 1 out of the 3 races during the weekend. Series rookie and new championship leader Mitch Egner put in the performance that we all saw coming way back in May by taking the sweep at his home track. Not only did Mitch move into the lead in the Championship but he clinched the Zetec class crown as well. The Pinto class went to another home town favorite in Gavin Aitken who also moves up in the championship to 2nd overall. With Gavin’s Pinto class wins over the weekend he clinches the Pinto championship and sits only 2 points behind Mitch overall going into the final round at Castrol.
Mission Race 1
(Top 4 going four wide into Turn 1)
For race 1 some tension seemed to be in the air with the large field ready to get racing and when the time came they did not disappoint. The top 4 cars decided to see if they could all go through turn 1 together on the opening lap and managed to do it successfully with only a slight off/on by outside pole man Gavin Aitken. The lead pack consisted of Egner, Lensen, Werner, Ross and Aitken and a charging Dane Babkirk a few car lengths behind. Just back of the lead pack saw Brian Smetaniuk mixing it up with the likes of Yuen, Coffin, Nadolny and Keray Mcewan. Starting at the back was Roger Smetaniuk as once again his Mygale would not fire on the pre-grid. He was accompanied at the back of the train by new comer Mike Webb in his 97 Van Diemen.
(The field makes it through Turn 2)
As the close racing continued throughout the field a number of close calls and lock ups happened up and down the pack. The biggest was that of James Nadolny locking up the fronts going into 4 and narrowly missing Brian Smetaniuk before exiting down the escape road. This lock up and an ill handling car would end his race early.
(Dane Babkirk leads the mid pack race)
After a few laps Mitch Egner opened up his lead followed by Michael Lensen and then another gap back to Werner and Aitken who looked to renew their close racing from Spokane. Ross seemed to have solidified 5th with the early chargers of Yuen and Babkirk dropping back into the mid pack battle of Coffin, Mcewan and R Smetaniuk. At the back B Smetaniuk and Webb kept the pack in sight looking for the battles up front to give them an opportunity to make a move up the order.
At the half way point Aitken had finally made his way passed Werner for the final spot on the podium and Roger Smetaniuk had separated himself from the mid pack and chased down Steve Ross taking away 5th place. The battle mid pack had continued to rage on with Coffin, Mcewan, Yuen and Babkirk swapping spots multiple times through the opening half of the race. Brian Smetaniuk held on to the back of this pack waiting for an opportunity.
The mid way point would then spell some trouble for a couple drivers as Russ Werner would miss a shift and zing the motor coming out of 3 and decide that pulling off would let him fight another day. Glenn Yuen would get it all wrong going into 3 as he tried to make a move on Dane Babkirk resulting in a spin and conceding a place to Brian Smetaniuk.
(Yuen looking the wrong way in Turn 3)
With 2 laps to go Roger Smetaniuks charge up through the field would end at fourth place as he succumb to a flat tire that would drop him back through the field and then out of the race. The podium would finish with Egner, Lensen, and Aitken until the scales where Michael Lensen would be DQ for missing weight. This would promote Steve Ross on to the 3rd step of the podium and 4th going to Keray Mcewan who managed to sneak by Greg Coffin on the last lap of the race ending their great battle. They would be followed home by Babkirk, B Smetaniuk, Yuen and Mike Webb who finished his first NWFC race.
Mission Race 2
Sunday’s first race would be grouped with the other openwheel cars in group 1 leading to some more traffic to contend with. On pole once again was Mitch Egner followed by Roger Smetaniuk and Michael Lensen. Gavin Aitken would be on the outside of row 2 followed by Ross, Nadolny and Mcewan.
(Mitch Egner leads Roger Smetaniuk out of Turn 3)
Ross and Lensen would not make the grid moving everyone up. Gavin Aitken would move to 3rd on the grid and take this opportunity to move away from the field along with 1st and 2nd place as they opened up a gap early on. The leaders would keep each other in reach until around lap 7 when they began to hit traffic that would eventually spread them out.
A bit farther back James Nadolny would lead Keray Mcewan home from start to finish in 4th and 5th. Glenn Yuen would get a good start and take away 6th from Dane Babkirk early on but eventually relinquish the place as turn 3 bit him again on lap 6 taking him out of the race. Pat Wilson made his first NWFC race start after graduating from Novice on Saturday and he was joined by Mike Webb as the new comers battled it out at the start of race 2.
(Brian Smetaniuk stuck on pre-grid)
Behind them was some interesting stories coming from Brian Smetaniuk and Russ Werner. Brian would stall in the pre-grid and be sent to the back of the grid but having trouble starting the car would mean he wouldn’t even make it out on track for the pace lap and have to start from the pit lane. To top that start Russ Werner would miss the 5 min warning and was supposed to start from the back but with Brian and a number of other cars stalling on pre-grid he went out onto track ahead of them. Problem was he would enter the track through the pit lane not straight out for gridding so he was immediately black flagged as the race began moving him once again to the back of the field.
Werner and Smetaniuk would then make their way through the field and other classes to end up 6th and 8th respectively. In the battle of the new comers it would be Mike Webb taking 9th place from 10th place Pat Wilson.
Mission Race 3 FC Feature Race
Qualifying saw Mitch Egner continue his dominance putting the #4 machine on pole followed by Roger Smetaniuk, Gavin Aitken and Michael Lensen. Nadolny, Werner and Yuen would qualify under 2 tenths apart from each other setting up a possible close race. Further back we had Mcewan, B Smetaniuk, Babkirk and Webb. Steve Ross would get a qualifying lap in but clutch issues would eventually stop him from racing in the finale. Greg Coffin would not have the #04 Mygale ready in time for qualifying but did manage to get the car back together for the Race.
(Field lining up for the start of Race 3)
Right away Mitch Egner jumped out into a quick lead followed by Roger Smetaniuk. Michael Lensen was pressuring Gavin Aitken for 3rd place which dropped them back into the clutches of Werner, Nadolny and Yuen. Keray Mcewan lead the next group of cars back from that trailed by Greg Coffin, Dane Babkirk, Brian Smetaniuk and Mike Webb.
(Pack making it through Turn 1)
Lap 2 would spell the end of the race for Roger Smetaniuk as he would lose the back end of his Mygale through Turn 4 and was not able to re-fire the #16 Mygale. Mitch Egner would extend his lead on now second place Gavin Aitken who was being hounded by Michael Lensen lap after lap. Greg Coffin was followed closely by Dane Babkirk and Brian Smetaniuk for the first couple of laps until a coming together in turn 3 would end both Coffin and Babkirk’s race.
(Roger Smetaniuk spinning through Turn 4)
(Brian Smetaniuk sneaking passed the accident in Turn 3)
For the rest of the race things quieted down for the most part as the Michael Lensen, Gavin Aitken battle for 2nd was the best battle of the race. They remained close up until lap traffic once again became a factor on the tight 9 turn circuit that is Mission. The traffic would give Gavin Aitken the gap he needed to hold of the charge from Lensen all the way to the finish.
The final podium would be Mitch Egner, Gavin Aitken and Michael Lensen making it a clean sweep for the home town boys.
(Race 3 Podium)
Mitch @ Mission
Mitch sending the leaves flying at Mission Raceway
Last edited by spudrace; 08.15.16 at 1:36 PM.
Race 1 video is up and i believe everyone had a pretty good time in this one. Lots of racing going on throughout the field.
if you have 30min watch it all!
https://youtu.be/u1_dYlufDyo
Nice job on the edit. That looks like a ton of work.
Great stuff!
Took a bit to figure out the 360 camera stuff but not bad once i got it working.
Helps that the wife and kids are away on holidays so had some free time to edit.
Roger
That 360 camera makes for some cool shots. Nice edit Roger.
What kind of Camera were you using Russ? Or Glenn?
I think Glenn's was a 360fly and Russ's was a V360
OK sportfans,
I have a few questions.
I watched the videos two evenings ago.
Then again last night.
I have to ask...
Are you guys allowed to change gears? or are they spec?
Because when I see guys going through a corner with revs below 4K my eyes roll.
Why are you lugging those race engines.
After one session I'd be looking at the data and changing gears.
Even in my old crappy CFC Reynard I tried to keep the revs up in the torque zone.
just saying...
P.S. maybe i was too serious.
my 3 cents
No gearing restrictions
Difficulty with Mission is the low top end speed of 120mph and the extreme lack of grip of the racing surface. Most corners are tight ones in the 35-50mph range. The short straight between 1-2 is only 75-80mph so do you really want to be shifting in into 2? Most people gear that as the top end of 1.
I was probably the lowest 1st geared car with a 16/34 giving me about 76mph top of 1 and I was lighting the tires up out of 1/2/3/5/6/8/9 if i wasn't careful.
Now if you are referencing the old mans car (White #19) well his problem is right foot related and I have been tring to help him with that with little success.
I will be actually going to a higher 1st next year just to try and control wheel spin that way as I am not a fan of melting tires that fast.
Roger
(Blue Mygale #16)
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