CMC West race report

[Tony G]

CMC MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND AT THUNDERHILL

 

Beautiful blue skies and perfect weather greeted all the racers for Round III of the West Coast American Iron Series and Camaro Mustang Challenge. We also had the pleasure of the Factory Five Racers sharing the grid with us.

 

Qualifying was very tight with less than four seconds between the top fifteen competitors. CMC as always, had a large group with nineteen cars taking the green flag for the standing start Saturday afternoon. As usual, at the first turn, things got a little crowded going three wide through turn one. Theis had to take evasive action to miss Bergman and spun to the outside almost collecting Morin. Things settled down after that and there was some great racing going on. Griffith was running away at the fount until his motor overheated giving the win to Guaglione who was driving the Flaherty Camaro. Tony’s first time on the track this season, and he wins the race. Prior to the race Tony was over heard saying that he was going run hard the first couple of laps then drop back to observe how the rest of the field was doing. Yeah right, the ultra competitive Tony loves to win. The battle for 2nd was fierce between Trask, Drake and Bergman. After a little mirror rubbing at 90 MPH, Trask took a hard fought second followed by Drake, Bergman & Plum for the top five and the Toyo Bucks. Plum's finish was notable after starting in the 15th grid position, gaining 10 positions in a heads up race takes some determination. There was also a good race for the next five spots between Morin, Whitelaw, Stone, Stahlman, Sparklin, and Pfaff. It was great fun to race with CMC founders, Trask and Pfaff who showed that they haven’t lost any of their speed by finishing near the front most of the time.

 

Saturday night, we had a gathering at the Round Table Pizzeria in the big City of Willows. It was quite a boisterous affair with discussions on new cars coming into the series and different options for race weekends. The general consensus was that CMC will stay at 7 race weekends plus the Nationals for a total of 8. We are still discussing newer models and how to make the racing even and fair for all the competitors. The highlight of the night was that series Director Tony Guaglione was given a beautiful Racetech 6 point safety harness, but thought hey I should give this to a really deserving person, so I picked a well deserving Mike Donahoe for all the help and generosity he has shown his fellow CMC Bretheren. Mike promptly turned around and handed this great prize to John Stahlman who has endeared himself to many of his fellow racers with his help and muscle whenever it’s needed. Thanks Mike for your help too and your generosity. That’s the kind of thing that goes on every race weekend with this great group and that was proven by a set of $250 belts being handed 3 times to different people across the board. If you’re thinking about joining a race series, you should give the Camaro Mustang Challenge a serious look.

 

Sunday morning’s qualifying race started with the entire field inverted. The racing was very close from second on back. Theis was showing his skills have greatly improved and gave hot shoes Pfaff and Trask all they could handle. This group was followed closely by Plum, Whitelaw, Flaherty and Drake. Super car control by all drivers resulted in no contact with lots of door to door racing. Top Five finishers: Griffith, Pfaff, Trask, Theis and Plum.

 

Sunday’s finale was a Dandy. Trask, Drake and Plum fought hard for second while Griffith drove to a nine second win ahead of this group. Pfaff, Whitelaw, Bergman, Morin, Stone and Margetta took the 5th through 10th spots. Julie's charge to the front was interrupted with an off in turn 15. Flaherty had a big spin off the bypass midway through the race. In a preview of coming attraction, Brady had a wild, tank slapping ride through turn two on the opening lap as he struggled to control an ill handling car. Whitelaw had a couple of off road excursions, but was able to recover for a good finish. Another great weekend of racing! Congrats to Theis, Bergman, Plum and John Stahlman for setting personal bests ranging from the 2:05's to the 2:07's. The field continues to get faster race after race.

 

Kirk also gets the hard luck award. After setting that personal best of 2:05 and lining up outside front row, he committed the Cardinale Sin of forgetting to latch his hood pins and did major damage to his hood and windshield. I guess it’s time for that fiberglass hood now! Sorry about that buddy, but great job driving the car. I bet you never forget to check your hood pins again. Right? Other notable mechanical failures for the weekend included Jim Griffith losing a transmission, then limping through the weekend with only 4th gear and Dave Dunlop suffering a blown engine.

 

The CMC gang welcomed Larry Vanderford into the mix. Larry did a fun run for the weekend in his almost CMC ready car and progressed nice over the course of the weekend.

 

The Championship points battle heated up significantly with the absence of Steel and with James returning to his winning ways. When the dust settled on the weekend Flaherty enjoyed a single point margin over the young Griffith. Plum consistency had him solidly in third place a dozen points behind the leader. Pat Stone moved up to 4th place followed by second year competitor Kevin Margetta. Expect some changes after the Buttonwillow weekend as a second drop gets added to the mix.

 

Don’t forget to register NOW for Buttonwillow, June 10th & 11th. See you there!