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Thunder Hill Race Report


Tony G

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The weather was beautiful for the 6th race of 7 for the West Coast Camaro Mustang Challenge series. 15 cars showed up prepared for battle on the Thunderhill track, with a twist. It was to be run backwards which proved to be more fun than anyone anticipated.

 

Qualifying went off without a hitch with Nick Steel setting the fast time with a 2:08.7, followed by Tony Guaglione with a 2:10.6. In CMC-2 Peter Hopelain set the fast time with a 2:10.0, followed by Jim Griffith with a 2:14.2.

 

It was a standing start with CMC and CMC-2 cars mixed together based on time. CMC was joined by newly licensed racer Scott McClung . The race started with Nick taking off and the field chasing after him. Tony Guaglione tried to catch Nick, but was unable to keep up with Nick and had to start defending his position when Jeff Bernard started his climb up. The race was a fun one to watch with 3 separate battles going on at the same time. Brady Flaherty joined the cars on track after driving 6 hours up from past Buttonwillow and finished with 7 laps. Nick Steel won the race with Tony in second and Jeff Bernard in third.Karl Chicca and Kevin Margetta finsed 4th and 5th. Gary Brantley's day ended early with engine troubles, which would put him on the pole for the inverted race Sunday morning. Peter Hopelain won the CMC-2 race followed by Jim Griffith and then Jim Carroll.

 

Most of the CMC gang gathered at the local pizza place for good food and fun stories to swap. Pat Stone brought his great video of the Nationals, which was enjoyed by everyone.

 

Sunday started off with a race that was inverted of Saturday's finishing order. It was an exciting start with the fast guys in the back on a flying start, as everyone was in one big group for most of the race. Nick Steel took a quick lead and held onto it for the rest of the race. The was accidental contact between Kevin Margetta and Roger Lundegard, with Roger getting a tire donut on his car and Kevin leaving the race due to Flat spotted tires. Nick Steel won the CMC race, followed by Jeff Bernard and Tony Guaglione,Dave Morin and Karl Chicca taking 5th. Brady Flaherty was awarded the victory in CMC-2 after a race long battle with Peter Hopelain.

 

The third and final race was based off of the finishing order of the previous inverted race. The action started early with Jeff Bernard going in too hot for a turn and punting Brady Flaherty, who in turn hit Peter Hopelain. Brady came into the pits after the incident with something broken on the front suspension. Later in the race Kirk Theis lost his brakes and spun into Dave Morin. The contact can opened Dave's driver door and the tangle sheet metal bit off a chunk of Kirk’s bumper which Dave paraded around the track for a handful of laps,quite the funny looking scene. The results of the race showed Nick Steel winning, Tony in second Chicca in third,Dave Morin and Kevin Margetta took 4th and 5th. After the race , Jeff Bernard was DQ'ed for avoidable contact and Rough driving, Dennis Smith was DQ'ed for starting on the wrong green flag ahead of us. Peter Hopelain was again the victor in CMC2 and was followed by Jim Griffith.

 

Track Records were set by both Nick Steel in CMC at a 208.366 and Peter Hopelain in CMC 2 at a 207.112.

 

 

See everyone at Buttonwillow next month for our final event to see who will take the championships this year!

 

Editors:

Tony Guaglione

Kyle Plum

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One thing Tony failed to mention was the fact that since we ran backwards, Turn 5 became a launching pad for nearly everyone. What a cool feeling getting at least 2 and sometimes 3 and on occasion 4 wheels completely off the ground! There were some great pictures of several CMC cars literally flying...Nick had a shot posted at the Head-on Photos trailer with 3 in the air!

Thanks for a great weekend of racing to all who ran. Thanks for all the help Jeff and crew and congrats to Scott McClung who will become a great asset to our West coast CMC family! Nice job Scott.

Sorry I won't be making Buttonwillow but we'll see all of you next year. Gary

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Come on Gary,read the first sentence..geez you Camaro guys are so ...hell you know....

Anyway we have a picture of Peters car so far in the air that it looks like a fake picture.

Look for it in Grassroots soon.

Always great having you Gary and was great meeting your super nice wife.

Tony Guaglione

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Great weekend and good to see Scott running with us and getting some provisionals signed off! Karl and I are mixed it up on the first race for the entire race. I was able to hold onto 4th. I had to use every inch of the track to keep him off my bumper and I couldn't seem to open a gap on him at all on him. Karl was flying this weekend!

 

As I was chasing Dave on the last lap of the last race, I noticed something hanging off his car and after I went by him after the race, I could tell what it was. Looked like he had a speed brake hanging out the side of his car!

 

Roger left the last race with no power steering. OK John, get to work! You can leave the dounut on the door if you want

 

OT: We all got air for sure! Norm had me with three off during Sat warmup. So what affect does getting airborne have on the shocks/struts? I can't think it would be good. Unloading the suspsion and using the shocks/struts to stop the suspension travel, Ouucchhh! There are a lot more forces involved when getting air than just jacking up your car slowly with a jack. I don't think very many of us run a chain/cable of some sort to limit the travel and load put on the shocks/struts. Any thoughts or should we start a new thread? TC from FFR busted a C/O strut this weekend. I think we all need to check our gear befor BW.

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You're right Kevin...and yes I do have limiting chains on the rear of my car...just in case. I had the same thoughts as you but it is near the end of the season and it's time for a shock rebuild so I just went for it. I don't think I actually bottomed out but everything will be checked over the winter. It was sure weird to hear the motor rev to the moon going over the top...and if you think about it Kevin...if you flew FAR enough...you were landing on the downslope!!! And yes Carl was super this weekend. Gary

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Guys - thanks to everyone for the warm welcome - it is really an honor to run with such a good group - both from a racing and competition perspective, but also from a personal and off-track perspective. The spirit of comraderie, helpfulness and desire to just have some fun together is really what makes CMC a good group to be a part of and was really a big draw for me to finally take the leap from HPDE to a race series.

 

And I am so glad I made that leap, because I truly had a blast this weekend. Gary and I battled quite a bit during all 3 races, which was a real blast and a great learning experience for me as well. Never at any time during my first 3 races did I feel anybody was too aggressive - even when the AI field came through everything was done very cleanly and with a great predictability that kept me well within my comfort zone.

 

And the ski jump on T5 was pretty fun too - my best launch caused the motor to hit the shift light RPM, so must have gone all 4 up on that one

Brings back memories of dirt riding motorcycles way back in high school. Fun stuff. But good point Kevin - worth an extra once over on the suspension bolts and visual for any cracks or what have you. The landing seemed soft

 

Checking my calendar for BW it looks pretty full, so most likely I will not be joining to finish off my provisional. But I will hit as many events in 2008 as I can. Looking forward to it!!

 

Scott M

#82 Camaro

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