Texas region 2020 round 1 recap

[Al F.]

Since AI and CMC are sister classes and us knuckle draggers all hang out together, I've written this recap for both....

 

First of all, congratulations and welcome to Walter "Russ" Reed (AI SN95 Mustang) and Andrew Fisher (CMC SN95 Mustang) for their successful first event with us. Drew chased a few little mechanical issues, which are to be expected considering he first saw the car one week before the event! Russ had a whopper of an introduction as he spun in Bert's oil on his 2nd turn in a race! More on that oil later...

Also a big shout out to Kay and the rest of the NASA Grid team for doing a superb job running grid in spite of having about half the necessary amount of space.

Race 1
AI
1st McCormick
2nd Holdway
I'm sure our two AI drivers were a bit bummed about the tiny field...but were enjoying the added speed due to the AI rule change for 2020 dropping the weight to power ratio. Craig ran a 1:43.611, narrowly grabbing the lap record that Mason Melkowitz and Team Downunder had set in 2009!

CMC
1st Sooknanan
2nd Martin
3rd Mosty
Josh did some heroic driving to stay out front with the relatively new to him 4th Gen, with Michael dogging him at every turn while I and Martin hung out only a car length or two back. My car started losing power due to fuel issues, a problem I didn't manage to resolve all weekend, which dropped me out of the hunt. With me out of the way, John was able to catch and pass Michael near the end.

Race 2
The story with race two is less about the finishing order as much as it is about the short but interesting drama. Bert Withers and Russ Reed had joined the AI field and were running 3 and 4 in AI heading into diamond's edge on lap 1. Bert's car suddenly released a giant smoke screen and oil, causing him to start spinning. Russ, right behind him, also started spinning and both cars sailed through the swampy grass and across the track on the other side. Luckily the CMC field was able to slow down enough to avoid any contact. The track went double yellow, and stayed that way until being black flagged. The only other notable is I brain faded and passed an out of class car under yellow so I was summarily DQ'd.

Saturday night was as raucous as you expect from our group, with a big camp fire and plenty of people grilling and sharing various vittles.

Race 3
Sunday started with wet conditions due to the rain that had come through overnight. It was actually quite fun to be out for qual on a completely wet track but without any actual rain. Those conditions let Dan Records capitalize and earn a well deserved pole.

AI
1st McCormick
2nd Holdway
3rd Reed
Details? I didnt see these guys all session so... lol

CMC
1st Mosty
2nd Martin
3rd Sooknanan
The story of this race is actually from behind the trophy queens up front. The track was dry by now, but there were puddles in the typical spots. One such spot is the apex of the last turn coming onto the main straight. There, right along the curbing, was a large puddle. For the first lap I watched David Francis take this turn nicely and at a decent clip. The second time around that water had been splashed well into the line and when David touched it the car just went straight...and I mean straight into the wall. It was heart breaking but we were all glad to see Dave unhurt (physically anyway) after the session.

Race 4
AI
1st Holdway
2nd McCormick
3rd Reed
Just to make things interesting, the AI crew decided to start behind the CMC group, making it a field invert. Those guys came screaming by and a word of advice...if you can, make sure Craig passes you on your right because that exhaust pointing out his passenger side is LOUD!!

CMC
1st Mosty
2nd Martin
3rd Sooknanan
A repeat of R3 results at the top and a very spectacular off by Dan at the exit of the carousel are the highlights. Congrats to Heather Sanchez who did a fine job keeping our CMC/AI group well paced behind the first wave of ST and GTS cars to allow for a clean 2nd wave start.


It was great to see everyone and share plenty of laughs and on track action. Already starting to see a picture of who will be battling for the regional championship!