The second race of the series continued last Saturday with the arrival of new competition from Marty who always brings a fast, well tuned car to the races. For his 1970`s Prototype he brought a Ferrari 312PB and was ready for action.
Heat #1: Marty, Brett, and Roy fired up their engines with Marty on green, Brett on fast blue, and Roy on yellow, his favorite lane. Brett is our newest member and still tuning his trigger finger so we knew the action might see some rolls and wipe outs. And so there were, but none took anyone out of the race. On the other hand, loose braids on Marty`s car, did throw him out of the action early in the heat at lap 15. Roy and Brett continued the battle and Marty rejoined the race 20 laps behind, and immediately laid down the fastest lap of the heat at 4.075 seconds. Brett scrambled his way to 62 laps improving with each lap, and Roy finished first with 70 laps.
Heat #2: This race featured a great match-up: Ary who was so fast in Round 1 but suffered mechanical problems that forced him to pull his car on the very first heat, Marty, who is always fast, and Roy the winner of Round #1. Who would emerge the winner of this heat? Ary set the pace by turning the fastest lap of 3.833 on his fourth lap. He kept up the pace consistently turning laps in the 3.9 range and easily outdistanced both Marty and Roy. In fact, he sped through the course with sub 4.000 times for 65 of his eventual 76 total laps. Throughout the race, Roy was always ½ lap behind Marty never quite being able to pass as reflected in their fastest laps of 4.059 for Marty and 4.131 for Roy. Final results, Ary with an outstanding 76 laps, Marty with 71, and Roy ½ lap behind at 70.
Heat #3: Brian entered Heat 3 on the yellow lane, Roy moved over to blue, and Ary went to the green lane with its tight bottom turn. Roy hit it hard and surprisingly stayed in front of super-fast Ary for 30 laps before Ary finally passed him by setting his fastest lap of 3.876. He continued his amazing pace to finish with 75 laps, two ahead of Roy who turned 4.015 and 73 laps for his final heat, never deslotting in any heat, and Brian hitting 4.130 in his first heat with 69 laps.
Heat#4: Jim entered the race on this heat in the yellow lane and was determined to win this round. He is always a threat in any race. However, Ary moved to the fast middle blue lane and was just as determined to break some records. Brian moved over to the green lane and was fired up to go. Once again Ary pulled the trigger and sped away setting the fastest lap of the day and one of the fastest laps ever recorded on our track with a time of 3.766. He kept the up pace and finished with 74 laps ahead of Brian who came in second with 69 laps and Jim with 66. You know he is going to be doing some serious tuning.
Heat #5: Kevin joined the race in the green lane after spending some time truing new tires, Brian moved to blue, and Jim moved to the green lane. This promised to be a close race and it proved to be so for the first half as Jim pulled ahead and Brian and Kevin kept close behind. Eventually, however, Kevin`s new tires could not hold the bottom turn and Brian drove faultlessly to secure second place, one lap behind Jim. Jim`s fastest lap of 3.997 won him the race with 71 laps, just ahead of Brian at 70 laps and a fast time of 4.099 and Kevin at 68 and best time of 4.088.
Heat #6: This race required some software reconfiguration so only two racers competed leaving the yellow lane empty. Jim would race Kevin the Hammer who was “not feeling quite up to speed” that day. It may have been his tires or his stomach, but Kevin could not match Jim`s speed this race. The Hammer turned 68 laps at 4.200 best time following Jim`s comeback with a blistering 73 laps and 3.984 fastest lap.
Heat #7: Kevin and Brett would duel this heat and the more experienced Kevin pulled immediately ahead. However, on lap 53 his stomach said “enough” and he withdrew, while Brett continued to win the heat on his own with 57 laps.
Final Heat #8: Marty returned for his last heat against Brett. The middle blue lane separated them providing lots of clear space unless a rollover wiped out anyone. It was a clean race but dominated by Marty who turned in 73 flawless laps and a very fast 3.938 fastest lap. Brett followed with 59 laps having a great time racing against a pro.
Final Results: Ary dominated with an incredible 225.46 laps and an amazing 3.766 fastest lap. WOW! Roy took second place with 214.35 laps at 4.015 best time, Jim took third place with 210.38 but a fast 3.984 fastest lap. Roy remains the race leader by points, with Ary coming back to take second place and turning the most laps. Jim holds on to third.
Is the writing on the wall for the outcome of this race? All I can say is “Stay tuned.”
The recorded race can be viewed at our Ustream.tv channel: https://www.ustream.tv/recorded/22021704
Great summary, Roy! Thank you very much!