The Pony Car Wars began again with the running of Round 1 of the Trans-Am Series race last Saturday. Some teams were scrambling to get their cars on the grid, while others, notably Marty with his Camaro, had their cars fully sorted and loaded for bear.
The first heat saw Marty in the SCA Camaro pull out to a commanding lead ahead of Mark’s SubLime Dodge Challenger and Rich’s notchback Mustang. Not to be headed, Marty cruised to a solid victory with 68 laps with Rich in second and Mark in third.
Marty stepped up the pace in the second heat, completing 70 laps while the Rich’s #22 Mustang and Shawn’s Camaro fought hard for second place. Running on old tires, Shawn finally had to cede second to Rich completing 57.3 laps to Rich’s 59.
Not backing off Marty continued his blistering pace in the third heat with another 70 lap run. Shawn pushed harder to run 59 laps but was just squeezed out for second by the Brut Mustang of Jordan who completed 60.3 laps.
Heat 4 saw the closest competition of the race. Jordan’s Mustang fell slightly to 57 laps while Shawn kept it stead at 59 laps, but both were bested by David’s #48 yellow Camaro with a lap count of 59.8.
Jordan was able to get past his dad in heat 5 with 59 laps to David’s 58. Steve’s first heat in the ex-Gurney Cougar took first with 62.3 laps.
Russell’s Chaparral Camaro, sporting some racer tape repairs, was still quick enough for a first place finish in heat 6, with 67.8 trips around the track with David and Steve battling for second. Steven finally pulled out to a two lap lead over David, 61 to 59.
Mark returned to face Russell and Steve in heat 7 but problems kept him back in third place. Russell’s 67 laps was good for first and Steve came in second with 60 laps.
The final heat saw Russell fall slightly, but his 65 laps was still good for first place. Rich followed with 56.75 laps and Mark was third with 47 laps.
Clearly, Marty was the class of the field, completing 208.79 laps. Russell was a distant second with 199.8 laps, Steve third with 183.3. The battle for fourth was extremely close with David just a half lap ahead of Jordan, and Shawn one lap down in sixth. Rich in seventh and Mark in eighth completed the field. With Marty’s impressive showing and the expectation that Ary will be his usual quick self with the next race, the rest of the teams will have their work cut out to catch up.
On to the next race!
Nice story Russell. Thanks for getting it up so quickly. I know you, Shawn and Ary will be on my but for the next race,