Alan Herod

Eric caught the net, and then control argued about it for a few laps. Eric (Dirk's friend Carol's son) was on the berm in 6 and missed nothing - when he pointed it out to us in the tub at 5, it was clear that it was not plexi because there was no reflection from any angle as there was on the cars with the plexi in. Eric was on top of everything and as many things as he correctly identified previously, including fuel leaks, transmission catch tank spray, window nets and other things; it is surprising and disturbing that control would argue over such an important safety ommission. Given the impressive speed that Lawson was carrying through the chute, it is a good thing that he was not the one in the chute and with the window net down. Timing is everything and there is nothing to be won but bragging rights.

78SC

Agree with the safety issue on the net just hard to have to come in when you are in the thick of it!

Bill935K3

Hi All,
Thanks for the nice stuff said earlier in the thread.
Came home from the very wet VIR with a hell of a sore throat so have not been around to post earlier.

Had great fun racing with Tom Pank and John Ellis in the sprint, I missed a shift at the start (Thank you Rick DeMann for being on the ball and not hitting me!!) Do to poor start Tom was all over me in #1 and got me clean. By the time my tires came in he had a nice little lead. Tom was using his cars strong points to the max especially in the chute and carousel. (ABS-mechanical grip and always on tap power) and it took six laps to get to him and get by. Unfortunately he broke a lower control arm going into the chute on lap 12 thank God he and the car came out pretty much unscathed. John was inching up on me and about four laps from the end I made a mistake in 10 and he drafted me down the front strait, I screwed up again in #1 and got caught off boost and he got by with about four to go. I was on his butt and he was using every trick in the book to keep me there. Usually I take #10 in 4th but with John going very defensive I managed to time the spacing right and got an early shift to 3rd done and beat him to the throttle in #10 on the last lap. We went down the front strait side by side with me on the inside and I finished the job in #1.

The first 30 minutes of the enduro were a blast. The My Laps doesn’t show it due to my repeatedly re-passing him in #10 but Tom P. and I must have swapped positions a dozen times. If I left any hole 5-6-7 he would squirt in. My cool suit quite on lap four and after playing for 30 minutes I thought I was working too hard so I started defending in the carousel. Tom made a smart move then by pitting early. I came in at about one hour and screwed up by not hitting my stop watch so we ended up with a long pit stop. I came out about 23 seconds behind Tom. I was able to gain some but was really starting to feel overheated. Summit is a pretty busy place and will bite you hard if you make a major mistake. As there was no way I could catch him and we were going to VIR I decided desertion was the better part of valor and called it a day a few laps from the end. Congrats Tom nice job!

Manny Alban

Bill, I forwarded your post to Tom Pank. Don't think he reads Rennlist. It was a great race to watch.

Bill935K3

Hi Mike
Manny's advice RE VIR is right on. We are a one very large group support race. Thank God they are now giving us two races. sprint/60 min enduro but run times and all classes together make it less then perfect. And there is zero change of making up any track time lost mishaps
I really like Summit and the regional folkes but it is not a track I would drive huge mileage for. If your crew are looking for a road trip race at a "classic track" I would recoment UCR region at MOSPORT

It would be great if we could move up the pecking order as "support races" for Pro weekends and run multiple run groups or get our own weekend at VIR as it is also what I consider a classic track. SIZE - SPEED - ELEVLATION CHANGE - MULTIPLE TYPES OF TURNS