Race #13 was run on Sunday and I was back on the track
for the first time since July 6th :-(
It was a very strange day. Doug Bell (12 sec. '69 Beaumont
with a 427 Chev engine) who is leading the TMP Street ET
class entered the day 7 points behind the leader from the
Grand Bend track to see who would go to the Summit Series
Challenge. The Grand Bend champ had completed all his
races for the season and Bell has 3 more races to try and pass
him for most points. It seemed like most of the Grand Bend
racers came to the track. A lot of the Grand Bend Street class
racers entered the brackets race to make it difficult for Bell while
the Grand Bend Pro and Mod ET racers came as test and tuners
... quite a sight to have 20 or so Pro and Mod ET cars in test
and tune :-P
I tried to avoid being paired off with any of the TMP racers.
In elimination round 1, I got paired off with one of the Grand
Bend racers (12.25 dial) and put up a 14.60 dial. Just after
I "shifted" into 2nd he went flying by me and was gone, gone!
Now, with fairly close reaction times, he shouldn't be doing
that until we are in the traps :-P 10 to 15 feet from the finish
line I got off the gas and crossed with a 14.62 @ 94.73 and
the win :-) Hooray! One point for me! My reaction time stunk
with a .677. He finished with a 12.42 @ 98.69 and a reaction
time of LBTA (whatever that is?). I was told that he launched
almost the same time his lights started to light :-O
I was pleasantly surprised in round 2 as the lane manager told
me that I drew a bye. OMG! 2 points for me. He put me off
to the side and I got to watch almost the whole Street class run
round 2. There must have been close to 30 cars left in round 2!
As I was getting ready to run alone in the left lane, the manager
came over and said that I would be in the right lane! There
was one racer left (?), a TMP '86 GMC who has run in Mod ET
all year? His dial was a 12.48 and I had no time to change
mine from the 14.60. I managed to do a perfect shallow stage
but bulbed with a .478 reaction time:-( His was a .860. Arghh!
At the 1/8th marker, I saw that he was still on it so I decided
to run full out all the way as I was still a little ticked :-( He finished
with a 12.51 @ 109.94 but couldn't pass me as I crossed with a
14.50 @ 96.42. Small consolation, best ET and trap speed
for the day :-)
Entering the day, I was tied for 5th in points with a racer named
Gunby. He lost his 1st race, bought back in, won round 2 to
advance to round 3 but does not pick up a point on a buy-back.
Until the track's site is updated, I won't know where I am in the
points standing. Their update is slower than my runs :-P
My goal going into race #13 was to get sole possession of 5th.
2 more races left to do it but, right now, next Sat.'s race looks iffy
with 40% of showers and next Sun. looks like 100% rain :-(
BTW, when I left, round 3 had not begun and Bell had picked up
2 points in his quest to get into the Summit Series and a chance
to go for $100,000 U.S. big prize !
Last report coming up next week :-)
Bob
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Feb 06 2004 - 11:46:53 EST