The start for the Sunday points race was clean, but things pretty much
went to hell from that point on. Don won the drag race to turn 1,
followed by Carlos and Joe. Ron passed Scott on
the straight, and Calvin passed both Scott and Ron, into T1, only to be
re-passed by Ron when he went wide coming out of the turn. This
order held until Joe passed under Carlos entering turn 9. Scott
tried to pass Ron on the inside between turns 14 and 15, and ended up
launching off the new inside berm. Ron held his position, even
after dropping 2 wheels off in the exit of 15. The following lap,
a RX-7 driven by Kurt Frietzsche spun just after the turn 5 bypass,
putting a dust cloud and a car in the middle of the track, right as Ron
crested the blind hill over the bypass.
Can you see it?
Ron avoided the dark spot in the dirt cloud and continued to hold on to
4th place until the end of the lap, where Scott Neville tried to pass
again on the inside between 14 and 15. This time Scott made it
stick, moving Ron back into 5th. The next lap, Calvin dived under
Ron entering turn 6, but lost his momentum in the process, and Ron
regained the position in turn 8. Three turns later, the Spec
Miata class (which started a half lap behind the GTI group) caught up
and passed Ron coming out of the esses, and Calvin got by him as well.
The dust clears from Kurt's spin, Ron leads Scott and Calvin into turn
6.
The following lap, a white Miata went way off the track
outside turn 6, which brought out
a full course caution. The pace car was out for a lap and a half,
just
long enough to get the field bunched up for the restart. On the
restart, the white Miata dive bombed inside Ron, nearly shoving him off
the track outside turn 1. Ron closed with Calvin in the lap
following the restart, but never got in a position to make a
move. Entering turn one on the next lap, a Miata spun in turn
one, causing another mid-track dust cloud, and Calvin to get a little
sideways avoiding it.
Calvin
demonstrates car control at ~90 MPH.
Later that lap, the same white Miata punted Don Bailey off the track,
on the very fast uphill section near turn
8. Don went off the track sideways, the tires dug in the dirt,
and Don rolled several times. He was unhurt, but the car is a
total loss.
After Don's wreck, Calvin opened a lead
over Ron. The final few laps of the race involved
an excellent battle for position between Ron and Scott Miller in his
Pro-7 class RX-7. Ron was a little faster in the corners, but the
Mazda was faster on the straights. They swapped positions a
couple times each lap for 3 laps, with the Mazda opening an
insurmountable lead after a Miata got between them on the white flag
lap.
Joe Craven won the class, with a best time of 2:13.646, followed by
Scott Neville, Carlos Suarez, and Calvin Wan. Ron's best lap
slipped a bit from the qualifying race, at 2:17.885.
Interesting Weekend.