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West Coast Round 2
Round two of the West Coast
Challenge Series takes place at Infineon Raceway April 12th
and 13th. Six drivers made the trip and were rewarded with
temperature in the 80’s and no clouds. A perfect weekend for racing. In
attendance were Dave Standridge, Karen Salvaggio, Rich Norgrove, Robert
Walter, Tom Andrews, and Rick Anderson.
Saturday Race:
After a quick 15 minute warm-up
at 8:00 A.M., all drivers were prepared for their 20 minute qualifying
session scheduled for 9:30. When the times were posted, Karen came out
with the pole position, followed closely by Dave, then Rick, Tom,
Robert, and Rich.
For the 2:20 race, a flying
start got the group underway with a clean and fast start. Karen got the
jump on Dave and led the group up the hill to turn two. As the group
settled out to single file, Karen kept her position on Dave, followed by
Rick, Tom, Robert, and Rich. As the race progressed, Karen and Dave
continued their battle with Karen holding Dave off for the first
position. Meanwhile, Rich started his move towards the front passing
Tom and Robert to take on Rick. Tom and Robert had their own duel going
on to keep things interesting. Late in the race, Rich overcooked turn
four and spun. Realizing his water temp. was pegged, he retired so as
not to blow his motor. Up front, drama was unfolding as Dave made the
pass to take the lead, only to spin in some oil laid down by another car
at the entry of turn 10 (the fastest turn on the track with concrete on
the left and a huge tire wall on the right). With Dave scrambling to
re-enter the track, Karen regained the lead just before the race was
black flagged and ended. Final race results: Karen with the win, Dave
second, followed by Rick, Tom, Robert, and Rich.
Sunday Qualifying Race:
For the Qualifying Race, the
field took the green with the field inverted based on the finishing
order from Saturday’s race. At the front, Rich was to be on pole but
had mechanical issues in grid and had to pull out of line. That left
Robert on pole, followed by Tom, Rick, Dave, Karen, and finally Rich.
As we were following the inverted CMC group, the traffic was pretty
intense. At the start, Robert got the edge on Tom and those two had a
great battle for the entire race. Meanwhile, Dave went to work and
passed Karen and Rick and then proceeded to pass Tom and Robert for the
lead. Karen had the misfortune of a blown radiator line that gave her a
chance to improve her drifting skills on the carousel (turn 6). Still
suffering from engine gremlins, Rich was keeping his car alive to keep
his points alive. At the checker, it was Dave for the win, followed by
Robert, Tom, Rick, Rich, and Karen.
Sunday Main Race:
For the starting grid, positions
were determined by best lap time of the qualifying race. The times had
Robert at pole, Dave at P2, followed by Tom, Rick, Karen, and Rich. All
groups elected to have a standing start. At the green, it was Robert
with a slight advantage over Dave, followed closely by the rest of the
pack. By turn two, Rick had pulled even with Tom and the two raced side
by side all the way to the exit of turn 4 before Rick got he edge on
Tom. Meanwhile, Rich’s ill motor decided that it was due for retirement
and just shut down. Fortunately, Rich was able to coast into a safe
area and not bring out a caution or safety rig. A very pro move, much
appreciated by all the drivers. Not far into the race, Karen’s hot
motor (see previous race issue) came back to haunt her with a temp at
about 220 degrees. Day over for Karen as she pulled out to prevent
further damage. Up front, Dave finally made the pass on Robert, but
couldn’t shake the determined #3 car piloted by Robert. At the checker,
it was Dave for another win, followed by Robert, Rick, Tom, Karen, and
Rich.
It looks like there will be some
major motor work being done by Karen’s and Richard’s teams to be ready
for Buttonwillow in two weeks. All in all, a safe weekend for everyone
and as always a good time had with everyone there.
Rick Anderson
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