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West Coast Challenge Round 4
Saturday Race
Report
Beautiful weather
greeted the eight FFR's who took the track for Saturday's qualifying.
Dave Standridge was fast with a 2:13:509, with Karen Salvaggio right on
his heels, just a tenth of a second behind with a 2:13:640, and TC yet
another tenth behind her with a 2:13:763. The rest of the grid was set
with Robert Walter (2:19:018), Rich Norgrove (2:20.286), Mike Beeler
(2:23:525), Tasha Standridge (2:28:725), and Ron Morris (2:29:679).
The AI/AIX cars took a flying start (15 cars), and the FFR's were then
lined up behind the 30 car CMC field for a standing start. When the
green flag dropped, Karen, TC and Dave took advantage of some bobbles in
the middle of the CMC field which jammed up the CMC rows. The FFR
drivers did a great job of picking their way through traffic, and by
Turn 1, the three FFR frontrunners (Karen, Dave, and TC) had move up
more that 15 positions in the field.
The first lap found Karen in the lead, with Dave and TC in close
pursuit. The three pulled away from the field in heavy traffic, running
with the front runners in CMC, while Robert and Rich steadily moved up,
having their own battles going on between them, and with the CMC
drivers.
Further back, Mike and Tasha did a terrific job of shaving off time, and
picking their way through the heavy traffic. Ron Morris (rookie driver)
decided to not take the green on this race, and analyzed the dynamics of
the race from the pits. Dave took the lead from Karen with a great move
into the Esses, and it was Dave, Karen, and TC running flat out, nose to
tail for the rest of the race. When the checker fell, it was Dave,
followed by Karen, TC, Robert, Rich, Mike, and Tasha.
Everyone was clean and fast in the race, and the grid is set for Sunday
morning's qualifying race. Rick Anderson will join the group today, and
was very fast in the warm-up. The race is set as an inverted, flying
start, and everyone's ready for another round.
--Karen Salvaggio
Sunday Race Report
Sunday morning dawned clear and sunny with temps expected in the mid
90s. After our morning warm up we prepared for the Qualifying Race. The
race was scheduled to be a flying start with an inverted grid based on
Saturday’s race result. Tasha Standridge sat on pole, followed by Mike
Beeler, Robert Walter, Rich Norgrove, Karen Salvaggio, T.C. McNett, Dave
Standridge, Rick Anderson, and Ron Morris (Rick and Ron at the back by
virtue of not racing on Saturday).
At the green flag, all were off like a shot to try and get good track
position by turn one. Unfortunately, as Karen moved over to pass Mike,
Robert was along side slightly behind and next to him was Tasha. As the
three squeezed together, Robert’s front left tire collected Karen’s
right rear tire. As Robert performed a spectacular wheelstand (hopefully
never to be duplicated again!!), Karen’s car hooked hard right and was
covered by Robert’s car. Tasha’s car had some cosmetic damage and as she
suddenly stopped, collected Rich from behind. After looking at the
videos from several different cars and seeing the whole deal from the
back of the grid, I am amazed that no one was hurt, not even a little
Boo-Boo! Structurally, the cages and the rest of the safety gear worked
with no apparent damage. Needless to say, the race was red flagged and
there was no re-start.
For the afternoon race the grid was again based on the Saturday race
result, but with a standard grid and a standing start. On pole was Dave,
followed by T.C., Rich, Mike, Tasha, Rick, and Ron.
At the green flag, all were off with a clean start. At turn one; T.C.
had the lead with Dave right on his bumper. Rick had a good start and
was right behind Dave at the first turn. As the race progressed, Dave
and T.C. waged their own battle after losing Rick in some CMC traffic.
Not so far back, Rich N. was quietly reeling in Rick. Tasha, Mike and
Ron were also having a good race. In the end, it was Dave taking the
win, with T.C in second, followed by Rick, Rich, Ron, Tasha, and Mike.
All in all, it was a good weekend of racing because as usual everyone
stepped up to help anyone who needed a part or what-ever, but mostly
because no one was hurt by the accident.
Next up: Sears Point!! Everybody- bring your “A Game”!!!
--Rick Anderson
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