Great weekend! Eric, Stephen, Scott, and I had some of our best SE-R races ever, and I had my best finishes ever (both 1st place). After an exhausting 6.5 hour tow, Scott and I finally made it just in time to walk the track before dark. On Saturday, Stephen, as usual :) , was scrambling to get his car patched together. He found someone who could weld everything back together and never missed a session, but was fighting handling problems all weekend.

For Saturday’s race, Scott qualified 1st (#67 white), I was 2nd (#2 white), Eric was 3rd (black), and Stephen was 4th (dark green) in PTE. We were mixed in with Spec Miatas, Honda Challenge, Legend, etc. Eric got a great start and took the PTE lead while I ended up in 4th. After two laps, I eventually was able to pass Stephen but was pretty far behind Eric and Scott who were regularly swapping positions. Fortunately for me, we had a pretty long race where I was able to catch and pass the Miata separating us then eventually catch up to Eric and Scott. We then had an incredible three-way battle for first. At one point, I finally made it into first but was so excited that I forgot to brake for the following turn where I went wide and found myself back in third. The winner of the race was basically determined by when the checkered flag dropped and who was in the lead at the time. On the final turn, Scott was leading, Eric was hugging Scott’s bumper and I was able to grab the inside line next to those guys. We drag raced to the finish line where I won by a few feet. We finished 4-5-6 out of the 42 cars in Stinger. Here’s the video from the race (in three parts). If Eric or Scott disappears from the video at the end, they are generally within a few feet of my car! Also note the dive bombing Super Cup 944 turbo on our last lap. He came over and bitched at Scott after the race for being “inconsiderate”!! BTW, he was the only car in his class.

The race results are here:
http://www.mylaps.com/results/showevent.jsp?id=301707

On Sunday, we qualified in the same order but the SM cars started after us so we were grouped together. Unfortunately, Eric went off twice in his first lap which put him too far back to catch Scott and me. Eric and Stephen were then able to race for awhile before Stephen fell back. I followed Scott closely for the next 8 laps but could not get by. Our tires were getting overheated towards the end of the race. On the turn after the kink, I ended up running out of room to brake and was able to not hit Scott by diving into the inside of the turn. My accidental pass stuck and I was able to lead Scott for the rest of the race since my tires were faring better than his. On the last lap, I was able to catch and get held up by the first place (and pole) GTS2 911! On the final turn before checkered, the Super Cup 944 turbo caught the 911 and me. We all went into the turn together, but I lost the drag race to the finish line to the two Porsches. Still not too bad and good enough for third in Stinger.

Anyway, we all had a great time. Todd, you really missed it!

Here's Saturday's video

Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8iaUPTKb_k

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFh8CS8yBm4

Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d165vnVZOTc

Awesome videos. Awesome time at CMP. CMP gets a bad rap for being hard on equipment but as you can see it provides ample places to pass. It also rewards bravery in certain places. I'd call it a "racer's track".

Congrats to Wade on picking up two first place finishes. I even knocked his front bumper loose but still couldn't win :-).

-s

The 944 guy is a jackass. You should make sure he and everyone else at the track knows that. Completely uncalled for on the last lap when he is not racing with anyone and comes up on an class battle among other cars. Looked like he was trying to win his own HPDE championship....

Great race guys!

944 guy came up to me later in the day.

Him: Were you the lead SER in that pack of three in the last race? If so I didn't appreciate you moving over before the corner.

Me: I didn't appreciate you divebombing three cars in the lead pack of a race.

Him: That doesn't matter. You shouldn't have moved over.

Me: Did you say considerate? Didn't you just divebomb three cars in the middle of a race when you were lapping by yourself? You were the only supercup car out there. You didn't even have a race going.

Him: You should just be more considerate.

Me: Divebomber!

It was great. I got in more good jabs but I can't remember everything. That was the gist of the conversation. The thing is that he's an experienced driver BUT in his mind he didn't do anything stupid and it was all my fault.

BTW, check the tape. I moved over about 2 ft to give eric something to think about before the corner.

Well, we should all bow down to the Porsche drivers.....
I can't really say that as I have had some fun racing with some P-car guys before in a few of my NASA starts, but I also made sure I wasn't F-ing up their race. When a guy is running around by himself "winning" his "lapping day", he needs to pull his head out of his a$$.
I've been that guy during a race, and I made sure my head was not up an orifice when it came to other classes. Hell I nearly pulled over to let an ITC battle go by at M-O last year when the car was running like shit. It was more interesting to just follow them and watch.

Don't get Scott started! He got more interesting comments from the Spec Miata camp prior to our first race. :)

Don't get Scott started! He got more interesting comments from the Spec Miata camp prior to our first race. :)

I love it. I got to tell off two jerkweeds in two days.

sounds like you guys had a great time!!!! i wish i'd have been there, but i'd have been a backmarker, and i couldnt justify the 1200+ mile tow....

i'll be at hyperfest, and i'll try one more time to get the Probenstien handling better!

todd

PS if i had been there, and running well, then that stupid 944 would have really been pissed; you guys know how well i can protect the inside!!! LOL!!!!

wade was unstoppable at cmp w/ the new hankook 214s

however, i have continued to burn money like an arsonist with a can of gasoline and ordered two new tires from Phil's tire service for Hyperfest and installed the new VRS exhaust last night that i ordered two days after i got back from CMP (since i was heating my gas tank a little too much for my liking) so now at least i can sound like Eric and Scott, even if my car looks like a boat in the corners with all the body roll ;-)

so.....bring it on at hyperfest!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ps. still have to get that damn re-welded lateral link off the car