Wade

It must be my turn to post the results since no one else has. We had two side-by-side drags to the finish line on both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was extremely hot and humid with temps in the upper 90s. Both Scott and Stephen were battling overheating problems. Eric took the weekend off so Todd and his Probenstein were looking to be the favorite. We only had 5 cars in PTE. Todd qualified 1st then it was Scott, me, Stephen, and Darren in his Integra. Todd took the lead at the start, but Scott and I were following closely. Todd spent the whole racing driving defensively and blocking us. At about the halfway point, Scott's car started getting too hot so he backed off in hopes of finishing the race (possible head gasket leak). I continued in my futile attempts to pass Todd. We were starting to encounter lots of lapped traffic which made it really interesting. I almost got by Todd between T2 and T3 during traffic, but he was able to dart over at the last second and block me with some minor bumper paint removal. On the last turn of the last lap, Todd was able to slow down and box me in using a slow Miata. Todd eventually relented which led to a drag race to the finish line. I think the Probe was feeling a little tired at the end of the race and I began to slowly come alongside and pass. At the end of the race, we really were unsure of who won. We found out the next morning that the transponders showed that Todd had won, but the transponder line is about 10 feet in front of the finish line. However, all three “tapers” who watch at the finish line had me ahead which gave me the official win. Great race Todd! It does not get much better (or closer) than that. I also set a personal record during the race of 1:30.2 (at the very end!).

On Sunday, the temps were lower due to a huge storm that rolled through just after our race which flooded portions of the track. Scott qualified 1st with a 1:30.0 (his best time ever) followed by me, Todd, and Stephen. At the start, I pushed the pole-sitting H4 CRX out in front of Scott. Unfortunately, this allowed Scott to get in between the CRX and me. Stephen got a good start and was battling with Todd right behind me. I saw them change positions at times. Eventually, Todd was able to stay ahead of Stephen and was closing in on Scott and me. Any sort of mistake, problem with lapped traffic, yellow flag, or EV and Todd was right there behind me again. Unfortunately, I was worried more about Todd on my tail than Scott in front of me. I was shocked to see the last lap flag being waved. I think our race got shortened due to the removal of a deer body which got hit during the previous HPDE session. I made a furious attempt to catch up to Scott who had opened up a good gap on me. I caught up on the last turn before the finish line and got a much better run through that turn. Once again, I was involved in a drag race to the finish line! We were side-by-side at the finish line but Scott was slightly ahead. What a weekend!

Wade