June Sprints Event Thread

EPrill

EPrill

Well-known member
Got to Road America Wednesday night. Rained like crazy all evening and throughout the night. Dry Thursday morning but looks like it could rain at any point. Prod group tests at 11 and 4 today. Not sure who's entered. I'm just doing prep for tomorrow.

I'm under the Brass Monkey Racing tent next to the Mazda shelter inside 14. Stop by.

GOOD BUY ALERT. I needed oil and went to Napa in Plymouth and all Mobil 1 is $4.99 a quart, regularly $7.99. Bought an extra case...
 
Is there live 'Timing and Scoring' for the Sprints or do we need to rely on the trusty prodracing.com field reporters?
 
Live timing now available.

First practice session OA:

EP, Hickham, 2:33.6
FP, Prill, 2:34.7
FP, Sargis, 2:34.9
EP, Sturm, 2:35.0
FP, Kannard, 2:35.2
FP, Ruck, 2:35.3
EP, Moore, 2:35.8
EP, Gist, 2:37.5
EP, Smyczek, 2:38.0
HP, Albin, 2:44.6
FP, Froh, 2:44.7
GTL, Dentici, 2:44.9
EP, Bunt, 2:45.3
EP, Reina, 2:46.6
GTL, Bovis, 2:48.8
HP, Pitts, 2:49.3
HP, Gauper, 2:49.6
EP, Coffey, 2:52.0
GTL, Stinehelfer, 2:52.1
EP, Homes, 2:52.8
HP, Bueher, 2:53
FP, Lunder, 2:54
HP, Blust, 2:57
FP, Gnadt, 2:58
EP, Willert, 2:59
HP, Eichelberger, 3:02
HP, Trainer, 3:02
EP, Luening, 4:36
FP, Hart, NT (pulled off)

Next session 1:30 local.
 
Impressive to see the top 4 FP cars within 0.6sec of each other in practice.
EPrill":14iv0jxm said:
First practice session OA:

FP, Prill, 2:34.7
FP, Sargis, 2:34.9
EP, Sturm, 2:35.0
FP, Kannard, 2:35.2
FP, Ruck, 2:35.3
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, Superman put on his cape for qual and went out and did a 2:32.7. The others are not too far behind. Wish I was there....

QUAL 1 times
1 EP Jon Brakke 02:30.6
2 FP Steve Sargis 02:32.8
3 FP Ken Kannard 02:33.7
4 EP Steven Hickham 02:34.2
5 FP Kevin Ruck 02:35.0
6 FP Eric Prill 02:35.1
7 EP Gary Gist 02:35.6
8 EP Michael Sturm 02:35.9
9 EP Steve Smyczek 02:36.4
10 EP Sam Moore 02:36.7
11 EP Rob Coffey 02:37.2
12 FP Lee Feineigle 02:38.4
13 EP Jeff Willert 02:41.8
14 GTL Christopher Bovis 02:42.0
15 GTL Bob Clark 02:44.1
16 FP Robert Keller 02:44.2
17 HP Chris Albin 02:44.6
18 EP Don Bunt 02:44.7
19 EP Richard Luening 02:44.8
20+ EP Rich Olsen 02:45.9
21 HP Mike Moser 02:46.3
22 EP Filippo Reina 02:46.8
23 HP Greg Gauper 02:46.9
24 HP Tim Pitts 02:47.1
25 FP Scott Lunder 02:47.6
26 EP Ron Olsen 02:48.9
27 EP Bill Meyer 02:49.2
28 FP Tim Anastopoulos 02:49.5
29 GTL Jim Stinehelfer 02:50.1
30 FP Mike Gnadt 02:50.8
31 EP Tim Homes 02:51.9
32 HP William Trainer 02:52.5
33 HP Todd Bueher 02:53.5
34 HP Bob Eichelberger 02:54.2
35 FP Michael Hart 02:54.4
36 FP Lee Feineigle 02:58.4
37 EP George Olsen 03:38.9
38 GTL Jim Dentici No Time
39 FP Michael Froh No Time
40 FP Roy Carrera No Time
41 HP Jamie Blust No Time


Kudos to Mr. Loshak in his DSR for throwing down a time 2 sec faster than the fastest CSR and 3 sec faster than the next DSR. :applause: Mind boggling in a class that seems like it Spec Stohr. He must have used some of that EP mentality/preparation. Sargis may have to share his Road America Superman honors.
 
My car has been decent, but I suck. Just don't feel comfortable at all yet. This mornings qualifying should be decent, so we'll see what happens.

Watched that DSR/CSR qualifying session and absolutely nothing out there looks or sounds like Loshak's car. It's just insane to watch and listen to.
 
kruck":3soux5e6 said:
My car has been decent, but I suck. Just don't feel comfortable at all yet. This mornings qualifying should be decent, so we'll see what happens.

Watched that DSR/CSR qualifying session and absolutely nothing out there looks or sounds like Loshak's car. It's just insane to watch and listen to.
Click to expand...

It is pretty incredible!

Better session for me. Yesterday was just a bad session for me. Thanks Ken K for the tow today.

Final grid (OA)

EP Brakke, 2:30.5
FP Sargis, 2:32.7
EP Hickham, 2:32.9
EP Sturm, 2:33.0
EP Pritchard, 2:33.3
FP Kannard, 2:33.7
FP Prill, 2:33.8
FP Ruck, 2:34.0
EP Gist, 2:35.6
EP Smyczek 2:36.3
EP Moore, 2:36.6
EP Coffey, 2:37.1
EP Simaras, 2:37.3
EP Hummel, 2:37.6
GTL Dentici, 2:38.3
FP Keller, 2:40.6
EP Willert, 2:41.6
GTL Bovis, 2:42.0
FP Froh, 2:42.2
EP Luening, 2:42.6
EP reina, 2:43.2
HP Albin, 2:43.9
HP Moser, 2:43.9
EP Rich Olsen, 2:43.4
FP Lunder, 2:43.8
EP Bunt, 2:43.8
GTL Clark, 2:44.0
FP Anastopoulos 2:45.2
HP Gauper, 2:45.2
HP Pitts, 2:45.4
FP Gnadt, 2:45.9
EP Ron Olsen, 2:46.7
EP Meyer, 2:47.3
GTL Stinehelfer, 2:48.7
FP Carrera, 2:48.7
EP Homes, 2:49.7
HP Eichelberger, 2:52.1
HP Trainer, 2:52.4
HP Buener, 2:53.1
FP Hart, 2:54.3
FP Feineigle, 2:58.4
EP G Olsen, 3:03.6
HP Blust, No time

Race is at 3pm Central. Follow at http://www.livetiming.net/scca/supertour. For mobile add "/html.asp" to the end.
 
Looks like the first and last laps may have been an exciting ones.

EP Pritchard
EP Hickham
FP Sargis
FP Ruck
FP Prill
EP Gist
EP Hummel
EP Simaras
GTL Dentici
GTL Bovis
FP Keller
HP Moser
EP Bunt
HP Albin
FP Lunder
EP Homes
GTL Clark
EP Luening
HP Pitts
EP Willert
HP Gauper
EP Olsen
FP Froh
EP Meyer
EP Olsen
FP Hart
HP Eichelberger
HP Bueher
EP Olsen
FP Anastopoulos
EP Moore
GTL Stinehelfer
EP Reina
FP Gnadt
FP Feeineigle
FP Carrera
EP Brakke
EP Smyczek
 
Something (??) happened on the lap 5 to bring a full course caution. After the Lap 6 green, Moser passed Albin in HP and Sargis seemed to have lost his big lead.


Later Report: According to Chris Albin, he got a good start while Moser got boxed in. At the lap 6 restart, Albin got boxed in while Moser had the good restart.
 
It looked like Sargis and Albin times were starting to drop off before the full course yellow. Sargis slowly got his times back enough to be competitive. Albin could not seem to get his times back. I would like to have seen the last lap. I thought Sargis would make a run at Ruck but I didn't think he had a chance to catch Kannard. Something must have happened to Kannard.

I wonder what happened to Brakke?
 
Someone summed it up best when he said "at least E and F don't race together at the Runoffs!"

Oh wait, we qualify together each day...

Anyway, here's what I recall

Brakke broke coming out of turn one. Moore, Gist and maybe Simaras got between Ruck and I and the FP leaders (Sargis and Kannard). For the next half dozen laps, Ruck and I are basically stuck in that EP battle and clicking off high 37s and low 38s while Sargis and Kannard run 34s. Feineigle oils down the track on lap ?? and Moore backs into the gravel at 5. I almost join him. We I pass Gist in the carousel just before the double yellow comes out after the kink. We go safety car for a lap and then restart. That's where it gets weird.

The yellow erased the 25-30-second gap between Kannard and Ruck and me. Sargis was having brake issues and felt that going into T1 on the restart in the pack with an issue was not the right thing, so he pulled to the right going up the hill. He pointed Ken by (I didn't know this) and so Kevin followed, accelerating up the hill. I hit the brakes because the double yellow was still out at the bridge and then waited until I saw green, at that point, Gist and Simaras are flying past both of us and Ken and Kevin were checked out.

I got hung up the next lap in 1 by Gist and Steve got the run on me out of 1. Once we got clear of the EP cars, it was head down and chase Ken and Kevin but by then it was really too late, at least for me. Steve proved he don't need no stinkin breaks because he runs those guys down, sets fast lap and gets by Ruck with one to go.

That battle was right on Hickham with one to go and Ken looped it in 8 out of the lead after admitting he forgot to pump the brakes and had pad knock back.

So Sargis won in the most unconventional way. I had given up on catching that group, but when Ken spun on the last lap I did everything I could but came up a half second short.

Maybe next year, a split start???
 
Eric sums it up very well,

From my view above 13, in the first 8 laps while Steve and Ken were pretty much free of traffic, Kevin and Eric struggled behind the EP RX-7's.

After the restart, it was the EP RX-8 that ultimately affected the outcome of the FP race.

But traffic also affected the HP race as well, at least the final podium spot.

All goes to support the notion that Runoffs need to be one week, one class, one race for all!

Bill
 
EPrill":l0cn13vc said:
For the next half dozen laps, Ruck and I are basically stuck in that EP battle...
Click to expand...
While watching the T&S and seeing you and Ruck behind Gist, I felt for you. Gist runs EP out here and typically out drags me at the start of a race. It takes some time getting around him because he makes decent power, but he doesn't carry as much speed through the corners. Normally I don't have the urgency to get around him like you did, but he has gotten between Noel Hayward and me in a few races.

From the T&S it looked like all hell broke loose when you went back to green. It was hard to figure out what happened to Sargis (thanks for the details) and it seemed like Moser and Albin swapped 1&2 in HP and Albin. As Gary mentioned, Albin didn't seem to have the same speed as he did at the beginning of the race.
 
You know, I'm not knocking the EP guys because they had their own race for sure. Problem is that there are only a couple of guys in the country capable of running lap times ahead of a larger group of fast FP guys. It's not their problem that their race is in the middle of mine. It's mine. So to fix my problem I'd like a split start in the future.

I was speaking to the race chair at the party last night and mentioned that I had a frustrating race and he asked what the region could do to help. I told him a split start might be a good idea and he said they were certainly open to it. I know the stewards were for our Mid-Ohio race, so maybe its a good idea for races here in the future as well.

The most frustrating part, and I know Kevin will agree, was the carousel. If we could get in front of some of the EP cars in 8, we could put 8 or so car lengths in the carousel and finally beat them to 12. If you couldn't get by in 8, you would follow them very slowly through the carousel, get out-dragged to the kink, and then have to brake for the kink. I almost got Gist 2 or 3 times on the exit as I was trying to carry as much speed through as possible and he was struggling with grip there. We'd get out and he'd drop the hammer and speed away.

In the end, what hosed my race was my decision to not pass Sargis coming to the restart. I guess I'd like a stewards clarification on that. I'll try to get my video done and posted sometime here and maybe you all can tell me what you'd do. Didn't see a hand up and he wasn't slowing, he just wasn't accelerating like the others. The EP cars got by us again and by the time I was clear I couldn't run down Ken and Kevin, who were running the same lap times as me. Wish I could have been in that group because it could have been a 4-way battle that last lap :D

Hey, I still had a fun weekend and learned a few things about the car to improve before September. So it was definitely worthwhile. I'm going to stick around for a few races today, have another brat (only had 1 so far) and hit the road. I need to re-establish some popularity at home since I've been gone 10 days!
 
I'll try today to find a way to get my video up, as it's pretty much a video version of Eric's recap. I had fun, and it was most certainly one of the more interesting races I've been in, but seriously frustrating. I was just glad that my driving started to not suck quite so bad by the race, and started to actually get into some sort of a groove and have some fun out there.
 
harvey":2a0tcby8 said:
Does anyone not see a problem with EP and FP running the same speeds????
Click to expand...
They don't really. The pole in E was 3 to 5 seconds faster than the cars that were running with the front-running F cars. F just had a stronger field at this race, but what they are struggling with is an age-old problem with slightly underpowered cars running with cars from a different class that run similar lap times. H cars see this at just about every track, but you can't split start every class, so unfortunately they just may have to deal with it and wait for the runoffs like the rest of us.
 
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