Gateway Super Tour

I would have come had they not rescheduled Hallett as a majors for our conference as being from St Louis it would have been a nice trip to see old friends and Sauget is always fun - at least when I lived there.

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I did notice an entry from a past ESR team mate. Great to see him return.

Yep, that’s the car I’m testing at Gateway

I would have come had they not rescheduled Hallett as a majors for our conference as being from St Louis it would have been a nice trip to see old friends and Sauget is always fun - at least when I lived there.

 

Sauget is decidedly less fun these days with no race shop and no other activities that are more fun without social distancing.

The weather forecast is spectacular. The track will start green on Friday but should come up to speed quickly. Track records are definitely going to fall. It’s been well over a decade since the first SM qualifying laps dipped into the 11s and the official record by Rich Wiese at 1:12.0x has been quite a few years. Since then qualifying has been in the low-mid 11s more than once so the record should fall easily, the question is who will be first into the 10s.

Later

Tease   

 

Recent developments regarding the phased re-opening of the state of Illinois require that this weekend be as low-profile as possible.

 

While we will have our radio team on site, there will not be a live stream of audio or video. Along the same lines, we ask that all participants refrain from social media posts during the weekend. We recognize that this is a big ask and only do so to ensure that the event can continue as planned. Once the event is complete, we would expect that the audio and social media recaps can go up.

 

Thank you for your cooperation and support. Let’s have a great, but quiet, event!

 

Thank you on behalf of SCCA, St. Louis and Southern Illinois Regions and Worldwide Technology Raceway.

You are a pain. What was the point of posting that, twice in fact? Well, at least post the follow-up saying that streaming and social media is in fact taking place live.

Qualifying was a mixed bag, some got up to speed and others didn’t. Jim managed to lay down one solid lap and pull in to see if anyone could catch him, nobody did. Jason Knuteson who runs really well here got closest with a gap of 0.4 followed by teammates Greenhill & Burdzy from the Advanced tent. Looks like it might be a bit warm this afternoon for that track record but a 3-car train in the early laps could easily make up the difference.

You are a pain. What was the point of posting that, twice in fact?

 

Well, at least post the follow-up saying that streaming and social media is in fact taking place live.

My CRS isn't to bad because I didn't post the same message twice within the same thread and I don't do name calling.

 

And in the message posted it specifies "there will not be a live stream of audio or video" and there isn't.    There is Live Timing.

 

EDIT: 

Shame on me, they now have live video and maybe when somethings happening on track there'll be audio.  

Wrong again. You did post twice, one was before my “later” post and once after, the first evaporated. And wrong again, they have had live stream audio and video all day. Not my fault you still can’t work a PC or mobile device.

More importantly, some great racing today despite a light turnout. Congratulations to Kyle Greenhill for hunting down Jim Drago, drafting by mid-race then making it stick to the checker. Very nice drive! As expected Jason Knuteson was strong, but faded a bit late to finish 3rd ahead of Voytek who may be having car issues.

Was a fun race, well as fun as second can be.   Kyle seems like a super nice young man and drove really well. I didn't make it easy, applied a lot of pressure and he handled it well. Congratulations to him and the entire Advanced team . Congratulations to Jason on third. Hopefully we can find a little more speed tomorrow

Congrats to Kyle 2 races in a row. Pressure doesn't get any greater than then having Jim biting at your a$$ all day. One thing I'd like to know is, a few laps from the end of race Jim at the start/finish line was inside 3/4 way, explain from there. Good stuff guys.

While over all it was a low key weekend, the weather couldn't have been nicer and the racing was really good.    Saturdays race was a little frustrating as I felt I just couldn't get back to Kyle in the draft and my chances were limited to me forcing him into a mistake which he didn't make.   On Sundays race, I ran less fuel, made a:f adjustment, cross change and tire pressure change as I had not run the new tires yet and we missed a little on Saturday.  After the first 4-5 laps, I could get to Kyles bumper and push in the draft so I was pretty certain Sunday would be a much different race and felt fairly good about my chances.   I decided to stay behind Kyle and get away from Voytek and hopefully pressure Kyle into a mistake while saving tires ( which is HUGE at Gateway) After the tires started to get a little greasy for both of us around lap 12-15 and the car started heat soaking ( we put in a used and inefficient radiator as I didn't have one on hand while building the new car, getting changed this week btw, the old shoemaker story...)  and I believe a little too much timing in the car in hindsight, the car got a little heat soaked. The car went from what was relatively normal closing and draft pass to only a perfect exit and a bit of a dive bomb to make a pass into one.   I put immense pressure on Kyle, he never cracked. That is saying a lot, 31 laps with me on your ass, at one of my best tracks, usually within a car length is typically a stressful and mistake inducing position.  To his credit, he never bobbled.  He reminded me of another young 20 something teammate that won the Indy National championship.  These kids at 21 have so much experience starting at age 5, they don't rattle.  At the end of the race,  I made a move into one and led and Kyle drafted passed on the straight.  I made another move into one a few laps later and we went in side by side into one, if you know Gateway, that usually doesn't end well.  We made it no issues and I held Kyle out at two and led the rest of the lap. I took a very defensive line around the oval and into one trying to hold the lead. Again we went into one, side by side, this time Kyle used knowledge from earlier and went two wide through turn two as well and we went into turn three and he had the preferred line headed into 3-4, so I had to concede the position. I think that was the second to last lap. I tried to get close on last lap, but couldn't get there, tried going under at 7, but just not enough there. 

It was a fun race, as fun as second can be I guess. New car had a few small issues, but overall very successful weekend. I was able to grab the track record and two seconds at a a super tour, not bad record so far 1-2-2 on the car. I'll be happy to get back in the green ESR 2 in a few weeks though, its like a comfortable pair of shoes.  I don't think I had met Kyle before, very nice kid, nice family.  I feel certain you will be hearing his name much more often. I was impressed, he beat me fair and square and raced me very clean.That is what it is all about. 

Jim 

Sounds like a great time! Kyle and his dad Steve are very nice people. Super proud of Kyle this weekend!!

2 wins over Jim is never easy, and something to be proud of.....Congrats!