To end the season the Southwest Division raced in hundred degree heat for two days. As hot as it was the track seemed to have good grip through out the qualifying sessions and both races. Tire selection was key and all of the top contenders were mixing and matching as well as they could to come up with the right combination. There was also a rash of electrical gremlins and fuel pump issues that struck some of the top racers.
Saturday's Qual: Reynolds, Rushing, Haldeman, Steyn, Bickham
Satuday's Race: Rushing, Reynolds, Steyn, Bickham, York
Sunday's Qual: Rushing, Steyn, Haldeman, Bickham, McSpadden
Sunday's Race: Rushing, Haldeman, McSpadden, Reynolds, Steyn
I tried to prove my 1.6 was up to the task of taking on some of the best in the country, including a special guest appearance from the Southeast Division leader, Danny Steyn. Alas it was not to be, my 1.6 was down on power, not sure what went wrong but tear down will commence immediately. However, a top 1.6 did win both days.
Saturday's race was a clean battle all around and everyone left the track smiling with the exception of McSpadden who was chasing the dreaded electrical gremlin until he retired at lap 11.
Sunday's qualifying had the top 6 within a few tenths of each other and a 1:49.9 for pole. 1:49s are not unusual in the winter and spring but in 90+ degree heat it is pretty spectacular, Steyn and Haldeman were right there with 1:50.0s.
The race was shaping up to be a battle royal, within the first two laps, Rushing and Haldeman started to walk away, Steyn's tires weren't up to the task and others seemed to be working each other over pretty hard until:
The big one
![:o](https://mazdaracers.com/public/style_emoticons/default/ohmy.png)
Sad ending to a fun season. Bickham and York are both fine and York's car looks ok considering the impact.
The weekend had several ominous events and seemed destined to end badly. Sat qual group 1, a Caterham sheared a spindle on the front straight sending his wheel on a run down the hot pits. The sound of it hitting the wall about 5 feet from me was a bit unnerving. Luckily the only thing that was hurt were two fire extinguishers that fell like bowling pins at the far end of the pit lane.
Sundays saw two formula V's hooked up in group 2, right before our turn. The remains of one looked grim. As we were completing our out lap the Life Flight helicopter was touching down. I know our thoughts and prayers are with the driver and family, hope he is back soon.
A big thank you to my father for hanging out with me and having a little fun racing this season.
Also a thank you to Danny Steyn for showing me the ins and outs of using that nifty Traqmate data. I look forward to using that expensive lap timer for some real analysis.
Thank you to JP3 and the rest of the Phillips Race Prep crew for keeping me on the track and fixing that pesky toe problem.