27 replies to this topic

[MPR22]

1. York 1:39.558
2. Berry 1:39.833
3. Clements 1:39.838
4. Drago 1:39.910
5. Haldeman 1:40.027
6. Ross 1:40.071
7. Bickham 1:40.205
8. Wisler 1:40.257
9. Reynolds 1:40.322
10. Mcspadden 1:40.751

[Cnj]

Awesome quali from my buddy York! As best as I could tell from Race Monitor, Craig Berry took the win (third in a row?). Do I have the win right?

My engine started to eat itself from inside yesterday at last practice and that was that. Took it home and punished it. Might have overreacted.



Hope you guy have a great race day tomorrow!

cnj

[MPR22]

Berry by half a track.
Drago
Reynolds
Ross
York

York went too deep into first brake and had to gather it up of line. Berry took the lead, Drago slotted to second followed by Haldeman, Ross... Reynolds and York were in chase mode. Haldeman and Ross started the attack on Drago but he made his car wide and fed the two Phillips Race Prep teammates back to York and Reynolds. The battle for third allowed Drago to pull a comfortable gap and coast. Haldeman lost brakes about 8 laps into the 19 lap race and fell back until he was forced to retire. York, Reynolds and Ross swapped positions for the rest of the race with Reynolds taking the following podium spot by about 1 foot according to spectators.

[James York]

Congrat to Craig for the win. He is on a roll and his car is running well right now.

I outbraked myself going into the infield after I looked in the mirror for a second when I heard screaching tires behind. That put me back to somewhere around 12th by the time I got it going the right way.

When caugtht the above group, like Ross mentioned, it was back and forth lap after lap. Close and exciting racing, but no catching Drago or even getting close to Craig.

Starting grid for tomorrow morning qualifying race is based on fastest race times. I don't have my sheet handy, but If I remember:

Berry
York
Reynold
Drago
Ross? (i think)

[suck fumes]

Since I'm switching cars I'm going to be in attack mode! You guys better watch your mirrors hhhoooaaaahhahahaha!!!

[tLinder]

Awesome quali from my buddy York! As best as I could tell from Race Monitor, Craig Berry took the win (third in a row?). Do I have the win right?

My engine started to eat itself from inside yesterday at last practice and that was that. Took it home and punished it. Might have overreacted.



Hope you guy have a great race day tomorrow!

cnj

That's going to hurt the re-sale value. (Guess I'll keep looking for a possible 99)

[MPR22]

1.Berry by a 1/2 of a track.
2. McSpadden
3. Drago
4. Ross
5. York
6. Reynolds
7. Haldeman

[Cnj]

4 wins in a row for Craig. Quite exceptional! Good showing fro Drago who has never been to the track before.

cnj

ps. Toby - yeah the resale value is a little compromised, but now we get to redo the drive way as well....

[Danny Steyn]

Congrats Craig on the double win. JD, nice to see you back on the podium, know how frustrating its been for you this year so far. James awesome Q1 session.

Gotta love the the SM class - top 10 in qualifying just a touch over 1 second spread.

[MPR22]

A little video of yesterday's race. Ignore the title block. We were at TMS not TWS, I guess midnight after a 5.5 hour drive home is not the time to do your editing.

Also watch for the Mario Kart moment.

[Jim Drago]

Congratulations to Craig. He is really on a tear. He is driving well and the car is spot on and fast.

I had a pretty good weekend, unless you count the damage done to my car by cones and pylons? I hit a pylon intentionally on Sunday mornings qualifying race concerned Chris and I wouldn't make it through ( we would have ) and never thought it would do anything other than a mark that would rub off. Well I hit it just inside right headlight.. it took out my $350 , the cover and put a watermelon size dent in my hood . and not sure how, but shattered the drivers side head light lens. On Sunday's after noon race a cone got shot up in the air and I hit it at 90 or so and it took out my left fender so no contact with cars, but the "drivers safety devices" sure did a number on my car!

I think James York set a new track record if qualifying races count?

As far as my races go, Saturday I still wasn't 100% on the track, but was fortunate to get away from the pack and run most of the race all alone in second as Craig was checked out. The guys behind seemed content to race for third ( Thank you ) and my handling was off, so glad it worked out that way. Matt finished third and i don't think he had a top five car, definitely one of the more talented guys I race with.

On Sunday, the start was again a little crazy, Matt got very side ways in four ( maybe it is three? the right hander). I had to drive around the outside in the grass not to hit him, from there I knew I was racing for second at best. I was shuffled back to 6-7th, managed to come through to third pretty quickly. I couldn't get around Aaron so easily and figured it made more sense pushing him to race for second later instead of falling back and perhaps end up racing for 5th. We worked well together and separated from the pack, but couldn't catch Craig, Craig actually continued increasing the gap. I must admit, I felt I could pass Aaron when I needed to.. The only problem was no one told Aaron I drafted past both Ross and Aaron at one time in the race and both were able to come back and pass me before turn one, pretty convincingly. I was worried that the car was getting soft, it dynoed better than when I left this morning, so best guess is that big hole created by the cone where my headlight used to be really slowed me down. I was at 210 degrees behind Aaron, but I dynoed to 215 this am and HP drop off was negligible.. Maybe something is dragging, a little work to do anyway on sheet metal so we will take a look. And Ross.. It wasn't the special grease alone, it was the special set up and the drafting technique I used ( yes I know there was no one in front of me )

Lastly, thanks for the hospitality, racing with the SW guys is always fun, very deep fields on talent for sure. I guess I am officially a drifter as very few race in Mid div now, so I roam from SE to SW, the two toughest IMO. Thanks to Craig and Jim Berry and Robert Lloyd for all your help this weekend and for your friendships. Craig, two great weekends in a row. Time to put that car on ice until September, this is your year!

Jim

[MPR22]

not sure how, but shattered the drivers side head light lens.

Jim,

I was behind you when that exploded, it was a cone in the infield chicane, it came off you and went into my bumber cover and put a huge dent in it. And no it was not the same one that took out my windshield in the afternoon race. I think the "drivers safety devices" did a majority of the damage to the cars this weekend. If my 350 was on it would have been lost also.

[suck fumes]

Gotta love the sling shot move from behind the solstice. Yee ha!

[Jim Drago]

I wonder who that solstice was racing? It looked like he was racing us both days Never really understood that.

[KentCarter]

One of the many reasons I don't race at TMS is that silly chicane. It has always been dangerous and troublesome.

It looked online like the field was quite small. Is this true?

[MPR22]

Yes, about 18 cars I think.

[mdavis]

Not sure if this will work but here's a view from the back. Did a very wide angle to take a look at how much work I was doing on the wheel. Car wouldn't turn right, and when if finally did, the back end would come out. Retired after I lost third gear. I'm sure zinging it a few times going into the infield didn't help. I'm not above taking drving advice if anyone has something to offer.

[Craig Berry]

Wow....this has been one of those rare seasons. I have been racing something most of my life since I was 9, and I know in the competitive classes, just how hard it is...everything has to be perfect, and then you need a lot of luck. Thank you Jim Drago for a really fast car.... also I feel Jim makes set up changes at the track better than anyone I have ever been around. Thanks to Robert LLoyd for so much work and support....I feel that our tire testing in Nov and Dec is really paying off now.(LOVE HOOSIERS). Thanks to all my family and friends who came our to TMS for the race.
It is really cool to know with confidence that some of the guys we race with are REALLY good race car drivers, and could compete at a high level in any sports car series. There are many to name, but Todd B, Drago, Reynolds, Blake C, Andrew Von C, Sandlin, and several others are incredible drivers. Racing with these guys makes it alot more fun and rewarding.

[Caveman-kwebb99]

Not sure if this will work but here's a view from the back. Did a very wide angle to take a look at how much work I was doing on the wheel. Car wouldn't turn right, and when if finally did, the back end would come out. Retired after I lost third gear. I'm sure zinging it a few times going into the infield didn't help. I'm not above taking drving advice if anyone has something to offer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjBnDtcTBN4&feature=youtu.be

There are two peices of advice I would give you, neither are driving advice but will help your driving. Get any of those guys down there behind the wheel of your car on a test day, with your data system on and have them give you feedback as to what they think of the cars handling, vs. your input. Secondly if you want to cut through a few years of learning, hire a good coach to work with you for 2-3 days, I hired a coach last year and it was unbelievable what I learned in those 3 days. I still have lots to learn, and have used my coach on two seperate occasions since. Todd Lamb is my coach in case, you were curious., and he is for hire, and he is damn good at coaching, as well as driving. No matter what you do I have confidence you will improve, yours in not a case of just not wanting to go fast, I can see you like to get that gas pedal to the floor, if you could learn setup, and cary more speed in the corners you could be very good, stay at it and dont get discouraged!

[James York]

Ross' clip above was typical of the action on both days all race long behind Craig for positions 2-6 or so. Maybe if I figure out editing and posting, I'll shoot up some footage. Some of the most intense racing I've done.

The car was really good this weekend for me, but the circumstances didn't work out as I seemed to get mired in traffic battling not able to break the draft. Congrats to Craig for another smoking race weekend.

The track record was courtesy a nice bump by Ross boosting me to 121 down into NASCAR 1&2 up and inside of Jim, then open infield, and a special push by Drago getting back on the oval around NASCAR 3&4 during the Sunday morning qualify race. I am sure the motor helped some too. Thanks Jim.