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SCCA Houston Region put on the Abominable Races and Time Trials last weekend at MSR Houston. The twister format allowed racers and time trialers alike to go both ways.
Saturdays event was a CW running of the 2.38 mile road course. 15 min practice, 15 min qual with a 25 minute race.
Light rain overnight and in the early morning left the notoriously slippery surface without many takers in the warm up session. A hand full of participants were able to get down to 2:20 on slicks as there was no standing water on the surface but a nice film of slime.
The qual session was much drier and everyone ventured out to test the track. The first turns had a lot of grip and heading into the sweeper the charge was on as it also had plenty of grip until..... the track was wet in the brake zone at diamonds edge and Ross and Haldemen looked like they were doing smokey burnouts in the parking lot as they tried to gather up their wayward cars. Luckily the track had more grip off the primary racing surface but the incident reigned in their exuberance to charge any more corners for a while. Pace slowly increased an about lap 4 the tires were fully warm and the track sufficiently dry to lay down some better times.
C. Haldeman 1:49.657 (99)
N. Reger 1:49.901 (99)
M. Ross 1:49.951 (01)
Jason Glover 1:50.092 (99)
Mike Snow 1:50.499 (99)
and fan favorite
Willie Keeling 1:50.499 (99)
Set up was off a bit as we were being lazy and didn't want to touch the cars this weekend and keep it a minimalist approach. Just visit, have fun and race what you brung.
The race:
The green flag flew and Ross' vvt was able to muscle ahead with no place to go so he pushed Haldeman forward about 2/3 car length ahead of Reger. Reger rim shotted turn 17-16 and was able to get his nose almost even with Haldeman at track out. Ross laid back a little and get a great run out of 16 as he followed Reger and Haldeman. Haldeman kept Reger pinned track left to maintain the inside position going into the launch which forces a single file at the track out. Ross' run on the pair was so good he stuffed it inside both and took the lead into the keyhole and from there tried to keep the pace reasonable by parking the 99s and driving away at each of the slow turns. The only exception was at diamonds edge where Ross continually pushed wide and was having trouble going from 2-3 in the bound up car. This lasted until lap 6 as Ross was starting to press and watch his mirrors and Haldeman was starting to get attacks from Reger. Haldeman took the lead out of the bus stop down to the sweeper and Ross slid back to 2nd. This started the decent of lap times and Haldeman was running clean everywhere but the carousel where his car was loose on entry and never really had much grip. The gap he would pull on Ross and Reger would disappear every lap through the carousel. This continued on to lap 10 when Reger, who was patiently looking for his opportunity around Ross took it by pulling out in the brake zone into turn 17. Ross caught totally off guard by well timed attack was unable to defend, much to the dismay of his father and adoring fans, ok just his father and maybe Haldeman. Reger had waited 10 of the 14 laps to attack and now was in pursuit of Haldeman. Reger set fast lap of 1:49.061 on lap 12 which broke off Ross who could only manage a 1:49.647 also for his best lap of the race, the race for the win was down to 2 competitors with 2 laps to go. Reger could get to Haldeman's bumper but never really get enough ground to attack until the last lap at diamonds edge. The two competitors went as deep as the could into the brake zone with Reger on the outside, the grip was lost and Reger went off deep into the turn but was able to get the car turned in a haze of white smoke as Ross tried to catch him. Haldeman coasted to the win with Reger 1.133 seconds behind. Ross came across third with a gap of over 20 seconds to P4.
Entertaining race with some good passes and very clean racing. Tech was socks, factory service manual and an explanation to the stewards of the exotic ignition system on Ross' vvt.
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