Round 6 & 7 - 2010 NW 944 Cup Season

July 9 - 11 , 2010 

Spokane County Raceway

Double Race Format:

• Friday - ITS practice & qual 1a
• Saturday - ITS qual 1b & race 1
• Sunday - ITS qual 2 & race 2 

 7/9/2010 4:16:20 PM
 Well here it is.  Friday afternoon. Mike and I have been out for practice earlier this morning and out again after lunch for qualifying.  Mike is off returning his rental car and picking up his tow rig from the transmission rebuild shop.  Things are starting to feel like we're on the upswing finally.  What about the other drivers? There are none.  It's just Mike and I. After having 11 and 12 cars for the last two races it feels weird to only have two 944s for this race. Tim and Mike tried to get here but their motor home just couldn't pull their car trailer up Snoqualmie Pass.  Mike came over on Tuesday night because he had work to do in Spokane but almost didn't make it because his Excursion transmission smoked the whole way here.  I came over on Thursday.  I made it over OK. I got set up and then Mike and I went back over to the Northern Quest Casino to get his trailer.  That's where he left it before taking the truck in for repair.  I didn't rag on Mike after Rose Cup for leaving his race car key at home but he's getting it now...  We go to register / tech and Mike can't find his log book. Thinks he might have left it in the Excursion.  He'll get it first thing in the morning.  We're hungry so we decide to go eat and then come back and finish setting up.  Before we leave Mike locks his one and only trailer key inside the trailer!  We're off to Walmart to also find a bolt cutter... We found one but it was apparently only for size 4 fasteners and below.  Lucky for us Dane had a man size bolt cutter that did the trick.  

Mike showed up Friday morning fresh from the transmission shop but without his log book.  We looked up the stewards and Mike begged his way into getting a new Conference log book (+$20) and was good to go.  Actually everyone one here has been very nice and particularly helpfull even if they are dissapointed that more 944s didn't make it.  This was supposed to be a Pro3 vs 944 Cup practice before our next race at PR which will include a German Car Challenge race between the E30 BMW Pro3 cars and the Porsche 944 Cup cars.  Mike and I are doing are best to represent though...  The Friday night special race for 944s only was canceled since there's only two cars here.  They turned it into a ground pounder race and offered Mike and I the chance to get out there and  mix it up with them.  We opted to get our $125 back instead.  More ragging on Mike to follow...

Our 20 minute Practice session at 9:54AM went OK.  It was getting pretty warm out.  Expected high temps for the day were forecasted to be in the 90's.  I followed some other cars in the beginning to help learn the track.  I had watched some in-car video from other drivers but it's not the same until you get out there and drive it yourself.  I saw my laps times improve every lap but was suprised to see Mike catching up to me toward the end of the session.  His car is fast on the straightaway.  Mike tried to hang with me through turn 1 at 130+ MPH but he lost control over the bump that's there and spun. I saw all that in my rear view mirror and thought Mike might actually spin into the back of me.  I tried my best to carry some speed into T2.  Luckily Mike missed me but he ended up stuck in the gravel trap.  Checkered flag came out that next lap anyway.  Looking at the lap times I was shocked to see how much slower we were than the Pro3 cars.  Almost 10 seconds.  Heck Mike was almost 2 seconds faster than me?  He's learning quickly or I just wimped out.

At the last race, Mike's rear view mirror mount came off the windshield.  Mike planned to just glue it back on but where's the mirror?  Not in the car.  Not in the trailer...  Over to see Andy and a few $ later Mike's installing a new wide angle rear view mirror with brackets right to the roll bar.  It's going to need some work but he's got basic rear view visibility now.

We had a 20 minute qualifying session after lunch at 2:31PM.  I let Mike go out first this time (so I could draft him on the straightaway). We had to step it up after that dismal practice session but now it was HOT!  Really HOT!  So hot in fact that after just a few laps my oil temp was 260F and the water temp gauge was going past the 3/4 mark.  Greg said that's not good so I had to back off and let things cool a bit.  It also meant that I couldn't stay in the draft behind Mike.  I needed clear straightaway for cooling the engine.  We really didn't get may chances at a clean lap.  There were cars stopped on track and then the wrecker came out to get them.  We picked it back up toward the end and I managed a 1:52.9 about 7/10s faster than practice times.  Mike was slower this time at 1:53.4.  Most of the Pro3 cars are faster in the 1:48's but there are some that are slower than us too. We have another qualifying session on Saturday AM and a 30 minute race Saturday afternoon.  Same schedule on Sunday.  Time to rotate some tires around and also fuel up.  5:05PM and it's still HOT!

Saturday - Morning Qualifying for Race 1
15 minute Qual 2 session.  In Conference you get two qual sessions and get to keep the best time from both to determine your race starting position.  We go out but don't even make a single lap before a Dodge Neon craps out.  He's trying to make it to turn 4, track exit but can't get there.  Out comes the wrecker truck.  Yellow flag is out.  White flag is out.  People are passing like nothing's wrong so then we see the black flag all.  Crap!  We go out again after a 5 minute stop & go basically but now there's lots of traffic. I end up getting hung up behind a slower Pro3 car but he gaps me on the straight.  I can't get around him.  I back off to get a gap but now Mike has caught back up.  Great!  Now I'm towing Mike around.  I let Mike by thinking I'll draft him and see about a faster lap but the checkers come out and we're done.  Mike and I both go faster than yesterday's first qual session but this time it's Mike who's faster by just 13/100th of a second.  1:52.348 and 1:52.361.  We're starting 16th and 17th on the grid.  About mid pack since there are 32 cars in the race group.

Afternoon Race
We end up sitting on pregrid for an extra 10 minutes.  It's overcast but still hot.  Better than no clouds I guess.  I get the jump on Mike at the start and decide to line up behind a Pro3 car going into T1.  There was a Miata on the outside. I figured the Pro3 car would be faster.  We get to the braking zone for T1 which we didn't even need to brake for on the first lap and the Pro3 driver throws out the anchor.  There goes the Miata and Mike around the outside and down into T2.  Mike's back in the lead position for ITS.  We work our way along, traffic still a mix of miatas and BMW Pro3 cars but Mike keeps the lead as we head down the front straight to start lap 2.  I don't know it yet but my camera battery just died.  As we approach T1 Mike is on the inside.  There's miata on the outside.  Mike pulls along side and could have passed but Mike's not sure what the guy is going to do at T1 so he checks up just a bit.  When they turn in for T1 the miata, instead of holding his line turns in toward the apex.  Mike is there and they touch.  Mike leave a big black donut on the guy's passenger side door and gets one of his own from the miata's right rear tire.  We're doing something like 120 mph there.  Mike does his best to keep control but ends up getting turned in off the track on the inside where there's a dirt burm.  It grabs the front end of the car and spins Mike around.  As he comes back around you can seem me going by in his in-car video.  As I swing around turn 2 I tried to look in the mirror and see what happened.  Nothing but dust!  Mike has no radio yet so we can't communicate that way either.  If he hadn't rolled he's probably stuck in the gravel trap just like Friday's practice session.  I figure there will be a yellow flag next time by.  I continue on trying to hold my position.  Next time past start finish I see the crash trucks still sitting there and no yellow flag.   Hmmm.  Approach T1.  No flags and no Mike.  He must have got going again?  Mike and I both finish the race but Mike comes off the track still steaming about the lap 2 contact.  We asses his front end damage and look at the video.  They don't do impound in Conference so we wait around bit to see if a steward comes buy to get our story.  Nothing...  Mike is really getting hot now so he goes over to confront the miata driver.  That guy thinks he left Mike plenty of room.  Mike and I hunt down the stewards and ask about how this is supposed to go.  Turns out they didn't get a incident report from the corner workers so they didn't know there had been contact.  After they say Mike's video they were pretty convinced.  They talked to the other driver to get his story but they ended up docking him a lap and fining him $50 for avoidable contact.

We got started of fixing Mike's car.  Used a ratchet strap to pull the front bumper valence back into position.  Looked like an easy fix.  We left the remainder of the job until after dinner.  They were having beer, pizza, and a live band there at the track so we jumped all over that.  When we came back to finish the car repair we found water on ground!  Turns out that the lower radiator support had sheared off the radiator drain plug.  The threaded part was still in there and lucky for Mike it didn't leak during the race because his water temp gauge doesn't work.  He could have blown the motor and never seen it coming...  Lucky for Mike I had a spare radiator drain plug in my track box.  Don't ask me how that got in there.  It was a lucky find.  Got the broken piece out and the new plug in and Mike was ready to go.

Sunday - Morning Qualifying for Race 2
No clouds today.  Going to be hot again.  I picked up some water wetter from Andy Collins.  That stuff is supposed to make your cooling system run more efficient.  I also plan to run with the heater to add additional engine cooling.  It won't be so cool for me though.

We head out for our qual session.  2 laps in and black flag again.  Car off in turn 2.  We sit in pregrid with the heater on for a few minutes while they clear that car from the track.  I'm hot...  We're back out.  I draft a neon down the front straight and chase a miata the rest of the way for a good qual time, 1:50.4.  That turns out to be my fastest lap of the weekend.  Very next lap a car gets in the dirt at the apex of the last turn, T10.  Now there's dirt and rocks on the racing line.  I stay out but can never get a faster lap.  I'm 9th overall, Mike is back a couple in 16th.  Good! I'll need some cushion at the start or else Mike will drive right around me like he did in the first race.

We're ready to race 2nd session right after lunch.  Still no clounds and much hotter.  Mike tries to sneak my spot in pre-grid but I get him booted back to his 16th place starting position.  Nice try Mike!

We got waved off on the first attempt at a green flag.  Not sure why?  Mike's not trying his Rose Cup starting technique was he?  Green flag next time around.   I get a good enough start and keep a gap of a few cars back to Mike as we enter turn 1.  I had out qualified a few Pro3 cars but they just drove around me on the start.   That's HP for ya.

I raced hard for a few laps keeping the Pro3 cars in sight but water temps starting climbing above half way on the gauge.  It's going to be a long 30 minute race so I back off a bit watching for Mike in the rear view mirror.

About 5 minutes to the end of the race I see a yellow at T1.  As I brake for T2 I see Mike and a Nissan 240SX off in the grass.  Neither one is moving.  There must have been some kind of contact.  I can't contact Mike on the radio to find out what happened so I keep going.  That's probably going to result in an early checkered flag if they can't get going again on their own.  Sure enough.  Next time by the checkers are out and Mike and the Nissan are still off at T2.  Catch up with Mike in the pits afterwards.  He got loose in T2 with the Nissas right behind him.  I guess the guy couldn't avoid T-boning Mike in the drivers side door.  Too bad because it did even more damage to the other guy's car.  He couldn't even drive it back to the pits.  944s are tough.  OK so I finished first in ITS again only this time Mike lost those valuable 2nd place points by getting classified as DNF.

Mike and I got packed up and headed for home.  We wanted to make the long hill at Vantage before it got dark.  That was going to be the real test of Mike's transmission rebuild.  Well we both made it up the hill just fine and no problems with Snoqualmie pass either.


It was a long haul over to Spokane and back but I'm glad I went.  The racing was good and Conference guys were really great.  They put up with a couple of unorganized SCCA racers and went out of their way to make sure we had a good time.  Too bad Mike ended up with some car damage. He's only got too weeks to get it ready for our next race.  It's at Pacific Raceways with this same bunch of guys.  Hopefully we'll get more 944s out for this one.  The special race on Saturday is the German Car Challenge.  They expect ~50 cars in this race.  The BMW Pro3 cars and the 944s are going to get a split start.  Should be exciting.

Round 4 & 5 - 2010 NW 944 Cup Season

June 11 - 13, 2010 

Portland International Raceway

 Rose Cup Double Regional Format:

• Friday - ITS practice & qual 1
• Saturday - ITS race 1 & qual 2
• Sunday - ITS race 2

Rose Cup is probably our biggest race weekend of the year.  It takes 3 days in order to get it all in.  Most of us entered the ITS class only.  PCA4 was back-to-back on the schedule so we chose to skip the double entry.  We had the same 11 cars from the last race at Pacific Raceways plus Steve Haywood in the Fordahl Motorsports rental car (#29) making the 944 car count of 12 the biggest ever.  Tim from Boseman, MT even made it back over for the weekend.  Good thing the weather was nice this time or we might never see Tim again.  Lyall, Scott and I did our traditional Seattle to Portland caravan meeting up at I5 and Hwy 18.  Debbie, Ja, and Torq were also along for the ride south.  After we arrived in Portland on Thursday afternoon, we headed for the south paddock.  At Rose Cup all the Porsches are parked there.  Now that we've got 11 or 12 cars it's a bit more of an ordeal to plan the parking arrangements.

Tim and Mike were already there but they parked on the inside paddock and had saved us a big space.  Since we were only running ITS we decided to move to the infield paddock area.  After what seemed like forever trying to figure out a parking layout, we unloaded, registered, and headed off to dinner.  Everyone else arrived later that night or early the next morning.




Friday

First up on the schedule was a 20 minute practice session combined with race group 1 which is spec Miata.  Great!  After being eaten alive by the Miatas in the rain at the last race I was eager to get back out there and let them know who was faster in the dry.  I had an old set of Hoosier race tires from last year that I wanted to use up so those went on the car. Practice went pretty well.  Greg was fastest of course but Matt, Wade, and I were all within 3/10ths of  a second.  And no Miatas were faster...  I took my old tires and a brand new set that I brought down over to the Hoosier tire guys.  I had them mount up the new set just for qualifying later in the afternoon.


Group 7 (ITS) qualifying as at 2:20PM.  By now the sun was out and it was much hotter.  I got out on track behind Greg, Lyall, and Scott.  Got in a couple of warm up laps to get the tires hot (and the stickers off) and then got down to business.  I had gotten around Scott and chased after Lyall.  On lap 4 I saw a 1:30.04 on the lap timer.  I kept after Lyall and eventually passed him but didn't go any faster.   Toward the end of the session, I saw Greg up ahead waiting for me.  We went around a couple times, drafting on the straights trying to go faster.  I saw a couple of low 1:31s on the lap timer but just couldn't match the time from back on lap 4.  We caught traffic and by then the session was over.  I managed to qualify 2nd with Matt, Lyall, and Wade right behind me.


Saturday

The ITS race started at 10:05AM, our first time on track for the day.  I had taken off the fresh set of Hoosers and mounted up my used set for the race.  They hadn't been used since the dry qualifying effort back on the Memorial Day race weekend at Pacific Raceways.  Sure would have been nice to get a morning warm up session for tire scrubbing like the F1 guys do.  As we came around on the pace lap  I reminded myself that I don't do well on race starts so pay attention and try not to mess up a good qualifying effort.  As we roll up the front straight, I'm in 2nd gear.  I anticipate the green flag pretty well.  Grab 3rd quickly and try to keep my position.  Matt and I were the 3rd row, with Matt on the outside.  We had talked before the race about the start and how were were going to get through turn 1.  Next thing I know.  Mike Adams come flying by on my right.  I mean like 30 MPH faster on my right.  What the hell?  Mike must have got the green flag back at T12.  I see Wade inching up on my left side.  This wasn't the plan.  As we enter T1 Wade comes slashing through on the outside.  

Mike is slow to get out of T2.  Wade moves ahead and then Lyall goes by as well.  I get by Mike going into T3 but it's Matt way out in front, Greg, Wade, Lyall, and me.  I'm just pissed.  2nd to 5th by T3.  No body else is getting by damn it.  I knew Scott must be back there somewhere but I'm focused on what's ahead.  Turns out Scott is on my left rear quarter as we exit T3.  We touch.  My left rear to his right front.  Sorry Scott!  On through T4 & 5.  We get bogged down in T6 and I chopped Scott again!  Scott has owed me a few chopper moves so maybe we're even now.  I'm just still pissed at my poor race starting ability and set off after Lyall and Wade.  As we come through turns 10 and 11 on the 2nd lap there's Matt over having a chat with the T12 corner workers?  He got loose in T12 and barely missed hitting the outside wall by the turn 12 flag stand.  Greg, Wade, Lyall, and I all go zooming by onto the front straight.  Matt goes 1st to 5th.  Doh!  Next lap around I get by Lyall into T1.  Up to 3rd.  Somewhere in here Scott comes on the radio highly animated.  Seems as though Kristine has tried to pass him along the back straight in her MX5 Miata but chopped back across Scott's left front corner as she tried to make the fast left hand turn 10.  This sent Scott spinning across the track and other cars behind ducking for cover.  Ask Mike Adams how it went...  On lap 6 I made the pass on Wade going into T1.  Up to 2nd now but Matt is catching up.  I see him back there hassling Wade.  We go a few more laps until we catch up to Scott.  Greg had already put Scott a lap down so he really wasn't in the mood to be letting me by.  Matt goes wide in T6 and he's off.  he he he...  I'm sure Scott was trying to make time and not get in our way but heading down the back straight on lap 9 we're 3 wide.  Wade makes a ballsy move on the inside of T10 to pass both Scott and me.  He had to go offline to do it so he lost some momentum going into T11 and T12.  That's all I needed.  I got the draft on Wade coming out of T12 and made the pass back into 2nd place as we braked for T1.  On lap 11 I see the yellow flag at T4.  It's Matt off again, this time at T5.  Soon the double yellow flags are shown.  Matt's stuck in the mud and can't get out.  They are sending the wrecker out to get him.  There's less than 5 minutes left in the race.  Probably not going to have time for a restart.  Sure enough.  We get the checkered flag on lap 14.  Saved by the yellow as I'm sure Wade would have been gunning for me on a restart.  Greg first.  Mark and Wade fill the podium.

Late in the afternoon on Saturday we went out for another qualifying session.  This would set the starting positions for Sunday's race.  I planned to get out, do my thing early and put in a good clean lap with no traffic.  Well I got the first part right.  I was the first 944, 3rd car in grid but as we came around T5 there was oil dry down on the track.  It got heavier as we went around turns 6 and 7.  Sheez!  You could hardly see where you were going there was so much dust in the air and I only had two cars in front of me.  So much for my plan.  Finally after 3 or 4 laps the oil dry had mostly blown off and we could run some hard laps.  I had a pretty good run going when I came up on the Mustang heading into T10.  It looked like he was slowing to go back into the pits.  He could see me coming so I don't know why he didn't speed it up a little.  Totally jacked me in T12 and messed up any chance whatsoever that I might have had a good lap.  Tires were getting too hot by now but I had to get a faster lap.  By lap 8 I saw a 1:32.0.  Nearly a full second slower than the first qualifying session but it ended up being good enough for 3rd this time behind Greg and Matt.  Wade, Lyall, Scott, and Mike were all right behind me so it was going to be another "go for it" start I'm sure.

Sunday

The schedule for Sunday was pretty light.  Race at 10:00AM and we're done.  Of course there's that missing morning warm-up session but hey lets just get out there on cold tires, cold brakes, and a cold brain and see what happens...  I'm starting on the outside next to Matt this time.  Maybe I can rocket into the lead like Matt did in the first race.  Not!  Green flag drops and Wade and Lyall drive right around me just like before.  Mike had a respectable start this time and managed to stay back where he belonged.  I was somehow able to stay ahead of Scott this time too.  A slight improvement over previous starts.  Like the first race I figured I'd just have to chase down Lyall and then Wade to get my spot back.  I made a mistake on lap 3 and ran wide at the  exit of T2.  Almost went 4 wheels off and barely avoided  hitting the tire barrier.  Not only did Lyall gap me but another car got by as well.  It took me till about lap 10 to catch back up to Lyall.  We caught traffic. I'm getting closer.  We come through turn 10 and there's Matt off in the grass at turn 11.  OK up to 4th now.  Thanks Matt.  Not much time left in the race.  I need to get by Lyall soon or I won't have enough time for a shot at Wade.  Lyall is making good consistent corner exits out of turn 12 every time.  It's hard for me to get a run on him.  Lap 12.  Lyall's tires must be getting hot.  I'm all over him now trying to pressure him into a mistake.  We come around turn 12 and onto the front straight to start lap 12.  I'm closer than I've ever been but not really close enough to pull off a pass.  We get to the brake zone for T1.  I normally brake at the 300ft mark.  Not sure what I was thinking but I pull out of the draft at the 30o ft marker, go around like and then brake.  Well Lyall's draft probably has me going an extra 5 or 10 miles and hour plus the fact that I'm braking really late now and not on the optimal line.  The front brake locks and I totally miss any chance at slowing down enough to make the corner.  I trail braked into the corner lost the back end and wound up spinning and bouncing up over curb.  Lucky for me, when the car stopped spinning I was on track and pointed in the right direction.  Grabbed 1st gear and took off after Lyall once again.  I was catching Lyall but there wasn't going to be enough time left to catch up and make another pass attempt.  As we came around to start lap 17 I was behind two Miatas.  I passed one as we approached the start finish line.  All of a sudden the checkerd flag starts waving?  I don't recall seeing the "1 to go" sign the previous lap.  I was confused about what to do.  I ended up slowing down (so did the Miata).  Turns out that the checkered flag was for the Viper coming up behind me.  They had his number on the board but it all happened pretty fast.  I should have kept going.  Had Lyall made a mistake I might have had a chance to get by on the official last lap.  I was worried that I might loose my 4th place position for not completing the last lap but it worked out OK.  I was shown a lap down but still in 4th place.  Whew!  In the end it was Greg, Wade, Lyall, me, Scott, and Matt rounding out the top six.

Race over at 10:30AM.  We had the rest of the day to dink around and get loaded up.  We watched some of the Porsche Cup Races and stayed just long enough to catch most of the Rose Cup Race at 3:00 in the afternoon.  Scott, Lyall, and I (with Debbie, Ja, and Torq) headed out for an early dinner at the Country Cousin in Centralia.


Next race is in Spokane with Conference on July 8-10.  Lots of planning to do for this one...

Round 2 & 3 - 2010 NW 944 Cup Season

May 29 - 31, 2010

Pacific Raceways

Nationals Event with restricted Regional Format:

• Saturday - ITS practice
• Sunday - ITS qualifying & race 1
• Monday - ITS qualifying & race 2

Round 2 & 3 of the 2010 NW 944 Cup season takes us to our home track, Pacific Raceways just outside Kent, WA. This race will set a new record for 944 Cup entrants as we had 11 cars entered for the weekend. Eric is on vacation in Europe but we had three newcomers. Mike C. with his restored and historic Rothmans Porsche Challenge car, Wade G in a Fordahl Motorsports rental, and Tim F. all who drove all the way from Bozeman MT. Both Mike and Wade have prior race experience, just not in 944s and Tim is racing on his SCCA Novice license.

Thanks to Jen and Amy from box.net we now have some box decals to show off on the cars. Box is where you can find all of our crazy video downloads for the season. There's a link to the video archive over on the right hand side of the blog.

Well here it is. Monday morning. Steady rain. Looks like today is going to be wet the whole day. Weather radar is solid green over western Washington. Qualifying session for race 2 is not until 11:05 and I'm sure it's not going to get any better. The Hoosier wet rain tires that I put on the car for Sunday's afternoon race can just stay on the car for today.

The weekend forecast was never that good to begin with. Lyall, Scott and I got down here to the track on Thursday afternoon to get setup. It was pouring rain then. We dropped the trailers and left. Saturday was going to be a slow day.

Saturday Practice

Our only session was a 15 minute practice right after lunch. It had rained in the morning and was not really drying that much. Most of us went out on our intermediate rain tire, the trusty Toyo RA1. The new paving at turn 1 & 2 was really nice but turn 5 was really slippery. My lap timer wasn't working and I don't even remember looking after the session was over to see was our laps times were. The spec Miatas were a menace. Not usually a problem in the dry, they are as fast or faster in the rain. I could be a long weekend if the rain keeps up. We called it an early day and headed home to take care of weekend chores.

Sunday Qualifying

Sunday was supposed to be the best day of the weekend for weather. It started out sunny but soon changed to overcast skies. A dry qualifying session right before lunch looked to be in jeopardy. I had changed to my Hoosier race tires but kept the RA1s close by just in case a last minute tire change was in order. Lucky for us it stayed dry and we got after it just before lunch. I hadn't driven this track since last year and that 15 minute practice the day before really wasn't enough to help me remember how to get around here. I ended up a disappointing 6th. I was a half second slower than Scott and Lyall. I should have been right there with them. Greg remembered the track and the new pavement at T2 helped him set a new qualifying track record as well.

Sunday Race

Our race wasn't until later in the afternoon and sure enough it was raining. The Hoosier wet rain tires went on the car. I've had these tires kicking around for several years. I recently bought a set of wheels to mount them on and hadn't even put them the car before to see how'd they'd work yet here I was starting a race in the rain using them. There's a green flag out there somewhere! Go Go Go. Switch the wipers to high speed. Sheez I can't see much up ahead. I hope nobody is stopped on track in turn 2. The field strings out a bit and visibility improves. I see Scott up ahead. He's little wide entering T2 so I try and sneak underneath. Nope! There goes that patented "chopper Scott" move. Wade struggled mightily on his old Yokohama rain tires. Scott made a ballsy pass on Wade at T6. Nobody passes there, especially in the wet. I got around at T8. Up one position. As the race unfolded, my fears about the Miatas came true. I had 3 of them attacking me from behind. Trying to keep them back allowed Scott, Lyall, Matt & Greg to widen the gap. I never saw them again until we pulled into impound after the race was over. Two of the 3 Miatas got by when I slid the car in T8 about mid race. I kept the 3rd one behind me until with about 3 laps to go a BMW lost control at the kink, spun backwards and slammed the inner wall along the front straight then shot back across the track and nosed into the outer wall. Full course caution and the race ended soon after. They took the 17 year old kid to the hospital. His car was destroyed but he escaped with only bumps and bruises. Lucky because that was a hard hit. Watch Mike A's in-car video in our box video library because he was right there when it happened. Greg wins. Lyall & Scott fill the podium positions. Lyall gets fast race lap.

Race 1 Start - Mark's view.

Monday Qualifying

Gee guess what the weather was... Guess what the results were... 6th again for me only this time I was quite a ways back from surprise top qualifier Scott. I'm thinking that the brand new Hoosier Wet race tires that Scott and Lyall have might be a bit better than my 6 or 7 year old versions. Then again maybe my skirt just got caught up in my shifter and I have no excuse... My best lap was the first lap so that's kind of strange. Wade found some Hoosier Wets and ditched those old Yokohama tires which put him 3rd on the grid.

Monday Race

Same kind of start this time. Can't see a thing but since we qualified in the wet the Miatas were further up the grid, most of them anyway. I still had one in front of me and one behind me. Directly in front of me was a Porsche 911 RSA. He's got almost 200 HP more than me but he's on slick rain tires. When the green flag drops he throws out the anchor. Miata goes around me on the right. Mike A. goes around on the left. Damn it. Why didn't that guy just start at the back if he was so afraid of racing in the rain? I get around him going into T2 and then get past Mike on the way down to 3A. Yellow flag! There's Scott all sideways on the short shoot between 3A and 3B. Cars are dodging him both left and right. I see Greg and Wade going left but that looks all jambed up. I go right. I've seen this situation before. Just like a pile up when we go Karting. Practice paid off there. I'm easily past Scott and looking good. Next thing I know Greg is getting by inside at 3B. Then a nudge from behind. It's Wade. How'd they get there? That little bump pushes me wide and Wade gets by and I mean just by. We were really close in 3B. Well at least I got by Scott. Up 1 position. It's Lyall, Matt, Greg, Wade, then me.

Coming around to start lap 2 there's a T1 Corvette up ahead. This guys was in my way during qualifying on Sunday and here he is again in the race. We're doing 110+ MPH in the pouring rain as we approach T1, a fast right hand sweeper. What do I see? Brake lights on the Corvette. Are you kidding me? Nobody brakes for T1 especially in the rain. I go left and pass him into 2A. He passes me back on the way down to 3A. Now the Miatas are back. 3 of them on my tail. The Corvette is still ahead but slow into 5A. A Miata goes by me at 5B. Up the hill we go. The Corvette guy is cautious at T7 but I can't get by. Greg and Wade passed him at T7 on the first lap but I can't pull it off. He's slow again at T8 and two more Miatas slip past me there. This race just isn't going to be much fun. We get down to T1 again and there go the Corvette brake lights again. This time it's 3 Miatas and me all trying not to hit this guy. More coasting now just trying to stay out of trouble. T1 again. Another Corvette - Miata jamb up. My goal is to get to Rose Cup down in Portland in less than 2 weeks now. But where's Scott? He must be back there somewhere.

A couple laps later we hear Lyall on the radio. He's spun going down the hill into 3A. While facing backwards, a Miata plows into his right front wheel breaking the lower strut mount and smashing the fender. Game over for Lyall. Lyall watches the rest of the race from the end of the escape road that leads you back on the the track at T4. Too bad the Miata wasn't able to just head down that way in the first place.

The Miatas finally get around the Corvette. The track is drying, lap times are improving but I can't seem to do the same. Dang! Scott's back there and he's coming up fast. Scott is driving in red mist mode I'm sure. Scott tossed his P1 qual result back on that first lap spin between 3A and 3B so I can only imagine his frustration at this point. I realize I'm not going to hold him off so I let him by in T8. I'm getting really bored with this race now. We're finally on the last lap. Headed down the hill into 3A I see a Miata, Mike O. and Jeff up ahead. By the exit of T6 I'm catching the Miata. Get by her at T7. Get by Jeff in T8. It's going to be a drag race to catch Mike by the checkered flag. I got a good run through T9 and I'm gaining. I tell myself "this isn't for position. I'm coming up to lap Mike so don't do something stupid right at the very end of the weekend". We come through the kink. I'm just about to pull along side of Mike on the inside. I shift from 4th to 3rd. Doh! Zing goes the motor and there goes Mike across the finish line. Crap! I've never done that before. I quickly get it out of 3rd and back into 5th. Sure hope I didn't damage the motor.

Greg goes from 4th to 1st and takes the win setting fast race lap in the process. Matt and Wade finish out the podium. Scott claws his way back to 4th and I end up 5th again.

There were a few spins, mostly in front of Mike A. but everyone made it to the finish except Lyall. Post race inspection revealed that Lyall's car could be fixed pretty quickly so he'll be ready for Rose Cup no problems. Greg listened to my engine. Sounds OK but I need to inspect the belts.

We gave Tim the details concerning Rose Cup so hopefully he can make it back for that one. It's a long way from Bozeman, MT but I'm sure he'd like another shot at racing with us in better weather conditions.

Be sure and check the pictures and video links at the right for more action. Doug Berger was there from PhotoSport Northwest and got some pro shots from T3 all weekend. See you in Portland!

Round 1 - 2010 NW 944 Cup Season

April 17-18, 2010

Portland International Raceway

Single Regional Format:

• Saturday - ITS practice & qualifying
• Sunday - ITS sprint race & main race

The long winter break is over. We're headed to Portland the first race of the 2010 season. Scott, Lyall and I did our usual caravan down I5 south in the 3 black tow rigs. We have the system down now as we all 3 meet up simultaneously at the I5 HWY 18 interchange in Federal Way. Matt's headed down with his car hoping his new motor will last this season. Matt's cousin Mike is coming too. Mike recently passed the new drivers school last month and will be racing on his Novice permit. Mike bought what was left of Brian's old car but with a rebuilt motor, new suspension, exhaust, and a short 5th gear in the transmission, he's ready to go. Jeff's car is ready so he'll be there two. Greg is working a pro race in Long Beach, CA. Tim & Mike's car still needs a new clutch. Eric's car isn't ready, and Mike C's new Rothman's car won't be there either. Six of ten cars for the first race isn't bad. We set up camp in the paddock and showed of the 944 Cup racers in style. Several people stopped by to chat about 944 racing. Tim, Mike and Eric all stopped by to hang out even though they couldn't race this weekend.

We had help in the pits this weekend from Ja (happy birthday), Tork, Mike's wife Jessica and her Dad Doug who was visiting from Virginia.

Saturday

First up. Practice. We were all a little rusty having not driven since last year. That would be Matt, Scott, Lyall and me. Mike and Jeff have already had some seat time this year. I planned to run some really old worn out tires just to get my monies worth so to speak and save my good tires for qualifying and the races on Sunday. Matt got me all freaked out saying "it's not worth wrecking your whole car for the cost of a set of tires" Then I remembered he crashed his car into a tree at Bremerton because he pushed too hard on old tires... Damn you Matt. The old tires stayed on the rack. I'll just face this same dilemma before the next race.

We were only a lap or two into the practice session when Scott gave me the old "chopper Scott" maneuver in turn 6. I was ready for him and backed out of the throttle just before he made is patented move. Welcome to the 2010 season... I got around Scott eventually and got in some good laps. It didn't take long to get back into the groove.

Our ITS qualifying session came up later in the afternoon. The weather had been good all day for the most part. They were calling for showers in the afternoon but it looked like it was going to be OK. Slick tires stayed on the car. Of course we're sitting in grid, we get the 1 minute warning and the rain starts coming down. Crap. Well at least we're all on the same Hoosier R6 race tire, i.e a slick tire with no tread. I took it easy the first few laps just trying to get some heat into the tires and after a while it looked like the rain was letting up. A dry line actually started to form on the NW end of the track. If it continued to dry it was going to come down to taking full advantage on the last lap. Sure enough. With only a few laps remaining the track was mostly dry except for turns 10, 11 & 12. Turn ten even had a dry line forming. My lap timer showed I was pulling off huge chunks of time every lap. I knew Matt, Lyall, and Scott were all thinking the same thing so I pushed on. With 1 lap to go (lap 12) I pushed as hard as possible through the festival curves and on through turns 4, 5 and 6. I know I'd have to give it up for turn 12 so push hard through 7 and on to the back straight. Coming around turn 8 I see Jeff up ahead. Jeff I'm sure was trying to make this last lap his best also. Jeff's car is fast in a straight line but much slower in the corners. I thought about trying to pass Jeff on the inside at T10 but I would have had to drive offline in the wet to do it. A low probability move that might have ended badly. Note to self. Help Jeff get his radio working so we can work together in these situations next time. In the end Matt out qualified us all. Qualifying results. I'm sure I left that 3/10th of a second out there on that last lap. Lyall was only 6/100ths behind me. Scott, Jeff & Mike were a ways back. The Sprint Race start was going to be critical.

Sunday

15 minute Sprint race in the morning before lunch. 30 minute Main race later in the afternoon. Because of the rain during qualifying on Saturday, the 944's will be starting ahead of a few cars that are normally faster, i.e a VW Corrado and a Ford Mustang. Need to watch out for those guys at the start while trying to keep Lyall and Scott behind me too. Matt will be starting 2nd but first in 944 Cup so we can't let him get away at the start either. With Matt in the inside of row 1 and me & Lyall taking up row 2 it should be a good start. Your finish position in the Sprint race also determines your starting position for the longer Main race later in the day so all the more reason to get a good start and a good finish. There's a plan and then there's reality...

At the drop of the green flag, I moved right to block the VW Corrado. Lyall just went around me on the left. I did manage to keep Scott behind me but just barely. As we exited the festival curves, Matt stayed ahead of both the Mustang, the Corrado, Lyall and me. That was pretty much the race right there. Matt got the gap he needed and that was pretty much the race right there as long as he kept it on the track the rest of the way. Mike and Jeff made it through T1 ok as well. The ITA class Miatas chose to do a split start so instead of mixing it up with Mike & Jeff at the start they did their own thing and were never really a deciding factor for any of us. It was Matt, the Corrado, Lyall, me, and Scott pretty much the whole way. Seemed like I was faster than Lyall but I just couldn't get around him. Scott was right on me too so no room for a mistake.

Later in the afternoon, we gridded up for the Main race. Sunny sky remained in the forecast and it became an all dry weather tire race day. As the green flag flew, Scott in his all powerful high torque motor just drove right around me. I suck so back at race starts but I don't think it's all me. I have nothing on the straights for any of the other 944s. This time I was pissed because I figured I could match lap times with Matt. I just need to be up there with him. I had to make a few move early to get up there. I got around Scott at T1 to start lap 3 and motored on after Lyall. I caught up pretty quickly but couldn't get past. We carried on for a few more laps and caught slower traffic on lap 6. I got a good run on Lyall out of turn 12 on lap 7 and finally made the pass into turn 1 to start lap 8. I could see Matt up ahead battling with the Corrado but could never really close the gap. I kept pushing and the whole way and did my fastest lap of the race on the last lap, lap 17.

All in all a good weekend for all of us. No major problems and most importantly we had fun.

We also need to thank Jen Grant from box.net who helped us out this year with additional online storage space for uploading our videos. Jen is working on some box decals for our cars. Hopefully we'll have them for the next race. A link is posted at the right for all our video downloads. You can get to this first round set of videos here... and some pictures too.

Thats right. The next race is Memorial Day Weekend at Pacific Raceways in Kent, WA.

-m

2009 - 2010 Winter Rebuild

• upper balance shaft seal replaced (I hate oil leaks)
• new OMP HANS style seat. Mucho safer now (thanks Greg & Matt F)
• new set of 16X7 Fuchs style wheels to mount my Hoosier Wet tires on (thanks Russell)
• safety belts re-webbed & relocated for better fit (thanks Greg)
• body work to fix crash damage from last year's dust up with Lyall in Bremerton. Ended up having the whole right side of the car fixed & repainted. (Thanks to Tom Weise from Weise Choice Restoration in Ravensdale)
• new right side graphics (thanks Kim & DC) and a new number (thanks Sherri & Karen). Switched from number 23 to number 19 in order to avoid a conflict with another car in Portland.

2009 NW 944 Cup Final Results

NW 944 Cup Champion

Congratulations to Lyall Edey who successfully defends his 944 Cup Championship title.

http://northwest.44cup.com/results.shtml

Round 8 2009 944 Cup Season

October 3-4, 2009

Portland International Raceway

Single Regional Format:

• Saturday - practice & qualifying
• Sunday - sprint race & main race

Our last race of the season... We're headed to Portland one last time. We did the usual. Meet up at I5 and HWY 18. This time we had Scott's Mom Virginia & Step Dad Buster as well as Lyall's Dad Hugh. Of course Debbie, Ja, and Tork were along too. Matt and Greg chose not to race this weekend but Jeff, Tim, Mike, and Eric would meet us there.

We pulled in to PIR, got set up and registered for the weekend of racing. I was only going to single enter in the ITS class but the guys talked me into double entering the PCA grid also. The weather forecast looked better that it had earlier in the week so I ponied up the extra cash for the double entry. I usually switch from #23 to #3 when we double enter as another person has #23 reserved in the PCA run group. This time around SPO was added to race group 6 and somebody else already had #3. I needed a new number. Went and bought some red tape. Covered up my #2 with gray tape like normal and Debbie fixed up some really nice #1s to make me #13 for the weekend. Superstitious? Maybe.

There was a marathon going on in Portland this weekend and all the hotels were booked. Luckily we all got in at The Best Western, Tork's favorite place... Tim & Mike and Jeff both have motor homes so they just stay at the track. Out to dinner at BJ's. Watch out for the dreaded beer, pizza, blue cheese wedge combo. This has proven to be a deadly collection no matter where it's served.

Saturday

Saturday was mainly practice and qualifying with our PCA sprint race late in the afternoon. PCA practice gets combined with Group 3 which are the fast GT cars. It's our chance to get on track and mix it up with the faster cars. They are fast on the straights but we're all over them in the corners. Mirrors mirrors mirrors is the key word for this practice session.

We were out right after lunch for PCA (Group 6) qualifying. Since Matt wasn't here this weekend we could actually qualify. Matt usually turns every session into a race session so we get caught up chasing each other instead of qualifying. I went out on old tires and did a 1:23.2 on lap 6. Not bad. Scott and Lyall were over a second back at 1:24.5. They must have been racing each other. Maybe they were saving tires & brakes. For us, this is just a practice race group. 944 Cup points are only awarded for ITS races. I think Lyall and Scott were sandbagging. Tim and Jeff were a couple seconds back. Tim was just taking it easy and Jeff was using Greg's spare motor after breaking a valve in his motor at the last race in Bremerton. Eric went out but never made a full lap. Clutch problems for him. Eric worked all weekend to get back on track but ended up packing it in on Sunday afternoon. Eric will be back next season ready to go for sure.

With only one free session in between our PCA and ITS qualifying sessions it was back to the paddock for a quick fuel up and tire swap.

Even though Lyall has our 944 Cup Season points battle lock up I went out for ITS qualifying focused and determined to do a good job anyway. I set a personal best 1:23.075 in lap 11 out qualifying not only Lyall and Scott (less than a second back) but the rest of the ITS field as well. I was 4th overall in our race group meaning I'd be starting on row 2 for Sunday's sprint race.

Back in the paddock we had several hours before our PCA sprint race. The weather was holding out pretty well. A little bit cool but no rain. Perfect for running the car hard on track. No worries about overheating. The decision to double enter was looking pretty good now. My new number 13 was working for me. Turns out that the Corvette guy who had #3 caught on fire during the first practice session that morning never to return. This car has been a menace all season long. It has caught on fire one way or another every race weekend it seems. Oh well. I'll keep #13 for the rest of the weekend.

At the start of the PCA Sprint Race Scott and I were side by side with me on the inside. We were 10th and 11th overall but but first of the 944s. Lyall was right behind me. I was in 2nd at the drop of the green flag. Foot to the floor and immediately I was on the rev limiter. Too much noise from the other cars. I don't even see my shift light glowing bright yellow. I feel it though as the engine sputters and my forward progress stalls. Lyall comes flying around me. Crap! 1st to 3rd just like that. Good thing it's only the PCA Sprint Race. I keep to the inside around the first turn (T4) and follow Scott and Lyall all the way around to start finish. It's a short 20 minute race but I've got time to get back to the front. We get caught up with a couple of PRC 911s that are faster but slow in the corners. They eventually get ahead and leave Scott, Lyall and I to battle for PCA4 bragging rights. We're running nose to tail on lap 5 when Lyall tries Scott on the inside under braking for T4. Scott holds him off for now. That slows the both of them allowing me to close up the gap. Again we're nose to tail through the rest of the lap. Two laps later (L7) as we cross start finish, Lyall pulls up on Scott, drafting down the front straight. Here comes that same move to the inside at T4. Oh wait! Lyall is carrying way too much speed. He's side by side with Scott but there's no way he's going to make the corner. Scott does a great job watching his mirrors and waits just a bit before turning in for Turn 4. Good thing because there goes Lyall sailing off the outside of T4 and into the grass. For me, 1 down. 1 to go. Next time by start finish on lap 8 I show Scott the nose of my car on the inside as we brake for T4. It's just intimidation. I wasn't going to pass. Just wanted to let Scott know I was there. All through turns 4, 5, 6, & 7 I'm just inches off his bumper. As we exit T7 heading south you can see the sky is really black off to the south east. With the sun shining in the west still it creates a nice rainbow against the black sky. Is it going to rain before the end? A shiny thing in the sky to distract Lyall. He'll never catch up now. As we exit T12 heading on to the front straight, I was right on Scott's bumper. I managed to keep in his draft as we crossed start finish. 5th gear. Now the draft is pulling me closer. It's either hit Scott or make a pass. I pull to the inside and take the position under braking for T4. Good close racing on Scott's part as he pulls in behind me. From there it's cruise mode. We get the "1 lap to go" next time by start finish. First race in the bag even though it's just the PCA sprint race. Lyall finishes 3rd. Tim and Jeff are in 4th and 5th one lap down. The rain? Not during the race but while we were in impound the skies opened up. It poured like I've never seen it in Portland. That was close. Just a quick shower and then the skies cleared again.

Since it was my Birthday on Sunday, we went to dinner at Stanfords. Val bought drinks for everyone in honor of my Birthday. Thanks Val!. We had a great dinner and fun times. Of course we ate to much and barely made it back to the hotel before crashing for the night.

Sunday

Sunday's schedule was nothing but racing. ITS Sprint Race in the morning. PCA and ITS Main races in the afternoon. As we finished breakfast and headed to the track it wasn't raining but it had rained during the night and early morning hours. The track was wet. Hmmm. Our ITS Sprint Race was only the 2nd race group of the day. Would the Spec Racer Fords dry the track for us? Tire choice was going to be a tough one. If Greg were here he's be on Hoosiers for sure. The rest of us just feel more comfortable on Toyo intermediate rain tires. It looked like it wasn't going to rain any more but the track was still pretty wet. Hoosiers it is. We all man'd up and headed to grid. It's important to finish well in the Sprint Race because that determines your starting position for the Main Race later. I was on the ITS pole for the Sprint race and it turns out the other 3 cars ahead of me didn't make it to grid. Now I was on the real pole. I got to chose which side of the track I wanted to be on at the start. Normally you'd pick the inside but since it was wet I contemplated the outside where I knew there'd be a dry line from the earlier race. I nervously chose the inside. Just after the 1 minute mark we got a signal from the grid workers that the ambulance's engine failed to start. No ambulance. No race. They had to call in a backup. 45 minutes later we were ready to go. Sitting in the car all that time was nerve wracking. At least we got 45 more minutes of track trying. Turns out it wasn't much of a factor.

As we came around on the pace lap you could see some dry spots here and there but T6 and T12 were totally wet still. These are the worse conditions. It's not totally wet and it's not completely dry either. You never know what to expect for grip levels. As we rolled through T12 the pace car pull into pit lane. From here on it was my job to control the pace. 2nd gear. Nice and easy. Ron Tanner in his Nissan (Datsun) 240Z was on my left. Lyall and Scott just behind. As we roll toward Start Finish the green flag flies. Go go go... Debbie calls on the radio to remind me to shift. Already done. I wasn't making that mistake again. Tanner and I are side by side going into T4. Were going over 100 MPH on a wet track with slick tires. This could be ugly. At least Scott and Lyall are not getting past me this time. As we head into T4 Tanner takes the outside line and pulls past. I'm not really racing him anyway so I let him go for now. Around T5 and into T6 we go. T6 is super slippery. As we approach T7, Brian Richards (another ITS car) in his Miata (on Toyo rain tires) cuts down to the inside. He makes the pass on me but slows up both up in the process. Through T8 & T9 and down the back straight we go. Lyall and Scott just behind. Scott had gotten a great run out of T7. He's also fearless in the wet. As we approach T10, the fast left hander, Scott is already by Lyall and takes me at T10. It would have been tricky to got through there side by side in the wet conditions. As we exit the slippery T12 onto the front straight, Lyall gets a run on me and blows by into T4. Crap another 1st to 3rd experience for me. I'll try and stay close. Maybe the track will dry and I can make another run on these guys. Here we go. Nose to tail through T4, T5, and into T6. Did I mention before that T6 was slippery? Not sure what happened next. I must have gotten on the gas a little too aggressively at the exit of T6. Rear tires spun on the wet pavement. Around I went spinning off into the wet grass (adds +10 hp) at the exit of T6. I get back on ahead of Jeff but behind Mike. While Scott and Lyall are battling it out up ahead, I'm barely making headway against Mike. I see him up there but I'm not catching up very fast. Mike's doing a great job in the rain. As we come around to start lap 10 (the last lap) Mike is still a ways up ahead battling with an old BMW 2002. Maybe they'll slow each other and I can catch up. I get closer as we exit T7 but I'm not going to catch them before T10. But wait. There's Jeff up ahead. We're coming up to put a lap on Jeff. He's going to be the one to save me... Jeff takes it real easy through T10. Now we're stacked up Jeff, the BMW, Mike and me through T1o, T11, and into T12. I hung back a bit in 11 so I could get a run through 12 and onto the front straight. That worked perfect. The BMW and Mike got stacked up behind Jeff and I flew by all three of them taking back the 3rd place 944 Cup spot as we crossed the finish line. It was also a position in ITS that I'd be getting back for the start of the ITS Main race later in the day. Lyall had passed Scott early in the race but Scott passed him back. Scott is the master in the rain. Scott wins the wet ITS Sprint Race (among us 944s anyway, he was 3rd overall). Lyall 2nd, me 3rd, Mike and Jeff 4th and 5th. I went from Pole Position to 8th overall. The main race was going to be a challenge now especially since there were going to be 3 other cars ahead of me before I could get to Lyall and Scott.

After lunch we were out for the 35 minute PCA main race. Even though I won the Sprint Race and was first amongst the PCA4 class cars I was still starting 10th overall. With Lyall and Scott close behind I'd have to be careful at the start in order to stay ahead. When the green flag flew Debbie was on the radio again, "Green Green Green, Shift..." I was on the outside but quickly moved to the middle of the track to cover any advancing 944s from behind. As we made the run down into T4 I had Lyall on the outside and Scott on the inside, both trying to make a move on me. As we worked our way through T4, T5, and T6 the slower (in the corners) PRC 911s were causing me grief. A much faster Panoz was also caught up in the mess. Somehow we got through T7 & T8 with me still ahead of Scott and Lyall. Watching Lyall's in-car, I really left the door open for Scott through T4 & T5. I'm lucky he didn't try and stuff it in there. I managed to fend them off down the back straight and through T10, 11, & 12. From there is was just a long 35 minutes of racing for me. I built a gap of about 5 seconds on Scott & Lyall and could seem to maintain that pretty well. A couple of laps later Lyall gets around the outside of Scott in T4. I figured those two would work together, drafting each other on the straights and catch me up. It never happened. What I really think happened is that Lyall was saving tires and brakes for the ITS Main Race that was yet to come. 22 laps later we took the checkered flag. Tim & Jeff were a lap down but both finished the race. A well done showing for the 944s.

A quick stop by the paddock for more fuel and a tire swap and we were good to go for the ITS Main Race. It was nice having Debbie with me this weekend because she helped with tire changing and general organization. When we only have one race group brake between our own sessions it gets hectic trying to stay on top of the schedule and also get all the work done on time. Points matter for this race, well sort of since Lyall has already wrapped up the season championship again. Since I finished 8th overall in the wet Sprint Race earlier in the day I'd be starting from way back in the ITS grid this time.

At the start Lyall gets a run on Scott and leads him into T4. I'm right behind the new guy in the VW Corrado. How that car is an ITS car I'll never figure out. VR6 engine, probably 100 more HP but whatever. He's been really fast so I just tuck in behind him as we enter T4. What a mistake. He's super slow in the corners. Crap! Two other cars go screaming by on the inside as we negotiate our way through T4b, T5, and T6. He's screwing my race. Lyall and Scott are motoring away. Good thing it's a 35 minute race. Maybe I can catch up. As we come around to start lap 2 I see Mike stopped over in the festival curves area. I call on the radio to Tim. Turns out Mike's clutch gave up and his race was over before he could really get started. Tim and Mike have had radio problems all weekend. They can talk but can't hear. It's not their helments because they both work fine in my car. Need to get that fixed over the winter. The Corrado finally gets moving passing both Scott and Lyall. I get by the Miata that passed me at the start and start to real Scott back in. On lap 3 I get a good run on Scott and make a run down the outside as we enter T4. Lyall showed me that move on Scott the last race. What do you know? It worked again for me. Two laps later and I've caught up to Lyall. I try that same outside as we enter the brake zone for T4. Lyall isn't having any of that and squeezed me almost onto the grass. No problem. Plenty of laps left. Next time around I use the draft and pull up on Lyall but go right this time. I have position on the inside for T4. That would be the first of 5 passes on Lyall this race. Lyall and I kept it up the whole race. Draft, pass. Draft repass. We were back and forth on the radio playing with the whole draft thing. If you're the lead car and the 2nd car pulls up close behind, you end up going faster. It messes with your braking for T4. If you're the 2nd car you actually have to lift off the accelerator or else you'll run into the back of the lead car. We did this maneuver over and over for 22 laps. It was me in the lead when we took the checkered flag. Scott was back there somewhere but we heard reports on the radio that he had a big spin coming out of T12. His Mom was watching from that corner and had to sit down for a minute to catch her breath. I guess it was scary for her. Debbie called on the radio to tell Scott not to do that again. The pro photographer who happened to be stationed at that corner got a good sequence of shots as Scott slid down the track, tires smoking and doing a great job of keeping it off the wall.

Eric and Mike got thumped by bad clutch problems this weekend but all in all a good finish to the 2009 Northwest 944 Cup Season. No bent metal this time around and for me it's 6 wins in 8 races at PIR the last two trips down here. Scott showed us how to handle wet track conditions and Lyall's and Scott's parents got to see a good show all around. Congratulations to Lyall on a successful defense of his 944 Championship. I'l be gunning for you again next year.

We also need to thank Debbie and Ja who support what we do and help out so much during the weekends especially putting up with our fascination with watching our in-car videos over and over again.