Cincinnati, Ohio – Race Report

The fourth race of the season can easily be described with one word “Hot”. The Temperatures and humidity did it's best to cook all the racers and the action on the track was just as hot. Cincinnati had been host to the 2003 1/8 th World Championships and has always provided a fun layout. The TSRCAR club has had to deal with Mother Nature and some flooding over the last few years so the layout has changed to work around some areas of the track. The latest layout added an aggressive Chicane in the middle of the track. This created a fun new challenge of figuring out the fast line through it. Some chose to swing out and get a run in and some chose to chop the right hander on the way in so they could set up for the left hander with more control and speed. It's always nice to have options.

Racers had plenty of time for practice and hanging out with friends Saturday morning. Lucky for most the club has 110 along the track and a lot of the racers took advantage of this with fans to try and keep cool. Three rounds of qualifying were run with thirty minute breaks in between. It was decided to call it a day so everyone could either recover from the heat or choose to stay and practice.

Sunday did not get off to a good start when the rain showed up at 8:30 and stuck around long enough to give the track a full soaking. After the rain cleared the club came out with the blowers to get it back in shape. When the track was opened back up it looked like all the traction was gone and the thought of a rocket round went out the window. That was before a small dose of VHT brought the traction back up to where it was Saturday, if not better. The final round of qualifying got underway in the early afternoon with the last chance for drivers to earn a TQ award.

All the overall qualifying positions are listed below from J Lap, followed by the Top qualifiers pictured with their TQ Pilsner glasses and “Bud pole” award. The Drivers entered in Masters have been highlighted yellow in the listings.

The mains kicked off with the 1/8 th B-Main. Series Sponsor Greg Tong took the lead on the 3rd lap and never looked back. Raye Field claimed the second position on lap 4 and wouldn't let it go. John Schweitzer had trouble before the start of the race and had to fight his way back up into third. The final results for the B-main are as follows:

Next up was the 1/8 th A-Main. TQ Mike Pulfer ran away with this one from the start and fought his way through disappearing front foam to take the win. Mark Sweeney lost his second place position to Doug Filo half way through the race until he dropped out about 13 laps later. Doug's trouble let Mike McBride take up the third spot and hold it till the end. The final results for the A-main are as follows:

The Next race was the Sedan B-Main. Phillip Neiswinger tried to run and hide with the lead and it was working for him until he had trouble in the middle of the race. This let his fellow NITRO club member Mike Parker take over the lead all the way to the checkered flag. Mike Estep also took advantage and took home second place. The final results for the C-main are as follows:

The Sedan A-Main started out with the TQ trying to run and hide but Andy Power couldn't hide from 3 flame outs that left him fighting to get laps back but not making the podium. The Battle for First heated up between the Chuck Pfahler and Dorian Tisdale. They are two of the nicest guys you could meet off the track but Chuck has one of the meanest and nastiest TC3's you will ever see on the track. That's right, I said TC3!!!. Chuck refused to give in to Dorian and held him off by less than two seconds at the end of the thirty minute main. Steve Lazarus finished third to add another Master Diver to the podium. The final results for the A-main are as follows:

The GT A-Main was very close early on with Lon Burling, Mark Rodney, and Mike Cooper trading positions. Mark became the early leader to start pulling away only to fall out of the race for good on lap 13. That left Cooper and Burling to battle it out and then Cooper ran into trouble with a flame out and a lengthy pit stop to get re-fired. Lon went on to stay out of trouble and take the win. Cooper battled back from engine trouble to take a second. James Palansky fought through troubles of his own to be the third car to be there at the end and took home a third for his hard work. The final results for the A-main are as follows:

Thanks to all the racers who came out to support the Midwest Series and the TSRCAR club of Cincinnati. I've always had a great time racing there and I hope others feel the same way.

The next race will be in Racine, WI. The guys from Racine have mentioned that you will find some construction signs saying the road to the track is closed but it's not closed until after the school so you can still make it to the track. See you all there!

Thanks, Bye.

Andy Power – Series Director

Email: andyp.323@gmail.com

Mike Cooper – Webmaster, GT rules author.