You couldn't find a better location to kick of the landmark 40th season for the Midwest Series. The Toledo club has the location, manpower and experience to host any high level race! They did not disappoint. Racers arrived to a track that was prepared immaculately. Grip levels were high, tire wear low. It's always a pleasure to race here, the clean, flowing layout is a blast to run on. The ROAR Nationals will be held here later this season, a fact which helped our turnout in this economic down turn. We had 2 heats of 1/10 sedan, one of 1/8 GT and 5 heats of 1/8 circuit!
Saturday was a little chilly and breezy, but otherwise a great day to kick off the season. Racers hit the track early to get dust blown off their machines and get back in the swing of things. Qualifying got under way on schedule, and our championship battles were begun! Our reigning champ in 1/10 open , Andy Power, had some serious obstacles in his run for the 09 championship! Bobby Flack and Andrew Ellis were running very strong! In 1/8 GT, Mike Cooper was showing that the Kyosho GT2 is going to be tough to beat. 1/8 circuit cars were burning up the track with a very fast pace set by Josh Cyrul, Paul Ciccarello, Brian Berry and Eli Ezrow. Fuel mileage issues were keeping Josh off the pole for a while, but before it was over, he was able to put the new Shepherd car up front.
Sunday got under way with a full schedule and great weather! A bit of practice was followed by the fourth and final round of qualifying. A brief break and then the Mains began. The first race was the B main for the 1/10 sedan class. On pole was Al Denzine with Chris Doseck in the 2 position (wow!), followed by; Dennis Richey, Kevin Roberson, Kim Suphankomut (glad I'm not trying to pronounce that), Mike Parker, Jerry Argalas, Mike Richey, Karl Ennulat, Kenneth Echols, Chris Boziti, Gary Andersen, and James Palansky. Dennis Richey (#3), Gary Andersen, Chris Boziti and James Palansky missed the start. Chris B. and James were able to get on track later, but were unable to make up any positions on the field. Chris Doseck got a good start, crossing the line in first on the opening lap and did not look back for rest of the race. Al held onto 2nd for 8 laps, but ran into trouble and was off-track for a couple minutes dropping him to 9th place where he remained for the remainder of the race. Kevin was lapping a couple seconds slower per lap, than our leader, but that was enough to earn the #2 spot on the podium! He started out in P4 but worked his way to P2 by lap 36. Kim was turning laps comparable to Kevin's and finished in the final podium spot! The rest o the field had issues that caused them to finish 19+ laps down to the winner. 4th went to Jerry Argalas, 5th to Mike Parker, 6th Kenneth Echols, 7th Karl Ennulat, 8th Mike Richey, 9th Allen Denzine, 10th Chris Boziti, 11th James Palansky, 12th Gary Andersen and 13th Dennis Richey.
A-Main grid was; Bobby Flack on pole, followed by; Andrew Ellis, Andy Power, Rick Vessell, Ray Juhl, justin Landau, Mike Mcbride, Chay Blaunt, Elliot Hart, Greg Tong, Shih-Hang Lee and Joe Tuttle. Bobby was going strong and it was looking good for a Flack victory until lap 65 when he was forced to retire. Andrew Ellis was making a solid bid for the #2 spot but had problems of his own which kept him off track for almost 2 minutes dropping him from 2nd to 4th. He was able to make up one position to finish in 3rd. Meanwhile, Rick Vessell was very consistent and stayed out of trouble to finish in 2nd. Ray Juhl held on to the 4th spot, followed by Greg Tong, Shih-Hang Lee, Mike Mcbride, Justin Landau, Bobby Flack, Chay Blount, Joe Tuttle, Elliott Hart.
Heavy Metal was up next. The GT grid was; Mike Cooper, Gary Waldhelm, Kenneth Nichols, James Palansky, Scott Takacs, Karl Ennulat, Marty Waldhelm and Gene Greer. Mike was able to win from pole, with Gary holding on to the 2nd spot by a single lap over Karl. Another lap back, was James, then Kenneth, Scott then Marty. This is a class with a lot of potential. The cars are very sturdy, inexpensive and easier to drive than our other classes. It is a great place to start..
5 heats of 1/8 were up next, starting with the E-main. The grid: Kim Suphankomut, Rick Frazier, Mike Richey, Kirt Scammell, Lon Burling, Wayne Broecker, Jerry Borrasso, Wayne Smith and Peter Sheldon. The first lap and a half put Kim down four spots, Rick down one, Mike up 2 spots to the lead, Kirt up to the 2nd spot, Lon down one, Wayne jumped 2, Jerry steady at 7, Wayne Smith also stayed in his start spot (8), Peter was a DNS. Rick worked his way to the front on lap 8 and fought for the spot with Kirt. Changing lead a few times until Kirt dropped out on lap 17. Kim had a tough fight to come back from a bad start and take over the lead on lap 18. Rick did not give up and managed to persevere and take the win! Kim ended up back 3 laps in second, then a big gap to Lon in 3rd, then Wayne Broecker, Wayne Smith, Jerry Borrasso, Kirt Scammell, Mike Richey.
D-Main: 1-John Schweitzer, 2-Dennis Young, 3-Marvin Davis, 4-Mike Chiappetti, 5-Alan Broecker, 6-Sam Stanley, 7-Mark Frazier, 8-Mark Graham, 9-Tom Cohen.
John had a good start and had a great battle with Mike. They traded the one and two spots for quite a while until John retired after 37 laps. Mikes bid for the win lasted for another 11 laps, when he ran into troubles but held on for a while, until he had to retire after lap 56. Marvin's start wasn't so good, moving back a few spots, but kept plugging away, working his way up the ranks. He managed the top spot with 76 laps. Alan was #2 with 71, then Mark with 65, Sam with 64, 63 for Dennis, 62 for Mark F, 56 for Mike and 37 for John.
C-Main: 1-James Conder, 2-Rob Gleason, 3-Carlos Latorre, 4-Doug Filo, 5-Steve Lazarus, 6-Mike Becker, 7-Raye Field, 8-Mark Unger, 9-Bill Mclean.
James took off in good shape from the pole, but ran into a spot of trouble around 11 laps in. He lost a couple spots, and earned one back pretty quick and settled into the 2nd spot for a while. Around 30 laps in, he ran into more trouble dropping back to 5th, then retired with 37 laps. Rob was running strong, battling with James for the lead, but had to retire from the lead after lap 27. Doug got a decent start and moved into the lead on lap 11. A good battle ensued for a while, but Doug's charge was ended early on lap 43, where he dropped out from the lead position. This made Mike Becker the new leader, where he decided to stay. Raye started back in 7th spot and managed to work his way up to 3rd around lap 45, and was looking pretty good for a podium spot until his hopes were dashed on lap 64. With Raye out, a battle got under way between Mark and Carlos for the final spot on the podium. Mark held that position for a few laps, then had some time off-track, moving him back to the 5th spot. Carlos now running in third, began to slow a little and Bill Mclean began to close in. Bill got around with just 4 laps to go. Meantime, Steve was cruising to a 2nd place finish, having taken over that spot around the halfway point in the race. All these guys were turning similar lap times making it a pretty close race. Mike and Steve finished with 84 laps each, Bill and Carlos both had 78, Mark with 76, Raye 64, Doug 43, James 37 and 27 for Rob.
B-Main: 1-Harry Hananouchi, 2-Rick Vessell, 3-Lou Przybyla, 4-Joby Uchtman, 5-David Greer, 6-Bill Sydor, 7-Allen Denzine, 8-, Panzica, 9-Roger E. Williams, 10-Gary Swayze.
This could be described as the 'Joby' show. He started from the 4th spot on the grid, worked his way to the front in 4 laps! After that he ran a very good race lapping in the 17's and low 18's. Joby was the only driver to get under 18 seconds in this race. After some dicey moments in the opening laps, Rick Vessell settled into the 2nd spot and decided he liked that spot, so he held it till the end. Things didn't go as well for our pole sitter Harry. He started out OK, but soon found himself in 2nd place where he battled with Rick for that spot around 20 laps in, then had to defend against a charge from Bill for the 3rd spot. Bill gave him a good fight for 8 laps or so, then settled into the 4th spot. David Started 5th and finished 5th, but had to fight hard to earn it. At one point he dropped back to 9th and had to work hard to get back to the 5th spot. Al missed the start and spent quite some time in the 10th spot. He managed to work his way as high as 5th, but finished in 6th. Roger seemed to have some trouble keeping it on pace, spending valuable time in the pits. Started 9th, moved up a bit, then kept loosing hard earned ground. He did manage a 7th place finish, 2 spots up from his starting place. Things did not go very well for Lou, who ended up in 9th place on the first lap, from a 3rd place grid. He fought his way up to 4th place for a bit, but retired early on lap 41. Monti was turning the 2nd fastest lap times, but also had problems during the race and had to quit with only 28 laps in the bank.
The finishing order was; Joby 94, Rick 92, Harry 89, Bill 87, David 78, Allen 75, Roger 70, Gary 57, Lou 41 and Monti 28.
The Final race of the weekend was the A-Main for 1/8.
GRID: 1-Josh Cyrul, 2-Paul Ciccarello, 3-Brian Berry, 4-Ted Hammer, 5-Jason Conley, 6-Eli Ezrow, 7-Eric Jones, 8-David Lee, 9-Ross Chiaramonte, and 10-Howard Bortman.
This was an interesting race. Although the top 4 qualifiers finished in their qualifying positions, it was a pretty close race. It looks as though Josh relinquished the lead during the pit rotation, when Paul was there to take the lead, then Josh to take it back when Paul pitted. Brian had a bit of trouble on his 5th lap and had to fight his way back to the podium. Ted and Brian were trading the 4th and 5th spots for a while, while Jason was running 3rd. This went on till around 30 laps in, when Jason had a very long pit, dropping out of contention for a top 3 finish. Eli dropped a spot on the start and worked for 15 laps to get it back from Eric. They had a great battle to the end with both drivers getting 92 laps. David Lee started in the 8th spot and finished the same. David's position did not change much throughout the race, but he had a strong race finishing with 91 laps. Howard had a few minutes off-track and finished with 78 laps. Ross was a dnf with 28 laps.
Order/laps; Josh 98, Paul 98, Brian 97, Ted 94, Eli 92, Eric 92, Jason 91, David 91, Howard 78, and
Ross 28.
Congrats to all the racers in the first leg of the MWS '09/Can-Am challenge!