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Road Race Report Newer Road Race ReportsVirginia International Raceway Drivers School -- November 4-5, 2000Dwight Floyd attended this drivers school, to complete the school requirements for his SCCA license. He drove his Baby Grand and was crewed by John Leigh. For the five lap final school five lap race he sat on the pole position. Unfortunately, when the green flag flew, Dwight didn't . The exhaust cam in his engine broke into two parts, putting him on one cylinder. Still he got credit for the school, and is ready to go regional racing. November 22, 2000 Roebling Road SARRC Invitational Championship (SIC) -- September 24, 2000
In qualifying the three fast guys went out together and drafted to the top spots - in order Will, Dr. Coffin and Vesa. All other ITC cars were well back. At the start of the race, the row Will and Coffin were in went forward. Vesa's row was baulked by a faltering IT7 class RX7. Vesa ended up behind two hard racing, rubbing and bumping ITB cars. Will pulled away to a big lead and a win, his eighth in a row. Coffin ran second until the last lap - when his fuel system began running dry. Vesa passed him to take second place with Coffin spluttering to a third place finish. These results make Vesa the 2000 SARRC ITC Champion and Will second in the Championship - a Rivergate one-two. Mid-Ohio Regional -- September 23-24, 2000Jamie took the Honda CRX for his first look at the Mid-Ohio track. The whole weekend was one of those wet tire/dry tire question marks. He qualified on dry tires on a drying track, fifth of thirteen. In Saturday's Qualifying Race, he began to learn the track and finished fifth. For Sunday's race, Jamie says: "Sunday morning was misty and overcast. By the time race time rolled around it had sprinkled on and off and the track was still wet. Decision time.....wets or slicks? The local driver paddocked next to me had been out on slicks in an emergency session just prior to my race and felt the track was starting to dry out. The sky looked like it might start raining at any time but I felt maybe it would hold out. I made the decision to go out on dry tires. In the grid I noticed that it was about 50/50. Half of us had our dry tires and the other half had rains....the top three ITC cars had on rains. At the five minute warning it started sprinkling. I had a terrific start......I passed the three cars in front of me and was in the second spot by the end of the first lap. I was closing on the first place car but it kept sprinkling and the track kept getting wetter. Then, on lap three I spun.....and then promptly spun again. The guys on rain tires blasted past me and I held on to the hope that the rain would stop in time to have a decent finishing position. By the third time I spun I decided that my luck would probably not hold out for any more spins and I focused then on just keeping the car on the track. I spent the rest of the race trying to stay out of everyone else's way and keeping the car on the track. I finished the race in next to last place having been lapped twice." This finally breaks Jamie's record string of seven wins in a row. Gingerman Raceway Regional -- September 17, 2000Jamie says: "Melanie, Hayley, and I went back to Gingerman this past weekend for the Chicago Region Fall Sprints. I had some old tires left over from the Sunoco Enduro last year and I figured I better use them up. On Saturday I qualified second.....just behind the track record holding Ford Fiesta. This is the first time this season that I didn't qualify on the pole......and I gave it up to the ugliest car on the track!!! The race on Sunday started out badly for me.....I got pushed off in turn one by a ITB Volvo and spent the next couple of laps catching up. In the process, on lap 6, I set the new track record at 1.41.754. About midway through the race I caught up with the Fiesta and passed it, only to be passed by him going into the Chicago Loop. He and I fought back and forth like this, at one point with him pushing me off the track in turn 11 in his haste to get around me, until I finally passed him for good on lap 19. I held him off for the last lap and took the checker. It was by far my toughest and most exciting race of the season! This weekend I'll be going to Mid-Ohio. I'm expecting some pretty tough competition."
September 30, 2000 Older Road Race ReportsRed Sand in My Shoes
Updated November 22, 2000
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Vesa Silegren and Will Perry took their Rivergate Hondas to this final race of the South Atlantic Road Racing Championship - a triple points race to settle it all. After 13 SARRC races Vesa went in with a 17 point lead over Dr. Mark Coffin in his Scirocco, who had run 9 of the races. Will went in back in fifth position having only run 4 SARRC races.