| Roebling Road |
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| Roebling Road |
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Jim Stark Double SARRC ITC had 9 entries registered for this event. Our groups were changed in the last minute to make the field to 40 cars and over 310 entries for the whole event. The weather was the big topic off discussion before the weekend. All the reports told us that Saturday afternoon was going to be nasty. 70 % change of thunderstorms, high winds and possible large hail. Turned out in the end that it was the biggest non-event of the whole trip. The weather was very nice for all the race activities. Saturdays qualifying was pretty busy from my seat, with lots of traffic due to the large group. Got the pole with David Stephens 2nd, his dad John 3rd and Chuck 4th. The start of the race was a little slow on my side of the grid. Dropped to second but worked back into the lead on lap three. David finished 2nd, John 3rd and Chuck 5th. In the latter part of the race I caught up to Hyler Craft, a veteran SSB racer at the age of 83. Tough as nails to get past. Talked to him after the race, while looking at some rubber marks on the side of his car, and he said one of the young guys leaned on him a little while making a pass. After the race we all headed downtown Savannah for some great seafood. Sunday was another nice day for racing. High somewhere
in the mid 80's a sunny. |
2006 Races September July April Feburary |
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Chuck qualified 3rd, David Stephens 2nd and #38 on pole. I had a better start this time and was able to keep in going to the end. Chuck was running 3rd when a EP tagged him going into turn 5 and spun him into the grass. Dropped back to 5th. Afterwards the stewards declared it a racing incident. Linda had the incident on video and it was offered to the SOM's. Chuck had this fellow ruin his newly purchased tire. A very enjoyable weekend with some friends at the track and caravaning to and from Savannah. Again, thanks to Theresa for the support efforts. -- Vesa Silegren Roebling Road apparently has my number and that number is 5. For the fifth and sixth consecutive race at Roebling, I finished fifth in class. The ITC field was strong this weekend with 9 cars shown on the entry list although not every car was scheduled to run both days. In fact, most of the classes had large fields, there were 300 plus entries for the weekend. ITC was grouped with SPU, EP, FP, ITB, SSB, SSC, and T3 Saturday, I qualified fourth just a few tenths behind the third place qualifier. Vesa led the ITC cars. Several of the back markers got a great jump at the start shuffling the field. Vesa had to battle back from second to win the class. I remained fourth after turn one but was in a pack of two other ITC cars plus some ITB cars. Several laps into the race, I was bumped in the middle of turn 8 (high speed right hander that leads onto the front straight) that sent me off into the "weeds". I never lost control of the car, but in slowing to maintain control and to re-enter the track, I lost the pack. I re-entered the race behind Austin Hillard (son of Randy Hillard who dogged Vesa at CMP a few weeks ago). I managed to pass him for fifth. Old age and treachery triumphed over youth and skill. This was Austin's first race on his novice permit and he did very well. For Sunday's race, I qualified third in ITC. I maintained third through about half the race when an EP Mazda RX-7 tried to pass me in five and punted me off the course. I soldiered on struggling with some mechanical issues that occurred as a result of the incident, finishing fifth yet again. The incident earned me and the other driver a trip to visit the Operating Steward who kicked it up to the SOM. The SOM ruled that it was just one of those racing incidents and no actions were filed. Interesting process but would just as soon not go through it again. Efren ran the test day and did a masterful job of securing paddock space for the Silegrens, the Hesters and myself. We heard that he was beating off would be squatters with a spare cam shaft. Linda Hester did a wonderful job of entertaining the troops with pictures, video and dinner plans. Many thanks to Linda, Vesa and Teresa for helping me tear down my camp after spending time with the SOM. Many thanks to Dave for working a corner on Saturday instead of running his race car. -- Chuck Fullgraf Didn't go out Saturday. Weather was calling for thunderstorms, hail, strong winds, and all I had were 2 sets of almost worn out tires. Ended up being overcast, but hardly stormy. Worked turn 4. Pretty interesting, especially when a yellow Miata got it all wrong and flipped outside turn 4. He had dropped a couple of wheels off coming out of 3, almost got it back straight and on track, but fell off the other side. Kinda like a half gainer with a twist. Anyway, car can to a rest upside down pointing the wrong way. It wasn't till we pulled the car up on it's side and the driver popped out, I realized we had been talking to Michael. A little dusty, but not looking too worse for wear.
At the start I let a SPO Corvette by and 2 others snuck by, a GT3 and a T-1 Corvette. We managed around the Corvette, but the Porsche kept blocking my line, got me into the dirt at 4. I never got up to his door, but could have held my line and let him come into me several times. Oh, well. OH, ALMOST lead a A/Sedan lap. Bill Porter lost a transmission into 3 (been there, done that) and Dainton Brooks lost a STEERING WHEEL going into old 9 leading to front straight. YA HOO!! Didn't last long as Dainton regained a grip and caught me coming out of 4 the next lap. I pointed him by, but he signaled me to go on and followed me into 9. I knew he was faster, so I signaled him to pass again on the front straight. DOH. This time he took me up on it and passed as we got about 200 feet from start/finish. Also got passed by a SPO something. Not sure what it was in it's former life. Anyway, it didn't last long as he was loose into one. I pressed him in 2 and he got wide, wide at 3 and finally spun going into 4. Easy pass, except for the dust. Good racing, Had a blast, spent the weekend with great friends. Thanks to everyone, especially crew, Linda and Matt! Also got to try out new trailer. Pretty Cool!! -- Dave Hester It was not one of my greatest weekends at the races...I'm sorry, things were set up to win but unfortunally the little suzuki gave up after been bumped off the track by the main competitor and after been the faster on the class. Congrats to Vesa for been undefeated so far, Dave and Chuck had a great run as well. Once I get the new engine there will be more challenges. Hope to see you in Atlanta in July. Thanks for all the support I got at the track. -- Efren I escaped with no injuries, except for a small bruise on my left elbow. That must have occurred during the roll over. Otherwise no soreness, so the safety gear worked. At this point, the car is considered totaled, so I'll be doing an arrive-n-drive with OPM Autosports for the balance of the season. I've scaled back on the race schedule so I can conserve some $'s to use towards a possible 99 1.8l SM build.....we'll see in the next few weeks -- Michael Hartberger |
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April 29, 2006
Michael's report added May 2
Sunday was beautiful, so we went out to qualify. 32 in
the group. I've seen less wings on the starting grid of a F-1 race!!!!! Of
4 A/Sedan cars, 3 of us were within 0.9 seconds. 
