well......it was a mixed weekend for me.
i wasn't going to go, but woke up at 530am saturday to drive up to crew for my SM friends running the enduro and thought "what the hell, i'll bring the car and run the regional the day after, i think it still runs."
had my worst session of the year in qualifying, as jude can attest, i was really struggling with the handling of the car. probably attributable to the green track from the massive rains the night before, and my 2yr old v700s. ended up p2.
borrowed a set of real thin 1yr old hoosiers that were used in the enduro the day before. i got a great start and moved up to P1, but my SM just doesn't make the power of the other ITA guys, and i got blown by right before T1 by jude, pete, and steve. crap.
saw jude tearing up my inside going into t5 on lap 1 and thought "no way is he going to make it." he didn't and spun right in front of me in the middle of the turn, almost tboned him hard but somehow missed. i knew i could catch pete and steve, but instead i stepped on my dick and went off in the mud outside t11. took a solid lap to get the tires back together and was back in DFL.
since both jude and myself really wanted points and were both fairly quick (my miata being better under braking and in the corners, and jude in the rx7 having big motor on me), i never really attempted to get back by him as we both needed to get back up front so i figured we'd just kinda work together. it was going to be a tough road to hoe though as we were probably now 15 seconds back from steve in his BMW. about lap 11 or so we caught back up.
there really wasn't anywhere on the track where i could've completed a pass on these guys where they wouldn't have just blown right back by me on the straight. so i just sat back, and tried to keep pressure on them in case they messed up. they fought real hard for the last 5 laps or so with multiple passes made and lost, but neither of them touched, i was impressed.
in the end, bachenburg was in front, jude next, and me right behind. all of us crossing start/finish i think in under 1 second.
i ruined my own chance of taking 2nd in midiv pts, but did move up to 3rd, and i got to be a part of a real entertaining race, so i had lots of fun and am kinda sad the season is now over.
now i have to decide if i want to make a full-out IT car, or keep it as a SM for next year, and which class i will run.
i had a ton of fun this year guys, seeya at the opener next spring.