WHAT???? No other discussion threads of the Regional races...?? Sheesh...
Well, I don't have any results sheets handy, but the Regional races this weekend were pretty damned good. My first thought is we were AMAZED at the number of people that ran the Pro-IT race but didn't partake of the Regional. Very odd.
I can't recall exactly what happened Saturday - it's all a blur and I had Yeungling since then - but Jeff Lawton and Joe DiMinno were toe-to-toe for the whole ITA race. Each time they came around the last turn leading onto the front straight it was a crap shoot as to who would be in front. Jeff finally took the point around the second-to-last lap and helf off a charging-and-drafting DiMinno across the line (with Joe making little-girl "go, go, go!" noises trying to shreek his car past Jeff before the checkered. Didn't work).
And, even better, those two never even touched each other.
The Sunday ITA race was even better. We spent some time looking at data before the race, and comparing it to prior years' ITA data there. We noticed that the fastest lap of the team in years past was in the 1:52.x range, and Joe and Jeff were driving 53s. I told Jeff he could do 52s, but he just rolled his eyes; I said all he needed was a little
motivation.
Well, he got that in spades on Sunday. The field started off with two pace car laps on Sunday, so that they could get a good look at the cones cardoning off the broken-up pavement/patch repair at the apex of Devil's Elbow. As they went by the corner workers were standing there pointing at the area
. When the hounds were released Robert Thiele in the solo ITR car took off like a shot, with the top-three ITS cars led by Jeff Harding in pursuit. Crazy Joe quickly took the lead in ITA with Jeff and Marc Cefalo in pursuit; Marc slipped by Jeff in the infield. Around Lap Two or Three Jeff was caught by John G in his ITS RX-7; John tried to slip under Jeff in Turn Three and unfortunately caught him in the rear quarter and spun him around.
Jeff quickly recovered but was now quite a bit behind the lead two of Jeff and Marc. Marc constantly dogged Joe, killing him under braking and the infield but losing track on the oval. It was quite the treat seeing Marc sideways through Turn Two each lap! Roughly halfway through the race while tucked up under joe's tail, Marc tagged a couple of those cones at the exit of Devil's Elbow; as the field streamed by the corner workers put them back but Marc tagged them again. This apparently earned Marc a Black Flag; however Marc did not come in, instead continuing to dog Joe.
Through all this, Jeff had put his head down and was driving like a mad man, catching the lead two battle. Lap after lap he shaved away at the distance between them, sometimes whole seconds per lap. It soon became a battle of lap remaining versus determination, and Jeff was doing a HELL of a job. With only a handful of laps left Jeff caught and passed Marc, and two laps later he caught Joe. With only two laps to go they disappeared from view on the oval, with Jeff right on Joe's butt; they re-emerged in Turn Two with Jeff in the lead! As they came under the checkered flag Jeff was in front, with a well-earned double victory!
As Joe said to me later, "The man was on a mission!" And, remember that "motivation" we talked about? Jeff did manage to get into the 52s, with a 1:52.875 (from memory), only fractions of a second off the seemingly redoubtable ITA track lap record.
Motivation, indeed.
The IT field was book-ended by a couple of solo-effort wins of Robert Thiele in the ITR BMW, and the lone ITC car. ITS was another hellacious battle, as Jeff Harding fell out early with a mechanical problem, leaving Jay Detrick and Brian Bagnall to fight for ITS honors. It seemed that Brain was destined to play bridesmaid, as Jay was doing a good job holding him off, but unfortunately Jay managed to select the kill switch instead of the gear lever on the last lap, handing Brian another win. ITB was the typical barn-burner, with Nat Wentworth and Dave Zsalow remaining clear in front of an entertaining rubbin'-is-racin' close ITB battle behind.
Good day of racin' all around!!!
GA
P.S. If anyone found a really nice pair of Serengeti Vendi sunglasses in the most unlikeliest of places near the East Course (you'll know what I mean) could you please send me a PM...?
Branchville Motors is New England's premier Moto Guzzi Motorcycle dealership, has become well known for it's support of the Triumph Motorcycle line and is home to Vespa Ridgefield, which was one of the first ten Vespa and Piaggio dealers(botiques) in the country.
