I stopped by and said hi to your dad. Congrats on the two wins.
It was a rough weekend on the ITB field. One car toasted a trans on Saturday morning and was done. One hit the wall in Saturday's race, two came together on Sunday's race resulting in the full course yellow. So 4 of the 9 ITB cars were not racing by end of Sunday, with another stuck in 3rd gear (tough break Aaron..)
My weekend was a mixed bag, but overall positive. It was my first time at the track, and the first event with the new motor, so there were some butterflies.
The good:
Saturday qualified ITB pole 2:55.1xx
Saturday won the race, best lap 2:54.9xx (also see bad notes below)
Sunday qualified ITB pole 2:52.8xx (magic conditions in this session - not hot, not humid, sunny)
Sunday made a strong charge through the pack to finish 2nd (see bad notes)
The bad:
Saturday race, backed into the wall driver left before the carolsel - dropped a wheel off exiting 8 and didn't save it. Gave up a comfortable lead, but ended up have a blast racing with Tom for the lead the rest of the way. Damaged the rear bumper only - lucky.
Sunday race, apparently missed the start (and/or the guy in front of me did) because when I went the cars 2 rows behind me were next to me. Got two bumps from the cars squeezing through on the front straight without ever changing course, but in the end everyone kept it together as we went 25 wide into T1 (slight exageration)
Sunday race, had contact with ITA neon lap 1, T3 - didn't realize he had TWO cars on the opposite side, and thought I was leaving enough (but not extra) room. We leaned on each other enough to be frustrated but continued unscathed. I should have been more aware of the situation.
Sunday race, exiting that very same T3 started racing on 3 cylinders - limped around (as course when full yellow) found a loose plug wire (now that is self inflicted pain!) - ran hard to catch the field before green and did my best to catch back up. Ended up 2nd, 3s behind the winner.
Sunday race, approaching T5, as I worked my way back through took my normal (normal is relative - this was my 4th session on the track) left edge of the track line just before the slight left bend that goes into 5 without properly checking my mirrors and got in the way of the same neon. Again - I needed to be more aware here. Luckily I don't think I got in his way any more, as I continued to move up the field.
It was an exciting weekend. A real shame for a few good guys in ITB that have plenty of work ahead to get back on track, and some good lessons and debug for me on the car and new motor. I guess I will call it a successful weekend, but am really frustrated that such a simple preparation mistake probably cost me a win on Sunday.