Saturday Night 3-21-15

Here we are at the second race of 2015 season, we celebrated setting a new track record last race and winning both the heat and the feature race.  It would be nice to be able to repeat, but you are racing
the McArdles and from sweet little Josie in her pink Bandolero (don't let her sweet smile and quiet demeanor fool you, she is a racer) to Brian and Joseph in their Legends, they are formidable competition.  You might be able to outrun them now and then, but it is like a frog going up and touching an alligator on the nose, you might be able to pull it off now and then, but sooner or later the alligator (McArdle) is going to get you. As if that is not enough, you still have to deal with, Conner Okrzesik #14, Robbie Johnston #96, Fred Laing #6, Ernest Morris #3, Chad Robinson #10, Trace Capers #01, Devin Corry #18, Brandon Slater #5 and Connelly Dubuisson #32, plus throw in Brian McArdle #44, and Joseph McArdle #44jr. and you have your work cut out for you.  All in all a very respectable field of cars, it will take a perfectly prepared car and a driver who has brought his "A" game to be able to win tonight.

In practice Connelly said the #32 just didn't feel very fast, I had forgotten to bring our in car electronic timer so we were relegated to the old hand held stop watch.  With the hand held I had Connelly off of what we ran last race by one and a half tenths in practice.  I timed some of the competition and no one was posting really good times, I think a combination of track conditions and air temp & humidity had everybody off by a few ticks.  We checked over everything and all seemed OK so it was on to qualifying.

QUALIFYING:

Connelly won the pole with a 12.958 over a tenth slower than last race, Brian was second with a 13.131, Chad Robinson third with a 13.166, Joseph was fourth with a 13.167, one thousandth of a second out of third, and Robbie Johnston fifth with a 13.174.  The top five separated by just a touch over 2 tenths of a second, pretty sporty.

HEAT RACE:

In the heat race Connelly started on the pole with Chad #10 outside, second row Robbie #96 inside and Treyce #01 outside, row three Ernest #3 inside and Brandon #5 outside.  Connelly got a good start and led for the first 8 laps then a caution came out, with less than 3 laps to go, single file restart, again Connelly got a good start and led the green white checker run to the finish with Robbie and Chad in very hot pursuit.  Finishing order #32, #96, #10, #01, #3, #5.

FEATURE RACE:

Connelly had to throw the big dice to determine the "invert" he rolled a 1 meaning no invert, starting positions determined by your heat race finish. Connelly started on the pole and since Brian had won his heat he started on the outside of the front row Robbie and Chad had the second row with Conner and Treyce covering the third row, the rest of the field was comprised of Fred, Everett, Devin and Brandon.   Joseph had to tag (start last) due to him breaking a suspension component and not finishing the heat.  He had to pull out a backup car for the feature, which had him starting last. 

Connelly got a really good start from the pole and got about a 3 car length lead, then a couple of quick cautions on lap 2 and the subsequent restart, I thought "here we go again another caution plagued race"-- not so fast exhaust breath-- we ran the rest of the race, 18 laps under green.  Connelly and Brian put on quite a show, with the lead never being more than a couple of car lengths, on about lap 5 or 6 Brian got a big run on us out of turn 2, got his right front wheel under our left rear, got loose had to correct and did a slight wheel hop--a big cloud of tire smoke erupted, both drivers displayed outstanding driving skills and neither lost control but could easily have wrecked.   From that point on they were never more than 1 or 2 lengths apart.  Some passing of lapped cars took place which tightened the front two up even more with Connelly prevailing at the checkered flag by about two car lengths.  There was good racing throughout the entire field with multiple passes in the middle of the pack.  It was a very entertaining race in all respects, except for the "wheel hop" which almost gave me a heart attack.  Finishing order of the top five was Connelly in the #32, Brian McArdle #44 second, Conner Okrzesik #14 third, Joseph McArdle #44jr who had come through the field from 11th starting position to finish fourth, and Robbie Johnston #96 fifth. We had another sweep; won qualifying, heat race and feature.  We touched the alligator on the nose again, and didn't get eaten.  Next race is April 4, Betty and my 51st wedding anniversary.  I told her that our anniversary dinner will be a chicken sandwich at the track snack bar--big spender right????? Come on out to Sunny South Raceway and treat yourself to some outstanding racing.