Blown away with the quality with this group.
Ok, as I am writing this report I am watching the replay, and this is going to be long so this is a warning. Also I have a few things I would like to say after my report. Grab a cup of coffee prior to reading.
Quali: This was really intense due to the weather forecast. I actually received a call from my friend
Brandon, and he was asking what tires to choose. I was unsure, and we both watched and i said rains. So I went out and qualid and nailed a lap which put me pole. Later in the session as the track was drying up,
Adam puts on Wet fronts and slicks in rear, sneaky bugger. He takes pole. THEN
Abdul even sneakier, goes out with seconds to spare with full slicks. He nailed a lap on a drying track and takes pole. I ended up 3rd.
Race 1: Weather again was a tough call. I decided at the start that I would probly be all wets the whole race. I belive
Adam was the only one on slicks at the start with a wet track.
Abdul had not made the grid and I assumed he fell asleep. Got a good start in the slightly wet but getting wetter conditions. Tucked in behind
Yves for third. Was putting alot of pressure on
Yves early as he was in RWD, at times inches away. My strength was exiting with FWD.
Brandon was pressing me too. The rain keeps coming and it is getting wetter.
Yves struggles, but I am hard pressed to get by clean.
Brandon continues to push me. Now on laps 3.
Brandon is looking to get by me, and I am trying to find my way by
yves still. Lap 4
yves bobbles getting me on his bumper.
Adam is ahead, as we enter the 180 corner.
Adam runs wide, as we are coming through
yves checks up and then accelerates getting sideways. I was inside him, and as his car slides sideways my front end pushes him back correct
(your welcome
yves )
Brandon slips through, with
yves getting in front of me. Next corner
Brandon wide me and
yves back through yves 2nd and me 3rd. And the rain begins to stop getting heavier on lap 5. (Teamspeak is now the weather channel
As we approach lap 6 the rain begins dying down and the track drying, and
Adam is pitting. Me and
Yves proceeed with a gap now on
Brandon. The battle with me and
yves at times is only seperated by inches. Battle continutes until the start of lap 9 when I get a run through T1 and T2 which puts
yves on a defensive line for T3. I setup wide and cross over. Nailed the apex and had my run to get by for T4. Now im focused on distancing and planning for my stop on Lap 10, which would be 2 wet front tires as the track was around 23% wet but the rain had stopped. Nailing my pit stop I maintained the lead with
Adam pushing through from his early stop to 2nd. and
Brandon 3rd. With clear track in front and about a 7 second lead my goal is to maintain and not make mistakes...just starting lap 12....T1 i caught too much curb and went around. With my knowledge of FWD donuts I slammed it in reverse and got rightways and only lost 4 seconds of my lead. (On teamspeak
Olly is sceaming how amazing a spin that was and asking "
keith was that you?") Carrying on a bit shaken up goal is no mistakes and bring it home AGAIN!. Luckily no mistakes and I brought home the win.
Grats to
Yves for 2nd, and to
Peter for 3rd. Bad luck to
Adam for Fuel, and to
Brandon. He had small unavoidable contact with
Peter in T2 coming off the curb, but as a gentlemen he waited for
Peter. Good show everyone.
Race 2: Now starting 8th, with a Blue sky, and a damp track....in teamspeak as
Olly says "YEEEEEEHAWWWWW" Before the race I switched to my Dry setup, but forgot to add the fuel needed to race, and started with only 11litres. More on this further down.
The start was hairy, damp track slick tires. With a few at the front getting off at different speeds there was a conflict. Many cars little real estate
when this happens it is hard to avoid an incident. Looks like
Rhys went to change lanes and
Peter was just at his rear quarter. When
Rhys moved it sent him around no fault to
Peter. This sent him into
Brandon and
peter across into
Yves path. Everyone slows down, and as I approach
yves I am rear ended, again to no fault of anyone. It was a scenario of alot of cars with little room, it happens. After the madness I settle into 8th and seeing newcomer
Glenn making his way clean through the pile of cars (well done man, not easy navigating cleanly in that). I believe
Glenn gave me a pass by him which I appreciate, but is not necessary. You have every right to a position out there as I do. But thank you tho. I was now in 6th entering T4 and
Michel Usal runs wide which gets me P5. With a raging battle up front of 4 cars bumper to bumper, I am pushing to catch.
Yuri and
Brandon exhcange positions in T3 and then again in T4, and I am looking for an opening. Starting lap 3
Yuri gets
Brandon again in T3 but runs wide getting in the grass, allowing
Brandon to crossover and me to get a run down the long straight. I managed to get by
Yuri, but his car was better under braking, and
Yuri got back inside but I was able to hold the outside now taking P5. Same lap entering T6
Brandon gets inside
Jason who gets wide and I managed to sneak beside him. Then in T7 very cleanly
Jason and I ran side by side and I just barely held the outside to take P3. Now behind
Brandon, who is chasing down
Jarrod (newly back to sim racing) Im thinking about how mucht time I will lose in the pits taking my fuel. On lap 5 I get a run outa T3 on
Brandon down the straight and we run side by side through the 180degree T4. Heading to T6 I am close and put a fake move inside on Brandon, and he runs ever so slightly wide. I was able to get by before T7 and was pushing for
Jarrod who was still leading. On lap 6 through T1 and T2
Jarrod runs wide losing momentum. Entering T3 I pushed for a good corner to get a draft/run on
Jarrod, which worked perfect and I was able to slip by for T4. Now leading the fuel issue im addressing and I add the 13litres to my 2 front tire stop...BUT...I forgot to accept and pit only taking 2 tires. Now with 1.4 litres left I do one more lap to get back and pit again to take my fuel for stop #2. Entering the pits I missed the corner to enter, and lost more time. Get my fuel and reenter the track in P9, now on lap 9. Now pushing to salvage the overall result, i gain one position from
Michel Usal pitting, up to P8 on lap 10.
Jarrod gets loose in T2 on lap 11 up to P7. With
Steve ahead after his late stop Im pushing even harder for a possible top 5. With
Steve in front and
Yves and
Jason in the distance starting lap 13 going down the long straight into T4, it looks like
Yves downshifted too quickly and locked up into the grass collecting
Jason (sorry for your luck
Jason you were having a wicked run, but it can happen at anytime). With this happening it allows
Steve by Yves, with me tucking in behind Yves. With a top 5 in the cards, im waiting to see an opening. T1 on lap 14
Jason runs a little wide and has a bad entry to T2, this pushes his car wide into the grass, and sends the car sideways.
Steve gets in the grass as he checks up and gets sideways with
Yves right there to collect him and
Jason who was slowed on the grass. As I am a little bit behind I see an opening and go for it, and
Jasons sideways car came across the track and knicked my front end as I was going by. This put me up to 4th which was where I ran til the end.
Big congrats to
Brandon Lawson for his first ever RD race win. Grats to
Adam and
Yuri for the top 3's. Tough luck to
Jason, and to
Steve who had amazing runs going.
With all that had happened this race with a 1st and a 4th I managed to get 15 points. This put me in a tie for the win with my long time friend
Brandon Lawson, who did amazing today and deserved where he finished. Big congratulations buddy, you drove amazing today and showed amazing sportsmanship.
Id also like to say well done to
Glenn Peterson for his first ever race at RD,
Jason Habley for his ever improving races here with us,
John Sydenstricker who litrelly bought STCC thanks to my subtle persuasion just so he could race with us,
Yuri Braham who stayed up til 4:30am to race with us, and
Jarrod Keen who is back from a break from Sim racing, thanks for joining us tonite. I could go on but I got other things id like to write.
Ok now that I finished that novel. Sorry everyone for the length but I wrote the report while I watched the replay in real time, only stopping it for a few seconds to recap big incidents.
Thank you everyone for joining tonite. As you can see there is a direction that these events are headed with the social group, with
Eric K, myself and the input of you guys the racers. I truly feel that the US races should never had less then 20 people per race. The key to getting there and maintaining is quality of racing, along with organization. Tonites race with 20 entries tied for the most entries in a Friday event. I believe we can see 25 on a regular basis. The format is there, the extras are there, the quality of racing is there, the great group of people is here, its just a matter of keeping what we have now and improving on that. Racer input, suggestions, complaints, are all key to making that possible. The racing group I believe can make that possible, so I really hope everyone will subscirbe to the group, and put in their 2 cents whenever they have time.
Ive got so much more on my mind I would like to say, but just cant get it all out right now. But know that my efforts, and enthiusiasm towards our events is because I truly have a passion for the racing and comradery that comes from these events. I think the future is looking bright and tonite was simply the foreshadowing of what is to come.
Thank you
Eric K for all your hard work, and I look forward to what is coming. Thank you
RD and Admins, for hosting and providing us with this place. Lastly thank each and everyone one of the racers that came out tonite, you guys are what makes racing these races a joy.
Final thank you....this is for anyone who read everything I wrote :rotfl:
And a final note if you are in the Group for friday racers located here
http://forum.racedepartment.com/groups/s2000-friday-night-racers.html please subscribe to that group. This will give you email updates of changes/practice sessions/events. If you are not a member there and would like to be please PM me and I will send you invite ASAP.
Finally done typing,
Keith
