Jsortor
05-29-2007, 03:32 PM
Back to work after an extended weekend in upstate NY. Race weekend #2 at Watkins Glen was a "rollercoaster" just like the track itself can be described. Completed the weekend with 9th and 5th place finishes, though they both had potential to be podiums.
Qualified 5th on the grid and had a decent start in race one. I made the rookie mistake of bailing out of going two-wide in the chicane though and relegated myself to dead last. AAhh! At this point the red mist began fogging my vision and I went to town passing one car after another. I was easily just inches away from wadding up the car 4 or 5 times. Unknown to me at the time, I was actually back up to 4th place before I had to make a huge save to avoid spinning that caused me to go "4 wheels off" on the track out of the corner. This unfortunately warrants the dreaded black flag which effectively washed away everthing I accomplished during the race. The bright spot about the race was that my lap times were second best only to the eventual winner who is a multi-time Skip Barber series champion and has 100's of laps at the Glen.
Race #2, starting inside the 5th row. Get stuck inside behind two guys who park it at the apex. Just about everybody goes around us to the outside. Scrap for every inch during the first lap, including two-wide into the chicane (no rookie move this time!) The top 4 guys gap the field a bit which left me in limbo land after I get to 5th place. I finally caught 4th place, but not before I ran out of laps, so I had to settle for 5th. Again my lap times would have made for a great podium fight if I didn't have to start so deep in the field.
Next month, Road America. Lots of drafting, hopefully a couple of podiums to keep up in the points race! Keep you posted!
Qualified 5th on the grid and had a decent start in race one. I made the rookie mistake of bailing out of going two-wide in the chicane though and relegated myself to dead last. AAhh! At this point the red mist began fogging my vision and I went to town passing one car after another. I was easily just inches away from wadding up the car 4 or 5 times. Unknown to me at the time, I was actually back up to 4th place before I had to make a huge save to avoid spinning that caused me to go "4 wheels off" on the track out of the corner. This unfortunately warrants the dreaded black flag which effectively washed away everthing I accomplished during the race. The bright spot about the race was that my lap times were second best only to the eventual winner who is a multi-time Skip Barber series champion and has 100's of laps at the Glen.
Race #2, starting inside the 5th row. Get stuck inside behind two guys who park it at the apex. Just about everybody goes around us to the outside. Scrap for every inch during the first lap, including two-wide into the chicane (no rookie move this time!) The top 4 guys gap the field a bit which left me in limbo land after I get to 5th place. I finally caught 4th place, but not before I ran out of laps, so I had to settle for 5th. Again my lap times would have made for a great podium fight if I didn't have to start so deep in the field.
Next month, Road America. Lots of drafting, hopefully a couple of podiums to keep up in the points race! Keep you posted!