Hingham, Massachusetts, December 13, 2014 – Eighteen drivers entered the South Shore Speedway hoping to walk out with some ribbons to hang on the tree. 

This year

Vintage NASCAR was the chosen body type for the G-Jet race.

  Once again Peter Lentros made sure there were bodies for everyone with a shipment of freshly painted bodies from Terry Flynn at Harden Creek.  Those, along with the bodies by Reimels made for an authentic looking NASCAR field.  You could almost see the driver smoking a butt while their cars were being refueled.

Sadly, our good friend Durf Hyson was not present as he continues to recover from surgery.  MARC members, and many others, stepped up and purchased many tickets for the raffle of two John “Dr.” Pileggi built Super Stock cars.  We are well on our way to reaching our goal and I thank everyone who has donated.  It’s a good bet we’ll reach our goal at the next race and two lucky people will be driving some fast Super Stocks.

Now back to the racing.  First up was G-Jet sporting Vintage NASCAR bodies.  As a compromise to those with other obligations later in the day, it was decided to use an hour and 15 minutes practice to dial the cars in.  Lap times ranged from low 5-second laps to low 4-second laps.  Practice went quick and the amateurs were lined up to start the day.  Casey Bussmann made his MARC debut bringing another father/son team to the lineup.  The amateur field had eight drivers with quiet a few running their first race on the reconfigured Elvis. 

Peter Lentros was obviously prepped for the day as he walked away

 

with a 28 lap lead to finish first with 231 laps.

  He also laid down the top heat total of 60 laps in the tricky green lane.  As slot car guru Yoda once said, “Master green and a contender you’ll be”.  The rest of the field was very close with just four laps separating the rest of the field.  Overall it was a very clean race.  Doing well in green and red really helped to push you up the order.  Ryan Archabault had a great run to finish second with 203 laps.  Not bad for his first time on the track.  Tom Smith had a solid drive to third just a lap behind Ryan with 202 laps.  Peter Medeiros  Jr.  took the last ribbon finishing fourth with 199 laps.  A tough drive in green kept Jim Colligan just out of the ribbons.  Casey Bussmann had a solid drive for his first MARC showing.  Some more track time and he’ll be up on the podium.

 

 

Amateur Results:

Driver	Green	Blue	Yellow	Red	Total	Avg
Peter Lentros	60	56	58	57	231	57.75
Ryan Archambault	48	53	53	49	203	50.75
Tom Smith	49	50	52	51	202	50.5
Peter Medeiros Jr.	51	48	50	50	199	49.75
Jim Colligan	46	50	50	48	194	48.5
Pete Medeiros	41	44	48	41	174	43.5
Tom Bussmann	41	43	44	43	171	42.75
Casey Bussmann	32	39	40	38	149	37.25

 

 

With Peter moving up, there were eleven drivers in the Pro field.  Once again you had to be strong in the gutters to finish on top.  Fast laps were in the 4.3 to 4.4 range, with the top drivers averaging in the high 4 second range.  The top four drivers were separated by just seven laps.  Reimels Sr and Jr., Stez and Lentros all had a shot to win.  Jonathan ended up taking the top spot with 247 laps and a heat high of 65 laps in yellow.  Stez was just a lap behind in second with 246 laps.  Red was where Jonathan got him. 

Reimels Sr. took third

 

 

with 244 laps.

  He was good in the gutters, but Stez and Jonathan pushed harder in the center lanes.  Peter improved his lap total from the amateur race by 9 laps to finish fourth with 240 laps.  Rob Hayes had an uncharacteristically tough race with car issues and missed his time in blue.

 

 Pro Results:

Driver	Green	Blue	Yellow	Red	Total	Avg
Jonathan Reimels	60	62	65	60	247	61.75
John Stezelecki	60	63	64	59	246	61.5
John Reimels	59	62	63	60	244	61
Peter Lentros	60	59	61	60	240	60
John Pileggi	55	58	61	56	230	57.5
Paul Ryer	57	58	58	56	229	57.25
Vince Tamburo	49	58	57	52	216	54
Dave Muse	46	54	49	53	202	50.5
Tom Gray	47	50	54	49	200	50
Benny Leyro	47	50	52	43	192	48
Rob Hayes	50	0	58	55	163	40.75

 

 

 

 

Two hours of practice would give the drivers time to dial in their Super Stock cars and fuel up with some lunch.  Once again pasta from Alfredo Aiello topped the lunch menu in the hope that full drivers would be slow drivers.  It wasn’t to be the case with fast laps in the 27 to 2.9 range.  Setup needed to be a balance between top speed and downforce for the tight corners.  Seven amateurs lined up for the Super Stock race.  Once again Lentros blasted out a big lead, he must have had his Wheaties for breakfast.  He took the top spot with a 18 lap lead over second and a top heat total of 95 in the yellow lane.  With the win Peter swept the amateur ranks for the day and is well on his way to ensuring he moves up to Pro next year.  Peter Medeiros Jr. had a great run to second place in his first MARC race on Elvis.  His heat high total of 94 laps was just a lap off Lentros’ high heat lap total. 

Ryan has a great run in his first MARC race on Elvis with a lap total of 322 laps with consistent lap

 

 

totals across the lanes.

  Casey Bussmann had a solid run with the quick Super Stock cars and we hope to see him at more MARC races in the future.

 

 

 Amateur Results:

Drivers	Green	Blue	Yellow	Red	Total	Avg
Peter Lentros	79	91	95	82	347	86.75
Peter Medeiros Jr.	80	94	83	72	329	82.25
Ryan Archambault	72	85	82	83	322	80.5
Jim Colligan	68	84	82	76	310	77.5
Tom Bussmann	75	62	87	65	289	72.25
Casey Bussmann	56	64	66	53	239	59.75
Pete Medeiros	52	21	80	68	221	55.25

 

Now it was time for the Pro Show.  With Peter moving up once again, there were nine drivers in the field.  Unfortunately John Pileggi had to leave due to a prior engagement.

 

He was looking fast in practice.  Sub 3-second laps were showing up though out the field.  Good lap totals in green and red were needed to make it into the main.  Rob Hayes and Paul Ryer broke into the triple digit heat totals with Paul turning 102 laps in blue and Rob turning 100 laps in yellow.  Ryer took down the win with 384 laps.  Rob Hayes was 10 laps behind in second with 374 laps.  Jonathan quietly motored to third with 368 laps and Reimels Sr. took the last spot in the main with 360 laps and just edging Lentros out who finished with 357 laps.  The main was going to be interesting.  Could it be Ryer was going to take the win on his home track or were people holding something back for the main?

 

 Pro Results:

Drivers	Green	Blue	Yellow	Red	Total	Avg
Paul Ryer	97	102	98	87	384	96
Rob Hayes	90	96	100	88	374	93.5
Jonathan Reimels	83	95	96	94	368	92
John Reimels	83	94	92	91	360	90
Peter Lentros	83	91	96	87	357	89.25
Benny Leyro	74	96	99	86	355	88.75
Vince Tamburo	78	98	95	79	350	87.5
Dave Muse	77	86	92	82	337	84.25
Tom Gray	74	90	87	78	329	82.25

 With the completion of the Round Robin, the drivers for the main were set.  Lane choice was based on finishing order and the drivers had 10 minutes to freshen up their cars.   Finishing order in the main would determine the order for the top four in the pro race.  Ryer chose to start in green, Hayes would start in blue, Jonathan started in yellow and John started in red.  After the first heat Jonathan jumped out to seven lap lead with Ryer second and Hayes and Reimels Sr. tied.  In the next heats Jonathan stretched his lead out and Ryer solidified himself in second.  In the last heat, Jonathan was on Green and Ryer was in blue.  Time ran out too soon for Ryer to catch Jonathan.  He got to within 2 laps  but Jonathan turned his third place finish in the Round Robin  to a first place finish in then main and swept the day for the pros.  Ryer took second in the main followed by Hayes in third and Reimels Sr in fourth.  An exciting race and great finish to the day.

 Pro Main Results:

Driver	Green	Blue	Yellow	Red	Total	Avg
Jonathan Reimels	48	58	63	57	226	56.5
Paul Ryer	56	58	56	54	224	56
Rob Hayes	52	55	59	50	216	54
John Reimels	47	52	54	55	208	52

 

Ribbons were awarded, hands were shook and everyone packed up headed out.  Thank you to everyone who showed up for another great day of racing.  See you at the next MARC race in January at Modelville/Lenjet where the classes will be MARC Spec Stock on the Purple Mile and Super Stock on the Viper

 

 

 

The race report as recorded this day

December 22, 2014

Douglas C. Neidermeyer

Sergeant at Arms