Ryan Sweeps while Rob and Jonathan Split
Ashland, MA April 11, 2015 – The first real warm sunny day of the year
Amateurs hard at it racing Spec Stocks on the Champion
did not appear to hamper drivers from attending the ninth race of the current MARC season; we had 9 amateurs and 10 pros in attendance to race Spec Stock on the Champion and CMPM on the Viper. With the season quickly drawing to a close and every championship still wide open, enjoying the wonderful weather can wait for another day!
Spec Stock
Spec Stock with modern NASCAR bodies was up first as drivers queued up for track time on the critical gutter lanes. Fast laps were comparable to Super Stocks, apparently the stronger magnets in Spec Stock compensate for the better tires used in
Super Stock. Frankly, I prefer the way Super Stocks handle but judging from various comments I heard from a lot of drivers, I may be in the minority… Either way, driving on the Champion is always fun whether it’s T-Jets or Super Stocks, the track has such a nice rhythm.
Amateur Division
- Spec Stock Amateur Podium – Ryan 1st, Peter 2nd, Jimmy 3rd (being played by Rob), Peter M Jr 4th
Ryan Archambault made the best use of practice hitting the setup on his car perfectly. With the exception of the yellow lane, Ryan got top lap totals across the board in addition to setting the fastest lap of the race at 3.256 seconds whilst in the White lane. Peter Lentros finished second, 5 laps off Ryan’s pace. To beat Peter on any track at his LenJet Raceway is no easy task especially on the Champion. Oh Jimmy Colligan had a great run to finish third, before too long Jimmy will be battling for the top spot on the podium. Peter Medeiros Jr ran strong finishing fourth setting highest lap total and fastest lap in the tough Red gutter lane. In fact, Peter’s best lane was Red – me thinks he needs to practice on more lanes than just red! Tom Smith usually avoids the faster cars but did an admirable job finishing fifth.
Pro Division
Spec Stock Pro Podium - Rob 1st, Dr P 2nd, Ryan 3rd, Jonathan 4th
With Ryan choosing to race with the pros, the field was up to 11 racers. The last time we ran Spec Stock was at Rob Hayes’ Catfish International where he completely dominated the event winning the race by an impressive 14 laps but most folks chalked up the victory to local track knowledge. While this may be true, Rob showed he also builds a hell of a Spec Stock by making it two in a row winning the event by 3 laps over John Pileggi. Ryan showed his victory in the amateur division was no fluke by finishing third followed by Jonathan Reimels in fourth. MARC Director, Paul Ryer finished fifth setting fast lap in the red lane. Vince Tamburo came home in sixth.
Compression Molded Polymer Magnet (CMPM)
The Viper - FAST and SMOOTH
The Viper is tailor made for CMPM cars – fast and smooth. Set up the car to handle the esses and the rest is easy. Well, maybe not easy but it’s certainly a lot easier than NOT having the car set up for the esses – then it’s just work.
Amateur Division
With Eric Handel, Tom Smith, Pete Medeiros and Jimmy Colligan opting out of the fast stuff, the amateur field was down to five drivers. Since the Viper is a six lane track we decided to eliminate the yellow lane and run a simple 5 heat event. With Peter Lentros running into trouble in the green lane, the race turned into a Ryan Run-Away – a phrase that’s becoming more and more popular these days. Ryan won the event by an amazing 20 laps
CMPM Amateur Podium - Durf 4th, Peter L 3rd, Peter M Jr 2nd, Ryan 1st (again)
over second place finisher Peter Medeiros Jr. It was great to see junior running near the front of the pack in this tough class, get him a few more CMPM races under his belt and he’ll be challenging for the top spot. Peter Lentros recovered from his green lane woes to finish third followed by Durf Hyson. Donny Hall had equipment issues end his race early, the car finishing the race neatly packed away in his pit box.
Pro Division
Vince and Jonathan talking strategy
Once again Ryan opted to run with the pros making all four events of the day – talk about a full day of racing! With Vince Tamburo and Dave Muse not running, the field was down to 10 drivers. The decision was made to run the 5 minute round robin on all six lanes followed by a 3 minute main on the center four lanes. In the round robin, Ryan was fast setting fast lap in the red and white lanes. Paul Ryer was also fast setting fast lap in green and yellow. However fast laps don’t ensure victory – races are won by lap totals and Rob Hayes had the field covered in that category winning the event by 3 laps over John Pileggi. Note that neither John nor Rob had the fastest lap on any lane but between the two of them they had high lap totals in 5 of the 6 lanes, only Jonathan Reimels managing to break their strangle hold while he was running in the blue lane. In addition to Rob and John, both Paul Ryer and Jonathan Reimels made the main. Missing the main were John Reimels in 5th, Tom Kanan in 6th, Ryan in 7th, Tommy Gray in 8th, Jim Macartney in 9th and Erik Eckhart in 10th.
CMPM Main Event Podium - Jonathan 1st, John P 2nd, Rob 3rd, Paul 4th
The main event was pretty intense but I don’t have the lane totals and fastest lap numbers due to a computer glitch while printing. All I can say is that Rob’s car seemed to have lost some of its mojo and Paul’s car lost more than its mojo, it finished the race in his pit box. Jonathan ran a clean race finishing with a seven lap lead over Dr P with Rob a further 8 laps behind in third.
Thanks go to Peter Lentros for hosting the event and supplying the pizza and to Dave Muse for setting up the computer and running the races (we’ll forgive him for the main event printing miscue – JR).
We’re back at Modelville Hobby for the last race of the year on May 9th running Super Stocks on the Scorpion and CMPM on the Viper. That’ll wrap up the season so there’s a lot on the line! Hope to see you there.
John Reimels
MARC Communication Director