That’s all folks! The end of another successful MARC season
Ashland, MA May 9, 2015 – The final event for the 2014 – 2015 season is in the books. 19
MARC racers "cheek to cheek" with the 1/24 NECC series racers
drivers, 8 amateurs and 11 pros showed up to determine the season finishing positions. The top 4 positions in all the classes were yet to be decided. This will also be the last season Jonathan Reimels races with us as a bachelor. With wedding festivities the following week, he will return to us in fall as a married man. Congratulations Jonathan! The first class for the day was Super Stock on the Scorpion. Thanks to Dave Muse for spending his Saturday the previous weekend working on the wiring, the track worked flawlessly. The 1/24 racers who were on the Hillclimb right next to the Scorpion were less than flawless with many “TRACK!” calls. The second class for the day was CMPM on the fast and smooth Viper. The track was fast and smooth, but the timing systems were anything but smooth making for a very long day for the Pros. Thanks to everyone for their patience as we dealt with software issues. In any case, on to the results.
Super Stock
If you want to be a winner on the Scorpion, you have to master the gutter lanes. So through practice, there was always a line of people waiting to get on red and yellow. You may look like a superstar in Orange, but if your setup is wrong, you’ll be a back marker in the gutter lanes. An hour and a half of practice flew by and then the amateurs were up for racing.
Amateur Division
SS Amateur Podium - Ryan 2nd, Peter Jr 3rd and Nick 1st
Nick Kanan and Ryan Archambault battled it out for the top spot putting up lap totals that would have gotten them a solid finish in the pro race. In the end Nick took the top spot with 527.12 laps to Ryan’s 521.22 laps. Peter Medeiros Jr had a lock on third place with 488.25 laps. Donny Hall grabbed fourth with 458.17 laps. Peter Lentros had some uncharacteristic heat issues that were corrected with an adjustment to the motor brushes, but it put him in the back of the pack.
| Pos | Driver | Total | Fastest |
| 1 | Nick Kanan | 527.12 | 2.755 |
| 2 | Ryan Archambault | 521.22 | 2.745 |
| 3 | Peter Medeiros Jr. | 488.25 | 2.935 |
| 4 | Don Hall | 458.17 | 3.077 |
| 5 | Jim Colligan | 424.18 | 2.990 |
| 6 | Tom Smith | 423.25 | 3.620 |
| 7 | Peter Lentros | 413.12 | 2.898 |
| 8 | Durf Hyson | 342.09 | 3.782 |
Pro Division
With Nick choosing to race with the pros, the field was up to 13 racers as Durf joined as well.
SS Pro Podium - Dan 1st, TK 2nd, Tom 3rd and Erik 4th
The field was littered with drivers very familiar with the Scorpion layout - I think Dan Decosmo and Tom Kanan might have run a lap or two on one… Dan proved he’s still got it, putting up 570.01 laps for the win and the only one to get over 100 laps in a heat with 102 laps in Blue. Second through fourth was a close race with only 6 laps covering those positions. Tom Kanan took second with 537.26 laps and Tom Gray put together a great run to finish a few laps behind TK with 533.25 laps. Erik Eckhardt was right behind Tom in fourth with 531.26 laps.
| Pos | Driver | Total | Fastest |
| 1 | Dan Decosmo | 570.01 | 2.694 |
| 2 | Tom Kanan | 537.26 | 2.794 |
| 3 | Tom Gray | 533.25 | 2.831 |
| 4 | Erik Eckhardt | 531.26 | 2.669 |
| 5 | Jonathan Reimels | 526.22 | 2.955 |
| 6 | Vince Tamburo | 498.16 | 2.771 |
| 7 | Paul Ryer | 494.01 | 2.728 |
| 8 | Benny Leyro | 491.15 | 2.940 |
| 9 | John Reimels | 490.07 | 3.050 |
| 10 | Nick Kanan | 489.19 | 2.686 |
| 11 | Dave Muse | 475.00 | 3.004 |
| 12 | Jim Macartney | 461.17 | 2.967 |
Compression Molded Polymer Magnet (CMPM)
The Viper is tailor made for CMPM cars – fast and smooth. Set up the car to handle the
Fast times on the Viper!
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. Replacing the TrackMate card on the Viper is relatively easy as well with Dave Muse in the house. Well, Dave had to go to work and he took the timing system mojo with him, things ran smooth for the amateur race, but not so much for the Pro race. However, with lots of patience from the drivers and perseverance by the race director, we worked through several restarts and switching of software to complete the event.
Amateur Division
CMPM Amateur Podium - Peter Jr 1st, Ryan 2nd, Peter Lentros 3rd, Durf 4th
Many of the amateurs elected not to run CMPM leaving four drivers. Even Quick Nick was out! In any case it was decided to run the 4 center lanes for the four drivers. Peter Medeiros Jr has raced hard all season and it showed with his first first place finish of the season. Pete laid down 362 laps for the win. Ryan Archambault capped off a great season with 338 laps for second followed by Peter Lentros is third with 334 laps. Durf rounded out the field finishing fourth with 266 laps.
Pro Division
CMPM Pro Podium - Jonathan 1st, Rob 2nd, Erik 3rd and John R 4th
After all the starts and stops, eleven pros stuck it out for the final race of the season. Unfortunately Dan Decosmo and Dave Muse had to take off. But Rob Hayes and longtime MARC supporter and member of MARC 24 hour UK race team John Hubbard, stepped in. The Reimels Racing crew has been improving their CMPM program all season and that came to fruition with a win for Jonathan with 586 laps. Rob Hayes put in a solid run to take second with 555 laps. Flatfish racing put a solid ride in Erik Eckhardt’s hands that he drove to third place with 541 laps. John Reimels squeaked out TK for fourth with 535 laps to TK’s 531.
| Pos | Driver | Total |
| 1 | Jonathan Reimels | 589 |
| 2 | Rob Hayes | 555 |
| 3 | Erik Eckhardt | 541 |
| 4 | John Reimels | 535 |
| 5 | Tom Kanan | 531 |
| 6 | Paul Ryer | 530 |
| 7 | John Hubbard | 515 |
| 8 | Vince Tamburo | 503 |
| 9 | Jim Macartney | 437 |
| 10 | Tom Gray | 311 |
| 11 | Benny Leyro | 115 |
Thanks go to Peter Lentros for hosting the event and supplying the pizza and to Dave Muse for doing his Mr. Wizard impression and getting the tracks up and running the SS races.
2014 / 2015 Season Champions
Congratulations to the 2014 / 2015 season champions. This past season had the tightest point spread amongst the championship contenders I’ve seen since keeping the records (which was the 2009 / 2010 season). No championship was decided before the very last race; again, the first time I’ve seen that happen. We had four different champions in the four divisions – again, the first time I’ve seen that. We had 7 different winners in the Pro Production division and 4 winners in each of the other divisions. It’s getting tough to pull off a win; it’s getting even tougher to win a championship. Hats off to all participants, you’ve made this season what it was – a huge success.
Pro Production Division
- John Reimels 685 pts (1 win)
- Jonathan Reimels 670 pts (3 wins)
- John Pileggi 670 pts (1 win)
- Paul Ryer 645 pts
Amateur Production Division
- Ryan Archambeault 725 pts (4 wins)
- Peter Lentros 695 pts (3 wins)
- Peter Medeiros Jr 670 pts
- Tom Smith 635 pts
Pro Championship Division
- Jonathan Reimels 710 pts (5 wins)
- Rob Hayes 700 pts (2 wins)
- John Reimels 680 pts (2 wins)
- John Pileggi 665 pts
Amateur Championship Division
- Peter Lentros 720 pts (4 wins)
- Ryan Archambeault 715 pts (3 wins)
- Peter Medeiros Jr 705 pts (1 win)
- Pete Medeiros 600 pts
The race report as recorded this day
May 21, 2015
Douglas C. Neidermeyer
Sergeant at Arms