Pileggi sweeps Pro, Reimels sweeps Amateur
Thompson, CT, April 30, 2011 – Fourteen brave racers ventured into the sticks of Northeastern Ct to visit the foxes , deer , squirrels , chicken hawks , lake trout , and wild turkeys and to open the new Thompson Raceway Park . With the first racers arriving promptly at 8:30 A.M. Nova Scotia time to find the hostess out buying the coffee and the host somewhere in between getting out of the shower and getting dressed, things were off to an unusual start. The trend continued as the track was not ready for use. It seems the ambitious owner and his intrepid assistant Eric Handel (remember – Princess Fiona once called Donkey a “noble steed”) in an attempt to make the track just a wee bit better… had managed to make a silly error (my fault entirely) and instead created a hours to figure out and correct. The lost 4 hours kept a few things from being finished. To everyone’s credit and my undying gratitude, the racers all grabbed tools and the last few loose pieces attacking the things that needed to be done. Personally, I thank you one and all for the patience and help. By 10:30 it was time to open the track for practice and see if it was actually possible to race on it.
G-Jets
After an hour of practice, the track was deemed ready to go; it was time for MARC’s first running of G-Jets in F1 livery to commence. There was some controversy leading up to this race concerning body modifications, but, to everyone’s credit, the animosity was buried at the door and everyone had a great time. The racing was pretty entertaining and was certainly different from what most were used to between the new cars and the new but very “old school” track.
G-Jets are run as a combined group with the results split into Amateur and Pro at the conclusion. This led to some interesting heat races with Bruce Gordon, borrowing one of Stez’s Wednesday night club cars, setting the early mark to beat at 150.17 laps. This was soon eclipsed by Pro, John Pileggi, when he set a blistering total of 154.17 laps. With only 3 drivers in the last race, Durf won the “lucky dog” drawing to re-run his heat joining Rob Hayes, Erik Eckhardt and John Reimels in the final heat race of the event. After three segments, John and Erik were tied and, with a good heat, capable of surpassing Dr P’s total. When the dust cleared, John Reimels managed the heat win as well as the overall win beating Dr P by just over a lap; Eric fell 2 ½ feet short of second overall. After separating the Pros and Amateurs, the results were:
Amateur G-Jet:
- John Reimels
- Bruce Gordon
- Dave Muse
- Tom Bussmann
- Paul Ryer
- Vince Tamburo
- Bill Craven
- Eric Handel
- Durf Hyson
- Jake Boucher
Pro G-Jet :
- John Pileggi
- Erik Eckhardt
- Rob Hayes
- Jonathan Reimels
- Tom Gray
Super Stocks
After a quick break for lunch Super Stock practice commenced. It quickly became obvious that this was going to be a quick, hard, fast race amongst the group at the head of the pack. With championship positions hanging in the balance, we anticipated tight battles throughout the field.
For Super Stocks, the racing is broken up into two round robins with the Amateurs up first. The action was fast furious and sometimes a little wild. Emerging at the top of the heap to complete the “Daily Double” was John Reimels with a 229 lap 11 segment performance. Second went to Bruce Gordon with 226 laps 6 sections. To complete the trend from the morning Dave Muse was third with 211 laps 9 sections.
The complete finishing order for Amateur:
- John Reimels
- Bruce Gordon
- Dave Muse
- Vince Tamburo
- Paul Ryer
- Tom Bussman
- Eric Handel
- Jake Boucher
- Bill Craven
- Durf Hyson (DSQ Tech Violation)
With John Reimels passing on the move up Bruce Gordon joined the Pros for what was sure to be a barn burner. The first segment ended with JP rocketing around to lay down a storming 63 laps to Jonathan Reimels’ 59 and Rob Hayes’s 58. The second segment was tight with JP and Rob both posting a 59 and Jonathan a relatively dismal 54. This put us at the halfway point with JP at 122 , Rob at 117 , and Jonathan at 113; the surprise at this point was Bruce, the amateur move- up was third on the track with a 116 lap total . Segment three had Dr P edging Rob by 1 lap, 56 to 55 while both Bruce and Jonathan solidified their positions with matching 58 lap segments. At this point Dr P had 178, Bruce with 174, Rob with 172, and Jonathan with 171. As JP edged away from the field, the attention focused on the fight between Rob, Jonathan and Bruce. As the race progressed Jonathan began to inexorably creep away from Rob and started pulling in Bruce for second. At the conclusion, JP had rocketed off to the win with a 239 lap 14 section total with Bruce and Jonathan 8 laps behind, Jonathan falling short of catching Bruce by 9 sections.
Pro finishing order:
- John Pileggi
- Bruce Gordon
- Jonathan Reimels
- Rob Hayes
- Erik Eckhardt
- Tom Gray
An exciting finish to another good season on a day that started badly but ended well. Again I thank everyone involved in the race for their patience and help; I hope by the end of the day it seemed worth it . Special kudos go to the 3 E’s who helped me construct the track (Eric Handel , Erik Eckhardt , and Rob-ee Hayes). I would also beg your indulgence while I thank the Chef . Without her you have no grass, no rock wall, and soggy pizza for lunch.
Thanks to everyone for coming I hope overall you enjoyed yourselves.
Thanks!
Durf