Yet another snow storm affects attendance
Hull, Massachusetts, February 5, 2011 – Eleven brave souls showed up at the Nantasket Beach Raceway to compete in G-Jet and the Super Stock class for the sixth race of the 2010 / 2011 MARC series. Brave because the weather forecast was predicting severe rain and sleet starting in the afternoon and ending later in the evening. Special thanks to all racers that were able to make it to this event in spite of the weather forecast.
Lexan G-Jets
The first event for the day was the G-Jet Class with Lexan bodies, originally this race was to be the debut of the Open Wheel G-Jets but the club decided to postpone their first appearance until April. Rob Hayes, who borrowed a G-Jet at the last event, received a new G-Jet from Scale Auto only a few days before the event. Unable to prep the car before his arrival, Rob spent the morning thrashing to get the car race ready (body post installation, AST tires, 3 ohm arm – alright, just kidding about the arm…). Whatever he did, the car was a rocket ship right from the start (maybe we should have checked the armature). Rob finished first in the Pro Class with a lap total of 231.13 and a fast lap of 4.660 seconds. Congratulations to Mr. Hayes for a very fine race. Two laps behind Rob was John Stezelecki scoring 229.11 laps and a best time of 4.721 which was good enough for a second place in the Pro Division. Vince Tamburo also ran a great race; he drove to a 228.09 lap total which gave him a first place finish in the Amateur Division. It should be noted that Vince was the only driver who managed to knock down lap times below 4.7 seconds in 3 out of 4 lanes with the best lap time of the day at a 4.606 on the white lane. Nice job Vince. John Pileggi was not having his typical “take charge” race day finishing a mere third in the Pro division putting up 226.08 laps with a fast lap of 4.823 seconds. While that might have satisfied most of us, when you’re John Pileggi, you have to win!
John Reimels, the elder of the Reimels twins (virtually indistinguishable), placed 5th overall giving him a second in the Amateur Division. John had his best time on the white lane with a 4.786 second lap and a lap total of 223.10 laps. Mr. Tom Gray (our fearless Director) was only 2 sections behind John with 223.08 laps, his finish giving him a 4th place ribbon in the Pro Division. Interestingly, Tom blasted out two lanes under the 4.7 second barrier with a best of 4.676 on white lane. Jonathan Reimels, the younger of the Reimels twins, was off his usual pace; he generally eats up the Lady Gray track but his car just wasn’t up to snuff on this occasion. Jon finished 5th in the Pro division with 222.12 laps. Peter Lentros, in his very first MARC event, banged out 221.01 laps which gave him the 3rd place ribbon in the amateur division – too bad he’s missed so many events but he’ll be a force to be reckoned with in the future. Dave Muse took the final amateur ribbon with a 4th place finish totaling 207.03 laps.
The father / son duo of Don and Scott Hall made an appearance at this event; apparently Donny enjoyed his first event at Modelville Hobby earlier in the season. Rumors are that Donny is investing heavily in tools and equipment and he’s planning on becoming a “regular” on the MARC circuit. Scott planned on crewing for his father (he hasn’t held a controller for several years and that was with a 1/24 scale car…) but after driving a club G-Jet around on the Nuvolari he was coerced into entering the race. Scott finished 3 laps ahead of his dad taking 5th in the amateur division with 185 laps proving that once a slot car racer – always a slot car racer. Imagine if he spent more time practicing on the Lady Gray rather than the Nuvolari… Donny, a long time 1/24 scale racer from Modelville Hobby, placed sixth in the amateur division with 182.14 laps.
Super Stocks
We lost three drivers before the Super Stock event even started; Don and Scott got called away to handle a leaking roof (an all too common occurrence this season…) and Peter had another commitment (what could be more important than slot car racing… geez).
First up were the amateurs; with only three drivers, this race promised to be a smooth, uneventful race. Wrong… Vince Tamburo was having trouble taming his Super Stock beast, while very fast, it was clearly a handful to drive. Dave Muse and John Reimels had the advantage of using a choke on their controllers to take the edge off their cars making them much easier to drive. Dave and John were having a hell of a race until Dave encountered body problems (with his slot car – hahahaha) leaving John alone out front. John finished first with 325.01 laps and a best time of 3.227 seconds while running on white. After overcoming his body problems, Dave drove the wheels off his car in an attempt to catch Vince for second place. When the dust settled, Dave managed to squeeze by Vince finishing with 298.10 laps and a best time of 3.258 versus Vince’s total of 296.01 laps. All drivers passed on the opportunity to run with the Pros…
The Pro Super Stock event had five drivers running in a round robin main event. With Stez sitting out the first heat, the others had a close battle leading them to believe they had a chance at the win. Once the second heat started, Stez made it clear they were wrong – he had the car to beat. Stez would take the podium with a lap total of 355.06 with his best time of 2.969 seconds set on white lane. Following Stez was Mr. Hayes; Rob managed to drive 350.12 laps with a best lap time of 2.944 on the Blue lane to give him the second place ribbon. Jon Reimels took 3rd with 339.10 laps and a fast time of 2.949 on white lane. The 4th place ribbon went to John Pileggi. John put up 334.02 laps with a best on blue with 3.072. Tom Gray took the final position for 5th Pro with 302.07 laps.
Congratulations to all the winners of each class. It was a fun day. Next MARC race is at Benny Leyro’s DANGERZONE in Yonkers, NY on Sunday, February 13th.