Home Field Advantage Reigns Supreme
Ashland Massachusetts,March 11, 2017 Despite some overnight snow, we had 18
Racing on Fast Five Raceway's Snake Bite circuit
racers make the trek to Ryan Archambault’s Fast Five Raceway for MARC’s seventh event of the season. Helping to swell the ranks were Gerd Wolny and Gary Hallenbeck from the Albany area and Terry Ayer for NH. These guys made their first appearance with us back in February at LenJet Raceway, it’s great to see them again so soon. In addition, we had Tom Kanan back in the fold along with Pete Medeiros Sr making his first appearance of the season.
G-Jets
G-Jet Practice
First on the docket were TransAm bodied G-Jets on Ryan’s awesome Snake Bite track. This six-lane monster as two straight sections, a one footer in the button-hook and the long main straight – every other section is curved, making for a breathtaking layout. The TransAm cars looked so cool flying around the track (some literally, others figuratively – JR).
Sportsman
After the obligatory 90-minute practice session, the 10 Sportsman drivers were ready to
G-Jet Sportsman Podium - Mike Tiffany 1st, Matt Patrick 2nd, Peter Medeiros jr 3rd and Tom Jahl 4th
go. Mike Tiffany immediately let the others know he was going to be a force to be reckoned with. In every lane but Green Mike set the high lap total giving him a 7 lap lead by the end of the race. While the battle for first place was nonexistent, the battle for second was the opposite with Matt Patrick and Peter Medeiros Jr going at it. Matt won the battle in Orange and Green with Pete winning the White lane. In the end, Matt got second by a few sections over Pete. Following in fourth was Tom Jahl with Gary Hallenbeck rounding out the top 5.
Pro
G-Jet Pro Podium - Tom Kanan 4th, John Reimels 3rd, John Stezelecki 2nd and Ryan Archambault 1st
Would anybody be able to prevent Ryan from dominating the race on his home track? No… Ryan stunk up the race winning the event by a whopping 14 laps. The only one putting up any challenge was John Stezelecki who managed to get a higher lap total in red but quickly fell behind in the other lanes leaving him a distance second to Ryan. John Reimels beat TK to the line by a lap giving him 3rd place with Paul Ryer finishing in 5th place.
Super Stocks
After the lunch break were we back at it with Super Stocks on Snake Bite. If G-Jets were fast, Super Stocks were just plain crazy but once “in rhythm”, the smiles began to appear. With the departure of a few folks, the decision was made to run the Sportsman and Pro groups together, something we might want to consider for next season.
Pro
Pro SS Podium - Ryan Archambault 1st, Jim Macartney 2nd, Paul Ryer 3rd and John Reimels 4th
Once again Ryan proved that an extremely good driver with very fast cars on his home track is impossible to beat by winning the race with a 22 lap cushion (it’s a good thing we like Ryan or nobody would show up for his events – JR). Coming home in second place was veteran MARC member Jim Macartney. Jim had a fast car and he drove it exceptionally well throughout the race giving him a 12 lap lead over 3rd place finisher Paul Ryer. John Reimels came in 4th followed by fifth place finisher Tom Kanan.
Sportsman
Peter Medeiros made up for his lowly 3rdplace finish in the morning race by mixing it up
Sportsman SS Podium - Gerd Wolny 4th, Tom Jahl 3rd, Donny Hall 2nd and Peter Medeiros Jr 1st
with the Pros for 4th place overall and 1st in the Sportsman division. Second place was a great battle between Tom Jahl and Donny Hall with Donny garnering 2nd by a lap over Tom. The Albany twins managed to round out the top five with Gerd Wolny in 4th and Gary Hallenbeck in 5th.
Thanks go to Ryan for hosting the event and to all the attendees who made the effort to race despite the inclement weather.
John Reimels
MARC Communication Director