Race Report – Thompson Raceway Park
Thompson, Connecticut September 9 2017
Hi Ho , Hi Ho , It’s off to race we go !
We go so fast and crash you know ,
Ho Ho , Hi Ho .
GJets you know and Stez will blow
the doors off all us.
Hi Ho , Hi Ho .
Super Stock is where we’ll go
To race the Pros
Hi Ho , Hi Ho
Erik will win from Rob again
Hi Ho , Hi Ho .
So 14 hardy racers braved the deep woods to open the new MARC season . Despite having
Durf Hyson's Thompson Raceway Park ready to go
only 40% of the usual “J’s” in the house but with Stez and Mike Resnick putting in appearances the GJet round robin commenced . Stez ran off and hid , cruising to an easy 8 lap win over 2nd place Rob Hayes . The excitement came from the battle for 3rd place
in the overall standings . Paul Ryer , Mike Resnick , and Erik Eckhardt battled it out with all three scoring 153 lap totals . Paul with 20 sections led the group and pulled down 3rd in the Pro division . Mike Resnick was 4th overall with 15 sections which put him 1st amongst the Amateurs . Erik finished 5th overall with 11 sections and
so was 4th amongst the Pros . The full fields were as follows :
Pro . 1.) John Stezelecki , 2.) Rob Hayes , 3.) Paul Ryer , 4.) Erik Eckhardt , 5.) Dave Muse , 6.) Don Hall 7.) Tom Gray , 8.) Peter “three is a lot of colors to keep straight” Lentros
Amateur . 1.) Mike Resnick , 2.) Hal Pierce (quietly sneaking an excellent one in on the crowd) , 3.) Matt Patrick 4.) Terry Ayer , 5.) Jimmy Colligan , 6.) Durf Hyson
Sportsman SS Podium - Terry Ayer 2nd, Matt Patrick 1st, Durf Hyson 3rd and Jim Colligan 4th
Next up was lunch thanks to the tireless efforts of the Missus and some good home cooking after which Super Stock practice commenced . This period gave us a hint of what was to come with 4.0 second lap times interspersed with the occasional high 3 second times . It looked like a setup for a good race and it turned out to be one . With Erik posting one lap less than last year and Rob posting two more the race was in doubt right up to the end of the last segment with Erik squeaking out the win by 3 laps . Overall Tom Gray was 3rd followed by Paul Ryer . Matt Patrick’s 6th overall finish put him 1st amongst the Amateur ranks with Terry Ayer 2nd , Durf Hyson 3rd and “Oh Jimmy” Colligan 4th .
The full fields ere as follows:
Pro . 1.) Erik Eckhardt , 2.) Rob Hayes , 3.) Tom Gray , 4.) Paul Ryer , 5.) Peter Lentros
Amateur . 1.) Matt Patrick , 2.) Terry Ayer 3.) Durf Hyson , 4.) Jim Colligan , 5.) Don Hall , 6.) Hal Pierce 7.) Dave Muse
Sportsman G-Jet Podium - Mike Resnick 1st, Matt Patrick 3rd, Hal Pierce 2nd and Terry Ayer 4th
So another race at the place in the woods by the lake in the books . I thank all for coming and hope everyone
had a good time . And on to the next race October 14th …
Over the river and through the ‘hoods , to Catfish’s house we go . Where there will be guys , and lots of
cool pies , and anthems we all know , oh !