A Couple of Guests Drop By!
Ashland Massachusetts, March 20, 2021 – Fourteen drivers dropped by the LenJet HO Raceway for a full day of racing including Roger “RPMS” Porcelli and Mark Heller
Racing on the Purple Mile
from the MAHOPRA club. It’s always good to have some friends join us and we appreciate them making the trip. The first class of the day was Spec Racer on the Purple Mile followed by Super Stock on the Champion. For this event we decided to get back to our regular race day schedule and race 2 classes for 5-minute heats. We also decided to have mains for the Super Stock race. How did our guests do against the MARC regulars? Read on to find out.
We had our regular hour and half practice for the first race of the day and people quickly dialed in their Spec Racers on the fast and swoopy Purple Mile. Powering down the main
Pro Spec Stock Podium - Roger Porcelli 1st, Ryan Archambault 2nd, Greg Burstein 3rd and Peter Lentros 4th
straight is great, but you also need to get through the fingers and donut if you are going to be quick. Speaking of donuts, thanks Roger for providing donuts and coffee for the group! As always with this class, racing was fast and hard fought. Once again Ryan Archambault peppered the race with some fast loaners that drivers put to good use. Lap times needed to be in the sub 3.5 second range to make the podium. In Sportsman, Peter Medeiros took the top spot on the podium just a lap ahead of Mark Heller. Cody Pare finished 4 laps behind Mark for third and Mike Tiffany rounded out the podium in fourth. The Sportsmen in this group are definitely driving like pros. Roger showed up
Sportsman Spec Stock Podium - Pete Medeiros 1st, Mark Heller 2nd, Cody Pare 3rd and Mike Tiffany 4th
equipped with RPMS speed parts and it showed as he took top spot. 13 laps back, Ryan Archambault finished in second followed by Greg Burstein in third and Peter Lentros in fourth.
| Sportsman Results | Pro Results | ||
| Driver | Total | Driver | Total |
| Peter Medeiros | 413.39 | Roger Porcelli | 468.26 |
| Mark Heller | 412.06 | Ryan Archambault | 455.03 |
| Cody Pare | 408.06 | Greg Burstein | 449.30 |
| Mike Tiffany | 396.30 | Peter Lentros | 430.37 |
| Terry Ayer | 383.04 | Tom Gray | 414.38 |
| Paul Crosby | 377.30 | Paul Ryer | 396.25 |
| Rick Pare | 364.06 | ||
| Tom Bussmann | 322.04 | ||
As usual, Rich was on top of things and made sure pizza arrived to fuel the afternoon of practice and racing. Everybody moved over to the Champion to get ready for the main
Pro Super Stock Podium - Paul Ryer 4th, Greg Burstein 1st, Roger Porcelli 3rd and Ryan Archambault 2nd (I guess Pros don't know how to line up for a photo...)
event. We decided we would have two 2.5-minute mains, one for Sportsmen and one for Pros, following the 5-minute round-robin. We didn’t tell our guests that we had raced Super Stock on the Champion in February. Nothing like a little home field advantage. Lap times are fast on this track and you need to be in the sub 3 second range if you want to make the podium. This track has a great rhythm, and you need get into to race clean. In Sportsmen, Cody seeded into the top spot for the main followed by Mark Heller who was having a great day with another second-place finish. Tom “Mr. Serious” Bussmann and Mike Tiffany rounded out the Sportsmen main. In the main, the results
Sportsman Super Stock Podium - Cody Pare 1st, Mark Heller 2nd, Tom Bussmann 3rd and Mike Tiffany 4th
didn’t change, but Mark stayed closer to Cody this time around just 6 laps down for second. Tom rolled into third and Mike rounded out the podium I fourth. Greg channeled the slot car gods and laid down 380 laps to take the top seed into the Pro main. This is 14 more laps than the winning lap total at the 2016 HOPRA Nats Pro Super Stock main. Car Czar Ryan seeded into second spot followed by Roger and Paul who beat out Tom Gray for the last spot in the main. In the Pro main it was the Greg and Ryan show driving some stout Wizzard Fusions with Roger and Paul watching. After 10 minutes of racing Greg maintained the top spot just 3 laps ahead of Ryan in second. Roger settled down when he saw Ryer nipping at his heels to finish third 5 laps ahead of the MARC director.
| Sportsman Round Robin Results | Pro Round Robin Results | ||
| Driver | Total | Driver | Total |
| Cody Pare | 335.12 | Greg Burstein | 380.15 |
| Mark Heller | 318.44 | Ryan Archambault | 366.35 |
| Tom Bussmann | 299.04 | Roger Porcelli | 346.36 |
| Mike Tiffany | 281.21 | Paul Ryer | 330.38 |
| Terry Ayer | 280.43 | Tom Gray | 330.20 |
| Peter Medeiros | 279.01 | Peter Lentros | 324.39 |
| Rick Pare | 270.50 | ||
| Sportsman Main Results | Pro Main Results | ||
| Driver | Total | Driver | Total |
| Cody Pare | 174 | Greg Burstein | 193 |
| Mark Heller | 168 | Ryan Archambault | 190 |
| Tom Bussmann | 141 | Roger Porcelli | 167 |
| Mike Tiffany | 124 | Paul Ryer | 162 |
Thank you to everyone who showed up for another great day of racing especially Roger and Mark for making the trip. Everyone is looking forward to the day we can back to our regularly conducted races, but in the meantime, it has been enjoyable getting some track time with those who are able to join. Next race is April 10th, with Open Weighted on the Boomerang and Super Stock on the Viper. Hope to see you there!
The race report as recorded this day,
April 3, 2021
Douglas C. Neidermeyer
Sergeant at Arms