MARC 2021-22 Season Begins, at LenJet!
Ryan Doubles Among the Pros; Sportsman Bruce wins in G-Jet, and Nitro Mike Triumphs in Spec Racer
Dateline: September 11, 2021, Ashland, Massachusetts
The initial tilt of the Miniature Auto Racing Club’s 2021-22 season was held despite swirling — and well-founded — fears of viral variants. As far as we know, everyone attending has been vaccinated, and the decision was to go maskless in the large, airyspaces of LenJet. Many thanks to Peter Lentros for hosting, and for the newly installed air filtration system, which really upped our game!
Durf Hyson, our host for the race, was kept at home on the day with a serious family situation, We all send him our best, and hope we can see him at the next race, on October 9.
Present on this day: Ryan Archambault, Terry Ayer, Jimmy Colligan, Erik Eckhardt, Tom Gray, Rob Hayes, Nick Kanan, Tom Kanan, Peter Lentros, Dave Muse, Bruce Olsen, Hal Pierce, Paul Ryer, John Schoenfeld, and Mike Tiffany.
The first race was for G-Jets on the fast, shiny-surfaced Boomerang. There were certainly some G-Jet doubters coming into the contest, but in the end, there were lotsa converts, and only a couple were still whinging (as our British friends say) about racing the class. The vast majority really enjoyed the cars, and particularly on this track, to which they’re very well suited.
Terry Ayer had high lap total among the Sportsmen, but then suffered a trip to Dairy Queen, having left the wrong, high-downforce C4 magnets in his G-Jet. Many of us have been there (DQ), and Terry, I for one feel your pain.
This moved all the Sportsmen up a step, and new guy Bruce Olsen, whose total (155) was just one shy of Terry’s, became our top dog, the primary pooch, the capital canine. First time Bruce was racing the class! His steed was one of the recently received G-Jet kits, as built up by Catfish Sr. Nicely done, Bruce!
Mike Tiffany was second, about seven laps back. John Schoenfeld and Hal Pierce completed our four-man podium.
Pros and G-Jets? Well, same as it ever was. Rob Hayes had a strong car, posted an equally strong 176 laps, and then watched Ryan just slide on by, accumulating 182. Local college boy Nick Kanan took third place with one of Ryan’s cars (170), and his elderly father, Tom, was fourth (161), also with one of Ryan’s creations.
After a break to eat pizza and tell each other augmented truths of one kind or another, on to the the singular Purple Mile course, and the Spec Racer class. Fast, fast fast!
Sportsmen and Spec Racer: Well, Nitro Mike Tiffany, the pride of Wingdale, NY, don’t you know that he surpassed his fellow Sportsmen in the two outside lanes, and this was the majority of the story today. Steady, steady, steady; this is Mike’s game. He finished with 411 laps around the mad-fast Purple Mile, a cool eleven in hand over bridesmaid Terry Ayer. Hal Pierce was third with 383, and fourth was Oh Jimmy Colligan, five behind Hal with 378.
In the Pro slate, the field suffered another painful Archambaulting, this time with Ryan clearing second place by a full 24 laps, 482 to the 458 that 2nd-place Peter Lentros reeled off. After a complete tear-down, magnet gaussing, and a TSA-level, full-body search of Ryan, it was determined that the car was not only fast, but that both it and he were indeed legal. Nick Kanan took his second 3rd-place finish of the day in his new LenJet home base, with 449. Rob Hayes was fourth, mildly disoriented and dizzy from seeing Ryan streak by, with 443. Kanan The Elder was just a single lap in arrears, with 442.
We oughta have here in the report the day’s results tables for both classes, as well as the technical specs for the cars run by the top four Sportsmen, and the top four Pros, and the all-important points standings.
Many thanks to Peter Lentros and LenJet, and to Gary Beedle at Scale Auto/BSRT for rushing out plenty of G-Jet parts for the season, just days after his annual vacation in Socialist Canada.
Everyone, we’ll reconvene at LenJet on October 9 for Race Two of our season series, where the classes will be Ceramic Super Stock on the Champion, followed by HOPRA Modified on the Viper. Until then…