Death to Pumpkin Spice!

Ashland, MA, September 9, 2023 – Once again we start to transition into the Fall season even though it was hot. Damn hot.  Luckily our host Peter Lentros had the LenJet

Back at LenJet Raceway for the start of a new season

Facility nice and cool like an early Fall day.  15 drivers entered the building with nary a scent of pumpkin spice.  Gotta avoid that stuff, it makes you slow and crave for attending fall festivals that eat the funds intended for slot car racing, but I digress.  Every proceed to knock the dust off their equipment and the rust off their driving skills as we dove into practice.  We could have started out with slower classes, but we dove into the speed with Spec Racer on the Purple Mile and CMPM for the Pros and Modified for the Sportsmen on the Boomerang.

You gotta have rhythm.  The Purple Mile like it’s 1/24 scale big brother is all about establishing a driving rhythm to match the track.  Do so and you can crank the laps out.  Don’t and it’s going to be a long race.  We ran the Sportsman and Pro groups together.

Sportsman Spec Racer –   Some of these guys are getting quick and finished in front of some of the Pros.  Dave Muse encountered a mechanical issue that forced an extended pitstop while he was in the Blue lane and greatly impacted his lap total.  Meanwhile at the top of the field Bruce Olsen quietly cranked out 405 laps to take the top spot over Terry Ayer.  Hal Pierce followed Terry home to take third and Cedric Prevoe took the last podium spot coming home fourth.

Sportsman Results

Drivers

White

Green

Orange

Blue

Yellow

Purple

Total

 Avg

Best Lap
Bruce Olsen

66

68

67

72

68

64

405.09

67.5

3.865 Blue
Terry Ayer

66

63

73

73

63

63

401.3

66.8

3.685 Blue
Hal Pierce

59

56

71

69

66

62

383.3

63.8

3.725 Blue
Cedric Prevoe

57

61

63

65

60

56

362.8

60.3

3.921 Blue
Dave Muse

55

58

58

10

53

53

287.25

47.8

4.575 Orange

Sportsman SPec Racer Podium - Cedric Prevoe 4th, Hal Pierce 3rd, Terry Ayer 2nd and Bruce Olsen 1st

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pro Spec Racer – Hakim Harris’ Pro debut started a bit shaking but then Hakim got in the groove in the middle lanes.  I’m sure we’ll see Hakim at the top of the field soon.  Ryan Archambault picked up where he left off last season taking the top spot followed by John Pileggi 4 laps back in second.  Victor Feliciano made the trip up from New York by taking the third spot on the podium.  Jim Macartney showed he’s got the speed and took the fourth spot on the podium just 4 laps behind Vic.

Pro Results

Drivers

White

Green

Orange

Blue

Yellow

Purple

Total

 Avg

Best Lap
Ryan Archambault

79

80

80

72

75

73

459.30

76.5

3.400 Orange
John Pileggi

73

76

79

79

72

74

45323

75.5

3.450 Blue
Victor Feliciano*

75

71

79

78

71

70

444.41

74

3.446 Orange
Jim Macartney

71

71

77

76

75

70

440.33

73.3

3.512 Blue
Jonathan Feliciano*

69

72

73

76

74

73

437.34

72.8

3.626 Blue
Peter Lentros

68

76

76

77

73

66

436.33

72.7

3.627 Orange
Tom Jahl

70

70

75

67

71

63

416.24

69.3

3.616 Blue
Paul Ryer

66

69

67

71

68

68

409.30

68.2

3.711 Orange
Tom Gray

63

60

73

67

70

62

395.7

65.8

3.650 Blue
Hakim Harris

42

59

72

70

70

60

373.34

62.2

3.701 Yellow

*Not MARC Members

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After lunch and some practice on the Boomerang it was time to race.  Once again Sportsman and Pros would run together.  We have found there is not a significant speed difference between CMPM and Modified so the classes were run together.  Trackmate wasn’t happy and we had to restart after the first heat.  After that, it still wasn’t happy, and the file saved with best laps was unusable.  The author has determined that the fast guys are still fast.

 

Sportsman Modified – Four drivers participated in the Sportsman race, so everybody was on the podium and the racing was close.  Unfortunately, Cedic suffered a mechanical in Red that hurt his total.  It was all Bruce all day as he took his second podium.  Hal was hot on his heels in second with Terry just behind him in third.  Cedric took the last spot on the podium.

 

Sportsman Results

Drivers

Yellow

Blue

White

Red

Total

 Avg

Bruce Olsen

61

65

67

70

263.77

65.8

Hal Pierce

58

65

69

60

252.16

63.0

Terry Ayer

56

66

65

62

249.6

62.2

Cedric Prevoe

53

66

61

23

203.1

50.8

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pro CMPM – The back of the field was a war of attrition with Jim, Hakim, and Paul fighting mechanical issues.  At the top of the field Jonathan Feliciano showed his need for speed by taking down the top spot.  Ryan kept it from being a Feliciano one, two, by taking second closely followed by Vic.  John Pileggi rounded out the podium in fourth.

 

Pro Results

Drivers

Yellow

Blue

White

Red

Total

 Avg

Jonathan Feliciano*

89

98

97

95

379

94.8

Ryan Archambault

81

92

94

83

350

87.5

Victor Feliciano*

77

85

92

86

340

85

John Pileggi

74

86

74

82

316

79

Tom Gray

59

64

86

80

289

72.2

Tom Jahl

67

70

73

68

278

69.5

Paul Ryer

75

75

47

80

277

69.2

Hakim Harris

55

75

78

68

276

69.0

Jim Macartney

63

65

69

60

257

64.2

*Not MARC Members

CMPM Pro Podium - John Pileggi 4th, Victor Feliciano 3rd, Ryan Archambault 2nd and Jonathan Feliciano 1st

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to everyone who made it to the kickoff event for the MARC 2023 – 2024 season.  As always, it was a great day of racing and I look forward to a fun competitive season.  Next up, we will be at Fiddlehead Raceway racing Open Weighted and Super Stock on October 14th.  Hope to see you there!

The race report faithfully submitted this day,

September 17, 2023

Douglas C. Neidermeyer

Sergeant At Arms