Ary threw everyone a curve with Round 5 of the El Piloto Series, held last Thursday, May 19; he decided that we should race in the opposite direction!! However, difficulties in the setup precluded the race being run in such an unconventional manner. We resorted to the more familiar, if prosaic, race format.
Nonetheless competition proved to be very fierce. No longer will 70 laps per heat put you on the podium. Marty and Russell both completed 215 laps for their three heats with the edge going to Marty, who finished a dozen feet in front. Jim edged Roy by a similar close margin for third.
In the first heat Russell completed 72 laps in the Blue lane, followed by Marty with 71 laps in Green and Jim also at 71 laps in Yellow. Marty stepped up to 72 laps in the Blue lane in heat 2, with Jim completing 69 in Green and Brian at 68 in Yellow. Heat 3 saw Jim run 71 laps in Blue and Roy in Yellow and Brian in Green both turning 69 laps. Russell won heat 4 with 72 laps in the Yellow lane and Roy in Green and Brian in Blue both at 70 laps. In the final heat, Marty pulled into the lead to stay with 72 laps in Yellow with 71 laps for both Russell in Green and Roy in Blue.
The Blue lane/car proved to be very fast, producing the winners of most of the heats; Russell turned the fast lap of the race—4.005—in the Blue lane. There were few de-slots during the heats and, considering the pace, any mistakes proved costly. Everyone will need to step it up for the next round!
