Our final race for the Group-C Slot.it challenge started with David (956), Kyle (Nissan) and Mark (962) for the B-Group. Mark and David were neck and neck for the first 3 minutes with Kyle only 1-2 laps behind. The traction of the track seemed to be holding up and there were a remarkable few de-slots. This relatively drama-free reace ended with David, Mark and Kyle with David having fastest lap with a 4.16.
Heat-2 rolled in Marty (962) as Kyle went to work as a marshall. Marty eventually pulled ahead appx 1.5 min in as he consistently had ETS of 3.9s, followed by David with consistent 4.2s, Mark struggled to keep up with 4.8s. With 1.33 left a double deslot after the hairpin caused a short stop but soon we were back to it. The yellow lane seemed to be spotty but overall traction seemed to be more consistent than past weeks. Marty finished with 73 laps and a 3.89 best ET followed by David 69/4.085 and mark 61/4.52.
Heat-3 brought in Rich (962) for David. Within the first minute Marty was hitting lap 16 and consistent 3.9s. Rich was having some fishtailing trouble resulting in fast laps followed by slower ones. With one minute left Marty had 10 laps on Mark and a full second of ET. The finish was Marty (75/3.875), Mark (63/4.445) and Rich (58/4.386).
Heat-4 brought in Shawn (962) as Mark marshaled the esses with Kyle on the far turn. A collision in the first few laps brought some excitement. Marty was barely holding off Shawn as Rich Racing (Lancia) continued to have fishtailing, esp. in the hairpin on green. Without (m)any deslots in the last 3 minutes the racing was steady with a finish of Marty (75/3.866), Shawn (72/3.914) and Rich (62/4.405).
Heat-5 brought in the KeinMitleid Nissan as Marty gave everybody a break. Shawn jumped ahead by 1 lap and maintained that lead for several seconds. Team Vapor and team Miller were giving each other hell until Rich’s fishtails got the best of him about the 1:90 mark in. Shawn creeped steadily ahead until he had 3 steady laps on Steve, who was on his tail with 3.99 ETS to Shawn’s 3.90. Without many deslots in the remaining 1.5 min the racing was steady with a finish of Shawn (74/3.905), Steve (70/3.991) and Rich (62/4.416).
We had a long 5th-inning stretch before the next race, when Kyle rolled back in so Rich could apply some of his sponsors product to his wounds. For over a minute Marty and Shawn were on the same lap with only 0.1 sec difference in the ETs. Shortly before 3 minutes were up Shawn pulled ahead by 2 laps as Steve had some unforseen problems with his Nissan. Kyle watched safely from behind as he remained steady with few deslots and best times in the 4.4 range. With alittle over one minute left contact was made with a small flip in the air but both cars were on their way almost instantly. The end saw Shawn leading (71/3.895) with Steve next at (69/4.025) and the sweep from Kyle (62/4.397)
The final heat brought back in David. 20 seconds in Kyle’s car got some needed TLC from Marty and was soon running smoother. Dave and Steve were on the same lap until halfway in when KeinMitleid racing slid ahead by 2 laps, altho the ets were close at 4.043 vs 4.062, resulting in some paint being traded between Dave and Steve. The Blue lane seemed to be still iffy while Green seemed more consistent, which helped Kyle remain steady. The heat ended with Steve (71/4.043), Dave (68/4.062) and the sweep from Kyle (58/4.545).
