News from the SIC

[jlinfert]

Has anybody heard how the SIC is going? Who's qualified where? How's the weather... etc

[Ron Earp]

Rained Saturday afternoon, ITS/ITA/IT7 2nd qual was wet. Only information I have is on my group:

ITS -- John Williams pole at 120.3 or something ungodly fast like that. After that, I believe it is

Flynn
Eckerich
Mitchell
Vensel
Young
Oldroyd
Weddington
Earp

ITA --- ITA Miata on the pole (Charbonneau?) at 122.5 or something like. Then:

Ronie
Kent
Baader
Phee
Thompson

IT7 -- Jeff Ryan on the pole.

Blue skies this morning, we'll see if it holds. Off to the races.

[Parrish57]

Here's the grid from MY Laps:

Results of Group 3: ITS,ITA,IT7 - Combined Qualifying Sessions

Event SARRC Invitational Challenge
Group Group 3: ITS,ITA,IT7
Track Roebling Road Raceway (2.020 Miles)





Pos No.
Name Overall BestTm R1 R2

1 21 John Williams 1:20.328 1:20.328 -.---
2 6 Mike Flynn 1:21.429 1:21.429 -.---
3 86 Kent Thompson 1:21.710 1:21.710 1:44.180
4 18 Steve Eckerich 1:22.042 1:22.042 1:54.268
5 67 Andrew Charbonneau 1:22.533 1:22.533 -.---
6 46 R.L. Mitchell 1:22.547 1:22.547 -.---
7 64 Paul Ronie 1:22.622 1:22.622 1:32.017
8 06 Thomas Lyman 1:22.839 1:22.839 2:05.697
9 95 Lyonel Kent 1:23.377 1:23.377 1:41.704
10 93 Kurt Jackson 1:23.632 1:23.632 -.---
11 42 Kyle Vensel 1:23.791 1:23.791 1:36.849
12 47 Jeffrey Ryan 1:23.840 1:23.840 -.---
13 36 Chuck Baader 1:23.888 1:23.888 1:40.584
14 75 Willie Phee 1:24.444 1:24.444 -.---
15 99 Rickey Thompson 1:24.462 1:24.462 1:37.409
16 41 Jeff Young 1:24.526 1:24.526 -.---
17 71 Lynn Oldroyd 1:24.994 1:24.994 1:38.710
18 43 Tom Lyttle 1:25.191 1:25.191 1:36.618
19 90 Kathleen Weddington 1:25.536 1:25.536 1:43.916
20 76 Grover Mcnair 1:25.595 1:25.595 1:43.540
21 17 David Montgomery 1:25.613 1:25.613 1:39.974
22 92 Darryl Pritchett 1:26.180 1:26.180 -.---
23 38 Ron Earp 1:26.829 1:26.829 -.---
24 52 Charles Hines 1:27.046 1:27.046 -.---
25 00 Steven Lawrence 1:27.098 1:27.098 1:44.439
26 85 Jay Miller 1:27.636 1:27.636 1:41.816
27 26 Charles Taylor 1:27.736 1:27.736 -.---
28 73 Hyler Craft 1:29.201 1:29.201 1:48.686
29 14 Steve Adcock 1:29.360 1:29.360 1:40.422
30 77 Mike Lacombe 1:29.552 1:29.552 1:40.387
31 4 Gary Gentry 1:29.907 1:29.907 -.---
32 2 David Banks 1:29.927 1:29.927 1:39.368
33 44 Steve Levi 1:30.652 1:30.652 1:43.109
34 74 Robert Iversen 1:33.340 1:33.340 1:38.677
35 22 Jerry Stripling 1:36.465 1:36.465 1:56.813
36 87 Russell Boatwright 1:38.203 -.--- 1:38.203
37 53 Neil Gueldner 1:40.076 -.--- 1:40.076
38 16 Joe Tenney --:--:--.--- -.--- -.---
39 61 Harold Corbin --:--:--.--- -.--- -.---

This session was created from 2 other sessions in this, or other events. The names of the sessions used in the result, are listed below.
R1. - 1st Qualifying
R2. - 2nd Qualifying

[JeffYoung]

ITS:

Williams
Thompson
Eckerich
Mitchell
Vensel
Young
Boatwright
Miller

ITA:

Charbonneau

IT7:

Ryan
Lytle
McNair

[Parrish57]

Nice finish Jeff! It looks like a 3rd place was enough to lock up the ITS championship for Steve E. Congratulations!!!!! :happy204:

[JeffYoung]

Yes, big congratulations to Steve E. Well deserved championship for him.

[pballance]

Sounds like it was fun except for the wet :(

Ok, Rlearp, give it up, what happened? Qual time looked ok but not too many race laps.

Congrats to you all............

[JeffYoung]

Ron unfortunately threw his drive belt on lap 10, and cooked the head gasket. Car run really good until then though. I turned a 26 in it first time out on old Toyos, and he was in the 26s himself first time there, which is remarkable.

[Andy Bettencourt]

Can someone fill in the blanks for me (or correct)? ITS specific:

Williams - 240Z
Thompson -
Eckerich - RX-7
Mitchell -
Vensel -
Flynn -

All these drivers in the :22's. Nice.

[jmark]

Congrats to John & his 240Z. Sounds like a very close ITS race.

[pballance]

Williams - 240Z
Thompson - RX7
Eckerich - RX-7
Mitchell - 944
Vensel - RX7
Flynn - BMW 323

I got this from the entry list so it may not reflect what they actually drove. Can you tell I am bored at work today :P

[JeffYoung]

John W. beat Kent T. by .1 second at the line. Awesome race.

[Ron Earp]

Ok, Rlearp, give it up, what happened? Qual time looked ok but not too many race laps.

Congrats to you all............
[/b]

Congratulations to all, great race up there at the top! Fast cars and drivers, no doubt about that. I got to watch a bit from the turn 8 stand, unfortunately.

I had a fun race with Jay and Kathleen, really good. But I noticed my water temps hit 210 in turn two and by turn 5-6 were at 260F! Shut down immediately and pulled in the flag station, race was over. As Jeff says the water pump belt came off. I think it was too loose and I forgot to tighten it.

I really enjoyed Roebling. This is the first time I've raced or driven Roebling (I've gone down a lot, but broke every time on the first lap of test day). Cool track, despite the heat, ants, sand, and humidity.

Again, job well done for those front runners having a clean race. Fast and smooth from my vantage point there at the end, really nice to see.

Ron

[Zneed4speed]

Again, job well done for those front runners having a clean race. Fast and smooth from my vantage point there at the end, really nice to see.

Ron
[/b]

Let's see, I was hit on lap 3, then again on lap 13 by someone else. Both sides of the car dented and either a tie rod or wheel bent from the 2nd hit. Other than that it was clean!

In all fairness, I think the first hit was due to brain fade(I hope it was that) when the 2nd place guy missed a shift or something. I went from from 4th to second in a "nice race move"(quote from 3rd place who didn't hit me).

The other hit came about due to traffic(while in effect, I don't think the 110% rule was enforced). I chose to brake rather than hit a slower car(twice, thrice) and got caught up in a battle for the SARRC championship in another class. The 2nd hitter gets points for his apology though.

Actually ITS was clean at the front, I'm a fairly new SARRC kid on the block and a couple of guys could have turned me around more than once but they didn't. They were smart enough to let me do it myself! Or nearly. My near spin in T5 dropped me from 2nd to 4th. :(

[seckerich]

Thanks for the congratulations guys. Been long overdue after the last 2 years of luck at the SIC.

John Williams went to Roebling earlier this year and tested for 2 days and it really showed. That is one hooked up Z car. I had to weld up his broken header Sat. afternoon (should have used super glue :P ) but we got him ready to race. Qualifing was a cluster and I never really got a clean lap and ended up P4. Start was clean with Williams, Flynn, Me, and Thompson at the exit of 2. Stayed that way for 2 laps until Thompson blew by me on the front straight. Mitchell was right in the hunt and got by me on lap 3 or 4 in the draft and we settled in for a lap. Flynn blew the motor at the exit of 2 and we went 3 wide into turn three and now I am third behind Thompson. Mitchell started to get loose and fell back so we had a 3 car dogfight. I only needed to finish fifth to win the championship so I had the best seat in the house to watch Williams and Thompson go at it. With about 4 to go I closed up on them to try a shot at the win. They pulled me down the front straight and managed to stick the IT7 3 car battle between us and it took until the exit of 3 to clear them. Could not close in enough after that. Times were a little off from last year due to nobody ever getting a clean lap that they were not in a battle for position. Hats off to John Williams for a great drive. Big congratulations to the ITAC for getting the classes evened out pretty well. Four makes within tenths speaks volumes for their work. Clean, fun racing with friends the way it should be!!

On edit--Just saw your post RL. I didn't know you got hit again after the maylay in 2.

[lymanator]

The other hit came about due to traffic(while in effect, I don't think the 110% rule was enforced). I chose to brake rather than hit a slower car(twice, thrice) and got caught up in a battle for the SARRC championship in another class. The 2nd hitter gets points for his apology though.

[/b]

That was me, and again, I sincerely apologize. I came into the weekend tied for the SARRC points lead in ITA with Paul Ronie, and managed to get by him on the first lap. I didn't think I had anything for Charboneau (sp) in the Miata (who won), but knew that if I held Ronie off, I'd win the championship. It was totally a 50/50 move, but when I saw that the SLOW RX7 made a move that appeared, at least to me, that he was moving out of the way, I knew I had to take the opportunity, lest Ronie get a huge run on me into T4. Of course, the RX7 was doing something else (off, back on, then off, then back on) and I got pinched over. That gets me into my question of the split start for IT7, especially since we had to start working traffic on lap 5 or something silly. Anyway, beers are on me (or wax if you still need it) next time we're at the track.

[JeffYoung]

The view from mid pack...

I needed to finish ahead of Kyle Vensel to get 5th in the overall points, didn't achieve my goal as Kyle drove a mistake free race -- congrats to him on that.

I did not drive a mistake free race.

Car ran ok in qualifying but I got black flagged early for having a loose hardtop after running a 24.6 or so. Two old Brit bolts had backed out and it took us a while to find replacements. Got that squared away and got ready for second qual..which took place in heavy rain and was useless. Really needed a 23 in qual and didn't have the opportunity to get it, so my mid 24 put me mid pack (7th I think) in S, and behind some of the fast A cars.

90 minutes before the race and 30 minutes before quiet hour, I start the car to take it to the grid. I hear a strange hissing sound. Open hood, and there is a small jet of water streaming out of a crack in the intake manifold. Holy cow. Seems that the transition from the banking at Nashville had caused the strut bar to flex some, hitting a fitting and cracking the alum manifold where the fitting trheaded in. It had held for a while, but finally gave up the ghost -- right before race time.

I was about ready to park the English turd at that point, but Ron E. wouldn't quit. He sent me to the store to get some jugs of water, and went to work with the JB Weld. It worked, car held water the whole race. Amazing. I now consider JB Weld to be near god like in stature, second only to Earp the Magnificent himself.

On to the race. I got a great start and passed 3-4 A cars on the outside going into one, and actually got alongside Kyle Vensel in turn 2. Aha! I thought, this is good. This woudl be the highwater mark of the race for the BritShit V8.

Then, I dropped two wheels off at 2 and that slowly became four wheels off as I bounced along in the grass between 2 and 3 watching the field go by. Having been a victim in 2005 of a car that did just that and then shot across the track before 3, I took it easy coming back on and lost about 10 spots.

Great!

Back to work. I passed a few cars on the rest of lap 1, avoided the Neon that went into the pit wall at 9 hard on lap 2, finally got back up to my starting place by lap 3 (which was now 6th as the BMW 323 had dropped out).

I settled into a GREAT battle with Kurt Jackson's ITR BMW 2.8 roadster/coupe and Russ Boatwright in his ITS Second Gen RX7. I led for a bit, and then went 4 off at turn 9 and thought, this is the end of my car (for those you who don't know Roebling that's about a 100 to 110 mph corner dumping out onto the front straight). I hit a slight bump in the dirt, and launched the front end into the air, smacked down and tank slapped it in the grass until I got it under control and then mangaged to get back on the pavement right behind Kurt and ahead of Russ.

Drafted Kurt for a few laps, even hit the rev limiter in 5th when doing so (that's a REAL 136 mph folks) at the turn 1 braking zone. 4 to go and Kurt let me and Russ go by to race for sixth -- thanks on that Kurt.

Russ was faster than me from turn 3 to turn 6, and I was a bit quicker from the front straight to turn 3. Next to last lap I ran the inside of turn 5 to protect the line, and washed out at exit. Russ made a great pass on the outside of the carousel coming down to the "white flag" but got hung up just a second dumping out onto the front straight by a slow RX7 and that was enough for V8 torque to take over and I got back around going into 1. Managed to hold him off for the rest of the lap and took 6th. Great race with Russ though, really enjoyed it.

The TR8 is now, at race pace (qual is a different story) about 1.5 seconds off the leaders' race pace. We are close. Need to get the power down better of course, and am also working on having a full bore Dennis Shaw fuel injected 3.5 in the car next year, which should give me a nice (we are hoping for 10-15) hp boost due to the better intake manifold design. We'll see.

In any event, great event this year. Enjoyed it. Congrats again to Steve E. on the championship. Well deserved and long overdue.

[VenselRacing]

Well after being more of a lurker around here since I started racing in the IT class, i decided to join up since i see my name getting thrown around now. :D

Thanks for the props Jeff, Wish we could have gotten to do a little more wheel-to-wheel racing. We were in the same mindset as you going into this race, knowing we had to finish ahead of you to take 5th for the year. This was our first time at the SIC and really our first true year running in the SARRC for points. This was also only our second time at Roebling so it's still a learning experience each time we show up (isnt it always).

Had a fun race. Got stuck behind Lyman and Ronie for a good 10 laps. Every time i tried to get by Ronie to make my way towards the next ITS in line (Mitchell), I got the door shut closed on me. It kind of stunk because i could have either risked my finishing pos and car to get by Ronie with the possibility of gaining a position on the ITS up ahead, or hang back and keep up the pace behind those two and secure my 5th place finish. After the 9th or 10th lap i realized I was comfortable where I was and didn't need to risk the car, so I let Kent by me to battle it out with the other two ITA drivers since he was on my butt the whole race! So i started to pace myself and i got tied up in a group of IT7 cars which gave me some distance between the ITA's and myself, only to realize about 2 laps to the end or so that they caught up and passed Mitchell! Kind of kicking myself that i didn't stick with them to play around with him, but it is what it is. I still enjoyed the race alot and the whole weekend in general was fun. Strangly enough I had fun out there on the track in the rain. Track had alot of grip for being completely soaked. :lol:

It was a pleasure racing with those of you out there, i'll see you guys at the next race.

-Kyle

[Parrish57]

Attention SEDIV racers: Due to the success of our favorite black RX7 there is a price increase for the popular "I beat Steve Eckerich" tee shirts. Now that he is the king of the mountain more funding is needed to help underprivileged racers toppel him. Thank you in advance for giving generously to this cause!

Parrish Racing ( a most definitely not for profit organization)

[Ron Earp]

Hey Steve,

Save me one, in fact, I'll take a few spares!

Congratulations Steve, honor well earned, well done! Nice work, very nice work.

Ron