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Well, not me.
The more I look at this race, the more I think "Wow, thats going to be a throwdown." I have no idea where I'll finish, but I'm damned glad I'll be in it.
Here are some of your choices...
-Rebstock (CRX)- Won this little shindig 4 times, and is the defending champ.
-Silegren (CRX)- Won it 2 times (I think) and has a new car that already looks damned good.
-Perry (CRX)- Won it once (I think) and currently holds the RA track record. 2nd last year.
-Jordan (CRX)- Finished a strong 4th last year.
-Reynolds (Scirocco)- Led most of last years race before his car broke. Beat Ketchie, Perry, Silegren and Giles last month at Road Atlanta.
-Ketchie (Scirocco)- The infamous 1.7 car that just got moved down from B. Its fast and well driven. Finished 3rd last month at RA with the fastest race lap.
-Fruth (Civic)- Sat on the pole a couple of years ago but broke. Pole time was under the current track record. Just set the Mid Ohio record last month.
-Giles (Civic)- Finished 3rd last year. Finished 2nd behind Reynolds in the RA showdown last month.
-Douglass (Scirocco)- Another very strong VW. Not positive he'll be there, but he ran very strong in 2003 before developing brake problems..
I'm sure I'm leaving someone out, and there's a host of others with a legitimate chance to stir things up. Maybe even some "shoes" that we haven't heard about will be there.
I look at that list and all I can do is contain my excitement and have another bowl of Wheaties.
If I had to put money on someone... Silegren.
That new car looked great right out of the box and will be more developed by the ARRC. And Vesa is just the "iceman" type of driver that can stand up to the pressure of a race like this and not make any mistakes.
Thats my bet, and I hope I'm completely wrong :rolleyes:
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I am voting for Jordan... he came from the northeast right ;)
Raymond ":-P" Blethen
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Scott,
Placing somewhere in the top 10 will be a good weekend for me in the new car, with all the listed cars showing up (possibly others you didn't mention). Thanks for your vote of confidence though.
It's shaping up to be a Honda vs Scirocco battle this year. It’s good to see ITC numbers up some. There for a few years the fields got to be small. Hope someday to get our own group at the ARRC again, like a few years ago.
My vote goes to Rebstock, being a Honda driver............(heard he broke the Daytona lap record by a big margin, here a few weeks ago)
We'll petition the stewards for a split start, should the groupings be the same as last year.
Vesa Silegren
#38 ITC CRX
www.svtek.com
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I'm going with Rebstock again this year....although the VW's are looking stronger and stronger...
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I dunno Vesa. We'll see ;).
I think the front pack is going to be so thick its going to be a matter of who stays clean and doesn't make mistakes more than who is the outright fastest. Just what my crystal ball says.
Yep, I heard about Rebstock shattering the Daytona record. I apparently had it for about 3 months, but now my time looks *slow* in comparison.
And I think the ITC comeback in the Southeast can immediately be attributed to being moved out of the SM group. If you look at entry number this year, there are consistently 2 to 3 times more C cars in the non SM races than the SM races. We just have to wait an see if that holds.
And if 10 out of 20 entries at the ARRC have a legitimate shot to win, in 3 or 4 different chassis, thats some excellent parity. Try THAT in ITS.
And we'll definately have to get the split start. I think having all the classes start together is part of what makes the ARRC special.
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I'm going to need at least 4 picks to have any hopes of one of them actually being right.
I'm looking forward to standing trackside again this year going "OHH, SNAP!"
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Well, my money naturally goes to Rebstock...even if I didn't want to, I'd have to...most of the parts on my car are from his cast off collection. lol That said, the new VW's in the class have yet to show their true development. Unless they become dominant (doubt that), I think it's great to see the new blood.
Reality and politically conservative thinking...I wouldn't put my money on anyone. Chuck has the fastest car in the class and is a superb driver, but tough on equipment.
Several others have hit a plateau of personal speed, and, while being a front runner, will be doubtful to win.
Some feel the championship is owed to them...I laugh.
I've seen Rebstock pull some bonehead stunts that cost him at least three championships and could do it again, but he'll be tough to out run again. He's totally a clean racer, unless you're in an SM and in his way, but he's a street fighter that just doesn't give up until way after the checker.
Plus, as we all know, old age and treachery always win out over youth and enthusiasm!
Whatever, the gumbo and the jambalaya pots will be boiling on the skid pad! But then, I think that's a well known fact! :023:
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I just thought the ITC people might like to know that I found out today that Edwin Ho is coming back to the ARRC again this year. I just got back into an ITC car this weekend and him and I raced together. He got his car down to a 1:49.71 during todays race at Mid Ohio (the track record at the beginning of the year was 1:50.45). I still do not have verified word if Scott Fruth is coming down or not (he set the new record at 1:49.15 about a month ago).
If you care, I hit a personal best of 1:50.05 today but managed to get my car very mangled thanks to a *insert curse words here* Spec Miata driver. I can't wait for them to go national....
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Edwin did well on his first trip to Road Atlanta last year and he didn't yet have the "right" final drive in the car. Looks like he has it moving now though.
Add another one to the list of potential winners.
Hopefully he'll run the enduro again this year. Last years race was kind of munged up by everybody in class and we were just fortunate to get the win. Hopefully this year will be more head to head racing and less mistakes/punts by Spec Miatas/broken drive shafts.
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Scott, the sad news is that the menu at night won't be as fancy as once predicted. Due to Katrina, there will be no redfish sauce picant. Just the traditional fare of jambalya and gumbo. However, the good news is, due to popular demand, there will be a larger, fuller pot. :023:
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