LRP Updates

[RSTPerformance]

my civic with its new faster paint job will not make the trip,but the teg will be there
[/b]

Rick-

The civic is fast enough without the fast paint job.... dam it now this winter I might have to get a fast paint job also... its been about 3 years and it needs it!!! lol

Raymond

[dazzlesa]

[BobsAuto]

Ok, Raymond promised to call me with updates to post as soon as possible tomorrow and Sat. I'm still bumming bad that I can't go, but will be there in my heart.....(boy, I needed to get away for a couple of days), So, I'll post what I can as fast as I can.
And Raymond, I still plan on finding a place to do your car.....can we start right after the ARRC?

[BobsAuto]

Ok, So, here is my latest update. Raymond called me as soon as he got the official grid for ITS/ITB.
Pole for the race is Rick Henderson in ITS. The first 5 or 6 ITS cars are within .5 sec. of each other. Then comes the ITB runners....
1st- Eric Pederson with 105.57
2nd- Tim Mullen with 105.64
3rd- Mike Reece with 105.66
4th- Raymond Blethen with 105.68
5th- Eric Pederson with 105.70

The start to this race ought to be INCREDIBLE!!!! I guess this morning's session was also a qualifying and this afternoon's session was a qualifying. Raymond's 4th place time was from this AM and had him in 3rd at that point. He could not seem to push the car to go any faster, but remember, he had the new Bilstein shock setup and was trying to figure that out as well. So, NOT TOO SHABBY!!!!

With the times of the first 11 or so cars being SO close, I am sure the start of that race will be the race start of all time.....Raymond mentioned he wished Stephen was running cause he is the better starter of the two and he could just tuck in behind him and they could part the sea of cars....(so to speak, I am definately paraphrasing in my own words)(editorial justice, here, or is it just parental prejudice)

From the sounds of it, the gang was getting ready to and set up the movie theater at RST Cinema (aka the rolling garage and hotel).

I will get a call as soon as they can get me the finals after the race. Stay tuned....
\
The RST Mom who's holding her breath tomorrow....

[Andy Bettencourt]

ITS:
Henderson
Camadella
Driscoll
King
Harding

ITA:
Bettencourt
Benazic
Chee
Case
Lawton
Amy

ITB:
Curran
Mullen
Reese
Blethen
Pederson

ITC:
Parham
Horton
Haynes
Perotti

[Tkczecheredflag]

ITS:
Henderson
Camadella
Driscoll
King
Harding

ITA:
Bettencourt
Benazic
Chee
Case
Lawton
Amy

ITB:
Curran
Mullen
Reese
Blethen
Pederson

ITC:
Parham
Horton
Haynes
Perotti
[/b]

Nice job to all the pole sitters. Andy - you go boy - WOW!!!!. Keep us posted - I 'm watching from the peanut gallery. Looks like Greg is sandbagging??? - Maybe Greg wants to post more exciting first lap video. I'm excited to see this weeks results in IT. Wishing I was there.

[Greg Amy]

ITA final results

1 - Andy Bettencourt, 1:02.195, 13.9s margin of victory!
2 - Rick Benazic, 1:02.798
3 - Mr LRP, Ray Lee Chee, 1:02.908 (first race back since the ARRC!)
4 - Doug Case, 1:03.234
5 - Jeff Lawton, 1:03.750
6 - Greg Amy, 1:03.280
7 - Joe DiMinno, 1:03.666
8 - Ed Rodier, 1:03.992
9 - Louis Schlemmer, 1:03.969
10 - Roger Daskam, 1:04.463

Andy Bettencourt was not going to be denied today. He was hooked up and rarin' to go. His best race lap was listed in the final results as a new LRP race lap record.

On the start I got bottled up behind Doug Case; I gave him the gift of love and an additional 25hp at the start (for which I got my hand slapped by the stewards...) Joe Diminno came rocketing up between Doug and Jeff Lawton and almost got the position; I slotted in behind the three of them. Within the group, Jeff led those first 7 laps or so, doing a FANTASTIC job keeping Doug behind him, with a drooling Crazy Joe waiting for an opening. I stayed behind the three of them keeping them close at hand, knowing full well there was NO damn way I was getting by. Doug made a VERY good pass on Jeff going into Big Bend, but Jeff continued to hound and Doug didn't go softly into that good night...

For my part, it just wasn't my day; as "in the zone" as I was at the Glen, I was completely the opposite at LRP. We were fighting handling and brake system problems both days, and I was just way off my game. As the race progressed I was able to reel in the Tres Amigos (it wasn't easy) but each time I got close to Joe I blew the braking into Big Bend; twice I ended up almost taking the escape road as the tires locked up. Third time's not quite the charm as I made a run down the hill, got inside Joe, and blew the braking big time, all four wheels sliding way past him and into the grass (and ripping off my nice nifty new airdam...) By that time The Boys were well on their way and I settled into protecting 7th for the last two or so laps. However, second to last lap Joe got pinched off the road by slow traffic and lost momentum, so I was able to grab 6th on the final lap and finished with Joe something like .015 second back.

Super kudos go to, of course, Andy Bettencourt. He drove a superb race and deserved many pats on the back. I can't describe to you what a great job Rick and Ray did, as I never saw 'em after the start! Secondary, but certainly not lesser, kudos go to Jeff Lawton; that boy drove the race of his "career" and showed that the Saturn SC2 is a force to be reckoned with. Joe should be given hearty congrats for getting that pig of a car into the one-oh-threes! I watched Doug, Jeff, and Joe battle that entire race, and I'm looking forward to having some very good in-car videos for folks to see (cutting out, of course, all my stupid mistakes.)

The only really bad thing to happen is that Chip VanSlyke ended up against the pit berm wall after the Downhill. Damage looks terminal, the car is pretty beaten up. I've got no details as to what happened, but I am glad to hear second-hand that he is OK.

Beautiful day, GREAT race, another weekend to remember.

Greg

[lateapex911]

Andy checked out....he did a great job every lap. Bob Dowie, who was running the GTL car, was right behind him and said he made a very aggressive up the middle pass on lapped traffic, with a healthy lead, on the penultimate lap...he left little on the table. A solid win for the new Miata.

Chips car looks pretty toasted, lots of bends at all the wrong places, like the roof above the B pillar. Fixable? Probably. Worth it? Probably time to swap the components into a new shell. Richie is famous for that. Speaking of Richie, he was a no show. Something about misunderstanding the start time. Thought group 2 went off a little after 1PM... (maybe Pacific time they did.)

The upside to Chips incident was that he was reported to set a record for getting out of a car. So we understand he's OK. Bummer to see a car wrecked like that, glad he's OK though!

ITS and ITB was a strange affair. Kip Van Steenberg pulled off on lap one, the apparent victim of a mysterious electrical short. Too bad, it would have been fun to watch the Miata go. Something happened on lap three that involved 3 cars. Ray Blethen, who had a "Parting of the seas start" was leading B, but then rejoined mid pack, and seemed troubled from there on. Micheal Reese took the point until the inevitable. He blew up in a most F1 manner, smoking everyone and oiling the track through Big Bend, which caought the leaders by surprise, resulting in Chris Camedella spinning and losing his handle on the leading Autotechnic cars, which he never regained.

Long day, but ended early, with 9 groups, including Historic. And no rain.

[BobsAuto]

Actually, Raymond had a huge lead in ITB when he checked up for a slower ITS car in the downhill and crashed fairly heavily. He was able to rejoin the group, however, the engine was turned sideways enough from the hit that he lost the linkage to the tranny and couldn't shift. His end result was 12th.

ITB results.....Paul Curran first, Richard Gleason, 2nd, Matt Wentworth, 3rd, Eric Pederson, 4th, and Dave Zaslow rounding out the top five.

Raymond will post the gorry details as soon as he can.

[Greg Amy]

Hello, hello...is this mic on...?

No one's got any "attaboys" for Bettencourt kicking everyone's butt? He's worked his ASS off to get there!! C'mon, kids, at least give him a virtual pat on the back!

Holy Batman!

[dominojd]

. Joe should be given hearty congrats for getting that pig of a car into the one-oh-threes!
[/b]

Thanks for the kind words

All I have to say about the race was holy crap that is the hardest I ever worked for a 7th place finish.

[lateapex911]

Andy checked out....he did a great job every lap.
Long day, but ended early, with 9 groups, including Historic. And no rain.
[/b]

Hmmm. I thought I did....and I certainly did for real there. Congrats Andy, you looked consistant and fast. Maybe Anthony will buy back his old car and come hunting for a new record!

[dominojd]

Hello, hello...is this mic on...?

No one's got any "attaboys" for Bettencourt kicking everyone's butt? He's worked his ASS off to get there!! C'mon, kids, at least give him a virtual pat on the back!

Holy Batman!
[/b]

Come on now Andy's head is big enough

But I must add Andy kicked some serious ass with the mosquito. Congrats there Mr. Bettencourt

Oh virtual PAT PAT.

[R RACER]

Hmmm. I thought I did....and I certainly did for real there. Congrats Andy, you looked consistant and fast. Maybe Anthony will buy back his old car and come hunting for a new record!
[/b]

Jake , Andy said I could drive his car at NARRC runoff's, he looked good, but I still have the record @ 1:01.6,
so keep hunting Andy, a 2.1 is real good time for that low horsepower blue bug! It was nice to se alot of you guys this weekend. I guess I have to dust off Lorenzo's car and come out and play soon.

[lateapex911]

Jake , Andy said I could drive his car at NARRC runoff's, he looked good, but I still have the record @ 1:01.6,
so keep hunting Andy, a 2.1 is real good time for that low horsepower blue bug! It was nice to se alot of you guys this weekend. I guess I have to dust off Lorenzo's car and come out and play soon.
[/b]

Good to see you're paying attention, LOL...I thought you set the record at the NARRC runoffs, but they think it's now Andy's....

[Andy Bettencourt]

It was indeed a good weekend for the Flatout Motorsports ITA Miata. As suspected, Lime Rock will be a very strong track for the car.

I want to thank Bob Dowie for running very quickly without getting involved in a very hard-fought EP battle in front of me and giving me plenty of room to keep my momentum up. He could have easily fought through those guys and been a factor in the outcome - classy.

Congrats go out to Joe, Doug and Jeff for setting personal bests this weekend - steps in the right direction for a killer ITA race at the Runoffs.

As for the track record - I think it's a mistake. Even Greg's website makes mention of the 1:01.6 from the 2004 NARRC Runoffs. Besides - it ain't about track records anyway...checkered flags are cool!

[Greg Amy]

Even Greg's website makes mention of the 1:01.6 from the 2004 NARRC Runoffs.[/b]

Ah, thanks for the reminder. I downloaded and kept the HTM file from NYR's web site, which allowed me to use the old "Internet Wayback Machine" (a very cool site) to find this:

http://web.archive.org/web/20050206022704/...rrc_results.htm

It shows a "1:02.0" as Anthony's best time, but note that ALL times are round to the nearest whole second. I do recall Anthony running a 1:01.6 and this would jive with these results. And, as Andy pointed out, I did author that back then so I'm sure it's accurate.

Doesn't matter. He kicked.

Funny thing, a couple of guys and I were musing how 1:03s would have put you on the pointy end of the field not too long ago. Look at those results above: just two years ago that kind of time was easily podium potential. Hell, 1 low 1:03 was good enough for me to get top-10 in ITS! Yesterday, however, our little group was doing lowish 1:03s and we were fighting for fourth - at best.

What's it gonna be in two more...? - GA

[BobsAuto]

Andy, ......what more can I say????

I'm still really bumming about Raymond's news and wondering if I have to start working on spare body panels that were reserved for the winter makeover this week or not. He sounded in good spirits and said Paul Curran is now his threat for the championship and is not going to Cheap Date, so hopefully Raymond can have a good weekend then and create a huge buffer before the runoffs. I'd really like to see him get the NARRC this year as he hasn't achieved that goal and his gram so dearly wanted him to have it. (Oh, there I go getting all sentimental....Mom's perogative...) .....
Well, stay tuned and when he's back online today or tomorrow, he'll certainly give you the gorry details.

By the way, I liked the metaphor of his having a Parting of the Seas start. I guess that surprised the hell out of him.

[Tkczecheredflag]

ITA final results

1 - Andy Bettencourt, 1:02.195, 13.9s margin of victory!
2 - Rick Benazic, 1:02.798
3 - Mr LRP, Ray Lee Chee, 1:02.908 (first race back since the ARRC!)
4 - Doug Case, 1:03.234
5 - Jeff Lawton, 1:03.750
6 - Greg Amy, 1:03.280
7 - Joe DiMinno, 1:03.666
8 - Ed Rodier, 1:03.992
9 - Louis Schlemmer, 1:03.969
10 - Roger Daskam, 1:04.463

Greg
[/b]

Andy - CONGRATS!!!!!! . Nice to see you drape another Checkered Flag on the Zoom Zoom - you go man you deserve it! Great to see the times were tight and the racing was spectacular. Sorry I missed all the fun. Tough choice though - "all access" back stage with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young at SPAC (absolutely incredible 3 plus hour show) or the LRP show - I had to pack up the family and relive a little Woodstockand more.

Sorry to hear about Chip. Ray Lee - the new home agrees with you. Great job to the rest of the "A" boys.

I think Cheap Date is my next stop. Andy - You the MAN!!!!

[BobsAuto]

BTW, are there any pics from yesteray that will be posted? Hoping to see some as well as in-car video. Raymond, got any video to share? Would love to see your start.