Pocono Regional Races

[Dave Zaslow]

All hail Nat Wentworth!!!!

Saturday, 1st Place with a last lap pass (on me). New track record at a 1:57.8.

Sunday, 1st Place (from turn 5 on) and resets the record down to a 1:57.4.

Now we know how he really spent his winter.

Congrats.

DZ

[Jeremy Billiel]

All hail Nat Wentworth!!!!

Saturday, 1st Place with a last lap pass (on me). New track record at a 1:57.8.

Sunday, 1st Place (from turn 5 on) and resets the record down to a 1:57.4.

Now we know how he really spent his winter.

Congrats.

DZ

For Sure! He was flying out there... Now we just need to put the Suzuki back together again and get back out there to compete. We are currently 0-2 on the last two weekends with broken flywheel bolts and now a blown engine.

[Greg Amy]

WHAT???? No other discussion threads of the Regional races...?? Sheesh...

Well, I don't have any results sheets handy, but the Regional races this weekend were pretty damned good. My first thought is we were AMAZED at the number of people that ran the Pro-IT race but didn't partake of the Regional. Very odd.

I can't recall exactly what happened Saturday - it's all a blur and I had Yeungling since then - but Jeff Lawton and Joe DiMinno were toe-to-toe for the whole ITA race. Each time they came around the last turn leading onto the front straight it was a crap shoot as to who would be in front. Jeff finally took the point around the second-to-last lap and helf off a charging-and-drafting DiMinno across the line (with Joe making little-girl "go, go, go!" noises trying to shreek his car past Jeff before the checkered. Didn't work).

And, even better, those two never even touched each other.

The Sunday ITA race was even better. We spent some time looking at data before the race, and comparing it to prior years' ITA data there. We noticed that the fastest lap of the team in years past was in the 1:52.x range, and Joe and Jeff were driving 53s. I told Jeff he could do 52s, but he just rolled his eyes; I said all he needed was a little motivation.

Well, he got that in spades on Sunday. The field started off with two pace car laps on Sunday, so that they could get a good look at the cones cardoning off the broken-up pavement/patch repair at the apex of Devil's Elbow. As they went by the corner workers were standing there pointing at the area . When the hounds were released Robert Thiele in the solo ITR car took off like a shot, with the top-three ITS cars led by Jeff Harding in pursuit. Crazy Joe quickly took the lead in ITA with Jeff and Marc Cefalo in pursuit; Marc slipped by Jeff in the infield. Around Lap Two or Three Jeff was caught by John G in his ITS RX-7; John tried to slip under Jeff in Turn Three and unfortunately caught him in the rear quarter and spun him around.

Jeff quickly recovered but was now quite a bit behind the lead two of Jeff and Marc. Marc constantly dogged Joe, killing him under braking and the infield but losing track on the oval. It was quite the treat seeing Marc sideways through Turn Two each lap! Roughly halfway through the race while tucked up under joe's tail, Marc tagged a couple of those cones at the exit of Devil's Elbow; as the field streamed by the corner workers put them back but Marc tagged them again. This apparently earned Marc a Black Flag; however Marc did not come in, instead continuing to dog Joe.

Through all this, Jeff had put his head down and was driving like a mad man, catching the lead two battle. Lap after lap he shaved away at the distance between them, sometimes whole seconds per lap. It soon became a battle of lap remaining versus determination, and Jeff was doing a HELL of a job. With only a handful of laps left Jeff caught and passed Marc, and two laps later he caught Joe. With only two laps to go they disappeared from view on the oval, with Jeff right on Joe's butt; they re-emerged in Turn Two with Jeff in the lead! As they came under the checkered flag Jeff was in front, with a well-earned double victory!

As Joe said to me later, "The man was on a mission!" And, remember that "motivation" we talked about? Jeff did manage to get into the 52s, with a 1:52.875 (from memory), only fractions of a second off the seemingly redoubtable ITA track lap record.

Motivation, indeed.

The IT field was book-ended by a couple of solo-effort wins of Robert Thiele in the ITR BMW, and the lone ITC car. ITS was another hellacious battle, as Jeff Harding fell out early with a mechanical problem, leaving Jay Detrick and Brian Bagnall to fight for ITS honors. It seemed that Brain was destined to play bridesmaid, as Jay was doing a good job holding him off, but unfortunately Jay managed to select the kill switch instead of the gear lever on the last lap, handing Brian another win. ITB was the typical barn-burner, with Nat Wentworth and Dave Zsalow remaining clear in front of an entertaining rubbin'-is-racin' close ITB battle behind.

Good day of racin' all around!!!

GA

P.S. If anyone found a really nice pair of Serengeti Vendi sunglasses in the most unlikeliest of places near the East Course (you'll know what I mean) could you please send me a PM...?

[benspeed]

Great racing - I taped the ITS/R/A/B race on Saturday. If folks would like I can post that - same kind of footage as the Pro IT race. Not sure if my video skills are good or painful to watch at this point.

Nice job to everybody!

[Jeremy Billiel]

No other chatter? Where is everyone?

[tdw6974]

No other chatter? Where is everyone?
Pocono was our first outing of the year! Entered the Pro-it and the double regional. Qualified well in the pro-it field and regional. We were moving up through the Pro-it race in good fashion and at about the 30 minute mark the Transmssion Grenaded (Blew up sh t the bed crapped out ) 4th gear only. I understand we were not the only ones. Seems like this becoming more of a "Weak link" since the open ECU rule. Not an engineer but I would almost bet when designed for street us there is not much "extra Strength" built into these transmissions and now we are throwing more HP and Torque and as a result things are coming apart.
weather was great a bit windy and cool Sunday but no rain. The pro-it numbers were up but suspect the regional numbers were down we had garage 23 and there was a lot of open space avaiable
Well its on to NJMP for next event! T Weaver

[JLawton]

I think Cefelo hit every cone out there............ and even a few in the paddock!!

But, that boy can drive the freakin' wheels off that car!!! Very entertaining to watch!!




People complain all the time about how boring Pocono is. But it's the one track in the Northeast where you need a totally different skill set. The draft is SO important there and it's not as easy as it looks!!

It may not be until the weekend until I can get video posted. Anyone know a good place to put it now that video.google is gone?

I hope I didn't screw up the ITB race when I sprayed dirt on the track. Sorry Dave and Nat!!

[Andy Bettencourt]

My first thought is we were AMAZED at the number of people that ran the Pro-IT race but didn't partake of the Regional. Very odd.

I actually think it makes perfect sense. Come in, race and be home for Mother's Day.

[mossaidis]

It may not be until the weekend until I can get video posted. Anyone know a good place to put it now that video.google is gone?

Jeff, congrats on the wins! You weren't joking about the drafting at POC. A lot of the TT guys have success with http://www.vimeo.com/ - I am looking forward to seeing your training video

[mazdagt3]

I think Cefelo hit every cone out there............ and even a few in the paddock!!

But, that boy can drive the freakin' wheels off that car!!! Very entertaining to watch!!fhfh!

yea i pretty much hit every possible cone. unfortunately the stewards were far from impressed with the sheer accuracy i had in....well, adjusting their location.

after ignoring the black flag (REAL BAD move on my part) i was dq'd and rightfully so. rules are in place for a reason.

next stop... NJMP

i wonder if they'll have cones?

[PsychoRallye]

So Greg-
Where's the link to that video of my rather retarded spin in front of you so I can have something to laugh at myself for this week ?

Great to meet a bunch more of you this weekend. Let's get some more participation for the next events... ! ITA was way too small and Joe's mouth is way too big!!:026:

[lateapex911]

ITA was way too small and Joe's mouth is way too big!!:026:

What more could ever be added?

[Robert Zecca]

Regarding people running the TEAMDI PROIT Series and not entering the regional may be a problem for the future. WE ARE ONLY SHOOTING OURSELVES IN THE FOOT. Last year we had about 160 cars for the regional and this year 120. Last year we had 28 cars for ProIt and this year 35. One of the reasons why ProIT was born is to supplement money for the regions and give people a reason to run a second event. Now it seems people are only the ProIT series and no regionals. This will hurt the regions and I am sure we will see increased entry fees for ProIt in the future. The other thing we may see is that we only run with Nationals and not regionals and then we will see decreased events for 2009. I do not make the rules, the regions do but I forsee a problem down the road. I would hope you would do your best in the future to run both the regional and PROIT event or we may lose a good thing????

Thank you to those who are able to support both.

Sincerely,
Bob Zecca

[lateapex911]

I bet a major issue was Mothers day. Getting back home in time for Mothers Day, scored lots of guys major points, I'd bet. The Pro race gave them the capability to do that.

[Jeremy Billiel]

Enclosed is my video of the ITA race from Turn 3 on Sunday

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buPjsV5r3Zk&feature=channel_page[/ame]

[JLawton]

After the race was the first time EVER that I heard Joe......... be silent!!! :eek:


And for those of you who know Joe, that's BIG!!!

[CRallo]

The Joe DeLuca and Linda Gronlund Freedom Races was the debut event for the #87 ITA Nissan 240sx with it's new team. Fellow racer Justin Curry and I now have the pleasure of caring for and piloting this beast!

Overall the weekend far exceeded our expectations and the car held up very well. To our credit, we did prep the hell out of the thing to the best of our ability with the time allowed. Only one mechanical issue popped up in between sessions and with a small part generously supplied by Tim Klvana of CPM Motorsports we were able to quickly solve the issue.

The car is a bit of a handful with old suspension and old tires but once we both settled our selves down a bit we were able to find lots of time and I was able to learn a new track. On Sunday, Justin chiseled his way down to mid 1:58's while clawing his way through traffic in the IT race and with a clear track in STU I was able to get down to low 1:57's smoothly. This was despite my determination to use third gear and not second in devil's elbow...

Most importantly, we both kept the car off the wall and off of other cars and had an absolute blast!! I am looking forward to the rest of the season and actually running in ITA.

Special thanks go to Jeff Lawton, Joe DiMinno, Greg Amy and Jeremy Billel of Kakashi Racing and Tim Klvana of CPM Motorsports. Without thier assistance our weekend could not have been what it was...

This weekend also could not have happened with out Matt Kessler of Kessler engineering. With the unique capabilities of the Dynapak dyno and Matt's amazing expertise,we were able to shake the car down with out ever taking the car to a track and ensure that the engine made reasonable power, was running a safe tune and would stay cool etc. Matt's setup pad was also put to work setting the car up to great success. The old suspension and tires would have made things a mess with out a good setup! One last note: On Matt's dyno we found that the thermostat was sticking. Had this reared its ugly head at the track it would have ruined the weekend if not the car! Thanks again Matt!!!

Also, thanks are due to Alex Gifford of Branchville Motors in Ridgefield, CT. He has let me take over his shop to prep the racecar and given me time off I need to break it Branchville Motors is New England's premier Moto Guzzi Motorcycle dealership, has become well known for it's support of the Triumph Motorcycle line and is home to Vespa Ridgefield, which was one of the first ten Vespa and Piaggio dealers(botiques) in the country.

Lastly, thanks to Justin Curry for envolving me in this effort!

This effort has a ton of potential, I can't wait to see how the season unfolds...


Also, thanks to anyone that has actually read to the bottom of this!

[JLawton]

Special thanks go to Jeff Lawton, Joe DiMinno, Greg Amy and Jeremy Billel of Kakashi Racing and Tim Klvana of CPM Motorsports. Without thier assistance our weekend could not have been what it was...

This weekend also could not have happened with out Matt Kessler of Kessler engineering. With the unique capabilities of the Dynapak dyno and Matt's amazing expertise,we were able to shake the car down with out ever taking the car to a track and ensure that the engine made reasonable power, was running a safe tune and would stay cool etc. Matt's setup pad was also put to work setting the car up to great success. The old suspension and tires would have made things a mess with out a good setup! One last note: On Matt's dyno we found that the thermostat was sticking. Had this reared its ugly head at the track it would have ruined the weekend if not the car! Thanks again Matt!!!

Also, thanks are due to Alex Gifford of Branchville Motors in Ridgefield, CT. He has let me take over his shop to prep the racecar and given me time off I need to break it Branchville Motors is New England's premier Moto Guzzi Motorcycle dealership, has become well known for it's support of the Triumph Motorcycle line and is home to Vespa Ridgefield, which was one of the first ten Vespa and Piaggio dealers(botiques) in the country.

Lastly, thanks to Justin Curry for envolving me in this effort!

This effort has a ton of potential, I can't wait to see how the season unfolds...


Also, thanks to anyone that has actually read to the bottom of this!

You forgot baby Jesus!!

[Greg Amy]

You forgot baby Jesus!!

I prefer the grown-up Jesus; hey, He was a man! He had a beard!

[benspeed]

OK - here's the Saturday race from turn three. Now I was drinking cold beverages at this point so I start goofing on the drivers a little more so apologies to anybody I've offended. I think I goof on Saturns and Suzukis the worst...

If I do tape again I will bring a real camera and tripod.

http://video.yahoo.com/watch/5053531/13428036

Jeremy - your camera seems to be much better than my little $100 digital.