Penultimacy
Just two races left in the season, and amazingly I find myself in possession of third in the points chase. The last regular 2009 points race in Vegas turned out to be an interesting one - #2 qualifier, made it to the semifinals for the first time, and got to hang out with some old friends from Bothwell Motorsports.
The first round of Mustang Maddness qualifying on Saturday was a total mess - when I got to the ready line, Duane Cress, Scott Dool, and Dan Marciano all had their cars parked off to the side. It seemed like half the class broke before taking the beams. When I picked up my timeslip with an .063 reaction, it was the class-leader. At least until Dan got his re-run and smoked me with a .010, that is…
While Duane’s problem was an easily-remedied minor oil leak from a blown-out dipstick, Scott had sheared most of the teeth off of his distributor. Fortunately, Dan had a brand-new spare in his trailer and the swap was quickly accomplished, getting Scott back into action for Round 2 of quals.
After getting pushed down the ranks a bit in Q2, I decided to swing for the fences on my last hit and went in extra deep, pulling off a .002 in the process and earning second, behind Dan’s perfect light in Q2. Eliminations on Sunday went better than they should have. First round I drew Brett Nicholl again, and this time I just about lost on a bonehead move. At half track, watching him come up in my side mirror, I let off the gas unintentionally and the car upshifted into third, then took two agonizing seconds to drop back down when I mashed the pedal again. Fortunately for me, Brett broke out, but I won a round I really didn’t deserve and got to stay in it.
Round 2 against Steven Buck was much better for me; as close to a ‘correct’ pass as I feel like I’ve done all year. The car was starting to show signs of falling off a bit in the heat, though.
Third round was the semis, and I got paired with Paul Wolfe to see who would get to run against Dan, who had a bye into the finals. My luck had run out, though, and the car wouldn’t run the number so my day was over.
Meanwhile, back in the pits, the desert winds had come up and made a mess of the motorcycle guys’ popups…
Besides the #2 in quals and the good showing in eliminations (netting $25 in cash, my first PSCA payout!), I also got to hang out with my friends from Bothwell Motorsports, who were getting their new driver Rick Snavely some seat time in their Outlaw 10.5 car, working up for SCSN next month:
Just one race left…