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Before I get into the last race of the season I must correct a great injustice perpetrated by myself. When I wrote about the Road America race and all of us Northerners hanging out together I inadvertently left out Bob Cohen’s wife Martha. I don’t understand how this happened because I found my notes on the event and Martha was on it. So, Martha I am very sorry! OK on to the Summit Point race but before I can write about the race I have to write about the ride out. Andy is very good with directions and finding good routes to the tracks we go to. He knows where toll booths are located, what bridges are OK to travel on, what roads are good at certain times of the day and on and on. There’s never a hiccup in Andy’s travel plans. Unfortunately the trip to Summit didn’t follow the normal history of our getting to the tracks. Because we have the new 44' trailer Andy was concerned about a certain raised railroad track that we have to go over and thought the trailer might have problems. The plan was to go beyond our normal exit and come in from the back side of the track. No problem, it was Thursday around 2:30 and Greg Brown was saving us a spot so getting there early wasn’t that important. So the exit looked good and the directions were going fine. Even when the road turned to gravel it didn’t faze us since the new good way to get to Mosport for us was from the other side and that was a gravel road. We were on the gravel for a while but it wasn’t until the road got really narrow that I started to secretly get concerned. At this point I would like to make clear that I have a tendency of letting certain things stress me out even though Andy remains cool. One example is driving in the middle of nowhere when gas light comes on. This doesn't bother Andy but it makes me crazy. The solution for me to stay calm is to bring 2-5 gallon jugs of diesel fuel in case of emergencies. I stay very calm now when we finally roll into a gas station with the remaining miles left in the tank reading 4 miles left. Anyway back to the gravel road. We passed a small bridge that may or may not have been the correct way but that was a mute point since I don’t think we could have made it across with the trailer. Well at this point I can feel the nervousness creeping over me because if this road ends we have a long way to back up. So as a way of easing my own tension I jokingly say, "I can only imagine coming around a corner and having a river in front of us". We were so lucky! It was just a big stream. Seriously! So in a countryside filled with flat, wide open corn fields we were not near any of them. The sides of the road had a small drainage rut and then dirt walls, trees, rocks and oh yeah more trees! Now my ability to stay calm was leaving me like a Cup car from a 914. How Andy stayed calm is beyond me for we now had to back our 44' trailer up a winding gravel road. The kicker was when an older couple pulled up behind us shortly after us think we knew where we were going. They then do a simple 3-point turn and are on their way. It wasn’t going to be that easy for us. Well, I started backing up while Andy kept me abreast of my blind spots. An hour later and probably 1 mile we came across Forgotten Lane. Well not by me! I will leave money in my will to whoever is brave enough to live on that life saving road. It took probably 4-5 tries of backing the trailer into Forgotten Lane because of a telephone pole and mailbox as well as a dirt mound on the cab side that I had to miss. So all is well that ends well. We proved to ourselves that we can get out of anything. I just wish I had my camera with me. And the real kicker was the GPS was in the glovebox. OK so we finally get to the track and Greg Brown doing the solo thing had saved us a nice big spot by the entrance. After unloading, setting up the satellite dish and changing tires we headed out for a well deserved meal. Two years ago was the last time that Andy and I had been to Summit Point where I came away with my first podium a 3rd place, with Andy a close 4th. The fastest either and I went then was my 1:27.550 to Andy’s 1:27.738. This year as usual we hoped to do better. But something different happened for me. Typically it takes me a couple sessions to work out the demons before I start picking up the pace. In the first session I got right into it and had the 3rd fastest lap of all D, E, F and down. I was right behind Greg Merril in 2nd and our own Mike Trombly in his new 964 US Cup Car who was untouchable all weekend. Since I write about me, Mike will have to toot his own horn, while I toot mine. Just like two years ago Andy was on worn Michelins and miserable. There is something about this track and the temperatures that just cries for Hoosiers. After cording his Michelins in the 2nd session Andy had to move up his Hoosier mounting time that he was saving for the race. Our times were coming right along, but since I was fastest from Turn 5 through Turn 10, I was constantly getting held up by D and E cars in my fast area. They would pull me on the straights, so it wasn’t until Saturday’s qualifying that we were able to rip off a couple good ones. On the grid I was outside row 5 and Andy was inside row 6. Surprisingly Andy got caught off guard on the pace of the start and left a nice spot for me to make it to the inside. I ended up battling with an E-class prepared Carrera that was eventually taken out when an F-class 944 punted him in Turn One. Without thinking I radioed to Andy that I now had less pressure from behind and could relax a bit. Well, since Andy just lost all the cars between him and I he saw that as a reason to come after me with a vengeance and he turned it on at the same time that I was loosing tires. I also found myself behind the 3rd place F-class car and was trying to catch him. All of a sudden I not only was trying to gain a spot but I had to defend my spot from a hard charging Andy. The race ended with me and Andy finishing 7th and 8th overall and 4th and 5th in class out of 35 cars and 18 F cars. Pretty good finish. But the race of races came on Sunday in the form of the 90-minute enduro. Since Andy had a rabbit in the Sprint Race (me!) he turned a quick 1:26.608 to my 1:26.788 so by the time we got to grid he was grided 5th and I was 6th. Fortunately position 4 didn't show so I found the inside row. It didn't do any good because Andy after sleeping in the Sprint start got a great jump on me and was off after Grigsby, Merril and Rick Deman's GT5 944 piloted by someone else. I ended up having to get away from Axel Shields who did a bonzai start. So fighting with Axel and the impending Mark Weining I saw Andy ride off several car lengths. Andy ended up getting pulled by Grigsby and Merril but was having a good fight with Deman's GT5 car until they both came through Turn 10 (Andy on his bumper) when the GT5 blew his motor onto Andy's windshield. As Andy got a little sideways he saw engine parts fly over his hood. He managed to hold on to it and quickly radioed to me that there was oil in 10 since he knew I was fairly close behind. I hit the oil but it didn't upset the car to much and I made it through OK. By the time I vanquished Axel and Mark went off in 10 to hit the tires (not from the oil) Andy was half a track away. With 37 cars (F and down) we had constant traffic to work through. Andy and I both passed a 914 at least 15 times. I did the math and I figure that 914 got passed, in 90 minutes, about 250-300 times. Wow! So after an hour of chasing and passing I decided to take my pit stop. As I passed through the timing cones I hit my 5 minute timer that decided not to work. I had started to roll down pit lane so I glanced at my overall stop watch to get a bearing. After fueling and getting belted back in I had to make a call as to when I should roll out. They were imposing a new verbal rule. If you left from 1-10 seconds early you get a 1 lap penalty, 10-20 a 2 lap penalty and more than 20 a DQ. So I had to make a pretty accurate guess considering they wouldn’t let me know until the sheets were out. I also had to think about trying to catch Andy so I didn’t want to play it too safe. As I continued along worrying that I may get a one lap penalty Andy radioed that he just lost 5th gear and had to stay in 4th on the front straight. Just as I gave Andy incentive in the Sprint race, I smelled blood in the water. My friend’s blood, but blood just the same so I took it up a notch and went after him. As I came into Turn 5 I eventually saw that I was gaining on him and saw the distance getting shorter and shorter. Unfortunately without 5th gear Andy had to hope time ran out before I caught him. Although my turbo never hit 5th, Andy’s Carrera needed it desperately on the front straight. Luck was on his side, even though I got close when two lapped cars slowed him in Turn 10, he managed to stay 2.5 seconds ahead of me. I forgot to mention that Grigsby had a tire and wheel issue and dropped out 15 laps short of the final 58 laps. Still sweating about my pit stop I wasn't sure but I could have been third in class with Andy in second behind Merril and the GT5 cars that may have beat us. As the results came out... five cars were DQ'd for being underweight including Merril. Final results for the enduro - Andy Jenks 1st overall/1st in class, Steve Boris 2nd overall/2nd in class, and we were the only two cars on the lead lap. Everybody else was at least a lap down from Team Northeast. Our fastest lap times in the race showed exactly what was going on. Andy had a 1:27 096 in the 3rd lap and I had a 1:26.437 on the 57th lap. I was coming. Team Northeast Sweep! Granted it was at the expense of a two cars getting DQ’d in front of us but we always work to make sure we will finish within weight. When I was called to the scales after the Sprint race I was 17 lbs over (2 gallons) and Mike Trombly was 4 lbs over. That’s 1/2 gallon, perhaps a bit too tight but legal. So until next year, and we think it will start in February at Sebring, be cool and make the car faster. |
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