09-15-2009, 03:23 PM
Hi - here's an update on the latest race. Not my best as I didn't have rain tires but it was a fun run through the field....pulled a third place in the first race.
http://video.yahoo.com/watch/5988254/15568687
Photos up here at the Pro IT site www.proitseries.com
TeamDI Pro IT – New Jersey Motorsports Park – Round 6
It was a wet Friday morning qualifying for round 6 and 7 of the TeamDI Pro IT racing series. It was raining hard as the cars took the grid for practice and it continued to rain throughout the day turning the paddock into a muddy quagmire. But that didn’t slow down the competition! The day was filled with great on track action by both the drivers in the TeamDI Pro IT series and the Jetta TDI Cup drivers also practiced and qualified in the wet. I will point out that no TeamDI Pro IT cars came in on the tow trucks while at least 3 or 4 TDI cars came in with heavy damage.
During the TeamDI Pro IT qualifying there were several interesting incidents that bear mentioning. The most spectacular was Ray Blethen coming into turn 1 in his ITS Porsche 944S and erupting into a fireball that stretched 20 feet behind the car! A rod bearing failure put a hole in the block of his 2.5 liter four cylinder causing the flames. Fortunately Ray was fine and parked the car safely out of the way for the rest of the session. The oil in turn 1 made for some excellent entertainment for those of us watching and many drivers got to experience what ice racing must feel like with many cars dancing through the rain and oil, fighting to keep it on the asphalt.
Saturdays practice was wet and I felt I had to take to the track. I hadn’t qualified as I didn’t have rain tires and none were available for sale at the track that fit my rims. Everybody behaved during the practice despite the wet and all cars were ready for the race. Nick Leverone was on the Pole with his SM Miata and proceeded to set a blistering pace while the rain drizzled. About halfway into the race the skies cleared and a dry line began to form. I had started in 46th position and had not worked my way through many cars, fighting the wet. Then a full course caution flew and bunched up the field. That and the dry line allowed me to spend the second half of the race running down cars to finish 12th overall and 3rd in ITR. Attrition in my class earned me the podium and I made no mistakes on the track. Matt Rooke in the Ridge Racing ITS Mazda RX7 was the overall winner and took the lead from Rob Driscoll with three laps to go in a hard fought and clean battle.
TeamDI Pro IT Round 6 Results
NJMP Thunderbolt
ITR
Robert Breault - 24 laps
Robert Nimkoff - 24 laps
Ben Phillips - 24 laps
ITS
Matt Rooke - 24 laps (overall winner)
Jon Allen - 24 laps
Rob Driscoll - 24 laps
ITA
Marc Cefalo - 24 laps
Jake Gulick - 22 laps
Tim Klvana - 20 laps
ITB
Raymond Blethen - 24 laps
Stephen Blethen - 23 laps
Dan Hall - 23 laps
ITC
Mike Allenbaugh - 21 laps
SM
Nick Leverone - 24 laps
David Kupferschmid - 24 laps
Chip Herr - 24 laps (professional World Challenge driver)
TeamDI Pro IT – New Jersey Motorsports Park – Round
Sunday morning broke overcast but dry. There was no morning practice and all cars were gridded by 8:45 for the 9AM start. In honor of those who lost their lives on 9/11 every car made a pace lap with an American flag flying to show our respect and remembrance of our fallen comrades and Heroes. The memories of Joe Deluca and Linda Gronlund who were longtime SCCA members, drivers and volunteers were on the minds of many during that parade lap. Joe and Linda were both on Flight 93 which terrorist downed in a cowardly attack. A second warm-up lap was followed by a green flag. I again started 46th with a new driver, Bill Ball running alongside me in an ITR M3 BMW. Bill took off and never looked back charging to the front to win ITR and nearly take the overall win, finishing 2nd to Matt Rooke in the Ridge Racing ITS Mazda RX7. I finished 9th overall and 5th in class, passing 37 cars. I did have one off in the NJ Devil turn; the decreasing radius right hander is not a place to attempt an outside pass unless you wish to continue straight off the course for the wall…
Huge compliments to the drivers in the TeamDI Pro IT Series. There was not one major incident throughout the weekend and despite some incidental bumps and bangs, nobody had any major damage. The series had a fantastic podium celebration on both days using the professional NJMP podium. Awards also included the beautiful Erin, Miss TeamDI, who presented the trophies and handed out TeamDI Pro IT programs to the onlookers. The end of the day festivities had just as much Champaign flying as the victory celebration by Patrick Long, Winner of the ARCA Re/Max race held only hours later.
Overall this had to be one of the most incredible race weekends I’ve attended. From the muck and mire on Friday to the victory celebrations Saturday and Sunday, right down to the ARCA race complete with flybys by WWI bi-planes showing smoke over the crowds of thousands – what an outstanding TeamDI Pro IT series event! I personally had some fun when I saw Matt Rooke and John Hansworth (who took a third place in ITS this weekend) standing before a huge grandstand packed with fans, waiting for the start of the ARCA race. I bellowed to the crowd that before them was the overall winner of the TeamDI Pro IT race and let’s give him a cheer! The stands responded with a hearty cry for Matt as he waived his cap to the fans! Congratulations to all the drivers, teams and sponsors.
TeamDI Pro IT Round 7 Results
NJMP Thunderbolt
ITR
Bill Ball - 29 laps (new lap record 1:32.726)
Robert Nimkoff - 29 laps
Robert Thiele - 29 laps
ITS
Matt Rooke - 29 laps (overall winner) (new lap record 1:33.221)
Rob Driscoll - 29 laps
John Hainsworth - 29 laps
ITA
Tim Klvana - 28 laps
Marc Cefalo - 28 laps (new lap record 1:35.890)
Jake Gulick - 28 laps
ITB
Ken Hubbard - 28 laps
Raymond Blethen - 27 laps
Tim Mullen - 27 laps
ITC
Brian Heun - 25 laps
SM
Nick Leverone - 29 laps
Chris Kellett - 28 laps
Brian Cates - 28 laps
http://video.yahoo.com/watch/5988254/15568687
Photos up here at the Pro IT site www.proitseries.com
TeamDI Pro IT – New Jersey Motorsports Park – Round 6
It was a wet Friday morning qualifying for round 6 and 7 of the TeamDI Pro IT racing series. It was raining hard as the cars took the grid for practice and it continued to rain throughout the day turning the paddock into a muddy quagmire. But that didn’t slow down the competition! The day was filled with great on track action by both the drivers in the TeamDI Pro IT series and the Jetta TDI Cup drivers also practiced and qualified in the wet. I will point out that no TeamDI Pro IT cars came in on the tow trucks while at least 3 or 4 TDI cars came in with heavy damage.
During the TeamDI Pro IT qualifying there were several interesting incidents that bear mentioning. The most spectacular was Ray Blethen coming into turn 1 in his ITS Porsche 944S and erupting into a fireball that stretched 20 feet behind the car! A rod bearing failure put a hole in the block of his 2.5 liter four cylinder causing the flames. Fortunately Ray was fine and parked the car safely out of the way for the rest of the session. The oil in turn 1 made for some excellent entertainment for those of us watching and many drivers got to experience what ice racing must feel like with many cars dancing through the rain and oil, fighting to keep it on the asphalt.
Saturdays practice was wet and I felt I had to take to the track. I hadn’t qualified as I didn’t have rain tires and none were available for sale at the track that fit my rims. Everybody behaved during the practice despite the wet and all cars were ready for the race. Nick Leverone was on the Pole with his SM Miata and proceeded to set a blistering pace while the rain drizzled. About halfway into the race the skies cleared and a dry line began to form. I had started in 46th position and had not worked my way through many cars, fighting the wet. Then a full course caution flew and bunched up the field. That and the dry line allowed me to spend the second half of the race running down cars to finish 12th overall and 3rd in ITR. Attrition in my class earned me the podium and I made no mistakes on the track. Matt Rooke in the Ridge Racing ITS Mazda RX7 was the overall winner and took the lead from Rob Driscoll with three laps to go in a hard fought and clean battle.
TeamDI Pro IT Round 6 Results
NJMP Thunderbolt
ITR
Robert Breault - 24 laps
Robert Nimkoff - 24 laps
Ben Phillips - 24 laps
ITS
Matt Rooke - 24 laps (overall winner)
Jon Allen - 24 laps
Rob Driscoll - 24 laps
ITA
Marc Cefalo - 24 laps
Jake Gulick - 22 laps
Tim Klvana - 20 laps
ITB
Raymond Blethen - 24 laps
Stephen Blethen - 23 laps
Dan Hall - 23 laps
ITC
Mike Allenbaugh - 21 laps
SM
Nick Leverone - 24 laps
David Kupferschmid - 24 laps
Chip Herr - 24 laps (professional World Challenge driver)
TeamDI Pro IT – New Jersey Motorsports Park – Round
Sunday morning broke overcast but dry. There was no morning practice and all cars were gridded by 8:45 for the 9AM start. In honor of those who lost their lives on 9/11 every car made a pace lap with an American flag flying to show our respect and remembrance of our fallen comrades and Heroes. The memories of Joe Deluca and Linda Gronlund who were longtime SCCA members, drivers and volunteers were on the minds of many during that parade lap. Joe and Linda were both on Flight 93 which terrorist downed in a cowardly attack. A second warm-up lap was followed by a green flag. I again started 46th with a new driver, Bill Ball running alongside me in an ITR M3 BMW. Bill took off and never looked back charging to the front to win ITR and nearly take the overall win, finishing 2nd to Matt Rooke in the Ridge Racing ITS Mazda RX7. I finished 9th overall and 5th in class, passing 37 cars. I did have one off in the NJ Devil turn; the decreasing radius right hander is not a place to attempt an outside pass unless you wish to continue straight off the course for the wall…
Huge compliments to the drivers in the TeamDI Pro IT Series. There was not one major incident throughout the weekend and despite some incidental bumps and bangs, nobody had any major damage. The series had a fantastic podium celebration on both days using the professional NJMP podium. Awards also included the beautiful Erin, Miss TeamDI, who presented the trophies and handed out TeamDI Pro IT programs to the onlookers. The end of the day festivities had just as much Champaign flying as the victory celebration by Patrick Long, Winner of the ARCA Re/Max race held only hours later.
Overall this had to be one of the most incredible race weekends I’ve attended. From the muck and mire on Friday to the victory celebrations Saturday and Sunday, right down to the ARCA race complete with flybys by WWI bi-planes showing smoke over the crowds of thousands – what an outstanding TeamDI Pro IT series event! I personally had some fun when I saw Matt Rooke and John Hansworth (who took a third place in ITS this weekend) standing before a huge grandstand packed with fans, waiting for the start of the ARCA race. I bellowed to the crowd that before them was the overall winner of the TeamDI Pro IT race and let’s give him a cheer! The stands responded with a hearty cry for Matt as he waived his cap to the fans! Congratulations to all the drivers, teams and sponsors.
TeamDI Pro IT Round 7 Results
NJMP Thunderbolt
ITR
Bill Ball - 29 laps (new lap record 1:32.726)
Robert Nimkoff - 29 laps
Robert Thiele - 29 laps
ITS
Matt Rooke - 29 laps (overall winner) (new lap record 1:33.221)
Rob Driscoll - 29 laps
John Hainsworth - 29 laps
ITA
Tim Klvana - 28 laps
Marc Cefalo - 28 laps (new lap record 1:35.890)
Jake Gulick - 28 laps
ITB
Ken Hubbard - 28 laps
Raymond Blethen - 27 laps
Tim Mullen - 27 laps
ITC
Brian Heun - 25 laps
SM
Nick Leverone - 29 laps
Chris Kellett - 28 laps
Brian Cates - 28 laps
