Chula Showdown

:-(

Well... This was my best finish so faR. Had a bit of trouble on the first lap. Got tapped from behind into someone else that was nearly stopped in the corner, but I think we all got out o.k. Not sure what caused the fray on the formation lap...All I saw was Kordonny buggies upside down and rolling in front of me. The mess on the opening lap knocked me all the way to 11th, which really sucked since this was only a 15 lapper.

But I got out fairly clean the whole race. Had to work my way past several kordonny buggies until I had a baja in my sight. Think it was Mark just before he got out of the race. Didn't see what happened there. Too bad since we were the slower of the 5 bugs and had some great battle potential between us 2.

Ended up 5th overall and 3rd in class. Don't exactly see the difference between the Kordonny and the bug as far as times go at this track. The class distinctions don't seem too far apart. Gotta be something there though.

So I am very happy about this finish. actually had a great race and a fine finish that was not by some odd default. Ran it clean and consistant. Dennis was setting a screaming pace. I was a second off his and Gary's pace for the entire race, depressing since I practiced my heart out for this one. Just couldn't get it under 51.4 secs. Oh well...at least I am improving.

Congrats Dennis and Gary.

Damn, Mark that's gotta sting...... Garry and I had you in a Kordonowy sammy for a few laps.

I've run VORRA before in fixed setup races, and did a LOT of testing. One difference between the classes is the wheel distances - short for baja means the rear wheels are closer to the center of the car. This seems to keep the rear from swinging out as much as the Kordonowy. The other thing is going over bumps: The Kordonowy rear wheels will push off for slightly longer than the baha which should translate to more distance, and is critical if landing on offramp downslopes.

About the race, I looked at the replay carefully, here's what I see: B Hedrick in formation lap, turned sharp into the wall, possible because left rear was still on banking and pushed the rear out from behind him. C Hodges got collected which shot him across the track and into the cement barriers.

Lap 1 incident: A brief examination shows what appears to be steering problems for B Hedrick, likely due to the formation lap incident. I believe this was the cause of the bad entry into turn 1. I think G Hedrick anticipated he would need some room entered cautiously. I came in hot, but did not anticipate he would get tapped down into my path, and the 2nd hit from me almost sent him onto his roof. B Hedrick did end up pitting that lap which is why I expect there was damage to his vehicle.

Hard racing, lots of fun. Bumping and banging is to be expected and I wouldn't wish for anyone to get damaged, much less spun. I feel bad for those who can't get back in the action. :/

I timed in third in class and thought this might give me a good chance at a good finish in the KBuggy but I got tangled up in a littl mess on lap two or so and spun off the track. At that point I had a good case of the racoon eyes from the Chula Vista clay and set out to make up some time. Thing were going well untill I tore the RF suspension arms off on the pit wall. DOH! Lets see now....where is Tim's post on DNF, must be one I can use in there. Left my bath water running, had to trim my toe nails, had a cake in the oven....

I asked my computer; Computer, why did you reboot on me? Computer says; Because you over used the horn in practice.

Talk in the garage area is that M. Peeler is a joke, his computer will most likely reboot on him, so he is no threat in a race. LAME!