A few clarifications to Jon's post..
On Sat's first lap, Buskuhl and Pineder both spun in T4 both in front and behind me. Kinda cool to replay the video and see two black RXs slowly pirouetting in both my windshield and mirror... Hall spun going into 6 and did a full 360, tapping Robertson in the LR corner. Hall had some cosmetic damage and a pinhole in his radiator which he found after the race. it was luckily high enough on the radiator that he didn't bleed out during the race and do more damage. Robertson only damaged a "wing" (LR fender for the rest of the world), but it didn't slow him down any as he went on to win the race.
Reynolds spun in T8 on the opening lap, and he came back by me around T2 on lap 2- I just got out of the way and tried to follow. (didn't work!)
A couple laps later, Grahovec's throttle cable adjuster "thingy" came loose, causing an FCY to pull him off track. Toby said they all but welded it in place for Sunday and his throttle cable definitely worked then!
After the caution to clean up, Hall and I had a decent battle for 3rd place and we traded places a couple times. Typical Caterham, he could corner better in the back section, and get around me in braking, then I would reel him in on the straights, passing him just after S/F line. We got a white flag and I turned up the wick a little bit as the dry line was forming. Same deal on this lap, but I was able to stay close enough to him that I took a really late entry into 13-14-15 as he tried to enter shallow and brake late to keep me behind.. It backfired for him as I was able to pour on the power right at the exit of 15 while he was still trying to make the turn. I had 50ft on him by start finish, but no flag!??! (white flag must have been a slow car?) When we got to turn 1, there was a car parked at pit out that I didn't see before, so at this point I'm guessing we still have two laps to go and keep my foot down. Hall assumes the same thing, as I see him catching up at the exit of T2, but then he puts two off on the exit and spins behind me. I never see waves from any of the corner stations, so I again assume race is still on and keep my head down. Got the checker the next lap, and then get to impound and hear the commotion. Evidently Robertson took the checker first, then the checker was pulled in for Reynolds, Ruck, Hingston, Hall, and myself.. Checker came back out for the rest of the field just behind us..
The first checker obviously stood, and Robertson got the victory. Reynolds 2nd, I 3rd.
In FP, Ruck was 1st with Hingston 2nd. that's all I know of that race since I didn't follow much more.
Sunday........
Group 1 (Spec miata) went out on a wet track with puddles, but no rain..
The wreck was William "Willy" Keeling and Lee Thomas. Thomas had gone off a previous lap and was stuck, Keeling went off and nailed him in the door (RUMOR has it Keeling had help getting off track, but that's only paddock talk.) Keeling fractured two vertebrae and had surgery to repair it on Monday. He is full of titanium bits now, but there is no risk of paralysis now and he is expected to make a good recovery. He does have a long road ahead, so keep him and his wife in your prayers/send good vibes. He's gonna need 'em.
I saw Lee walking around in the tech shed after the race and he looked to be hurting, but was at least still walking around and riding a bike.
For the Prod race, the track was almost completely dry put still had some wet spots from the seams and a couple small puddles in the low spots. Green track so it was slow, but it was at least dry. On the start, Reynolds and Grahovec hit the go button and left everyone else behind. Ruck and Hingston were going at it just behind them, then Hall, Robertson, Buskuhl, and I all spent some time fighting for 3rd with Goodale's GTL poking his nose in on the first lap for a few turns. Robertson got out and then started walking away. After a couple laps, I got out of the fray and started gapping Hall and Buskuhl, slowly reeling in Robertson.
Move on a couple laps and Hall lost his engine in T3, putting windows in both sides of the block. There was a 3 lap FCY for cleanup and then we got a green-white-checker finish.
At this point, the first 10 cars behind the safety car included at least 4 lapped cars. (I would have felt more comfortable had they all been given a 'lucky dog' wavearound, because the GWC finish was indeed a mad dash.) Most of the lapped traffic did good to make room and let us through, but a couple cars were much wider than needed and nearly caused some carnage not watching their mirrors.
After the FCY, Robertson's handling was going off and I was able to chase him down and get by him for 3rd with a lap to go, then pulled a solid couple seconds on him by the end of the race. I could just barely see Hingston and Ruck going at it a few seconds in front of me, with Hingston just edging him out at the checker.
So two 3rd place finishes for me with Reynolds, Robertson, and Grahovec all in front of me on the podium. That's pretty quick company for around here, so I'm happy just to be on the podium!
