Congratulations to Steve for winning with the Spit 1500. This is the first Runoffs win since 1980 (thanks SCCA Media Guide) for a Spit 1500. This is so long ago; it’s when these cars were still new!
Congrats to the podium finishes Eric and Charlie as well. They showed the Miata has a lot of go! And with the Miata finishing 2,3,4,6, etc. it still shows it’s one of the LP cars to have.
I would like to mention the good battle Dieter had with Joe Walker and Scott Lunder. These guys ran very close and hard for the first half of the race. They swapped positions several times a lap early on but were very aware of each other.
The Civic of Lunder has good potential considering he already finished 7th in his first Runoffs and it held its own under braking against the Lotus and Spit, two of the better braking cars, not to mention running his best lap time of the week while battling in the early stages of the race.
Unfortunately, on lap 5, with Dieter leading the pack, the throttle shaft broke (butterfly detached from the shaft) going into turn 8. With the throttle stuck wide open at that point in turn 8 he went off track but luckily with the extra asphalt off the outside of the turn, the car came back under control quickly. He limped the car around the remainder of the lap and pulled in leaving the battle of Lunder, Bramlage and Walker.
Ironically, Chris Patrick’s Spitfire 1500 also broke its throttle shaft on the last lap of the race.