LIVE Results

Saturday Night – July 16, 2016 – Started 13th, Finished 14th (DNF Wreck with 11 laps To Go)

Heats: Started 4th (of 7 cars), Finished – 5th

Feature: Started 13th  (of 21 cars), Finished 14th  (Finishing Order: )

Comments: We were excited to return to racing after our mid-summer week off.  The car was not very good during practice due to trying something new. We were quick to adjust to the track conditions and driver feedback from Rob. Track conditions were really bad and track was slow. Lap times were way off probably due to the special shows during the summer break.

Heat race was TERRIBLE as a car blew a motor in the heat before us, and the track was not race ready (speedy dry all over the track still) when our heat was put on the track. During the heat race, the lead car all got themselves crossed up on the first lap and Rob lifted anticipating a wreck, but all cars saved completed the lap without wrecking. Rob was unable to make forward progress due to track conditions so that made us lose our handicap and start 13th in the feature race.

Feature race started out OK until lap 1 was completed. Going down the front chute, the 94 and 22 came together and that put the 22 hard into the front chute wall. The 21 turned hard left right in front of Rob and there was contact with the left front tire cutting it down forcing us to pit for LF tire change. Rob restarted last, but there was 34 laps to go.

Long story short, the car was GREAT and Rob picked cars off one-by-one and got up to 5th with 11 laps to go. That’s when lady luck turned against the 51SK and the 21 blew some type of oil line right in front of us and that sent the 21, 51 and 72 into spins – Rob made hard contact with the front chute wall (watch video below) ending our night with a DNF and 14th place finish.  We’ll be back next week looking for the podium finish that was in hand last week.

Here’s what it looked like from Rob’s seat – GoPro footage at half speed:

Saturday Night – July 2, 2016 – Started 24th (Blew Clutch In Heat) – Finish 6th

Heats: Started 5th (of 8 cars), Finished – DNF (clutch disc failure)

Feature: Started 24th  (of 24 cars), Finished 6th  (Finishing Order: )

Comments: Outstanding weather for the July 4th holiday weekend. Practice rounds were not our best – car was tight on corner entry and that was not what we were expecting.

Heat race was plain ugly there were two wrecks in two laps and that put Rob starting pole with eight laps to go. On the restart there was a clutch disc mechanical failure so Rob just went to the infield and did not finish. That forces us to start with the rear due to a car change to our backup car.

Feature race was really very good starting dead last and passed 18 cars to finish sixth in our secondary car after the heat mechanical failure.

PS: Don’t forget we’re off next weekend for the New London Sailfest Fireworks celebration.  We’ll be back to racing Sat. July 16th!

Saturday Night June 25, 2016 – Twin 25L Features – Finished 5 and 8th

Heats: None – Handicapping set the starting positions for each feature

Feature 1: Started 8th (of 24 cars), Finished 5th  (Finishing Order: )

Feature 2: Started 8th  (of 22 cars), Finished 8th (Finishing Order: )

Comments: Severe clear weather is great for fans, but the track conditions should change drastically from day to night. We’ll work hard to keep up with the changes.

Practice was great – car was stable and pretty darn good. Rob set fast time in practice :

First feature was OK. Race started with some outside row backsliding so that wasn’t fun. 1st caution came when the 78 of Monahan came down on somebody in Turn 3 from second but he was not clear and  a little further back in the pack that put the 13 of Christopher hard and did it turn 3 wall resulting in a DNF for the 13. Rob restarted 7th and we found that the car was free off early. Next restart was with 20 laps to go and Rob restarted 5th. The final caution came with 13 to go and robbery started 7th and drove hard to get a fifth-place finish.

Sid’s View of Feature 1:

Feature 2 – Frankly, we were lucky to finish that race. There was a wreck on lap 1 with the 47 sustaining hard damage on the back chute and with Rob starting 8th, we were just 2 cars back from where he hit the wall and Rob’s right front spindle got bent via contact with the 21. Here’s slow-motion video:

Sids View:

Rob restarted 7th after that lap 1 incident. Before the next lap got completed, 13 the leader somehow got wrecked on the front chute via contact with the 22. That is the 2nd wrecked race car for the 13. Rob restarted 6th with 24 laps to go. Next restart was with 18 laps to go and Rob restarted 6th. Final restart with 6th laps to go Rob restarted 6th.  To finish 8th with a damaged race car is better than not finishing with a wrecked race car. Hope to do better next week before the summer weekend break (New London Fireworks weekend).

Saturday Night – June 18, 2016 – Finished 2nd

Heats: Started 2nd (of 8 cars), Finished – 4th

Feature: Started 4th (of 24 cars), Finished 2nd (Finishing Order: 72, 51, 21CT, 06, 81X, 16, 13, 27, 04, 15, 25, 22, 44, 1, 19, 32, 94, 47CT, 78, 9, 3, 88, 17, 8)

Comments: Practice was really good. Car was tick free during 1st practice and tad tight on 2nd practice when Rob laid down quickest lap of the day for all SK’s – it’s been a while since that has happened. Track still seems to have lost grip since last year as we would normally see lap times into the 14.1’s and 14.2’s by now.

Heat race was a challenge starting outside pole since there is no outside groove yet. Rob got an opening to fall into and we were content to finish in 4th as the car shifted back to loose in/out.

Feature will be a challenge again as we’re starting 4th (outside row again – we have started all but 1 feature in the outside row). Well, all turned out fine as the car was great and Rob did an awesome job hanging tough on the outside early in the race. The 78 pinched Rob into the front chute wall early so he had to lift, but then he raced his way back to 2nd. First caution came on lap 2 and Rob restarted 2nd. Next caution came with 26 laps to go and Rob restarted 2nd. The 72 who was leading was really fast tonight. Only thing that I wasn’t expecting was that the race officials let 72 consistently start early before his car was in the “starting box” (see VoJan GoPro footage video below). That kept giving him a little edge on restarts (not that Rob was any quicker, but it may have given Rob what he needed to make an outside run). Next caution came with 11 laps to go and Rob restarted 3rd. With 8 laps to go Rob restarted 2nd again. The final restart came with 5 laps to go and Rob restarted 2nd again. Overall, great night with a podium finish and the car was very stable. Congrats to the 72 team for their first SK win – awesome run!  We hope to do better next week!

Sid’s View with multiple car angles:

Just VoJan GoPro Footage

Saturday Night June 4, 2016 – Bad Heat, Started 20th In Feature, Finished 9th

Heats: Started 4th (of 8 cars), Finished – 8th

Feature: Started 20th (of 23 cars), Finished 9th (Finishing Order: 88, 27, 81X, 21, 04, 72, 08, 8, 51, 78, 44, 32, 54, 98,13, 25, 43, 94, 15, 47CT, 19, 9, 22)

Comments: Practice was really good. We definitely found something with the changes we made mid-week. Car was 4th quickest and we were on 2 new tires. Heat race may be a challenge as Frank in the 98 (starting outside pole) said he may not get up to speed quickly being on stickers. We’ll see and take what we can.

Heat race was bad as the 47 hip checked the 98 on the initial start and that set the tone as Rob had no where to go except backwards. The inside row was lined up nose to take and the 2 cars that started behind Rob dropped down and Rob finally had an opening to drop down to the inside row when we were last. There was no outside groove what so ever. Car pushed on corner entry and was free off. At first we were thinking that our choice to use old tires was root cause, but then in heat 3, we watched 27 and 88 both go backwards on new tires. Only thing better this week than last week’s heat DNF is we don’t have a wrecked race car. We have to start 20th so we’ll be focused on watching trouble up front and pick cars off 1 at a time.

Feature strategy was same as last week – keep my eyes open in front for wrecks and pick the cars off one at a time. First caution came with 29 laps to go and Rob restarted 17th. Next caution came with 25 laps to go and Rob restarted 18th. With 20 laps to go  Rob restarted 12th. On that restart, the 13 jacked up the rear of Rob and that didn’t help since Rob couldn’t used the front bumper as it would just go above the car in front and take weight of the front tires of our car. The car was really pretty good. Only issue is we had no front bumper left as it got used up. With just 8 laps to go Rob restarted 8th.  Overall, we salvaged the night and we’ll hope to do better next week.

Chrome horn used up again

Sat. May 21, 2016 – ACT Tour Night – Finish of 5/14 Feature + 5/21 Feature

Heats: None –

Finish Feature From 5/14: Started 10th (of 27 cars), Finished 5th (Finishing Order: 78, CT21, 72, X81, 51, 06, 13, 98, 27, 32, 94, 15, 19, 9, 88, 3, 04, 22, 1, 8, 44, 16, 54, 17, CT47, 55, 85, 7)

Feature 2:   Started 7th of 27, Finished 8th (Finishing Order: 04, 13, 22, 88, 06, 32, 21CT, 51, 78, 98, 15, 19, 72, 27, 43, 3, 94, 9, 1, 81, 47, 49)

Comments: Starting 5th to restart/finish the 5/14 feature that was cut short last week due to rain. Overcast conditions and potential threat for rain again will make drivers push to make moves early.  Front row is occupied by the 78 of Monahan and outside in 2nd is the 13 of Christopher.  This will be VERY interesting to see if we can get this race finished without any wrecks up front.

Feature #1 was OK. First caution came on lap 1 and Rob restarted 5th. There was some hard racing coming out of turn 4 and the 13 spun to the infield. With 15 laps to go Rob restarted 5th. Unfortunately, the car was very free in/middle/out of the corners so Rob had to be very easy on the throttle and had to not overdrive the car going into the turns. There was a wreck on the front chute that Rob got through, but not without using the chrome horn below (obviously that’s junk now):

Second feature we were hoping for a better handling car since we had a shot at adjusting to the track, but that didn’t turn out to be the case.  First caution came on lap 1 and Rob restarted 9th. Next caution came with 32 laps go go and Rob restarted 8th.  The field was stacked up 2×2 for the most part and Rob’s row came back a little with no place to drop in so we lost positions. There was finally some open racing, but we soon found the car was still loose on corner exit and Rob did his best to not overdrive the car. Next caution came with 19 laps to go and we were the caution car after there was contact between Rob (inside) and the 6 and that sent Rob to the infield and then we pitted for adjustments. Rob restarted at the rear of the field in 17th position and then ran hard with a better handling car picking off cars one by one. Cracking the top 10 proved to be more difficult as we simply didn’t have enough steam to get by the 21. On the last lap, something happened up front and the 27 ended up in the turn 3-4 wall and he lost positions to end 17th. At least the car is in one piece. We definitely have some work to do.

Rob’s #1 fan gave him a little encouragement between the 2 features:

Sat. May 14, 2016 – Mod Tour Night – Raced Stopped w/ 18 Laps To Go (In 5th, Rain)

Heats: Started 6th (of 8 cars), Finished – 3rd

Feature: Started 10th (of 27 cars), Finished # (Finishing Order: )

Comments: Practice rounds were really good – car was uber stable….but we can get more speed out of it. Weather looks like it may come before the features, but we’ll get the heats in for sure before the weather comes. Heat race was OK – car was finally tick free in the middle of the turns so we finally found the other side of the chassis setup.  We dialed that mid-turn adjustment back a little.  Looking forward to the feature – hope the rain holds off.

Feature started out OK, but then the outside row came backwards. First caution came with 32 laps to go and Rob restarted 11th. On the next attempt to restart, the 47 went sideways and the 88 of Rocco ended up in the front chute wall – Rob restarted 9th. Showers came with 18 laps to go and the race was halted just before the halfway point so the field was frozen (front row 78 and 13) and we’ll finish the race at a date TBD.

Sat. May 7, 2016 – Season Opener – Started 7th

Heats: Started 4th (of 8 cars), Finished 3rd

Feature: Started 1st (of 25 cars), Finished 3rd (Finishing Order: 88, 13, 51, 06, 16, 21, 27, 04, 8, 15, 54, 47CT, 3, 85, 19, 9, 78, 22, 72, 32, 44, 47CT, 40MA, 21CT)

Comments: Weather was not cooperating with the schedule’s early start today as showers held up the show for nearly 2 hours this morning. Practice rounds gave us a good read on the car and finding it very stable was a good sign.

Heat race was uneventful – car was a tad free on corner exit preventing Rob from pressing ahead, so we were content to take 3rd with nearly a 10-12 car length lead over the 3rd place finisher. Heat race lineup before the “re-draw” has us starting 7th.

Feature races were cut short Sat. night by drizzle so the 7 remaining features were run Sunday after the morning showers passed.  The top 12 redrew starting positions and Rob picked #1 so he started on the pole for the main event.  First caution came with 24 laps to go and Rob was still the leader – outside was 78 and the 06 was third.  With 23 laps to go there was a BIG wreck on the front chute involving the 32, 44, 85 and others – Rob was still the leader.  With about 10 laps to go, the 78 did a crazy move trying to dive bomb going into turn 1 (WAY below the white line almost in the standing water of the infield) and he made hard contact with the left side nerf bar sending Rob chasing the car up the track only to regain forward momentum after falling back to 4th. With 8 laps to go – karma struck the 78 when his right front tire (damaged from the contact with us 2 laps prior) went down and he made hard contact with the front chute wall.  Rob restarted 3rd and then brought the car home in 3rd for a podium finish to start off the 2016 racing season.
Here’s Sid’s view of the incident:

Oct. 24, 2015 – Bemers Super Bowl Show – Started 17th of 30, Got to 5th with 11 Laps to Go – Finished 13th

Heats: Started 8th (of 10 cars), Finished 6th (top 7 qualified)

Feature: Starting 17th (of 30 cars), Finished 13 (Finishing Order: 88, 41, 13, 66x, 31Ma, 27, 68, 2CT, 31, 01, 43, 15, 51, 06, 47, 6Ma, 72, 44, 2, 36, 47Ct, 9, 51Ct, 59, 04, 98, 22, 40, 00x, )

Comments: Overcast today but highs in the 50’s so that’s outstanding for the 2 day season ending show. 15 divisions are competing this weekend on the inaugural Bemer’s Super Bowl Show. The car we are running this weekend is our “B” car as the primary car and tour cars both need some work and this car seemed to be the horse to ride. Only issue is we have really not spent time dialing this chassis in as an SK modified as we had it in Valenti MRS race trim last time it was really gone through. We did run it a few times last year when the primary car’s chassis was being worked on.

The car was way too tight on corner entry during practice rounds on Friday. We’re down a little on power with our backup motor, but that’s fine as we’re here to have fun. We made progress each run yesterday, but found that we still had work to do today as it was still not “good” even with new tires on it. We had a 30 minute practice session today and got 3 runs in. Heat race was a challenge with the 8th place starting position and Rob went back to last place before he could start making progress. He then picked off car after car working his way forward. We’ll make some changes for the feature.

Feature race started out pretty good considering our mid pack starting position. First caution came with 65 laps to go and Rob restarted 15th. Next caution came with 47 laps to go and Rob restarted 12th. With 33 laps to go Rob was restarting 8th. With 31 laps to go Rob restarted 7th. The car was a tad tight middle out so that was the challenge. With 31 laps to go Rob restarted again 7th after a red flag was thrown for a front chute wreck involving the 47, 36 and 51CT.  The 47 had the most damage I’ve seen in a long time.

With 25 laps to go Rob restarted 6th. With 12 laps to go, Rob was restarting 5th. Prior to that caution there was some hard racing with the 6 who was side by side with the 31 behind Rob. It was until after the race that I learned that the 6 was down 3 laps!!  Not knowing that, Rob was giving the 6 room to take the inside position, but he couldn’t seem to get there. The 31 seemed quicker, but couldn’t advance his position with Rob opting to take the outside lane leaving the 6 to his inside.

One lap after the restart, there was a car to the outside that made contact with the wall and then the 66 tried to turn low but Rob was inside and that sent Rob to the infield but he had a great save but lost positions on the track. Rob realized something was wrong and when a caution came with 2 laps to go, he pitted and found the right front tire was going down. That ruined our chances for a top 5 finish as Rob came out with 2 laps to go and finished 13th.

Overall, we had a pretty good season and we are looking forward to coming back next season with more consistency.  Full video of race compliments of Sid: