Clubsport Race 5 – Road America – GTC6
As usual, I will take you though our complete journey to and from the event as well as the great goings on at the event.
Road America was a very well organized and quality event as we have come to expect from PCA. There was great communication before the event with timing, parking and paddock assigned spots. We did not need to worry about this too much due to the fact that we were in the garages. The drive up to the track was smooth (or at least at smooth as possible) Chicago gave us a bit of a runaround since we were directed off of the skyway just before Chicago and through city streets and eventually back on to 294 to go around the city by Waze. I guess there was an accident just as we approached. Our garage mate Bob, stayed on the skyway and showed up at the track 3 hours later.
Because we had a good trip, we decided to stop at Mars Cheese and get, well, cheese. And also a cheese head hat for Sir Demon Speeds-a-lot.
This event was a bit different than others in that the weekend was Saturday though Monday since Monday was Labor Day. We had already planned to be gone Thursday and Friday, so we took advantage of the extra day and decided to come for the Friday practice day.
Up bright and early Friday we ran all of the practice sessions. We were still a bit slow and not picking up time as we would have wanted to. Saturday came and again, same story. We were able to qualify 3rd in class out of 6 behind Keith Clark and Eric Mies. Keith was right in front of us.
Sprint 2 was quite a bit of fun. We had a good jump at the start and we were in second right away. Keith was able to chase me down and we were both caught behind some out of class cars that were faster in the straights. Through all of that, Keith was able to get around me, and then he was able to get around one of the out of class cars. This put pressure on us to do the same to stay in the fight and coming up to Canada Corner we went to the inside and were not able to hold the corner going around. Back on track and still in third Keith was no longer in sight. My new focus was to put down some fast laps to move up the field for the third race, which we did.
In the third race, things were a bit different. Not only was I able to grid in front of Kieth, but also the group of out of class cars, so after just a few laps of the race we were comfortably in second place.
Although not ideal, I was in that spot where I could no longer see the first place car of Eric Mies, but I could also not see the group of cars behind me that included Keith Clark. So, I assumed second was how we would end the day. Both for the race and for the Clubsport trophy, which would be fine.
However, Canada Corner, which turned out to be my nemesis for the weekend still had something to say about that. As I approached, there was a waving yellow with a 992 cup turned in the middle of the corner with a bit of debris on track. I smoothly piloted the Demon Speed car around the spun 992 allowing ample room in case he started moving in my direction. No drama.
However, the next lap going though the carousel I felt the back of the car acting funny. Not exactly planted. I left plenty on the table as I went though the kink and then tested the rear again at Canada Corner. Drats. It was evident I had the left rear going down. Into the pits and Scott ran around to look and give me the bad news I already knew. Off to the garage and an early end to the race.
Great times and fun evenings. Road America and Elkhart Lake have plenty to offer. As I mentioned before, PCA did a great job of putting on a class event. The other competitors were also very cautiously aggressive so very little contact without any big yellows.
