|
Engelage
and Jocham Win Second Straight;
Team
Engelage Sweeps!
Two weeks had passed
since the big season opener, at Acme Raceway, and throughout
that time, racers tweaked, tuned, and practiced, in
anticipation of the season’s first race on a routed track.
The venue was MIKE ENGELAGE’S place, in Brea, and the
track was a Scott Dunlap custom routed 14 X 4. The track was
very fast. The
Frayjets were turning 6 second laps, with the NAS-T-JETS
turning laps in the 7 second neighborhood.
The day began with
the 10-man NAS-T-JET field squaring off for a Round Robin.
For the second straight race, it was ENGELAGE (#44 Hot
Wheels Grand Prix) setting the pace, posting a slammin’
total of 94 laps, which included a fast lap of 6.966.
The top finish was good for 5 big bonus points.
Unlike the last race however, ENGELAGE wasn’t in his own
separate league, as there were three other drivers, not far
behind. SCOTT DUNLAP (#88 UPS Taurus) edged out MATT PAUL
(#99 Exide Taurus) for second place and 4 bonus points,
posting a 92 lap total, just ahead of PAUL’S 92, which was
good for 3 points, and
about a half lap ahead of ROCKY GERMAN’S (#12 Alltel
Intrepid) 91 lap total, which was good for fourth place and
2 bonus points. Rounding out the top 5 and collecting the
final bonus point, with 85 laps, was MICKEY HURTADO (#3
Goodwrench Monte Carlo).
In sixth place, taking the last spot in the Final,
was CHRIS JACKSON (#45 Sprint Intrepid) with 83 laps. This
race marked Chris’ first trip to a Final/Main Event! Chris
has done a lot of work in the off-season, and it shows, as
he has shown remarkable improvement, and poses more and more
of a threat as each race goes by.
In the 6-man Final,
ENGELAGE stepped up his act a notch, and unleashed some
serious ponies, posting a race high 97 laps, including a
record establishing 6.856 second lap! The battle for second
place was epic, between PAUL, DUNLAP, and GERMAN. Both
GERMAN and DUNLAP had slow starts on Yellow, posting only 21
laps, but made up for it by each posting a 25 lap heat,
later in the race. PAUL didn’t post a 25, but he was very
consistent with two consecutive 24’s, between a 22 and a
23, which was good enough for 93 laps, and good enough to
nose out GERMAN, also with 93 laps, for second place, by
about 6 feet! About
6 or 7 feet behind GERMAN, was DUNLAP, posting a strong 92
total, for fourth place. HURTADO rounded out the Top 5,
finishing with 88 laps.
The race, once again
was fast and exciting..and very different from Frayjet
racing. There was lots of bumpin’ and bangin’ going on
in every heat. There was a little more room to pass than on
a plastic track, but it still required a lot of strategy to
make a clean pass with these ‘widebodies’.
Everyone had a lot of fun and, once again, the field
looked great! I look forward to the growing excitement as
the number of racers grows, throughout the season.
As far as Team
results, it was Team ENGELAGE, once again, showing their
strength, leaving the other teams more than 30 points in
their wake, and increasing their lead, for the season, to 59
points, over closest competitor, Team Hurtado.
Nas T-Jet Field |
Nas T-Jet Podium |
After a break for
lunch, and some practice, it was time for the Rolling
Thunder race to begin. The field of 21 racers would have 12
minutes of qualifying time, in an effort to make the cut to
the top 12. Then,
the top 12 would go into two 6-man Semis.
The big Round Robin
began with ENGELAGE again setting the pace of the field,
posting a whopping 109 laps, including a 29 on the White
lane, good for 5 big bonus points. Just behind, with 108
laps, was RICK JOCHAM, collecting 4 bonus points, posting
the day’s fastest lap, and establishing a new official
track record, with a 6.064 second lap!
DUNLAP ran very strong, picking up 3 points for his
105 lap effort. GERMAN had a solid run of 102 laps, for
fourth place, and 2 bonus points, and PAUL rounded out the
top 5, collecting the final bonus point, by virtue of his
100 lap total. There
were 5more drivers within a lap of the top 5, each with
around 99 laps, including 2003 Island Thunder Champ, VIC
LICAUSI, GREG
WILLEY, PAUL HAGAN, CHRIS JACKSON, and BRAD BOWMAN.
At this point, nine
of the 21 drivers had an early finish to their race day. The
remaining twelve drivers however, moved on to the Semis,
which would consist of two 6-man heat races. The winner from
each Semi would automatically go to the Final/Main.
In the first semi,
it was all JOCHAM, who never posted lower than a 26 lap
total for a heat, on his way to a powerful 107 laps.
Once again, it was a great battle for second and
third, with LICAUSI ending up taking the second place honor,
with a 102 lap total. GERMAN was about a foot away from lap
102, and finished 3rd, a spot that would likely
be on or near the bubble to make the Final move up. HAGAN
and BOWMAN had a great battle, both finishing with 99 laps,
and SCOTT ELLIS rounded out the field with a 92.
In the second Semi,
it was Part II of the ENGELAGE Show, as he posted another
whopping 109 laps, made up of (3) 27’s and a 28!
Awesome job, Mike! This mark is the highest lap total
on record, at this new track. This will be a tough one to
beat. DUNLAP stayed strong with another big 105 lap total,
turning in consistent heat totals of 26’s and 27’s.
WILLEY and PAUL, pushed each other to pick up their pace,
ending up in a 102-102 tie, at least 2 laps better than both
of their qualifiers. CHRIS JACKSON ran strong, crossing over
into the triple digit totals, with 100 laps, just shy of
101. DAVIS also
finished right there in the hunt, with 99 laps.
So, ENGELAGE and
JOCHAM were in, by virtue of their wins in the Semis. DUNLAP
was also in, with his 105. Then, the three racers with 102,
PAUL, WILLEY, and LICAUSI, all moved up as well, leaving
last year’s Island Thunder runner-up, GERMAN, reduced to
spectator/marshall status for the Final.
In the Final, it was
not long before it became evident that it would, indeed, be
a race between ENGELAGE and JOCHAM for the checkers. Both
racers posted lap totals between 26 and 28, for the entire
race. ENGELAGE, however, had some trouble and a bit of bad
luck, on the Blue lane, one of the money lanes, and was only
able to post a 26. The
rest of the heats were as to be expected, turning in 27’s
on the gutters, and a 28 on White, for a very strong 108
total. JOCHAM had his only slip up on the tricky and nasty
Red gutter lane, posting his only 26 of the race. Following
in suit, JOCHAM posted 27’s on the Yellow and White lanes,
and a 28 on the Blue money lane, for a 108 total of his own.
It was track position, in which JOCHAM held the edge by a
matter of a few feet, which gave him the win, for the second
race in a row. ENGELAGE
took the bridesmaid spot, for the second race straight.
Finishing off the podium, for his second time in a row, was
DUNLAP, with a solid 104 total.
Just off of the podium, in his best-ever Rolling
Thunder finish, was WILLEY, posting another nice 102 lap
total. Way to go, WILLEY….nice run! WILLEY is obviously
wanting one of those Top 5 trophies, this year!
PAUL took the last spot in the Top 5, with his 100
lap effort, as LICAUSI finished 6th, with
a whopping race total of 2 laps, only 106 laps away from
Victory Lane! LICAUSI
had a fatal pickup shoe incident, in the first heat, forcing
him to go behind the wall, and out of the race. Shortly
thereafter, LICAUSI’S crew packed up their garage, loaded
up their hauler, and set their sights on Covina Raceway, and
the next race on February 22nd.
All in all, it was
another exciting, ultra fast-paced day of Rolling Thunder
Frayjetting. With 11 of the 12 Semi-Finalists, all in the
hunt at the start of their last heat, competition cannot get
much better….yet, it continues to do so.
In the team
category, it was Team Engelage, capturing the win for the
day, with a total of 595 points, just 1 point better than
Team Jocham’s 594, and 3 points better than Team
Dunlap’s 592. Team Hurtado had a rough day, and with the
exception of PAUL, they had all ‘left the building’
before the end of the race.
Their efforts yielded them a 4th place
finish, with 471 points, plummeting them into 4th
place in the series.
|
Rolling Thunder Podium
|
The race day went
from the opening of the pits, at 9 AM, to the end of the
Rolling Thunder race, at a little after 6 PM. This included
an hour lunch break, and about a 1-hour delay, due to a
temporary computer glitch.
Without any computer
problems, we have this down to an eight hour day, for 2
classes of racing, with up to 24 racers.
In an effort to further streamline the process, I
have come up with a proposed format, based on suggestions
and comments from some of you, that will facilitate a faster
race day, as well as give more racers additional track/race
time. Please watch for this proposal in your email, this
evening.
Thanks,
once again, for all those of you who continue to make the
effort to support TRAC Racing,
especially you San Diego guys, who never complain about the
drive…or anything else!
C ya next Sunday at Matt’s Covina Raceway.
|
