Since my 1st 2 Points Races got rained out I decided to get some extra seat time in the car by racing in Raceway Park's "Toyo Tires Import Survival Series II" yesterday. Running my Daytona in the slow B-1 class (15.00 seconds and slower) I had a pretty easy, albeit L-O-N-G, day.
The kids I were racing presented absolutely no challenge to me, other than trying to keep my sanity. Imagine 300+ (they capped the race entries at 400, with who-knows-how-many spectators and another 100 cars in the show classes) 2Fast2Furious wannabes all over the place, not following directions and making a general mess of things in the staging lanes.
The "Pro" classes were a joke. One asshat ended up laying oil down the ENTIRE length of the track, through the 3rd turn off and halfway up the return road. That clean-up took over an hour. Then one of the street kids dropped antifreeze across the finish line in my lane when I was 2nd car back from the line so I sat there by the water box for another 15 minutes.
B-1 class is also where all of the heavy hitters from our track's regular Points Series are. We all have slower cars and invariably it ends up being us going rounds. It is the biggest of the import/sport compact classes (my car was a Mitsu motor straight from the factory) and the toughest due to us hitters. I got paired up against Trophy Stock Points Champ Jack Cogliano on the ladder in the 4th round. Close race but I beat him, forcing him under his dial by .005 seconds. Then in the Final round I raced another Points Champ Ryan Rodriguez. Ryan beat Jack in the Final Round of the 1st Survival Series last month (I didn't attend that one) and now he and I were going mano-a-mano.
I had an absolutely crappy light (.088) though that might be partly due to wheel spin at launch, but still...
Ryan had a nice .028 light. At the other end he just barely edged me out by .005 seconds, though we both broke out - Ryan going .05 under and I somehow went .11 under. My car should have been running slower not faster but I guess the weather really started to drop at the point. Ryan won due to the lesser of our 2 breakouts.
1st place = $300 + a large trophy + 2 Toyo Tires of your choice
Runner-Up = $150 + a large trophy
Not a bad way to start a season. I made more at this event as a R/U than I would have as a R/U at a Points Race and the competition was easier here. Go figure.
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