Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Qualifying 1/Race 1 - 9/23/06 - Nelson Ledges
Saturday's first qualifying session at Nelson Ledges started under gray skies. The track was pretty much dry (though there appeared to be a few wet spots off of the racing line). Following an early morning discussion/infield tour with Doug Seim, I was prepared to tackle the fast, bumpy 2-mile circuit.
My laps on Saturday confirmed that Nelson was indeed both fast and bumpy. As I noted after the session, it sure would be a ton of fun if they paved it more often and it was in a warmer climate! That being said, it was still a very enjoyable track. I completed the full qualifying session and my fastest lap was a 1:17.879, just a shade over two seconds off the pole time set by Nelson veteran (and championship leader) Greg Rice. I was pretty pleased with that time and was greatly looking forward to the afternoon's race.
As a side note, I was called to impound after the qualifying session so the tech folks could have a look at my seating position in the car. After measuring it, they determined that I was probably sitting an inch or two too high in the car. We spent most of the afternoon repositioning the seat padding and the lead in the cockpit so that I would sit lower in the car. We determined that I was probably sitting a little over two inches lower after all of our work that afternoon. That would prove useful on Sunday.
Anyhow, back to Saturday's events. The race started on Saturday and I got a very competitive start and briefly looked at 4th headed into Turn 1. Given the intimidating nature of Turn 1 I did not try the low-percentage pass and as the field left T1 I assumed the fifth spot (my starting position). I was able to hang with the lead pack for the first several laps but a couple of brief offs coming out of the Carousel and out of the kink set me back several seconds and I rode home with a decent fifth-place finish. It was not what I needed points-wise but I was not disappointed with my finish considering it was my first time there. Also, I was able to knock nearly a second and a quarter off my fastest time in the morning, so all in all I was pleased. Bill Bonow brought home the victory in Doug Dale's Evo and that ensured that the championship chase would carry on into Sunday.
After a trip back to my little brother's place in Akron, some delicious chili prepared by Mrs. little brother, and some football on the tube, I was ready for Sunday morning prepared to hang with the lead pack on only my 2nd day at the track. Check out the next post for Sunday's details...
My laps on Saturday confirmed that Nelson was indeed both fast and bumpy. As I noted after the session, it sure would be a ton of fun if they paved it more often and it was in a warmer climate! That being said, it was still a very enjoyable track. I completed the full qualifying session and my fastest lap was a 1:17.879, just a shade over two seconds off the pole time set by Nelson veteran (and championship leader) Greg Rice. I was pretty pleased with that time and was greatly looking forward to the afternoon's race.
As a side note, I was called to impound after the qualifying session so the tech folks could have a look at my seating position in the car. After measuring it, they determined that I was probably sitting an inch or two too high in the car. We spent most of the afternoon repositioning the seat padding and the lead in the cockpit so that I would sit lower in the car. We determined that I was probably sitting a little over two inches lower after all of our work that afternoon. That would prove useful on Sunday.
Anyhow, back to Saturday's events. The race started on Saturday and I got a very competitive start and briefly looked at 4th headed into Turn 1. Given the intimidating nature of Turn 1 I did not try the low-percentage pass and as the field left T1 I assumed the fifth spot (my starting position). I was able to hang with the lead pack for the first several laps but a couple of brief offs coming out of the Carousel and out of the kink set me back several seconds and I rode home with a decent fifth-place finish. It was not what I needed points-wise but I was not disappointed with my finish considering it was my first time there. Also, I was able to knock nearly a second and a quarter off my fastest time in the morning, so all in all I was pleased. Bill Bonow brought home the victory in Doug Dale's Evo and that ensured that the championship chase would carry on into Sunday.
After a trip back to my little brother's place in Akron, some delicious chili prepared by Mrs. little brother, and some football on the tube, I was ready for Sunday morning prepared to hang with the lead pack on only my 2nd day at the track. Check out the next post for Sunday's details...
# posted by Jaygo Racing @ 6:29 PM 
