Season 3 10-25-2005: Kevin wins GP at Monza; John is Overall Champ for Season 3 Bob's Race Report Always interesting theses races. As when you see forty to go but you've already been at it awhile. I got a good start and if there was a lead pack - I was fourth - I felt like I was in the middle of it. Also deceptive how you think you're going to keep up with Kevin and John because you can see them for a few laps. LOL. Many laps later JD went wide (maybe off?) at Para and I inherited third with Bill breathing down my back. A few laps later - he was quick in Lesmos' - he blew bye and that was that. From there I had a long battle with Tom; we swapped position a few times but stayed very close. The mid range torque of that V12 was really easy to see. Pit stops began and people began pulling in. I was going to keep going until I heard a sput because the BT11 was always great on fuel. I ran five more laps I think then Tom and when I came back out I had a few seconds on Tom but with JD closing as well. Bill was closer in P3 as well. The laps kept peeling off and then with 10 or so to go I saw Bill exiting pit out (?). I had P3 again and kept the gap to Tom around a few seconds despite the cat swatting my feet. Congrats to Kev and John on their pace. Congrats to our Fresh Fish champ John and to all who came out to run this long season. Jeff and I have some thoughts for next season but want to make sure there is still interest. The 69mod will be out at the end of the year and we'll want to consider how those will be part of the fun. John's Race Report Congrats to Kevin for a very solid win and Bob for running a very consistent pace to garner a podium spot. I really like Monza for the action it can afford even though it's not a particularly interesting track but for this race I didn't see much action and that made it a grueling and rather dull event for me. Starting from 2nd I thought I might have fun with Kevin for at least a few laps but JDK got a really fine start and by the time I was able to slip by him Kevin was already a couple seconds clear and soon out of sight while I was able to slowly open a gap from those behind. That left me in a lonely zone where I only had pribluda sector times to race against although Bill was providing enough pressure so as not to relax or make mistakes for much of the race. Aside from loading more fuel than necessary (duh), a quick 360 in Lesmos 2 and one brush with the guard rail coming out of Grande I didn't really see any action. I had enough fuel at the end to do another 16 to 18 laps. Kevin did a helluva job maintaining such a pace. Some driving! Gotta find out what fuel and tire compound he was using. I was a little worried using the Lotus since it seems to be the least reliable but tried to concentrate on not over-revving and not speed-shifting. Luckily it held together. The only other problem was missing the line a number of times into Grande which would result in wasting 2 or 3 tenths and overheating my left front which would waste more time through the Lesmos. All in all a fun season with some memorable and fun races with a good bunch of drivers and a points lead garnered mostly due to misfortunes and/or missed races by others. Looking forward to another season with the group. John Kevin's Race Report I was surprised to find the race wasnt as long as i thought it would be. Being able to rest on all the straights no doubt made things easier. In prerace tersting i took my trusty BT11 to the track. My goal was to get a setup that would let me take Curva Grande without any lift, I came up with a rather odd ball setup that was able to turn laps in the 36.0 range but i was never happy with the amount of understeer, Could take grande flat but scrubbed too much speed doing it. during a lunch break Colin chapman paid me a visit behind the pit complex. He ofered me a ride in a lotus for the GP. Hmmm never ran a lotus so i though ti would try it out.After a few laps it wa apparent the Lotus handled better then my trusty toad. Was able to take Grande flat in 5th but still scrubbed too much speed doing it. Its just plain faster to lift off ever so slightly on entry. Lap times between the 2 cars were the same but the lotus was about a mile an hour slower in top speed. hmmm not good. Colin just smiled and told me to check th efuel mileage. turns out the lotus gets far better mileage. 5 laps of fuel was netting me 7 laps on track. Lotusd it will be for the GP. Figured i would need 48 laps worth of fuel for the race so i went with 50 just to be safe. Was going to try a 2 stopper but went with 1 to be safe. loaded up 26 laps of fuel and figured to stop at the end of lap 34. Race started well for a change and i was able to maintain my pole. I knew it had nothing to do with my start but rather the lack of fuel that let me accel away faster. A slight dodge to the left to hold off a fast startting ferrari and i was clean thru Grande in the lead. Figuring that everyone was going to pit but not really knowing, i ran as hard as i could to pull out a lead. I guessed i would need 16 seconds to stop and was pleased to see a gap of 1 second a lap every lap. Things were going to plan till i saw the fuel needle dropping too soon. A quick call to the pits to enquire " who the hell short filled me !!! " the return message wasnt what i wanted to hear, " It was your math that set the fuel load Einstein " I had to call in for fuel after lap 33 , 1 lap short of half distance. That was going to leave me 2 laps short of finish. Clearly the mistake couldnt have been mine so i decided to blame fuel pickup problems. ( yeah the problem was it cant pick up what wasnt in the tank to start with ) I tried to save fuel in the second half of the race. Shifting up 400 rpm early and lifting off on the straights before Curva Grande and Parabolica. This was letting JWK close in slowly but surely. hmmmm No worries, JWK still had to stop for fuel right ? well maybe not. 7 laps after half distance and still not pit for JWK and my crew told me his fuel man was at the hotdog stand and didnt seem to be in a big hurry. when the lead dropped to 20 seconds my crew told me i had nop choice but to make a stop 2 laps before the finish for a splash and go. should i try and save fuel so more or should i drop the hammer again ? the crew answered that one for me.." you better run like a raped ape or we are going to lose, he isnt stopping! " Easier said then done as my rhythm had been broken by cruising for the last 16 or so laps. i started runnig hard and finally got back into a groove but the lead wasnt increasing but rather just holding station. Damn this might end up being close. suddenly the radio crackles " JWK in pit for fuel " wait a minute you guys said he wasnt stopping. " yeah well, our bad " ARRRGH !! thanks for making me nervous for nothing guys ! suppose its what i get for having a smart ass parrot for a crew chief. I did end up needing to stop a second time 2 from the end but after JWK stopped the pressure was off. Congrats to everyone for finishing and now that my connection has held on for 2 races i look forward to another season of racing. Kevin Bill's Race Report Before this season I'd never run a race longer than Interm. Long, and I was willing to give the GP race length a try. And while I can't complain about my results (other than the freeze at Brands), I probably won't be voting for GP in future seasons, though I won't promise that I won't show up if/when they appear on future schedules. Monza certainly had some good racing periods for me, though they were limited to the first half-dozen and the last dozen or so laps. In between was like a solo practice session, with only the pit board showing that others were circulating on the track. Qualifying was an upper, with 0.01 knocked off my 65 PR at Monza. But the big gaps to Kev and John, and the small margins over the guys close behind me, showed that my racing would be with those behind. Starting with 18 Gal., good for 34 laps, I thought I should see a good start, but after the first few turns I was back in 5th---not so good! It took several laps of really fun racing to reclaim 3rd, and your right, Bob, my setup just seemed perfect for Lesmo 2---the best exits I've ever had there! After getting by Bob into third I thought he must have flung a towrope onto my Lotus, and despite what I thought were nearly faultless laps his audio faded excruciatingly slowly. John, well ahead, remained visible on the pit straight for several more laps, but that gap was steadily widening. Once in isolation, things went great, with Tom and Bob apparently skirmishing between themselves, and falling back to +18 when refueling time came due. Resuming racing, the gap was down to +4, The second stint also progressed well, with the gap up to +18 again, probably due to refueling by TJ and BB, with about 15 laps to go. Then, the Cosworth let go---Man, what a shock!!! I'd had no engine blowups in the prior 2 weeks! It happened at high speed, and the braking to a stop, Shift'r, and acceleration lost most of the 18 second lead over BB. And the stop-and-go in the pits saw BB blow by, and Tom get into close proximity. Any slight lap speed advantage I might have had was now negated by the 18 gallon gas load, and TJ and I proceeded to run several laps that make this game the intense high that it can be!! Unfortunately, that ended when exiting Grande I noticed a blue flag, looked around for Kev, and made my only serious miscue of the day, grazing the hedge, losing about 2 seconds to Tom. And once he was out of drafting range, there was no catching him to the end. It was great fun while it lasted, Tom!! All in all, its been a nost interesting season. See y'all next time-- 10/11/05: Kevin Proves Fastest with Pole and Fast Lap; John Wins Flag to Flag Kevin set the pace during qual with an impressive 1m24.028s and John was right behind with a 1m24.170s. I was pleased to barely break into the 24s which was good for P3 on the grid. As the race started, John was able to get the jump on Kevin and lead the field through turn 1. I kept to the outside and Bob slid up the inside to take the P3 spot. A lap or two later JD drafted by down the straight and I was running in P5 but still close to JD and Bob. Kev and John were already starting to check out. The next several laps were great fun with JD and I running close although I was unable to make any real passing attempts on JD. Bob made a mistake in T1 allowing JD and I by and JD spun in T1 a little while after that. By almost mid-race, I was in P3 about 3 seconds ahead of Bob but I guess it was my turn for a mistake or two. JD was quite a bit faster than I was through T2 and as I tried to "pick up" the pace through there, I looped it. Bob was by and back into P3. Unfortunally it wasn't my last mistake and as I tried to close the gap to Bob, I spun again ending any thoughts of a podium finish. From the replay reports, Kevin and JWK had a close one for most of the race until Kev lost it somewhere on track. Of course, Kevin managed some very quick laps trying to catch up to John and in the process, Kevin broke into the 23s!! Wow, that's a mind boggling time for a race lap. As usual, another fun event with good driving by all and a fantastic run by John. The only bad part of the evening was watching Bill connect/disconnect. Sorry you had problems Bill and I hope we can sort them out before the last race of the season. Thanks, --Jeff Bob's Race Report Had a good event from qual to checker thanks to using set up suggestions from JWK. In qual ran a PB but was still bumped by Jeff for third when he pulled out a 24! At the start slotted in behind JWK and was hoping to keep Kevin on the outside in T1 (Ha...). That never happened so then I just stayed as close to those two rocket ships as possible (Ha...). Behind me I could see Jeff and JD having quite a tussle but still not an immediate threat. Up front the lads were still checking out by about 3/4 of a second to a full second a lap. Well I pushed harder (Ha...) and promptly spun her in T1. A quick recovery but JD and Jeff were by in a flash. I then chased those two until some indiscretions ;) let me back into third. Thought Jeff and I might bang wheels on the last lap but no such luck. Congrats to John and Kev for a torrid pace. John's Race Report I ran some decent laps during qualifying and got within a couple tenths of my Ferrari PB which put me in 2nd starting spot after Kevin ripped off a few laps quicker than mine ending with a lap 0.14 sec. quicker than mine. (his fastest race lap was even quicker) I had a lot of luck at this race starting with being able to barely outdrag Kevin to Crowthorne at the start. I used the Ferrari for the race and it seemed to have just enough oomph to accelerate out of several key corners to keep Kevin at bay even though he was considerably quicker going into some of the turns, especially Sunset and Crowthorne. Kyalami is a tough track to pass on and Kevin was alongside several times but exercised lots of caution so as not to wreck us. I thought for sure Kev would latch onto a tow out of Leeukop and make a pass after the Kink but here too the Ferrari seemed to be able to gain enough over his Brab to negate a drafting pass. Having someone that is so much faster dogging you lap after lap was nerve-wracking! I was lucky only to have a couple of relatively minor bobbles throughout the race and finally got a breather when Kevin got sideways at Clubhouse Bend on lap 16. Whew, almost a 9 second cushion. I relaxed a little but quickly noted how fast that gap was diminishing and tried to step up my pace but Kevin was busy setting fast lap about 4 times before the end which put him right back on my gearbox the last two laps. I was extreeeeemly relieved to see the checker I can tell you! It appeared there was a lot of close action from P3 on back, according to Pribluda, with several drivers in and out of P3 at various times. Congrats to Bob for a really fine result ending with a spot on the podium and to Kevin for Pole and Fast Race Lap. I'm really looking forward to the Monza event. That track doesn't wear you out like some others and really affords some great close racing and drafting action. Kevin, feel free to use my nice shiny BT7 for that race if you want. I'll even supply gas and tires ;o) I'll have to run some tests to figure out fuel strategy for Monza. Stopping in the pit there really costs a lot of time. JWK Turn 1, Lap 1 at Kyalami John and Kevin battle lap after lap 9/27/05: John Gains Critical Points in Flag to Flag Win Great run John! I was pushing as hard as I could trying to stay on the right side of the edge. After the qual time you posted, I figured it would be very tough to stick close enough to apply much pressure. Fortunately I had a decent start and made it around Tom as we headed into the left hander up the hill. I was pleasantly surprised to find myself in P2 but there was no real dicing anywhere for me. Just a lot of trying to hang as close as I could without ending up in the weeds somewhere. Thanks, --Jeff John's Race Report Black Jack really had the car set up nice for qually and I was able to get a much needed point for pole with some very close times by Tom and Jeff putting them into the next two spots. I gassed up for race fuel (put in an extra gallon just to be sure) and went out for a few laps to get the feel...good thing because the car was not so good in a couple places....so I made some driving adjustments and one minor tweak to the setup. The starter gave a quick green and I was able to get a good start with Jeff and Tom not far behind. After the tires warmed up in about 3 laps I was pretty much able to settle into a rhythm and only had to wonder if Jeff was sandbagging or what. Throughout the whole race I never had more than 4 sec. lead, most of the race it was about 1.5 to 2 seconds. Not enough to allow any real mistakes. My problem was to keep the concentration level up and although it wavered a couple times I got through the event with no major offs and no spins. Jeff did a great job of driving consistently and keeping the pressure on. I could see that there was some action going on with the other cars from time to time. Watching the replay I saw some good sparring going on, some wheel-to-wheel and nose-to-tail stuff. There was plenty of good driving. Congrats to Jeff and Tom on fine finishes and to all for completing the event and all on the same lap! Well done. It was great having so good a connection and not having any discos. Kyalami next. JWK Bill's Race Report First off, apologies to Arturo for the early contact. My assumption that there was room for a side-by-side traverse of the second half of the esses was simply poor judgement in the sensory overload that is the first few turns with the crowd just after a start. I'm sure that you never saw me up to the contact, and I should have known better than to stick my nose in at that point. The contact dropped me back to 6th, and Dale took advantage, getting a draft on the straight and picking up 6th on entry to the Loop. Q times indicated that I might be able to recover the spot, but Dale sure didn't make it easy, with several laps needed to get back in touch, and a few more drafts on the main straight that repeatedly fell short of enabling a pass entering the Loop. Finally, with a close entry to the straight the draft resulted in enough of a lead to yield a rather white-knuckled inside pass in the Loop. Dale hung close for several laps, and it looked like it could be a close run to the end. That pressure eased when the Honda committed harikari---tough luck, Dale. Bob B was ahead by 6 seconds when I got by Dale, and the gap was closing at a rate that looked like no change in position was likely by race end, when a BB miscue in the last turn yielded up 5th place. Now Tom showed on the pitboard, also 6 seconds up. But the replay showed TJ and JDK in a heated Ferrari fracas, and my Lotus (and its driver) simply couldn't match their pace. The gap steadily increased to race end, and only the late race problems of JDK yielded a most unexpected move up to 4th at the finish, far behind the flying TJ Ferrari. Congrats to John and Jeff---an excellent display of virtually flawless driving. And to Tom for third and FL---good job. John leads the field up the hill at the start JD and TJ pilot the Ferraris in battle early on 9/13/05: Bill Tops Qual Chart at Mosport; Jeff Stands on Top Step at Finish The Mosport race started with another exciting qualifying session.    Bill and Tom were rocket fast, breaking into the 1:25s with Bill taking pole by .026 seconds.   The remaining times were close and again we had the ingredients for a potentially exciting race. At the start, Bill led the field through first couple of turns but John and Bill touched in Turn 3 with Bill going upside down on the outside of the track at the exit of 3. TJ capitalized and made the pass for the lead going into 4. John was in P2, Dale in P3 and I followed in P4.   John and TJ were running neck and neck with Dale and I battling it out a little further back.   TJ ran wide at 5a and John slipped into the lead. I was able to stick to the back of Dale's gearbox applying maximum pressure but without a mistake, a pass didn't look possible. Then Dale's one "off" happened when he ran wide entering 2a and I was past with my sights on TJ.    A few laps later, TJ spun trying to put power down out of Moss advancing me into P2. At the time, I thought it was Bill up front but my pit board said otherwise. JWK was in sight. From the post race chatter, I learned that John's front tires were overheating. I must have hit the setup right because the car felt strong and I was able to catch up to John -- now I know the real reason.   Then another break went my way.   John looped it in Moss and I was in the lead with 13 to go.    With John's overheated tires, he wasn't able to re-apply pressure and luckily I was able to drive the remaining laps cleanly. Apparently the battle for P2 and P3 was a grand one between Dale and Tom.   Stig retired early and had a front row seat for the fight.  Some close and clean racing with Dale ending up in P2 followed by Tom in P3.   More post race chatter about elevated heart rates confirmed the close racing and high level of concentration. A great turnout and congrats to everyone for some very clean and close racing.   With only 3 races to go before the end of the season, there are still quite a few points battles shaping up.    Get ready for the Glen in two weeks. Thanks, --Jeff Dale's Race Report This is a race I'll remember for a while. Very close, intense, fun race for me, a little to intense (TOM) actually. :) I qualified OK, but not up where Bill & Tom were at. Bill sorry to see your contact, sucks when you know you have a fast car and to get knocked out early like that. This group here is so fast, it's very tough to make up places. I had a good start and was able to advantage of mistakes to move up. Early on running in third with Jeff just hounding me, I made one of my own mistakes and he got by. For the last 14-15 laps Tom had found his form again and was just all over my tailpipes trying to find a way to get by. I was trying not to look in the mirrors to much but enough to know where he was, (he made sure he was visible my mirrors)I was able to hold him off, but man that was FUN. Great driving Tom, you and I have had our share of battles this season, just another great one. Good clean, tough racing. See you next race, Dale Bill's Race Report Mosport seems to me to be very much a "rhythm" track, where one, when "grooving, can almost blindfolded properly traverse the compound curves given accurate entry position and speed vectors. Unfortunately, it always takes me a few laps to get into that "groove" even though recent practice might indicate I've got it pretty well set. Last night was a good example. After just edging out Tom by 0.03 sec. for the pole, it looked like a real close scrap was in the making, with the top 4 qualifiers within a half second. I got a good start, but held to the inside entering T1, not knowing whether anyone was close behind on the outside. So a far-from-ideal entry yielded a ragged traverse of T1. And the "rhythm" for T2 and T3 was not yet there, with an end result of contact with John and aerobics that ended with an extended test of my rollbar integrity. With the inevitable long wait for the shift-R, and then the requisite pit stop- and-go I was back about 23 seconds from where I had hoped to be---- Dang!! Well, in that position so near race start, any hope of catching up to the fast crowd using my speed was zilch. Only some major offs and/or contacts among them could bring them close by race end, even if I could continue with no mistakes to the end. So, other than seeing the Stig/BB crash on lap 2 and luckily getting by unscathed, it was like running a GPL training session, seeing no other cars fore or aft. The first pit board showed Arturo 14 seconds ahead, and I thought catching him might be possible. And the interval came slowly down to about 5 seconds with about 5 laps left. But AP must have pushed a bit harder and the interval stayed at 5 for the next few laps. I was resigned to the 6th place finish when rounding T2 I see the Ferrari in the grass---tough luck AP, I wasn't catching you. After the race, a check of my lap times showed consistency at about a second per lap slower than I was expecting----probably due to too much mindset emphasis on the "no mistakes" lapping I felt was the only hope of being there if the leaders had some problems. Ah well, as Rhett's main squeeze said, "Tomorrow is another day!" John's Race Report Congrats on the excellent drives by Jeff, Dale and Tom and great qualy times, especially Bill and Tom with their sub 1:26 times. Actually everyone had a pretty quick pace. My sincere apologies to Bill for bumping him at T3. For some reason I was thinking I had bumped Jeff (brain fart). Bill went wide and I had more steam and hopes of getting to the Downhill T4 before him but was caught out when he moved to the right sooner than I expected. The bump slowed me enough to allow Tom to slip past and I was in pursuit for some laps until he went wide in the uphill approaching Moss where I was able to gain P1. I was able to get some breathing room after a bit but saw that Jeff was closing a bit on each lap. My spin at Moss allowed him to grab P1 and I was off after him. I wasn't making much headway catching Jeff and tried to quicken my pace a little but only managed to get my fronts hot and finally kissed the guard rail near Moss which screwed up my handling enough to require a pitstop. Dale and Tom blew past before I was able to get out of the pits and toward the closing laps I was able to close a little on them enough to enjoy the show but without much hope of gaining a spot. In any case I managed to kiss the guard rail again on the last lap and limped around to the finish line in P4. See you all at the Glen. JWK Opening lap Tom's turn on point 8/22/05: John Wins again at Snetterton Qual was exciting. John initially sat on the pole, then I was able to get a flying lap and grab it and hold one as the times came down, the difference between P1 and P2 was a mere .04 seconds. Little did I know I just experienced my highlight of the evening. At the drop of the green, John got a way first and pulled a nice outside move in 1 to take the lead. I slotted into P2 with Bill pressuring big time from P3. Bob and Dale were running in P4 and P5. For the first few laps, John pulled out a few second lead and Bill and I ran nose to tail. I managed to put some daylight between Bill and I but John was still running strong and was looking unbeatable. That's where it all went wrong for me. As my left rear tire started overheating, I foolishly was still trying to close the gap to John and ended up spinning in between turns 1 and 2. Argh!! Bill was by but it was a quick spin so I pulled out in P3. But it wasn't over for me. A few more mistakes with hot tires and I was at the back of the grid and by the end of race, I saw John again, but not the way I was planning. He was coming around to put me a lap down. Bill was able to run another mistake free race keeping some pressure on John while Dale and Bob went at it for P3 and P4. Congrats to John, Bill, and Bob for their podium finishes. All in all, a fun track but not my night. :-) Back to North America to Mosport for race #12. Thanks, --Jeff T1 opening lap JWK's out front in his favorite spot 8/9//05: John Scores (and Scored) at Nurby Kevin was flying!! During qual my pit board showed me some 23 seconds behind. Clearly it must have been a mistake I thought. 23 seconds, come on, I wasn't THAT slow. Well, apparently I was and Kevin set an amazingly fast pole time of 8m23.350s. Knowing the Ring can be a cruel place, my plan was to be calm and keep out of trouble. At the drop of the green, John and Kevin rocketed off leaving the rest of us behind but in a close pack. As we started the twisty trek around the first lap, small mistakes were made here and there but everyone was generally doing OK. OK until we entered the double left hander just past Metzgesfeld ?? about 1/3 of the way through the first lap. JD did a harmless spin and I guess Bob slowed more than I anticipated. What resulted was a dumb mistake on my part as I rammed Bob in the right rear under braking. Unfortunately it also caught up Dale and JD. Sorry guys. -- Plan B. After the mayhem, I ended up chasing Dale for a while. He'd make a mistake and I'd go by, I'd make a mistake and he'd go by, and you get the picture. It looked like John and Bill had a good tussle up front. Congrats to everyone for finishing and congrats to the podium. The final 3rd of the season kicks off at Snetterton. Thanks, --Jeff John's Race Report Sorry to see that Kev. Figured that's what happened. I was able to pull off the win despite lots of mistakes. At one point I stuffed it into the hedges at Wehrseifen and had to shift-r to get going. Bill passed me as I was exiting the pit and we had a good chase for a bit until I got alongside at Bergwerk and we touched. I slowed for a couple of seconds to see if he was still underway (sort of an atonement) and we were off again. Over the next lap I was able to pull out a bit of breathing space and finish in P1. My connection blinked out a couple times and I figured I'd lose scoring again, or worse, but other than the car feeling different (FF settings change?) no disco and scoring held. Congrats to P2 & P3 and my apologies to Bill for the bump. JWK The Start Kevin was Flying 7/26/05 Brands GP: Jeff Survives Brands GP The event started just like the previous events with a good pole battle in qual between John and Dale. In the end, Dale put the Honda in P1 for his first pole of the season. Way to go Dale. I had GPL crash at the start of qual which really made me wonder if a full GP was going to be in the cards for me. Fortunately a quick reboot was all I needed and I had plenty of time to try and get in a good qual lap but P3 was the best I could muster. At the start of the race, John was able to out accelerate Dale into T1 and led the pack down the hill. I tucked in behind Dale as the field sorted out and started to settle in for a long race. As we came down the backstraight for the first time, Dale went wide at the exit of Hawthorne, probably from all the fuel on board, and I moved up to P2 with John in sight. And so it went, lap after lap, I was able to stay close to John but no good opportunities for making a clean pass. No worries, surely with 80 laps there will be mistakes. Well, I flinched first and went wide in the right hander after Cooper straight and John pulled out a bit of a gap. Then a few laps later John did the same thing and the gap was back to 1sec. Then my big moment happened. I ran OpenGL instead of D3d last night and sure enough, 30 minutes into the race, my monitor shuts off. WTF was my first thought. Then I recognized what happened and I quickly jumped for the mouse, but it was too late. When the monitor came back, I was in the weeds and John was gone. OK, it's a long race, no need to panic and the car didn't seem damaged. As I came back around start/finish, my pit board showed the gap at 11 seconds. Now I'm driving with a little more aggression and I'm thinking, be careful, it's still a long race, really long. As we started to approach 1/2 way, the gap was coming down and John was once again in sight. Now the pit strategies would start to unfold. I saw John give the PI/PO sign so he pitted first. Of course scoring wasn't on their toes, so there was no way to judge the gap to see how fast the Lotus crew would need to be in the pits. At the 1/2 way mark, I head in for fuel. A quick stop and out I head. Now the big question, where's John. As I'm trying to get the tires up to temp and not run off the road with another heavy fuel load, I look in the mirrors and there's John, BIG in my mirrors. Now this feels like an F1 race!! Heads down, I'm driving as hard as I can to keep John at bay. Through Druids, John is pressing hard and I'm concentrating on making no mistakes. Fortunately, John wasn't able to make a pass and started to fade just a bit as the laps went on. I'm not sure what happened to John but a red diso message across the screen many laps before the end. The rest of the my race went uncontested and involved stretching my back down the straights and an occasional move of the mouse to make sure the monitor stayed awake. This was most definitely the L O N G E S T time I've ever spent behind the wheel at one time !!! Thanks, --Jeff Tom's Race Report That was without a doubt the toughest race every for me. I had bad stuttering the entire 80 Laps, and some warping. Sorry I didn't get a chance to chat with everyone after the race in igor, had to hurry and make a real life pitstop. I didn't use to have this stuttering at this track with my nforce 2 motherboard, but now I have a VIA KT600 motherboard, and it definately had a case of the ass for this track. Hoping for a better race next time. Tom J Bob's Race Report Well it's 5 hours later and I'm up and I can barely focus. I had a good night connection and race but still can't replicate my qual times in the race :( Quite an event and goodlordwasitlong. At one point it felt I'd been racing all night but the pit board said there were still 71 laps to go. I had an ok start and after a lap or three I'm behind Bill but Jeff and John are still in sight. We me thinks I'll push, get by Bill (HA!) and see what happens. Well what happens is I'm on Bill's gearbox and for the first half of the race we are not more than a second apart. I back off and charge or stay close and push but never near enough for a clean pass. Bill never blinked and I'm sure if he could have pulled of his mirrors and thrown them at me he would have. The intensity lasted for awhile and at one point it seemed it could be for the whole race. But not. In a blink Bill slows for the pits and I tag him a bunch (Sry BK). All it looked like from my seat though is I increased his pit entry speed by 15mph. I pitted a few laps later but came out alone. The rest of the race was focus-focus and pay no mind to the 35laps to go sign. I kept an eye on the gap behind to p3 but I made no dent on p1. Bob Bill's Race Report Hmmm--I see others have had stuttering problems at Brands. I didn't notice much of that during the first third of the race. BB was hounding me constantly up to lap 27 when I slowed to enter pit lane for refueling. That was obviously unexpected by Bob who couldn't avoid contact---sorry about that Bob. Resuming the chase went well up to lap 38, when after going up the climbing lefthander and under the bridge, flat out in third, an audio/video freeze (perhaps an accumulation of the stuttering others had?) seemed to end my race. While contemplating the frozen screen and signing off, suddenly (17 seconds after the freeze according to the replay) I was back on the track moving slowly. Hey-- maybe I lucked out again! Downshifting to first and resuming speed, nothing seemed familiar! Where in the hell am I on this track! An unfamiliar righthander appeared. and I was going too fast to avoid the outside grass, just as Tom's Ferrari appeared going full tilt in the opposite direction!! I steered into the nearest haybale, shift-r'd (figuring the contact that reversed my path likely did some damage), and hustled back to the pits for the required stop/go. Alas, the pit board, in large letters, scolded "DQ". Too bad----I never expected to run the entire 80 laps, but with an indicated third place at the time (I suspected John was into his usual "stealth" mode by that time) I was intending to soldier on as long as possible, and would have liked to have had a 2 hour+ race on my resume'. Congrats to Jeff for yet another dominating run at Brands (this must be one of your favorite tracks), to Dale for picking up the pole, and to all who persevered to the end of what must be the longest GPL race for all involved. Anyone had a longer one? John's Race Report Congratulations to all, especially Jeff, Bob and Tom. What a grueling race it must have been just to finish. Also to Dale for earning the pole. Well done! I was out with about 1/2 hr yet to do and was pretty tired and sweaty. I had wanted to run at a pace that wouldn't be too demanding and error prone and it seemed to be working reasonably well with Jeff being my only immediate concern. He seemed able to close up at will with about a 1/2 sec. per lap advantage. Several slips by Jeff allowed me a breather for a bit but then he'd start catching up again ad resume putting the pressure on. I made several mistakes as well and each time it seemed a couple seconds of margin would disappear. Unfortunately my scoring glitch did its thing, I was flickering in and out several times and not being scored started really eating at me. Being already uptight about that and then driving really poorly after my fuel stop was finally more than I could cope with so I did a hasty exit. I was hoping to run a bit with Arturo also but couldn't seem to manage decent laps after around the halfway point. Sorry AP. JWK John leads the field through Pilgrim's Rise on the first lap Still darn close up front after 42 laps and pit stops 7/12/05 Goodwood: John King Shows Winning Ways at Goodwood The pole battle was reasonably close until the last 2 minutes when Kevin put his head down and set a blistering pole lap of 1m19.644s. Wow! I was happy with a high 20 and P3 on the grid. My race strategy quickly evolved into keeping the leaders in sight and not going off into the weeds. At the drop of the green, Kev led the way through the first few corners until a wide line at St. Mary's allowed John by. The rest of the group was close behind, ready for battle, and Dale's white Honda was filling up my mirrors. The next few laps the front of the field was running single file when Kev uncharicteristically went wide at the entry of Levant and found the sand. That moved me up to P2 and for a large chunk of the laps, I was heads down working hard to keep John in reach. At times I was able to slowly narrow the gap but more than once I got a little crossed up in the chicane and John would lengthen the gap. Then my un-doing came with 4 to go when I got greedy and carried a little too much speed into Woodcote putting the left side of the car in the grass. Not enough car control to keep it from rotating around and all the hard work evaporated. Fortunately there was a big enough gap back to the P3 battle that I rejoined the track and finished the last few laps quietly in P2. From the post race chatter, the good battle was taking place between Bill, Dale, and Tom for P3 through P5. If anyone in the battle wants to elaborate, please feel free. It was also good to have Arturo back in the saddle with us! All in all, a fun track I think, and a great run John. Thanks, --Jeff Bill's Race Report Now, I'm not what one would call a religious type, but this Goodwood race sure made me aware of what looks to me to be the patron saint of pernicious sadism, that off-camber challenge called St. Mary's. The usually immaculate lapping by Kevin was the first to be martyred there, and his attempted recovery from that proved that the Saints can be unmerciful. Both Dale and Tom, while each was ahead of me and drawing away, were stricken by the Saint while within my sight, allowing me by. Those "interventions" and a few other miscues by D and T yielded up a 6 second lead on Tom in lap 22, with both slowly and steadily eating into my lead. But I thought that would be good enough if I could just stay clean. But NOOOOOOOOO-------. St. Mary, whom I considered my ally to this point, called me in to stop for a very reluctent genuflect in her honor, and that yielded Tom right on my tail at the ceremony's end. That makes us even, Mary!! T's Fazzaz filled my mirrors (and my ears) for the next few laps, and I've got to appreciate Tom's cool pursuit without taking the chance on the couple of spots where a risky pass attempt might have been made. But I definately slowed his pace, allowing Dale to make it a sub-second blanket covering us all. In the last lap, both Ferrari and Honda audio was LOUD, and it was a clear setup where just a small error would have yielded up 2 positions---. But again, St. Mary took pity on me and came to my aid, pushing Tom askew just enough to fade the sound of the pursuers and relieve the pressure of the last few turns. Thanks Mary!!! Your back on my list of the "good ones". Congrats to John and Jeff, both of whom obviously are doing their tithing. Dale's Race Report Bill, would you consider letting me borrow your St. Mary's statue that you must have standing by your monitor. :) That was one fun race, tight racing throughout the whole race. One of those races where if you flinched, someone was right their to grab your spot. Congrats to the podium for job well done. Bill, you were very cool under all the pressure you were under, I'm sure you were glad their wasn't a whole lot more laps to run. Tom, you and I seem to be in one of those runs where we are always running together and last night didn't disappoint. That was some intense racing again, yes and with us it is always clean, which makes it so much better. Great racing with you guys, till next time. Dale John's Race Report Goodwood strikes me as a patience taxing track. You just don't feel like you're getting into the curves fast enough but when you step it up a bit you wind up in the grass or a sand trap. The battle for pole was fun....until the last 2 minutes at least. Kevin put together a nice lap and that was that. The race started clean and I was able to slip in behind Kev with Jeff following. After Kev went wide at Mary's I was roughly estimating how many laps it would be before he'd be passing me and what corner it would probably be. After 6 laps I had the flickers and was not being scored again. That really is getting tiresome and tends to weaken my concentration but seeing Kev was having problems I tried to bear down for a possible win. After a bit Jeff seemed to be hitting stride and it wasn't long before he was less than 2 seconds back....and then 1 second. I tried to pick up the pace a little but small errors would let Jeff get as close as 0.3 sec. but then Jeff would have a small bobble and I'd have 1.5 sec. in hand. So it went until about 4 laps from the end when Jeff had a "moment". Now it looked like a win was a definite possibility. Relaxing a bit led me to doing a 360 in Lavant. I was lucky to stay on the pavement, drop a couple gears and keep going. Not being scored I didn't get the checker and wound up doing an extra lap just to be sure. Congrats to all for a good run and good racing throughout. JWK The first lap at Goodwood The battle between Bill, Tom, and Dale 6/28/05 Porto: Bill Continues Winning Streak at Porto Getting the race at Porto underway was not quite as smooth as previous races. Some unknown issues led to no green button on the SMI server. Fortunately John stepped in to save the race event and hosted from his local machine. Thanks John!! As practice/qual got underway, there were still a few problems with JD's connection but they were resolved -- or at least patched -- just before the drop of the green. Unfortunately for Dale his connection problem took place on the first lap of the race and disco'd. Sorry Dale, we know how much you were looking forward to Porto and how frustrating it is to get disco'd. As for the race, Bill was on pole by a decisive margin, almost 3 seconds with a 2:23.67. TJ took the other spot on the front row. Given my starting position, last one with a time, I couldn't really see what was going on up front (binoculars not in cockpit) my goal was just to stay out of trouble and try to stick with the pack. Quickly, for many, the race became a race against mistakes. With most folks not having many miles at Porto, the hay bales and concrete walls were unforgiving and started taking their toll on vehicles. My Lotus reminds me of the Zink since it must have tank-like properties given the nerfs that it took with no serious suspension damage. At one point I over-cooked the entry onto the long straight and ended up on the wrong side of hay bales. Fortunately, I had been there before in practice and knew the way back to the straight. I was also luck I didn't hit anything hard and the suspension seemed un-effected allowing me to continue with no wicked handling troubles. As the laps wound down, I started to get into a groove and on the last lap, I was behind Bob in P3. Bob was fighting an ill handling car and a small mistake in braking for the tight left hander at the end of the second long straight allowed me to get by and take the P2 spot. Bill was miles ahead in P1. Leaving Porto, the points battle is really heating up. The remaining races in the second segment are Goodwood, Brands Hatch (poss GP), and the Ring. On to Goodwood!! A fun place to slide the car around once you find the rhythm. Thanks, --Jeff Bill's Race Report Wow!--2 in a row!--definitly a first--I'm thinking that a trip to Las Vegas might be the start of a new career path..... Now that that stupid idea is past I've got to acknowledge another fortunate set of circumstances that enabled the win. With the 2 weeks since Silverstone and the heat/humidity keeping one indoors, I've run perhaps 15 15-lap races against the AI cars, and wasn't able to get a single race completed without wrecking/shifr-ring. So I wasn't very optimistic about my chances at Porto. Indeed, another "Albi" result seemed likely (I was last there!). So when the race length was settled at 12 laps I was only too happy with the reduced length. And that was my saving grace as Jeff was storming up from way back, and an additional 3 laps would have seen our positions reversed. So the SMI server problem set up my win. Then, the guys taking time out to help JD took practice time, and even though my Q time was one of my best ever Porto laps, Jeff's best race lap showed that with some more Q laps my pole time would have been only "close". At flag drop, a good start led to the lead exiting T1, but Bob then showed that my Lotus didn't have the top end of his Brab, as he eased by into the lead on the long straight. Looking at the other cars on the replay it seems everyone but yours truly was topping out at 160 to 161, while my Lotus reached just 157!!---I've really got to find out why! Luckily for me, BB got out of shape exiting T2, allowing me back into the lead. The first pit board showed +7, and the second +14!---Man, there must be some real problems back there! I probably lost some concentration thinking such thoughts, and sure enough on both laps 3 and 4 I got into the bales of fodder, losing about 5 seconds on each lap---Dang! BB had the gap down to +8 before I got back into smoother lapping. With that, and some further pursuer's problems, I saw +28 on the board starting lap 9! With that, a conservative run to the finish seemed the way to go and all looked good!! But that complacency was deflated in just seconds, when shortly after T1, at about 130 mph, the Lotus barfed its engine---double Dang!! The braking to a stop, shift-Ring, and the leisurely '65's acceleration, coupled with the pit stop and go, where I stupidly shift'red again back to cold engine/tires, blew 20 seconds of that so-comfortable 28 seconds. Just one more bobble and I would have pissed away a lead that even Kevin shouldn't have been able to make up!! So a major sweat developed in the remaining few laps, and fortunately they were clean enough to do the job---Whew! Bob's Race Report Great report Bill; I think luck is when your prepared for an opportunity. Sure you got one at Silver :) but you made one at Porto !!!!!! Enjoy I thought I had a shot early on but too stiff a setup and full fuel in those early laps made the BT11 a tad jumpy. JD and I had a good run until a piece of cobblestone hit him on his helmet causing a spin a letting me by ;) I started closing on Bill and maybe even saw him, but as I keep finding out I was pushing to hard whacked a wall and gave the car the evil pull. Thought I had enough on Jeff even running high 20's which I did but I forgot to factor in losing it in a hay bale on the last lap. The start at Porto 6/14/05 Silverstone: Bill Comes From Back of Grid to Top Spot on the Podium at Silverstone Bill's Race Report Well, this Silverstone has got to be just about the flakyist race I've yet seen. The British bookies would have given some astronomical odds for the lowliest qualifier to ultimately take the top podium position. And no one could have foreseen that the top three qualifiers, who just about seemed destined to fill the podium, would all fall victims to the electronic gremlins of the virtual racing world. If ever a racing win deserved an asterisk and footnote this was it! It was amazing thst only the top qualifiers showed the winking in and out that often heralds an imminent disco. And for both Kev and JK a winkout occured during crossing the SF line, and the stupid GPL AI timers didn't update their laps count, putting them down a lap immediately. Kev continued lapping flawlessly, but three turns from the end vanished permanently (on my replay) while holding a 40 second lead----an absolute bummer!! Personally, I was pretty glum at the start with a Q time about a full second slower than I was hoping to see. But a good start that picked up two places exiting T1 perked me up, I had the prospect of fending off Dale and Tom for a finish improving on my lowly qualifying position! Dale's Honda barking at my heels for a few laps apparently boosted my concentration, and I began to get into the track's rhythm. keeping BB and others ahead within sight---definitly a good sign. Then JDK's spin and BB's evasion of it allowed an easy jump of two more positions, and I sure didn't want to give back such charity. BB's pursuit was all too loud for all too long, and I had a string of clean laps that managed all too slowly to lessen the pressure from the Brab's audio. Then JK showed on the pit board---well, it was now just a matter of time! The gap inexorably closed, despite my desperate pedaling, but then, inexplicably, BB was back on the pit board. What happened to John? Not being scored again?? I usually ignore the pit board, but when I took a peek and saw "P1" I knew something was amiss as I certainly didn't pass the top qualifiers, but hey, you got to be happy when you are the beneficiary of the gremlins work, because next race you may be the victim. From that point on a comfortable lead ahowed so that clean lapping would enable an ultimate win, but I almost blew it ny catching a curb with 4 laps left that got me out of shape enough to cost about 6 seconds. Other than that it was a race without a serious error, and a win I realize was just a matter of a lucky streak at the roulette wheel! On to Porto--- John's Race Report I qualified 3rd and wasn't at all unhappy about that although I was 2 or 3 tenths off what I expected. I didn't get a particularly good start which combined with a little over-caution at T-1 cost me several spots. After that there was some good racing including several laps trying to make a pass on JDK. (did we bump at Stowe when I went inside?) I tried to settle in and hopefully start working my way up and finally managed to get into 3rd with BK in sight. Where's Kev? Then I started getting some blinking in and out and finally a long one after which, as BK mentioned, I was down a lap all of a sudden and not being scored again. That ticked me and I think I lost concentration amidst the anger and frustration prompting a careless spin which really ticked me. At that point I exited. I've been trying to find why that scoring glitch happens so often on my computer, made a few settings changes, and thought I was seeing some results. :o/ Oh well. Plenty of time for everyone to get the grass out of their radiators before Porto. Congrats to the podium. This ought to make the points competition more exciting. JWK Fantastic job Bill! -- Jeff The Kings battling it out rounding Stowe Eventually Race Winner Bill (#11) in traffic early on 5/24/05 Rouen: The stars align for Duncan at Rouen After Spa, I quickly went out and cleaned the pedal pots in a desparate effort to find more top end speed. I guess I'll have to clean them more often since it was good for a PB of 2:05.06 and the top spot in qual. Bill was close behind with a 2:05.6 followed by JD and TJ, also in the 05s. At the green, we all got away clean as we made our way past Six Freres toward the hairpin (Nouveau Monde). I put two wheels in the dirt at the outside of 1 but not enough to loose momentum. I also ran wide at the hairpin and again put two wheels off-track but cleaned it up enough to be clear of any drafting attempts down the long back straight. For the next 10 laps, the gap back to P2 was between 3 and 4 seconds, then I was able to stretch it out a bit. All was going well until lap 12 when I was having a tough time getting full RPMs out of the engine. Another remake of Spa? Oh @#$% I thought, how could I have an engine going south. Argh, I was running 4 seconds slower and at that rate, it wouldn't be long before I was overhauled. OK, wait a minute, it doesn't feel like the pedal is going all the way down. How could this be? It was a cable that was wedged under the throttle and I was able to press it out of the way. As long as the pedal doesn't bend from all the pressure, problem solved. Phew!! As we look at the points battle, we've hit the 1st milestone in Season 3 with the first 5 races complete. Dropping one race, John King tops the charts by 1 point over Kevin. Bill and TJ are tied in 4th with 11 points each. And Dale and JD are only a point apart. Silverstone is next. Thanks. --Jeff The gearbox view of Bill and JD running close through turn 1 Carefully negotiating Nouveau Monde 5/10/05 Spa GP: John King wins 1st Fresh Fish GP Wow, I'm still numb from 28 laps at Spa.   Finishing a full length GP is an accomplishment, so congrats to all. Kevin was the rabbit during qual and managed pole with a scorching 3m35.195s. He also turned the fast race lap 3m37.074s. Bill led the most laps, but it was John who walked away with the overall win. Great job everyone. My race was much less steller. I checked up in traffic going into Les Combes on lap 1 and couldn't keep the car from rotating around with 41 gallons of fuel on board. I spun to the inside but as the spin finished I collected Arturo. Argh. My sincere appologies Arturo for messing up the start of your GP. That seemed to set the tone for the rest of my race with the exception of managing to race a little with Tom J toward the end but a very long night for yours truely. However, based on the post race chatter, there were some good battles going up toward the front.   On to Rouen. Thanks. --Jeff Bill and John heading toward L'Eau Rouge Lotsa red -- JD and Tom trading positions down the back straight JWK on fuel strategy I couldn't find a nice balance that would handle well when fueled up for 28 laps and still work well when low on fuel nor for the other way around so I used fuel for about 18 laps figuring on either a fuel stop when needed or, in case of an "incident" after the 1st 10 laps or so I could shift-r and not have the penalty of a full fuel load. As for the race, Kevin did indeed do a great lap in qualifying but he seemed to bog down a bit at the green letting a couple of us get away. Bill was hot on my tail and got around me in short order opening up an almost 1 sec. lead at one point. After a couple laps he got a bit too sideways, I forget where, and I was able to get by. Unfortunately my replay does not have qualifying or the 1st 5 laps and GPL stopped recording my info after 3 laps (which was very annoying and distracting) but my pribluda display kept me informed of everyone's position, lap times and laps remaining. The only incidents I had was one 360 in Malmedy and one speed scrubbing brush with the bushes also exiting Malmedy. When I pitted for fuel I had around a 30 sec. lead and still had around 15 sec. after exiting. Between then and the end Kevin got to within about 2.5 sec.. All he probably needed was one more lap to overhaul me! Aside from the scoring malfunction, a sore right foot, tired arms and eyes I was elated to have just finished! Congrats to the podium and all that finished a grueling full length event (thankfully not at Monaco) and thanks to Jean Todt for the fuel strategy ;o) JWK Kevin's fuel plan yeah my closely gaurded secret is i didnt pay enough attention to detail :o). I filled the tank with all possible fuel and knew i was cooked exiting eau rouge on the 1st lap. when i couldnt even stay in the draft it was obvious what my mistake was and it was going to be a long race. john and bill did a fantastic job and just left me for dead. bill seemed to lose concentration mid race but john was in good form except for one error. I thought 1 more lap and i could catch him but dont we always think that !. End of race i still had enough fuel for another 8 laps according to the setiup page which in hindsight would have been good for another half distance race. DOH !!!!!!!!!!! Kevin 4/26/05 Albi: Kevin Firlein Tops the Charts at Albi Albi provided the back drop for more good racing and lots of action. Complete with TJ's fuel problems, my blown engine, a good effort by JWK to pressure Kevin, and ample passing opportunities. In qual, Kevin once again set the pace with a blistering 1:14.682. John was also flying with a 1:15.1. At the start, John went after Kevin and I was privy to some great racing with John challenging Kevin at the end of the long straight. My race strategy was to hang on to the back of John's gearbox without making any dumb mistakes. Determined not to fly off the track trying to hang on to the leaders, I made it 10 laps before flames in my mirrors appeared as I started the drive down the long straight. Maybe we forgot to change engines from the last event. I've got to say, the team sure can change engines fast :-) By the time I did my stop/go in the pits, I only lost 2 positions. JD had a lazy spin in the left hander (Virage du Parc) allowing me to squeeze by on the inside. A few laps later, I was chasing TJ and unknown to me at the time, he was struggling with low fuel (I guess Tom will be talking to his crew chief before the next event). With Tom worried about fuel, I managed to draft by TJ down the long straight with just a few laps left. Congrats to Kevin for a fantastic drive and perfect points and great job to John for his P2 finish. Thanks to everyone for a fun event. The next event is a full length GP at Spa if we can get 9 or more drivers committed. A message will be going out soon. Thanks. --Jeff Close racing during the 1st lap Toasty 4/12/05 Zandvoort: Kevin Firlein sets Torrid Pace at Dutch GP No one could touch the 1:27.127 Kevin turned during qualifying. John was closest with a 28.8 followed by no less than 6 racers all very close together in the 29s. The stage was set for another promising race. At the start Kevin drove off leaving the field farther and farther behind every lap. A seventh gear perhaps -- some sort of turbo?? John was also setting his own quick pace followed by the rest of the world. And the rest of the world was swapping positions as several folks delt with small spins early on. As the laps started to wind down, Dale was the man to beat. JD applied the most pressure to Dale but Dale wasn't cracking and ended up with the final spot on the podium. A little further back, TJ was lurking in my mirrors but I was able to hang on for 4th after a late race spin by JD. Congrats to the podium for setting an unbelievable pace and managing to keep it going for 27 laps. And a great job by everyone for another race with heads up driving. Cya at Albi. Thanks. --Jeff John's Race Report Zandy has always been a tough track for me. The start was good and clean from my perspective and I was able to eek out a little breathing room from those behind but Kevin was motoring off at about a second per lap. I was thinking how good he'd look in a FV or a 550 but that might be even more humbling! The race became an exercise in maintaining concentration after the 1st 5 laps or so what with Kev out of sight and nobody on my tail. I got sloppy several times but avoided any spins or major offs. Zandy is a bad place to go for a ride in the tullies. It looked like there was plenty of action behind and Dale did a great job to wind up on the podium. Congrats to all that finished and a Very Well Done to Kevin and Dale. Too bad we lost Bill to a Disco and missed Arturo due to the time confusion. JWK Dale's Race Report I had one of my better drives here. I didn't qualify as well as I had hoped I would but do to early attriction to some of the front runners I was able to move up the 3rd and hold it. My biggest problem, which is always the case for me was to keep my concentration focused on the track as this one will bite you. Kevin, you're redifining the definition of alien. Incredibly fast qualifying time and consistant race. Congrats Kevin & John !!!! Another great start 3/29/05 Monaco: John King is King at Monaco Season 3 started off in a promising fashion with a very tight qualifying grid. A good turn out and six positions all within 9 tenths of a second!! And yours truely managed a flier good for the top spot. That's gotta help at this tough to pass track, or not. At the green, the field had another successful start and for the first couple of laps I led with Bob hounding me. Of course that meant it was mine to throw away and I managed to loop it in Mirabeau around the 3rd lap. Loosing 3 or 4 places, I found an opening and started the charge again. Over the next several laps I was able to move back up to P2 but... a spin in Tabec left me nosed in the wall on driver's left and it took me forever and a day to find reverse. The mid-part of the race was spent in P5 chasing Bob. A spin in Massent allowed me to get by and assume P4 some 20 seconds behind Tom. Despite my best efforts to close the gap, with 4 to go I managed to loose it in the dreaded chicane and limp home in P4. From the post race chatter, it sounded like there was some good racing going on through out the pack and all in all it was a fun event. As usual, please feel free to share the race from your vantage point. Congrats to John, Bill, and Tom for capturing the podium spots. Bring your shovel as the series heads to Zandvoort. Thanks. --Jeff John's Race Report What a race! Great close driving for much of the 30 laps. Qualifying was really close and Jeff uncorked a good lap for pole. The first several laps reminded me of RL races at Summit Point with Jeff and Bob running away and having their own running battle but on L3 Jeff looped it at Mirabeau letting Bob and I past, then on L4 Bob smacks the guardrail at Casino and gets sideways. I nip his nose getting by but winding up with Bill hot on my trail but then he gets out of shape at Portier and lets Jeff by...but wait...Jeff returns the favor at Tabac and lets just about everyone by while he looks for the shift pattern diagram :o) Now Bill's back there with Bob after him and on L6 I get out of shape at Portier and let Bill slip past and now have Bob on my tail. Why is everyone in such a hurry? The sound of the Ferrari is getting louder as Tom closes on Bob. Oh, the pressure! At the Gas Works I cut into the hairpin and get bumped enough to get me sideways letting both Tom and Bob speed past. Lucky thing I studied the shift patterns before the race or the Pole sitter might have made it past also. By L10 I was able to close on Bob and he got squirrelly Massenet and I was able to squeak by but I'm only catching fleeting glimpses of Bill and Tom (P1 & 2). As my car lightens up and feels better I am able to close a bit and set FL on L15. By L17 Tom is hard on Bill's tail and I'm dogging Tom. On L19 Bill gets out of shape in Saite DeVote and I'm able to slip past Tom as he slowed a tad to avoid Bill. We ran very tight for the next 6 laps until L25 when Bill kissed the guardrail coming out of Casino and I was able to grab the inside line in Mirabeau and grab P1. I thought I was going to give the position back to him several times as I made several mistakes but after another lap I was able to get some breathing space. I was really relieved to make it to L30 and see the checker! Very well done! Congrats to Bill and Tom for fine finishes and to all the drivers for finishing a grueling race and all on the same lap! That will be a hard one to top! Not because of the win but all the competitive driving and pressure. John The start of season 3