As usual we had a great turnout for our OVR/R4 warm-up race. A lot of new faces this time which is really encouraging for our hobby.
The McMasters family did their usual fantastic job of hosting the event. Cindy McMasters pulled pork sandwiches are getting better and better every race, or maybe I was just hungrier, I don't know.
I'd liked to thank all the volunteers who helped make this raceday go so smooth. Bill Fulmer for helping with tech, taking pictures, and setting the cars up for concours judging. Eric Balicki for volunteering to be race director; great job, Eric. And Jessica McMasters for helping with the concours judging, changing light bulbs, and marking track position for all the cars in all the races; thanks, Jessica. Also a big thanks to Mike McMasters for loading all the names in the computer, race directing, and making sure everything went smoothly.
As always, Jerry Kulich at JK Products sent us a box of prizes and a plaque for the JK Spec class. Thanks, Jerry, everyone really appreciates what you do.
Also a big a big thanks to Ron Hershman/Outisight Bodies for the concours prizes. It's quite an incentive to make your cars look like cars and some of them are beautiful.
We started the day with F1 like we always do. With 27 entries we ran three, nine-man round robins. I don't have a print-out of each race but I do have the final tally. We had something happen in this race that I've never seen before. We had two cars stop at exactly the same spot in the first two races. We could have laid the tape we used to mark finishing spots right on top of each other. Never once did we think these two cars would also have exactly the same number of laps. They were Rick Bennardo and Mike Patterson, an absolute tie for 15th/16th.
1. Ron Hershman 276 laps
2. Chris Radisich 273 laps
3. Tom Lauderbach 272 laps
4. Randy Kohr 268 laps
5. Jeff Lauderbach 267 laps
6. Paul Martin 262 laps
7. Gary Brammell 259 laps
8. Tony Jackson 258+ laps
9. Dave Simerka 258 laps
10. Tom Calvert 257 laps
11. Dale Granger 256 laps
12. Garry Haworth 254 laps
13. Jonathon Brammell 249 laps
14. Mark Kitto 246 laps
15/16. Bick Bennardo 245 laps Tie
16/15. Mike Patterson 245 laps Tie
17. Dan Ebert 243 laps
18. Bill Fulmer 242 laps
19. Ken Green 240 laps
20. Larry Mattingly 237 laps
21. Gary Echelbarger 234 laps
22. Rick Maynard 234 laps
23. Eric Balicki 233 laps
24. Bob Kurkowski 217 laps
25. Earl Graybill 216 laps
26. Jason Echelbarger 177 laps
27. Neil Easterday 17 laps
In Concours the Best Looking car went to Earl Graybill and the Most Realistic went to Mike Patterson.
Can-Am was next. With 31 entries we ran two ten-man round robins and one eleven-man round robin. As usual when the dust settled it was Ron Hershman leading the pack, followed by Mike McMasters and Chris Radisich.
1. Ron Hershman 283 laps
2. Mike McMasters 277 laps
3. Chris Radisich 274 laps
4. Dave Simerka 273 laps
5. Tom Lauderbach 272+ laps
6. Jeff Lauderbach 272 laps
7. Tom Calvert 268 laps
8. Rick Maynard 267 laps
9. Randy Kohr 266 laps
10. Paul Martin 265++ laps
11. Ken Green 265+ laps
12. Gary Brammell 265 laps
13. Neil Easterday 263+ laps
14. Jessica McMasters 263 laps
15. Dale Granger 259+ laps
16. Tony Jackson 259 laps
17. Mike Patterson 254+ laps
18. Jonathon Brammell 254 laps
19. Garry Haworth 252 laps
20 Rick Bennardo 246 laps
21. Larry Mattingly 243+ laps
22. Mark Kitto 243 laps
23. Jason Echelbarger 241++ laps
24. Earl Graybill 241+ laps
25. Gary Echelbarger 241 laps
26. Gary Adams 237 laps
27. Bill Fulmer 236 laps
28. Jacob Shiplet 230 laps
29. Steve Deiters 229 laps
30. Dan Ebert 212 laps
31. Eric Balicki 180 laps
In Concours it was Rick Maynard winning Best Looking and Larry Mattingly winning Most Realistic
This year we changed our race rotation around and ran GT Coupe third and JK Spec fourth. This was so some of the out-of-town the guys running GT Coupe in the R4 could race and get an early start home. Again it was Ron Hershman winning by ten laps over second place Tony Jackson. Ron had fast lap of 4.773 on the orange lane with a heavy car, a Falcon 7 motor, and a tall GT Coupe body. I believe that could have been the fastest lap of the day in all the races. This proves you don't need a light car, a Pro Slot motor, and a low Can-Am body to go fast. Normally we run 2 minute heats in GT Coupe but because Mike wants to run 3 minutes heats in the R4 we ran a twelve-man round robin with 3 minute heats
1. Ron Hershman 277 laps
2. Tony Jackson 267+ laps
3. Chris Radisich 267 laps
4. Jessica McMasters 265 laps
5. Randy Kohr 262 laps
6. dave Simerka 260+ laps
7. Rick Maynard 260 laps
8. Ken Green 258 laps
9. Dale Granger 257 laps
10. Bill Fulmer 239 laps
11. Earl Graybill 232 laps
12. Eric Balicki 226 laps
In Concours Rick Maynard won both Best Looking and Most Realistic
The last race of the day was JK Spec. We only had seven drivers in this race but it proved to be the most exciting race of the day. We had plenty of volunteer turn marshals and up until the last minute of the last heat we had three and four racers on the same lap most of the race. It came down to who had the best nerves. In this one we ran two minute heats. In the end it was Rick Maynard who proved to be "Cool Hand Luke".
1. Rick Maynard 171 laps
2. Phil Donaldson 170+ laps
3. Jason Echelbarger 170 laps
4. Eric Balicki 168 laps
5. Gary Echelbarger 158 laps
6. Bill Fulmer 157 laps
7. Earl Graybill 149 laps
That about wraps it up. I want to thank everyone who came out to race. It was a great day and I hope to see everyone at the R4 and again for our last Ohio Valley Retro Race of the season in Richmond, Indiana in April.
