6 replies to this topic

[Bill Gerhart]

Saturday Aug. 25th we headed south on route 15 to one our favorite stops. It was was the SUMMER HEAT event at THE TRACK in Gaithersburg, Md. Practice started abiut 830 am. We saw some 4.0's in practice, could the GT Coupes break the track record of 3.98? Eleven drivers signed in for the event. It was Nick Brantley taking the GTC pole at 4.05.

GTC PD Qualifying results :
1. Nick Brantley 4.0567 secs
2. Bill Gerhart 4.07
3. Robert Brantley 4.11
4. Chris Radisich 4.14
5. Gary Hip Culy 4.16
6. Ron Pearson 4.26
7. Tommy Campbell 4.27
8. Dale Granger 4.36
9. Steve Dietrich 4.45
10 Robert Rodgers 4.54
11. Tom Smith 4.69

Top 6 went to the A main, 7 to 11 to the B main with the winner advancing.

Newcomer Tommy Campbell from Virginia got away first and set a very quick pace. By heat 3, Dale Granger moved into 2nd and the chase was on. It took Dale until heat 7 to catch Tommy and take the lead. "MR Gaithersburg" went on to win and advance into the A main. Tommy Campbell with a great run finished second with Robert Rodgers third. Tom Smith and Steve Dietrich followed.

GTC PD B main results:
1. Dale Granger 312 laps best lap 4.28
2. Tommy Campbell 306 laps
3. Robert Rodgers 303 laps
4. Tom Smith 272 laps
5 Steve Dietrich 269 laps



The GTC PD A main was up next. Bill Gerhart and Nick Brantley got away first with Robert Brantley in third. By heat 2, Robert moved in, took the lead, and dominated to the finish for his first MD Retro win. It was Bill Gerhart 2nd, with Chris Radisich 3rd. Hip Culy finished a fine 4th with Ron Pearson 5th. Nick Brantley and Dale Granger both had trouble and finished 6th and 7th.

GTC PD A main results :
1. Robert Brantley 329 laps- RGEO
2. Bill Gerhart 324 laps- SkunkWorks
3. Chris Radisch 317 laps- RGEO
4. Hip Culy 313 laps
5. Ron Pearson 312 laps
6. Nick Brantley 291 laps
7. Dale Granger 227 laps

fastest lap of the race - Robert Brantley 4.1674

Mimi presents the GTC PD SUMMER HEAT TROPHY to Robert Brantley



GTC PD podium



After a brief practice, the Can Am cars were up next. Eleven drivers signed in for the event. Could they run in the 3.8's....not quite....Bill Gerhart took T/Q with a 3.96.

Can Am Qualifying results:
1. Bill Gerhart 3.9694 secs
2. Robert Brantley 3.97
3. Nick Brantley 4.00
4. Dale Granger 4.06
5. Tommy Campbell 4.09
6. Chris Radisich 4.11
7. Robert Rodgers 4.16
8. Gary Hip Culy 4.18
9. Ron Pearson 4.19
10. Bob Young 4.21
11. Steve Dietrich 4.43

Top 6 went to the A main, 7 to 11 to the B, again the winner advancing.

Bob Young got out front early, followed by Ron Pearson and Robert Rodgers. By heat 5, Ron moved in and grabbed the lead. Ron went on to victory followed by Bob Young, Robert Rodgers, Hip Culy and Steve Dietrich.

Can Am B main results:
1. Ron Pearson 319 laps best lap 4.167
2. Bob Young 313 laps
3. Robert Rodgers 309 laps
4. Hip Culy 125 laps
5. Steve Dietrich 78 laps

Can Am B main podium



Tha A main was up next for the Can Am cars. Bill Gerhart got out front with Nick Brantley on his tail, they ran the entire first heat never more than a foot apart. Same in heat two, Bill and Nick side by side. In heat 3, Nick ran into some trouble with traffic, Bill got away by a half a lap. In heat 4, Bill ran into some trouble and Nick closed back in. Heat 5, 6, and 7, were side by side with Nick finaly pulling away when Bill had some trouble at the end of heat 7. At the start of heat 8, Bill unlapped himself to get back on the lead lap, but ran out of time as Nick won by 3/4 lap. Bill G. was second with Robert Brantley third. Ron Pearson finished a fine 4th with Chris Radisich 5th. Tommy Campbell and Dale Granger followed.

Can Am A main results:
1. Nick Brantley 336 laps RGEO
2. Bill Gerhart 335 laps SkunkWorks
3. Robert Brantley 330 laps RGEO
4. Ron Pearson 320 laps
5. Chris Radisich 319 laps
6. Tommy Campbell 303 laps
7. Dale Granger 227 laps

fastest lap of the race - Bill Gerhart 4.108

Mimi presents the Can Am SUMMER HEAT trophy to Nick Brantley.



Can Am A main podium.



Dad Gary Brantley works on Nick's and Robert's cars. Here is Gary with his two victorious sons.



Mason Dixon Retro wants to thank Mimi for hosting the Summer Heat event. A special thanks to Roman for track prep.

MD Retro would like to thank all competitors who attended the SUMMER HEAT event.

Also, a sad farewell to Ron Pearson who will be moving to California in October. We will miss you Ron !

Congrats to Robert Brantley and Nick Brantley for their wins at the SUMMER HEAT event.

[Bill Gerhart]

More photos from SUMMER HEAT event at Gaithersburg.

GTC PD field



Steve D. took concourse with the GTC cars



Can Am field



Robert Rodgers beautiful Rolling Rock car won concourse



Tradition continues, brothers Nick and Robert pose with the "moose" at Bugaboo Creek Steakhouse.

[Danny Zona]

Way to go Team Brantley. You guys are FAST. Keep up the hard work. Can't wait to race with y'all again.

[Pop's boys]

Nice report Bill, but you forgot to mention that you won the overall points for the race. Also, we would like to see the pic of the overall points winner along with the 2 race winners with "Th Moose". I am proud of Nick and Rube as it is a real accomplishment to win a race at Gaithersburg in the Mason Dixon series.

Was some great racing especially the Can Am, a duel to the end with you and Nick within feet of each other nearly the whole way. Rube's car came in at the right time in the GTC race and I thought he drove a fine race also. Tommy Campbell will be a great new member as he is a very good driver and did well for his first race at Mimi's, he is fired up and getting ready for the next MD race.
Dale had some car issues but I know he'll be ready for the next one as he usually flies on the Gerding.

Jake C. and Mike W. are planning to be back with us also for the season and I hope a few more from Sheaves will also join us this year. Was sorry to hear the Ron is moving as we all think highly of him and will surely miss him at the races. Was good to have Jeff Sheaves attend the race and look froward to the MD races at his track this season " Th Beast" is a tough track and he keeps it in immaculate condition.

As always it was great to see eveybody again and thanks Mimi and Roman for hosting the Summer Heat ( I bet we'll all be faster in the fall race).

Danny Z., thanks for the kind words and we look forward to racing with you again.

Thanks R-Geo Rick B. for all the help you have given us to improve our program and answering my never ending questions about chassis setup.

[Bill Gerhart]

Gary, I will post later this week a few more photos from Summer Heat in Gaithersburg. yes, I did win the Summer heat points by posting 2 seconds and a pole in Can Am (39 points). Rube ended up second with a GTC win and 3rd in the Can Am event for 38 points. Total Summer Heat results will be posted later in the week.

It was great to have Jeff Sheaves join us at Gaithersburg, we are looking forward to our first trip to Sheaves Raceway in Weyers Cave, Va. on Saturday November 24th. Its a first class facilty, one of the best I have seen. Randy Kohr and Dale Granger have run very well on that track when it was in Pa. and NJ. They both really like it. For me it has always been a struggle, may have to plan a test session before the Nov. 24th event !

Tommy Campbell ran well for his frst event. He could be tough on his home track in November. We really need all the racer support we can get. It would be nice to get to a point where we could count on 14 to 16 for every event. Looking forward to seeing you guys at the MD opener on Saturday October 27th at Gathersburg.

[Bill Gerhart]

Final Summer Heat Results Gaithersburg

1. Bill Gerhart - (2nd GTC, 2nd Can Am, TQ Can Am) - 39 points
2. Robert Brantley - (1st GTC, 3rd Can Am) - 38 points
3. Nick Brantley - (6th GTC, 1st Can Am, TQ GTC) - 36 points
4. Chris Radisich - (3rd GTC, 5th Can Am) - 34 points
5. Ron Pearson - (5th GTC, 4th Can Am) - 33 points
6. Tommy Campbell - (8th GTC, 6th Can Am) - 28 points
7. Dale Granger - (7th GTC, 7th Can Am) - 28 points
8. Gary Culy - (4th GTC, 10th Can Am) - 28 points
9. Robert Rodgers - (9th GTC, 9th Can Am) - 24 points
10. Steve Dietrich - (11th GTC, 11th Can Am) - 20 points
11. Bob Young - (8th Can Am) - 13 points
12. Tom Smith - (10th GTC) - 11 points

GTC winner R. Brantley, Summer heat overall champ B. Gerhart,and Can Am winner N. Brantley at Mason Dixon Summer Heat headquarters (Bugaboo Creek Steakhouse).

[Pop's boys]

Congrats Bill, on the overall points. We're looking forward to the Oct. race at "The Track".