F-1 on the Royal – 12/13/16
Ten F-1 Cars in Tech (note Dan's car is missing as he arrived a little late):
It has been over 6 months since the MVH Tuesday night retro-series raced F-1 on the Royal, but almost half the field spent the weekend racing F-1 on the Grandstand at Rapid Raceway in Connecticut so even though they might have been a little bit tired, they were ready. Ten racers is still one or two shy of having marshals to run all eight lanes, so the race was run in 4/4 format with 20 heats.
The somewhat wider open-wheeled F-1 cars on the somewhat narrower Royal usually proves to be exciting, and tonight was no different. It seemed like a car or two was on the floor in almost every heat and racing was stopped more than once for a chassis to be soldered, unbent, have an axle reattached, or otherwise tweaked.
Ray Lee logged the fast lap of the evening and from his first heat was in control of the race. At the change from outside to inside it was Ray, Dave Panich and Bob “Woody” Hazelwood in the top three spots with the “Ernsitgator” (Ernie Lachance), Vinny Cafazzo (driving one of Ray’s cars) and Richard Payne close behind. Also driving loaner cars (Bob’s from MVH, Ru’s from Dave P), Friday night flexi-car racers Bob Blanchette and Ruane Crumett joined Tuesday-night-retro regulars Dan Smith and Dick Griffin to round out the field.
Ray opened up his lead after the move to the inside lanes, while Woody and the Ernstigator battled each other and pursued Dave. When the dust settled, Ray took the win by 10 laps over second place finisher Dave. Ernie claimed the final podium spot a lap ahead of 4th place finisher Woody who finished just 9 track sections ahead of Vinny. Led by Richard P, the rest of the field was spread out pretty evenly though Dick G and Bob B were just sections apart.
Driver, laps completed, best lap time/lane:
1) Ray Lee 333/12 4.054 BL
2) Dave Panich 323/20 3.617 PU (rider)
3) Ernie Lachance 320/25 4.117 BL
4) Woody Hazelwood 319/18 4.163 WT
5) Vinny Cafazzo 319/9 4.171 WT
6) Richard Payne 315/5 4.226 BL
7) Ruane Crumett 310/13 4.226 OR
8) Dan Savage 307/6 4.125 BL
9) Dick Griffin 287/5 4.335 YL
10) Bob Blanchette 286/19 4.226 YL
MVH Tuesday Night Retro-Racing Holiday Schedule:
12/20 FK Coupes on the Aristocrat
12/27 Stock Cars on the King
NOTE: MVH will be closed December 24th – 26th, but will have extended hours from 1:00 pm – 9:00 pm on the 27th though the 30th and from 1:00 pm – 6:00 pm on New Year’s Eve if you want to drive the re-braided King or need some time to try out any new holiday goodies you may have gotten!
Cars on the Podium (L to R): 2nd Place – Dave Panich, 1st Place – Ray Lee, 3rd Place – Ernie Lachance
Ray’s 1st Place Chassis:
Dave’s 2nd Place Chassis:
Ernie’s 3rd Place Chassis:
