The field was a bit sparse for Triathlon #4. Mark was vacationing on the Oregon Coast while Joe was hunting Bambi. Even so, the show went on with the minimum number of participants (5). Both Mark and Joe will be back in time for our next event.
Race format is a bit different with five participants. At least two marshals are required, leaving three racers on the track at one time. Each participant ran through all four lanes in regular order: however one lane was empty in each heat (in a single heat, two lanes were empty). Track conditions were excellent as several records were set and others challenged.
With the fourth event of the Fall Series in the books, below are the standings followed by the details of the Trans-Am, Mixed and GT1 races. Although James remains in the number one spot with 197 points, Rich narrowed the gap from 15 points to a single point. Bob remains in third place with 182 points.
The field for race #4 was a bit different than for race #3. Rich re-bodied his 70 Camaro chassis with a lighter 67 Camaro model. The 67 set a new fast lap record of 4.959 seconds in the Trans-Am Class. Ron opted for a notchback 66 Mustang instead of his 67 Camaro. The Mustang suffered from very inconsistent handling and its chassis needs a bit more sorting in order to become competitive. In retrospect, Ron would have been better served running his 67 Camaro. Bob, James and Scott ran their tried and true rides.
Consistency was the dominant factor in the Trans-Am race. Bob finished first turning-in the most consistent performance (95.63%). Rich was second while James was third. A heat by heat breakdown is detailed in the paragraphs below.
Rich (red lane) took an early lead, turning 23+ laps in heat #1 while Bob (black lane) turned 22+ laps followed by James (yellow lane) with 21+ laps.
Heat #2 was pivotal. Rich (yellow lane) was involved in a couple of serious mishaps resulting in a poor lap total of only 21. While James (black lane) and Bob (white lane) turned 23 laps each.
Bob rotated out for heat #3 while Rich rotated to the black lane and turned 22 laps. Meanwhile James rotated to the white lane and turned only 21 laps. Through three heats it was Bob in first with an average of 22.5+ laps. Rich in second with an average of 22+ laps and James in third place with an average of 21.66+ laps
Rich moved to the white lane in heat #4 and ran 22+ laps to finish his rotation with 88.8 laps. James rotated out in for heat #4
It all came down to the final heat (#7). Rich was in the barn with 88.8 laps. Bob had completed 67+ laps and rotated to the yellow lane for his final heat. Bob needed only a very doable 21+ laps to overtake Rich. James came in on red for the final heat and needed almost 24 laps to overtake Rich; a very steep hill to climb. In the end, Bob ran a good final heat to finish first with 89.5 laps. Rich was second with 88.8 laps about a half lap behind Bob. James finished third with 86.8 laps
A shout-out goes to Scott who ran a personal best in terms of lap count, total laps and a fourth place finish with his blue 10 Mustang.
All participants in the Mixed race opted for tried and true rides. The mixed grid was populated by a passel of Ferrari 458s (Rich, James, Bob and Ron) and an OSCAR based Honker (Scott).
The race turned into a very close contest between Rich and Bob. In the end Rich finished first with Bob second and James third. A heat by heat breakdown is described in the paragraphs below.
Bob and Rich both turned 23 laps apiece in both heat #1 and heat #2. James turned 22 laps in each of the first two heats making it nearly impossible to catch either Bob or Rich.
Rich rotated out for heat #3 while Bob rotated to the black lane and James rotated to the white lane. Both Bob and James turned 23+ laps in heat #3.
James rotated out for heat #4 while Bob rotated to the white lane for his final heat. Bob again turned 23+ laps and finished his rotation with a 92.4 lap total.
Again, it came down to the final heat. Bob was in the barn with 92.4 laps. Rich rotated to the yellow lane having completed 69+ laps. Rich needed just slightly more than 23 laps to overtake Bob. James came in on the red lane with 67+ laps and needed about 25 laps to overtake Rich; a very steep hill to climb. In the end, Rich ran a good final heat to finish first with 92.8 laps. Bob was second with 92.4 laps and James was third with 90.1 laps.
Another shout-out goes to Scott, who achieved a personal best in terms of a fast lap and total laps in the mixed class.
The top four competitors opted to run the same rides as in the prior contest. All four cars are ballistic and any of the four are capable of taking the top spot. Rich (Porsche 962), Bob (Enzo) and James (Jaguar XJR8LM) turned fast laps in the 4.7 second range while Ron (Toyota GT-One) turned a 4.92 second fast lap.
Rich set a new fast lap record of 4.713 seconds and won the race with a new total lap record of 97.7 laps. James was second about a half lap behind while Bob was third, about a half lap behind James. A heat by heat breakdown of the contest is described in the paragraphs below.
The tone for the race was set in the initial heat with Rich in the yellow lane (Porsche 962) and Bob (Enzo) in the black lane turning 24+ laps and James (Jaguar XJR8LM) in the red lane turning nearly 24 laps. After heat #2 all three racers had turned 48+ laps.
Bob rotated out for heat #3 while Rich rotated to the white lane turning 25 laps. James rotated to black turning 24 laps. So after three heats Rich completed 73+ laps (an average of 24.33+ laps/heat); Bob and James both completed 72+ laps (an average of 24+ laps/heat).
James finished his rotation on the white lane in heat #4 turning 25+ laps and completing a total of 97.1 laps.
It all came down to the final heat. James was in the barn with 97.1 laps. Rich needed a very doable 24 lap heat to overtake James. Bob needed 25+ lap heat to overtake James (doable but very tough). In the end Rich ran a good heat to finish first with 97.7 laps. James was second, about a half lap behind Rich. Bob was third only three sections behind James.
