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[sledman]

Stock Cars on the Figure 8 – 1/21/20

 

The MVH Tuesday evening retro series schedule for this week indicated Stock Cars on the Figure 8 so that’s what we ran. With seven racers we were able to utilize the 4-on/3-off format with two marshals and one person to run the computer.  

 

Stock Cars in Tech:

 

Ricky Pratt was back for some more racing this week and was setting some fast times in practice. With John Weaver only slightly faster it was looking like a good race was on tap.  

 

Once the laps started to count Weaver set the pace, logging 202 laps by the change-over to the inside lanes and giving him a 4-lap lead over Ricky. Dave Panich was another 2 laps back at 196, leading 4^th place Richard Payne by a comfortable 12-lap margin. With 173 laps each, Rich Girvin and Alex Marino were running tied for 5^th place while Wayne Secore closed out the field.

 

Stock cars on the Figure 8 tend to run about even on the inside versus the outside lanes but Wayne was able to add 7 laps to his first half total which was more than double the next best second half performance. Unfortunately for Wayne, it wasn’t enough to move him up in the standings. Rich G also had a strong second half and in this case it was enough to break his tie with Alex and give him a 5^th place finish. At this point in the evening Alex, who was the fastest driver not on the podium, was struggling with car control (actually controller control—he couldn’t decide which hand to use!) and had to settle for 6^th.

 

At the front of the pack, Ricky had a slightly better second half than Weaver but it wasn’t enough to change the inevitable as John took the win by a 6-lap margin. Meanwhile, Dave finished another 6 laps behind Ricky for the bottom step on the podium while Richard P took 4^th.

 

Weaver had the fastest lap of the evening with a 3.406 on orange to Ricky’s 3.452 on black. Notably, neither were faster than the NERR track record for stock cars on the Figure 8 (3.302 seconds) but both broke Dom Luongo’s total lap record of 394 laps for a 24-minute race.

 

Driver, laps completed, best lap time/lane:

1. John Weaver           403/12    3.406   OR
2. Ricky Pratt               397/3      3.452   BK
3. Dave Panich            391/13    3.507   GN
4. Richard E. Payne     368/10    3.679   BL
5. Rich Girvin               349/13    3.742   GN
6. Alex Marino              345/1      3.524   BL
7. Wayne Secore         327/8      3.944   PU                                               

 

UPCOMING EVENTS:

 

            Next MVH Tuesday Evening Retro Race:

                        Jan 28    F-1 on the King

 

            NERR Race No. 7:

                        Jan 25    Modelville Hobby:

                                       Coupes on the Royal

                                       F-1 on the King

 

Podium: (L to R):  2^nd Place – Ricky Pratt, 1^st Place – John Weaver, 3^rd Place – Dave Panich

 

Weaver’s 1^st Place Chassis:

 

Ricky’s 2^nd Place Chassis:

 

Dave’s 3^rd Place Chassis: