Race 3

May 22nd, 2005
Race three took place on Sunday at Putnam Park. The weather was great, high 70’s and clear skies. No rain overnight allowed the paddock to dry up considerable from the day before. After yesterdays race, I noticed considerable wear on the front tires so I spent time on Sunday morning checking the alignment. I changed front tires and also adjusted tire pressures slightly, based on some advice from a fellow GTS racer. During the morning practice session, I shaved nearly 5 seconds off my best time on Saturday. Sunday qualifying was a mess; during the short session there were several spin outs (not me) and heavy traffic, so I had difficulty finding any clear track, which resulted in a last place qualifying position. So I would be starting in 32nd place.

Our race was the first event after lunch. The start was clean and fast, I picked up two positions on the start and held them through turn one. I again hooked up with the same two spec Miata’s and we locked into a battle. I was able to pass one and held that pass for the entire race, the other spec miata and I traded positions several times. On lap 18, I was exiting turn four and in the short chute when the race leaders approved form behind, the number 8 BMW of Alex Lipowich went to the outside and the number 88 BMW of Paul Hamm went to the inside as we approached turn 5. Turn five is a sweeping left had turn; the 88 shot by me, over the rumble strips and into the lead, a lead that he later gave up to the 8. I was able to get a run on the number 6 Miata exiting turn 10 and made the pass before he start finish line on the checkered flag lap.

In the end, I picked up seven positions and finished 23rd out of 32 in Group A and 2nd in GTS1. Two, second place finishes in two days, not a bad weekend.