January 21, 2005

Riptide

The tide has changed this season as we quickly approach the halfway point.  With many of the top Rookies dropping out due to other work load conflicts Dutton is almost assured the top spot with his 31 point margin over Nismo's Frank Adams. 

Dutton's Toyota got off to a very rough start that allowed Adams to create a lead of almost an entire lap.  Dutton wouldn't have anything of that and by the halfway point had disposed of the Nismo driver's lead.

Toyota is extremely happy with Dutton's performance and wasn't surprised as he turned lap times this week that would rival the Pro ranks.  Adams put in a good show as well with some of his best driving yet.  "I am still getting used to the new tire manufacturer, but things are slowly getting worked out and I am becoming more comfortable.  Sometimes the car performs as you'd expect and other times not so."  Nismo's leading Rookie, Frank Adams, commenting on his team’s decision to change from Michelin to Pirelli this season.

            Toyota had a solid week, Dutton continued his domination while teammates Lucas and Morrison put in some strong runs but weren't able to turn them into main heat points.

            With Reggie Barnes absent for some pre-race training for the Monte Carlo Rally the front runners were ready to take advantage of RedLine Racing's weakness, and that they did.  Toying with a new rear tire compound from GPM, RedLine's Gary Stephenson failed to recalibrate his launch control and could only watch as both R&H Acura drivers blew by him into the first turn to take the lead from the green flag.  Santamarina was firmly in third by the Ss but was obviously taking it cautiously with his first race in his new MR chassis.  However, lap by lap saw that caution turn into hot laps that quickly brought him up to the two NSXs of Hester and Romack by lap five.  Santamarina wasn't alone; he brought his nemesis, Gary Stephenson, in tow.  Hester and Romack couldn't keep pace as Santamarina and Stephenson crept away.  At the end we saw the talented Nismo driver hold off the veteran, and the R&H pit calling Romack asking him to allow Hester to pass to gain that precious extra point for 3rd only to be snubbed in the final straight.  "Don't get me wrong.  I respect Russ, but this isn't Ferrari and he's not Schumacher."  Romack said.  "No hard feelings.  Al has been running well the past few weeks so he has every right to those points as I do."  Responded team mate Hester.

            So the tide has changed but Santamarina's undertow is pulling him back to the top with him leapfrogging Hester for 2nd place in the points.  Barnes is back next week so we will find out shortly which way the  tide is headed.

Jumping on the Bandwagon

With Mini-Zs taking top honors it is no surprise to see last year's champion, Santamarina driving a new MM chassis to stay competitive.  He must really want the repeat.  With the top five running MR-02s its no wonder we are hearing rumors of some Toyota drivers taking the plunge with either extremely hopped up XMODs or their own Kyosho custom.  Now it will be down to tires and ability.

Results:

Pro: 1 - A. Santamarina, 2 - G. Stephenson, 3 - A. Romack, 4 - R. Hester

Rookie: 1 - T. Dutton, 2 -F. Adams

Organizer's Notes:

Many thanks to Gary, Al, and Aland for increasing their lap counter sponsorship.  Latest word is that CoreSpeedway is still waiting for FCC approval, but at least we are on the priority list.  So I am hopeful that we will have the system by the time we are running on the oval next month.  We may need a rest week in order to get the system up and running. Thanks for your patience and support.