Well, the DC boys got together today for another fine day of racing.  We weren't sure how we were going to start off because we are running two race series' at a time, the nationally popular HFAY Points Series and the DC Mega Series.  The DC Mega series consists of six races in four classes that are all summed up to decide a DC champion.  We decided to go with the HFAY layout and get those courses done. DC has gotten into the swing of HFAY and we are trying to put our best effort forward.

Unfortunately the start of the racing was plagued with Core troubles.  We usually have to give Core a little bit of time to get "warmed up" or something but today was especially painful.  We tried all of our tricks that had previously worked (turning off WiFi, turning off laptops, etc) but nothing was giving us a reliable counting system.  Not only was it not reliable but it wasn't even giving us hope.  In the hour+ of debugging we only heard one familiar "Core Click". 
We had almost given up and decided to have a day of tuning and fun runs when SoyVerde stepped up with renewed determination (and the subconscious knowledge that racing is more fun than fun runs!) and tracked down the problem.  It turned out to be a wayward PC that was somehow interfering with the Core signal.  After that we heard the familiar (and beautiful) sound of the Core Click. 

With the timing setup, we set out to blitz through our HFAY qualifiers and mains.  We all pretty much worked together to keep everything running smoothly.  It was a little rough when a couple of drivers had to go right from a six minute qualifier to an eight minute main, but we suffered through.

Personally, I settled into a new strategy.  There is one driver in DC, CCSON, who consistently puts in 2-4 laps more than me in each of the stock races.  We are more even in the open racing (usually trading spots week to week) but I just can't keep pace with CCSON in the HFAY no matter how hard I try.  As we started race 2 of HFAY and CCSON got a good jump on the start, I decided to just sit behind him.  I figured if I could sit there (and not try to force a pass) I would come in 2 seconds behind him, which is a lot better than 2-4 laps.  By not trying to pass I was able to settle into a really nice groove and for a period of 15 laps or so CCSON, me and Arch were sitting in an MR02 train.  For a couple of laps the three of use were no more than 3 RCP tiles apart!  Once I was able to capitalize on a mistake by CCSON, I just kept my cool and tried to stay consistent.  I stayed out of a lot of trouble by not trying to force a pass and just took a free ride when a chance came up.  In the end, I think we all ended up with higher lap counts and some very clean racing. 

I don't think that the DC Crew is going to be knocking any of the DOW or Ann Arbor guys out of the top three spots, but hopefully we can put together a respectable performance. 

After the HFAY racing was done, we setup the obstacles and broke out the Overlands.  We only had four drivers but that was enough to keep the two track marshalls pretty busy (and thoroughly entertained).  CCSON was making changes all afternoon and found a setup to combat his chronic traction roll just before the start of the race.  We'll have to get some video of the OL action next time around!

'Till next time...