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The National Races At BeaveRun The PLANET MIATA Team went to BeaveRun, PA to race for the weekend and as you might expect it rained on Saturday so much so the practice sessions for some classes were a wash out. The rain came down so hard at times you could barely see five feet in front of you. The wind with the rain made for a very wet time. BeaveRun is a nine-turn speedway with great elevation changes, sharp turns, fast sweepers and a blind turn that takes your breath away because to take the blind turn right, you better have guts. You turn long before you know where the road goes and hope the flagger is on the ball. Some Tid Bits from BeaveRun (yes Bette that's how you spell it) At registration at BeaveRun there is always lollipops, big round chocolates ones, Donna McDonough, the registrar, makes sure of that. Les Walters, the chief of timing and scoring, knows every trick in the book as to how people get his records before they are ready to be released. Barry Kaplan, the chief steward, never wears his traditional whites on rainy days, and never rides his two wheeler in the rain (unless he has to). Stewards Dean Croucher, Peter Esposito, and Jim Green know I'm always looking for a story to write about and so I'll let you in on the good news. Jim Green's son is home from a tour of duty in the Middle East. Since he is home we all know Jim and his wife can sleep a little easier these days. Peter Esposito, thanks for the suggestion with the copys, it worked out great. Dean Croucher is still working the races with his wife, Meridith. Dean still says she is the boss. Duane Harrington from Nelson Ledges race track is still soliciting drivers for his 24-hour endurance race is August. Debbie LaFond and her husband lost a lot of weight in a great effort. Yes Debbie, Weight Watchers does work, but it is no easy task. Congratulations to you and your husband. You both look great. Saturday Saturday was wet most of the day, with some dry times. On Saturday between downpours I had lunch with some of the officials and workers. I wandered into the lunch area and struck up a conversation with Peter Roberts and his wife, Terry. Sitting next to them was Roy Bergman. With three lawyers in the group, Pete, Roy and me the subject was not law. Most lawyers don't talk about the law when out in public as there are to many other more interesting things going on. We talked about the price of gas, the price of food, the prices of houses and the economy in general, and a lot about racing. When I'm with these people, there is never a dull moment. When the subject of racing came up, the enthusiasm increased to the point that all we needed was a dry Sunday for a perfect weekend. We did get the perfect weekend, it was a cloudless Sunday with mild temperatures But on Saturday, the rain came down and we waited to see if it would be dry enough for dry tires for qualifying. After a while, Marc and I decide to wait. We had both cars up on jack stands until the last minute with Patch, our crew chief, ready to swing into action. Patch is so quick he could change all four tires by himself in less than 90 seconds. You might say that's not that fast compared to NASCAR or Formula 1, but he alone does it, not with the help of 10 other people. We ultimately decided rain or not it was regular tires. It was slick on regular tires as the track was wet but not that bad. I got off the racing surface a few times as did everyone else but nobody crashed. I would leave that for the race on Sunday. The Sunday Races The racing was fun again with some real fast cars combined with some slower cars. It was time to be mindful of everyone around you. Rob Hines drives a T2 car, a fast Nissan and is always a contender. His father was there as his crew on this Fathers Day, but his car broke before the end of the race and he never finished. In the Production classes it was a slug fest between David Strittmatter and Les Handley for top honors in F Production. David Strittmatter won the battle and the race. Fellows there is another guy who is starting to show his driving skills in that class, Steve Gorriaran, driving a Miata, he was third. Can you tell I like Miatas in whatever class they run? That race also had some excitement with Chris Fox battling Kevin Leigh in E Production, both driving Caterhams (specially built roadsters), the lady was second but she wins more often than not. Howard Gerstein, a physcian who is the nephew of Mark Gerstein a steward of the Northeast Division, blasted his way to a win in GT Lite, a class made up of combination of other production cars which have dwindling numbers these days. I have to mention Greg Kasprzyk, we call him "Polish Greg." He is an American citizen who immigrated from Poland some time ago, he still retains his thick Polish accent and his work ethic. He is a workaholic and a dream to be around. To meet him is to instantaneously LOVE him. He drives a BMW in E Production and drives the wheels off it all the time. Greg, thank you for your being you. Because of the small number of Spec Miatas in the field the officials got everyone to agree to combine our class with some others for the race on Sunday. We have raced with most of everyone in the groups that we were combined with and that made everyone comfortable. For years Marc and I ran in Showroom Stock B which was one of the classes we joined. The Spec Miatas raced with Showroom Stock and Touring classes. It was, for the most part, a boring race. The T2 and T3 cars ran away from the field, then the SSB and SSC (Showroom Stock classes) made for a slug fest. Yours truly got punted for the second weekend in a row.It was just a racing incident, but my friend who spun me knocked me into the wet grass and it took a while for me to get traction and get back on the track (I had to coast back to the flat part of the track to get off the wet grass.) After the race he came to apologize, I told him next time try to keep me on the racing surface so I can keep going without losing time, then we both laughed and wished each other a Happy Fathers Day. Marc was not a factor in the SM race as his motor lost power and he fell back to the leaders at the end of the race and ended up third. Steve Gorriaran won in SM and Jonathan Boxwell was second. Joel Lipperini and John Costello won in SSC and T3, respectively. And the story would not be complete with the mention of Junior Zabriski. Junior is new to SSC and did not crash this weekend. Need I say more? Lee Niffenegger and Mike Scornavacchi Jr had the classic American vs. Japanese car battle for right in SSB. Lee's Honda won and Mike's Pontiac was second. If there is anything I would like to leave you with this Fathers Day weekend it is this: I've learned.... That simple walks with my father around the block on summer nights when I was a child did wonders for me as an adult. Happy Fathers Day BE SAFE GO FAST HAVE FUN |
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