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Hyperfest at Summit
Point - Wet & Wild – June 20/21 2009
Isolated thunder storms turned concentrated and forced multiple tire
changes, off course excursions and other maladies. Paul Kaiser, John
George, Wayne Patterson, Kevin Dumas, and Carl Thompson arrived at
Summit Point WV for the annual Hyperfest racing – while drifting, roll
over competition, and the “Daisy Dukes contest”, and other “fun & games”
took place in between and after the NASA races on Saturday. A downpour
early Saturday morning encouraged wet tires for all except Paul who
decided to keep it in the trailer. Times were miserable but John had
the best – remember how well he did at the Nationals in the rain, with a
1:38.5, Kevin 2nd at 1:45.1, Wayne at 1:46.5, and Carl at
1:52.7 bringing up the rear. The sun came out making it hot and clear
and we all changed to dry’s for qualifying. Paul turned a 1:26 but went
off in turn 9 and wasted the right rear quarter on the tire wall with
mud flying everywhere. John was second with a 1:27.7, Kevin a 1:29.7,
Carl at 1:30.0 (running out of gas early in the session – dah!), and
Wayne at 1:32.5. Just before the race the bottom fell out again and it
was – do we change back or stay on dries? John was running the R-888’s
but went back to the RA-1 wets. The rest of us kept the dry’s on. We
had a rolling start (for a change) with 48 cars in the field. Carl got
past Kevin before the 1st corner with John in his sights.
The first couple of laps were playing traffic and trying to get closer.
Eventually Carl drafted John down the straight and managed to get past
him to get into first. He then chased down Dan Elam running in ST-2 and
got by him. A couple of accidents in other classes caused waving yellow
flags and Carl kept looking in the mirror to see if John was closing
in. Dan managed to get by Carl seeing the yellow flag drop before Carl
knew what happened. John suffered a clutch cable failure which took him
out of the race. So, Carl finished first with a best time of 1:26.367,
Kevin 2nd with a 1:27.948, Wayne 3rd with a
1:30.612 and John in 4th with a best lap of 1:27.156.
After all this, it was time for Hyperfest activities, drifting, and
people watching – interesting!
Sunday dawned with clear skies and cooler weather. No practice on
Sunday, just qualifying and the race – lengthening the race to 40
minutes. Qualifying saw 4 of us trying to secure a top grid position –
and it was pretty close. Kevin ended with the best time of 1:27.148,
John second with a1:27.398, Carl in 3rd with 1:27.668, and
Wayne in 4th with 1.28.960 (went back to his old RA-1’s).
Dan in his ST-2 car turned a 1:26.761.
There was plenty of time between qualifying and the race so we fired up
the grill and had filet mignon, French fries, salad, ice cream and other
“fine dining treats”! – might as well enjoy the “in-between” time too.
Everyone brought treats – John’s mom and dad did egg and bacon breakfast
treats, French fries and ice cream – and great coffee too, Wayne had
plenty of dipping goodies and Carl fired up the grill for chicken
breasts and filet mignon.
As we gridded for the race the skies darkened and we all worried about
whether we were going to get wet again. As we waited on the grid it
started to sprinkle, but fortunately stopped before the race started.
Another rolling start and it was the race for turn 1. John and Carl got
by Kevin by turn 1 and the race was on. The question was, could Carl
do it again? After a couple of laps Carl once again was able to catch
up with John gaining a little each lap on the downhill corner to the
carousel. He passed John after drafting him on the straight and
wondered if he could he stay in front? It was a long race and it would
take staying calm and consistent. Wayne battled with a CMC car having
put in a new engine since last time at Summit Point. It ran well, kept
cool, and he had tons of fun. Kevin, driving his newly painted
beautiful red/orange machine, got into an accident and ended up with
fiberglass damage just in front of the driver door – making us all
cringe and feel part of his pain. Kevin turned the fastest of the FFR
gang of 1:25.964 finishing 4th. Wayne finished 3rd
with a time of 1:29.795, John 2nd with a best of 1:26.020,
and Carl 1st with a best time of 1:26.041. With a 40 minute
race Carl kept watching the rear view mirror and once in awhile saw John
come into view. A spin on the fast downhill to the carousel kept him
from catching Carl as time ran out. Carl managed to get by Dan again
and eventually an exploding crank damper took him out of the race.
It was another successful Hyperfest with a good field and some hot
racing. Now the East Coast Championship moves to Mid-Ohio for a field
of close to 10 FFR Challenge Series cars. Can’t wait!
By Carl Thompson |
