MARRS II & III - 2005 - Virginia International Raceway
Virginia International Raceway outside Danville, VA is a beautiful facility. This year we would be using a reconfigured track that would add 12 turns to the already challenging course. Nobody has raced this configuration before so it would be3 a challenge to all. Luckily, they had a scheduled test day before the event. Unfortunately, a scheduling conflict would keep us from attending as our chief competitors gained a decidedly great advantage.
We arrived to a packed paddock at 1am Friday morning with qualifying to begin later in the morning. Quickly and quietly we unloaded the car and equipment and were asleep by 2am. Waking at 7am to get through tech was a struggle but we were ready to go for the first qualifying session. We even had some spare time to ride the cart over to see the new section of the course, which would help us a little but not too much.
There would be two qualifying sessions on Friday; the first would be for the Saturday race and the second for the Sunday race. The reconfigured track is all of 4.2 miles long and the pole for Improved Touring A (ITA) was 3:10.4. The bad thing about the long lap times was that we only got 7 laps to figure out the technically challenging new section. Luckily, the random draw for qualifying order placed us two spots behind the winner of the first Mid-Atlantic Road Racing Series (MARRS) race who had been out for the practice day. The decision was made to take the opportunity top follow him around and let him teach us the new track. That would have worked well save for the 'off' he had on the first turn of the new section. We were on our own. The sixth lap would be our fastest at 3:13 placing us third on the MARRS ITA grid but with 10 cars of other classes between Bret DePedro and us the pole sitter in the Mazda Miata. Gregg Ginsberg in his blue Honda CRX Si was between us with a time of 3:11 but only 2 cars separated him from our Sisu Racing Nissan 240sx.
The second qualifying session would be much easier. The random draw gave us the first position so there would be a clean track. We went out fast and had 4 clean laps before a flange on the header broke. We were able to get down to a 3:11 and would sit second in MARRS ITA with only two cars separating us from the pole sitting Miata. Our other chief competitor so far this year (Ginsberg's CRX) sat 38th on the grid after a number of snafus in qualifying.
After the race, we would describe the first race of the weekend as the easiest we ever had. That describes the end of the race but not the beginning. At the drop of the green, wee got a jump on the row in front of us; as usual, the most open route was down the middle. That is fine, we go there often. However, unlike Summit Point, there are no reference marks visible from the middle. I saw a car to the inside, a car to the outside, a car to the front, a car to the rear. At Summit Point, you can see the corner station up high on the ridge, you can see the trees trail away, you can basically feel where to turn in for the first turn. At VIR, there are no such landmarks. So I braked when the others did, well at least I slowed enough the get unto the car in front. I waited for the car on the inside to turn in and then I turned in. Unfortunately, the car to our left - on the outside of the turn - turned in as he got to the edge of the track (being able to see the track turn). He turned in to the side of the Sisu Racing Nissan. Not hard enough for heavy damage but bending the same fender that was hit by DePedro in the first race of the year. No harm, no foul. We had the second place car of Ginsberg in our sights with only one car separating us. Going into the new section there is an off-camber 180+ degree turn with room for one car. Ginsberg tried two wide and got forced off on the exit. The dirt allowed the car to rotate and he returned in 42nd position with only two cars behind him. In an 8-lap race, he would not be able to recover. The DePedro Miata, however, was about 2 seconds ahead with 7 cars separating us. We pushed hard, thinking that DePedro would race with the others (all very close in time) and we would have a chance. We were pushing very hard for those first two laps until entering the last turn on the second lap we saw DePedro pull the Miata off the course. We pushed for one more lap until we came around and saw the stranded Miata. Knowing we were in first place and had by then pulled out about 10 seconds on the second place car, we slowed to a pace that would maintain our lead and preserve the car. We 'coasted' for the remaining 5 laps to our first win if the year. Bill Hollinger in a Mazda Miata was ecstatic with his first ever podium finish in second. Sean Christie's Honda Civic came home third, followed by Ginsberg's CRX.
The second race would not be so easy, but it was much more dramatic. This would be a race that was hotly competed from beginning to end. It was basically a two-player race, DePedro's Mazda Miata vs. the Sisu Racing Nissan 240sx. The first turn again provided drama. We were determined to stay clean and stay to the inside, which would have been a good plan save for a slight error in preparation, by one of our competitors. Colin Botha was about 4 cars ahead when his hood flew open and laid across the windshield. With virtually no visibility, he slowed and then pulled off course. That slowed the entire inside line and allowed many passes on the outside. DePedro got the cushion of an additional 2 cars. We pushed hard but got bottled up in the slow new section by some cars with more power that did not do well in the slower, tighter new section. We aggressively passed one of these cars re-entering the traditional portion of the track, getting another rub on the driver side, as they were not expecting us to pass there. We were now within sight of the Miata. Halfway through the race, the Miata slowed by a few tenths of a second per lap. We pedaled a little harder and closed the gap. Trouble was we were being hounded by an Acura Integra from behind which limited the moves we could make on the Miata. With two laps left we let the Integra (who was not in our class) by hoping that he would pass the Miata and in turn slow him up enough to let us pass as well. The ploy would have worked as the Acura got by and the Miata attempted to repass going into a tight turn called "Oak Tree" for the massive tree at the apex that shadows the course; they came out side by side with the Miata pulling ahead slightly. We maintained momentum through the turn and headed down the following straight in pursuit of the Miata with a head of steam that would likely carry us past the Miata by the end of the long straight. Our plan was foiled when the Integra, his entire focus on the Miata forced us off the track at 120mph as he moved over on us down the straight. We thought better of creating contact at that speed and backed out to tuck in behind the Integra. That was our last best chance to pass; we crossed the finish line two laps later in second place. Bill Hollinger taking third, Sean Christie fourth, and Gregg Ginsberg fifth.
A win and two seconds this season places us in the points lead for the season series. We are in a better position to repeat our 2004 Championship than we were in position to win it last year,but the path looks a little tougher this year with enhanced competition. We have a six-week break before the next MARRS race at Summit Point in June.
MARRS II Results:
Finishing Position Name Car Laps Fast-Lap 1 Kirk Dohne Nissan 240sx 8 3:13.807 2 Billy Hollinger III Mazda Miata 8 3:14.676 3 Sean Christie Honda Civic 8 3:17.183 4 Gregg Ginsberg Honda CRX 8 3:11.009 5 Michael Liggett Mazda RX7 8 3:17.158 6 David Hess Honda CRX 8 3:17.759 7 Matthew Yip VW GTI 8 3:17.938 8 Brad Barnhouse Honda Civic 8 3:17.425 9 William Griffith Toyota MR2 7 3:40.811 10 Bret DePedro Mazda Miata 2 3:15.454 MARRS III Results:
Finishing Position Name Car Laps Fast-Lap 1 Bret DePedro Mazda Miata 8 3:10.730 2 Kirk Dohne Nissan 240sx 8 3:11.566 3 Billy Hollinger III Mazda Miata 8 3:14.211 4 Sean Christie Honda Civic 8 3:15.167 5 Gregg Ginsberg Honda CRX 8 3:12.521 6 Brad Barnhouse Honda Civic 8 3:15.250 7 Michael Liggett Mazda RX7 8 3:18.609 8 Matthew Yip VW GTI 8 3:20.686 9 David Hess Honda CRX 8 3:19.390