MARRS 10 - 2007 - Summit Point Race Report
MARRS 10 in-car video from Team Nissan 240sx
MARRS 10 in-car video from Gregg Ginsberg - Team Sisu Nissan 240sx is directly in front at beginning of video and often throughout - you'll have to watch it to see who wins...
Winner take all. Last race of the year. Two teams in the chase for the Championship. Both with a chance to win. Both needing to beat the other. The Team Sisu Nissan 240sx driven by Kirk Dohne had a fast start to the season and was now fighting for the Championship with hard-charging newcomer to the series - Chris Perera in an Acura Integra.
Much work had gone into the preparation for the race to optimize as much as we could but some parts were unavailable int he period of time that we had to prepare and we were left short of some necessary repairs. We would have to make do with what we had and hope for the best.
Qualifying told the tale of our missing parts. We were still slightly off the pace and pushing to maintain second place in the session for our class, Improved Touring A - one of three classes on the track in separate races. Everything on the car was first rate except for the big thing called the engine and we were still dropping 6-8 car lengths down the front straight.
Our one hope was to pass Perera on the start and keep him bottled up behind us for the entire race. A tall task but not one that was beyond our capability. Start - pushed hard and got to Perera's rear bumper but no more. Some contact in turn 1 with an ITS BMW slowed our progress but we got some cars between us and the Ginsberg Honda. Perera rockets off a little but we are pushing hard. After completing the third lap - Perera's car slos exiting turn 2. He is done for the day. Our concentration drops as we realize the Championship is ours and the out-of-class cars get by. Now we are fighting Ginsberg for the race win. Come-on, come-on, let's get our mind back in it. There we go. Ginsberg is close and we are nip and tuck for the remainder of the race. Defensive lines and some serious racing and Ginsberg never makes a pass stick with multiple chances. We cross the finish line, winning by the length of our Nissan.
Three wins for the season. Third MARRS ITA Championship in four years. We have some major prep work to do to get back the speed we have lost but next year is shaping up to be a great year and we look forward to defending our Championship against all comers.
Finishing Position Name Car Laps Fast-Lap 1 Kirk Dohne Nissan 240sx 16 1:29.774 2 Gregg Ginsberg Honda CRX Si 16 1:29.279 3 Doug Kinser Toyota MR2 16 1:30.631 4 Brent Simonson Mazda Miata 16 1:31.007 5 Brad Barnhouse Honda Civic 16 1:31.436 6 Chris McClary Honda CRX Si 16 1:29.569 7 Mark Johnston Nissan 240sx 15 1:30.389 8 Owen Shefer Mazda Miata 15 1:30.853 9 Andrew Johnston Acura Integra 15 1:31.595 10 Bryan Pritt Acura Integra 15 1:31.249 11 Matt Rowe Dodge Shelby Charger 15 1:32.672 12 Tommy Thompson Chrysler neon 15 1:32.929 13 Art Jaso Toyota MR2 15 1:34.110 14 Dick Hummel Toyota MR2 14 1:40.264 15 Matthew Yip Volkswagen GTI 14 1:32.848 16 Lauren Robison Dodge Neon ACR 11 1:39.520 17 Chris Perera Acura Integra 4 1:28.161 18 Earl Richards Nissan 240sx 1 2:03.129 19 Jeffrey Exter Honda CRX Si 0