I headed to Mid-Ohio for my first time with hopes of finishing a top 4. My goal really was to learn learn learn, and to get as familiar w the track as possible before nationals. I was excited to have a field of 10 cars, and have some new players in the game.




Sat started off rough as we were mixed w the GTS guys once again, so most of warm-up and qualify was spent just letting fast Porsches and Bimmers go by, while trying to learn where to place the car. I was definitely slow, and struggling to find out where. Neal and Ray were a full 7 seconds faster than me - this was tough to swallow.
Qual was a mess. A sudden down pour had several cars spinning off track on the out lap, and unsurprisingly the session was cut short by a stuck E30 off track.
The race was exciting. I got a good start, and was in the thick of it until lap 2 when Joel easily got by me, and took off with Angel in pursuit of Neal and Eric. Luckily, I lap 3 Joel and Angel caught some slower E30 traffic. I caught them both in the final group of turns. Joel and I both blew the carousel, but I got the better of it and got by. More traffic helped me on the next lap as I snuck past Angel- as did Joel. The next lap, there was a big-off course into T4, but I couldnt see anything. Joel was hot on my heals and had two great pass attempts, only to be foiled by yellow flags.
The next lap around we fell under full course yellow. 2 laps of that and they black flagged the race w a checker due to the severity of the crash. It was my lucky day. 3rd.

Day 2 I felt better. But I was not. 5th fastest. Luckily, my racecraft is much better than my qualifying skills. I was able to get around Angel in the opening laps, putting myself into 3rd. Eric and Neal set sail and I spent the remainder of the race battling w a back-marker E30. It began to rain, but some parts were wetter than others, which led to a hunt for the correct line. It changed every lap, and made for some exciting laps. Some of the faster GTS cars became slower traffic, which tripped us up, and I passed and re-passed this E30 4 times. I kept my nose out of trouble and was able to hold off the charging Ray. Another hard-earned podium for the Benngington Motorsports Green Machine!

Video of Saturdays Race:


vimeo.com/27931576

Nice write up Dan, Thanks for taking the time to put that together and for posting Saturdays race. Looking forward to racing Mid Ohio at Nationals. Greg & Tyler