Minis at Laguna Seca

SuperMinis at Laguna Race Data

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Combined Points Championship
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Seniors Combined Points website

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DETAILED RACE DATA:

Overall Podium: Kane Lasky, Maciej Bekas, Fahn Thomas

Senior Podium: Ralph Kemmerer, Dave Bradley, Norm Borczon

Pole: Kane Lasky (1:06.663)

Fastest Lap: Kane Lasky (1:06.934)

Hard Chargers:
Kurt Stevens, gained 10 (34th to 24th);
Mark Urban, gained 9 (14th to 5th);
Ralph Kemmerer, gained 8 (23rd to 15th);
AJ McKenzie, gained 8 (25th to 17th);
Scott Stenger, gained 8 (33rd to 25th)

Six Seniors competed, top Senior finished in 15th place.

Steward's call to the Grid: 34 cars

On lead lap at finish, 9 cars. One lap down, 11 cars.

DNFs: DNFs 8 (including at least 2 disconnects)
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RACE NOTES:
~ Kane Lasky led 35 laps, new driver Fahn Thomas led 4 laps
This is Kane's first SuperMini victory.
~ Top ten drivers were from 5 different countries.

SERIES NOTES:
~ Five races, four different winners !!!
~ A total of 56 drivers have competed so far with 39 earning points.
~ In Team, 21 teams are competing with 16 teams scoring points.

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POINTS:

OVERALL: Garret Diduck (USA) has fallen to third while Maciej Bekas (Poland) has risen up to first in points with Ryan Soucy (USA) remaining in second . Ryan is only two points away from top points man Maciej with only one race to go !!! Mark Carty (Jamaica) jolds fourth, a mere two points ahead of Mark Urban who rides in fifth.

COMBINED In the Combined championship, Maciej Bekas (Poland) continues to hold first with Ryan Soucy (USA) in second spot. Mark Urban (USA) stays in third with Barry Hedrick (USA) holding fourh. Kane Lasky moves from ninth to fifth with two wins, one in CanAm and the other in Minis.

TEAM: CanAm Racing increases its lead to 47 points with Racing for Serbia International holding second. MNRL Motorsports continues in third this week, with Bad Voices Racing in fourth and FnC Racing in fifth.

SENIORS: Dave Bradley's steady driving finds him still ahead of second place Ralph Kemmerer. Aaron Page moves up to third around Glen Luening with Earl Setser holding fifth in Senior points.

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Thanks to Bill Kaiser and Ralph Kemmerer for sponsoring the
SuperMinis,. Thanks guys!

Sorry to Jan. No excuses, watched replay and was no where close to hitting my braking point. Just ran ya over :(

Prerace:

Even before the team rolled the car out of the truck I had a good feeling about the Laguna weekend. Something about the warm California sun shine, beautiful beachfront, fresh food, and gorgeous women! The team decided to start with the Birmingham setup which was working good out-of-the-box. Some changes to the gear ratio, a bit more air in the tires to deal with the high G. forces from the cambered corners, and a brake bias adjustment to deal with the corkscrew entry.

This is a track I really enjoy driving... precision and consistency take precedence as several of the corners will cause you major time, or even end your race for relatively small mistakes. It's also a place that's very difficult to pass even if you are faster, without risking a crash.

Qualifying:

I hooked up with Jose early on in the session but I don't think it helped either of us, still managed to get in a banker that I was sure would keep me in the top five. Starting position was going to mean more than race pace here and I managed to find some space and put in a pretty clean lap. There was more in the package but I just couldn't get it done. I was worried someone else might put in a good lap and catch a draft and get it done...I was happy hang on for the pole.

Race:

The car had good speed and traction but I was wondering about the huge run and draft effect going into (what is now) turn six on the first lap. It felt good to have Fahn at my back at first as I knew he wouldn't do anything to risk our race early on. We managed to pull a little gap over the chasing pack and after a few quick laps at the start I try to settle into a nice rhythm but the gap to Fahn started coming down. I had to start pushing more and now I wasn't having so much fun with Fahn at my back. :)

Fahn was driving good, and a hectic few laps especially 16 through 20, saw my lead disappear. A small mistake coming down the screw lap 21 and Fahn was by me. Maciej had made it into third place and was on the charge. A few laps later it was Fahn's to turn to have trouble with traffic though, taking some damage possibly from a wreck in the corkscrew in front of him. He waved me by too assess his damage and I focused the rest of the race on survival and staying out of trouble.

The car worked good from beginning to end and I felt good about my drive considering all the potential moments for disaster on the tricky Laguna roller coaster!

Congrats to my UK-NL racing teammate Fahn Thomas for a strong run tonight and a good podium result. Great job as well by Maciej to steal the second spot on the last corner after a hard charge in a hectic race!

I really enjoyed watching the replay for the race report, there was a terrific battle between Fahn, Maciej, and Jos

Turned in a little too early into the second last corner and pitched the car into a roll. Car ended up stuck in the fence. Race over! See you next week

Made two stupids, but came out smelling pretty good, so I can't complain about that.

Hectic start where we were, I ended up dicing with Maciej for a couple laps, he was quicker so I let him by and we hooked up but then we both lost it on the way to the corkscrew and I smacked the wall hard enough to get damage. After that I was getting eaten alive in a couple places. I tucked in behind Barry and we were making good progress towards Jose and I lost it in T1. Big spin, but no flip to contact, but it put me behind Mark U.

I drove like hell trying to reel him in, and unbelievably got him on the 2nd to last lap. There were a couple corners where I was a tad better, he hustled it into the 'screw a bit too hard and I got him going into Rainey. He overcooked it going onto the frontstraight, otherwise he'd probably drafted right past me. Lucky 4th for me tonight, can't complain. Actually looking forward to the CanAm brutes here...

First, congrats to Kane Lasky on his well earned victory, his first in Minis.
Well done Maciej Bekas with new driver Fahn Thomas taking third.
In Seniors, cudos to winner Ralph Kemmerer with Dave Bradley continuing his fine driving landing second and Norm Borczon sliding into third in a sparse Senior field.

I was ok with my 20th starting spot, right behind Dave B. and Earl Setser and just in front of Ralph Kemmerer, the four of us Seniors together with Aaron Page not far behind. I tucked in behind Dave and we four went nose to tail for several laps. I caught Dave a couple of times and we went side by each thru the corkscrew, whew! After a couple of more laps I got bound up behind a slower car and let Dave and Earl get away. I made a slight mistake and a 1/2 lap later it showed as Ralph got around me with a slick pass, nice job Ralph. Then I started trying too hard to catch the Senior group and lost it in the corkscrew, had to sit and wait for the field fo pass ARRRGGHHH ! I fell back about 10 spots, ok, start again,
I caught an obviously damaged Aaron Page later and was surprised to see the earlier Seniors leader Earl Setser back behind me, evidently having problems of his own. I finished where I started.
BUT a fun race, a fun and exacting track, and very close, clean racing.
This is gonna be a hoot in the ground pounders !

My first race at MNRL. This video shows what I think:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vXhUFlV3X0

Fahn,
HOW DID YOU DO THAT !? That is SO cool!
tks for making it and posting.

^ I place a video camera next to my right shoulder.Glad you like it. Thank you for this awesome series, the car mods,the people...everything is awesome.

Race was fun fun fun !!!

stay speedy my friends

No COMENTS..., MY COPIUTER WENT CRACK!!!, in the first lap T2, things where looking super good for me and the championship, qualy 3th and Garret didnt show, plus Ryan and Maciej where behinde me with slowers times in practice and les rithm..., any way this things happens to all so lets take it positive...

Congrats to Lasky for the winn and congrats rest of the podium, and winners in all the categories, Lasky was very fast here yesterday, so I dont think me been in the race nothing change but sure I was in the podium second or 3th...lol

See you all for the last race and thank you very much.