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Butch Kummer Reports
on the Double SARRC at CMP
I
missed Saturday's race at the March 29,30 Double SARRC
at CMP (hosted by South Carolina Region), but drove over
from Atlanta Sunday morning just to watch. I pretty
much was in heavy rain until I got to Columbia and it
continued to drizzle at the track until around 11:00,
then started to dry off. It was still pretty chilly (45
degrees?), but the track was pretty much dry by 1:00 and
a field of twenty Ground Pounders (including six GTA
cars) took the green around 2:15. Those who left early
missed a GREAT GTA race!
Results are out on MyLaps.com, but they don't tell the
whole story by any means. I know you guys get tired of
reading about this, but the GTA race was one of the best
I've ever witnessed. Saturday winner Tony Amico had
braved the Sunday morning conditions to qualify first in
GTA and fifth overall while Tom Graham was the only
other GTA car to venture out Sunday morning and
qualified 10th overall. Steve Magowen, Dave Price, Randy
Gay and Mark Tcherkezian bolted on their slicks and
started behind the eleven qualifiers from the morning
session.
Things were rather cluttered at the start as the faster
cars moved up, but everyone completed the first lap
cleanly. As I was watching GT-1 driver Tony Ave move
quickly to the lead my attention was suddenly drawn to a
black #77 (Tony Amico) sliding through the grass between
Turns 13 & 14 (the final right-hander onto the front
straight)! I wasn't sure what had happened until after
the race, but the GTA points leader rejoined at the back
of the back minus the rear bumper and spoiler that were
now part of the Turn 14 tire wall.
Tom
Graham inherited the GTA lead during that melee, then
Steve Magowen made a very nice pass going into Turn 11
(the Hook) and started slowly pulling away to leave Tom,
Dave Price and Randy Gay to battle over second spot. And
battle they DID! About lap five I counted three
different changes of position in a single lap - Tom had
second, then Dave, then Randy passed BOTH of them in the
Hook only to slide off at T-12 and let both of them back
by. On one lap midway through the race Dave got a good
run on Tom into T-14 but overshot the exit slightly
which let Tom get back by before S/F. Two laps later
they went side-by-side down the front straight, then
KEPT that position through Turns 1, 2 and 3 before going
out of my sight. It was GREAT racing!!! Eventually Tom
ended up second, Dave third, and Randy fourth after his
tires started going off later in the race. Mark was
fifth with Tony coming home sixth minus his rear bumper
cover.
In
Impound I looked at both Tom and Dave's cars and there
wasn't a scratch or tire mark on either one. Those guys
had gone 14 laps less than a second apart and had never
touched - great racing and GREAT driving! And the first
words out of Dave's mouth when he got out of the car
were "THAT is what GTA racing is about!" Dave also
turned fast GTA lap of the race at 1:42.712, which is a
new GTA track record.
Tony
said somebody turned him, but there was no worker report
and without an in-car camera it was tough to know who.
And hard-luck Randy didn't come to Impound (the Supps
said the top four needed to report even though the SARRC
rules say three) and apparently packed up and left
before the stewards could find him. They had no choice
but to disqualify him in the final results.
It
was a long drive (300 mile each way) but I'm pumped up
and need to head out to the shop to get Cuervo back
together. GTA racing is the biggest bang for the buck
out there!
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