Retrospect: First Annual Midsummer Night’s Dream
On August 22nd of 2020, Thompson Speedway along with the New England Region SCCA host the the first annual Midsummer Night’s Dream regional event under the lights. This was an event that was a “must go” for me since they announced it early in 2020. Coming off 2 weeks of racing school and the first rounds of the Skip Barber Race Series in New Jersey just Monday and Tuesday of the same week, I was in a groove and confident for my chances. After a full day of testing and getting used to being in a Miata again, along with the first chances to test the track under the lights, I felt faster and more consistent than ever.
Qualifying
The qualifying session took place in the morning and I drove off from the grid in a good position to take advantage of some draft. Unfortunately, with Thompson being a tighter track to pass, the draft was less effective and I ended up being held up by my draft partner. After just a few laps of trying to make the tandem work we hit traffic and I could never find an unobstructed lap for the rest of the session.
The result was a P4 starting spot in race 1 with me finishing just .001 of a second off of third with the top 4 separated by just over a half a second.
Race 1
Race 1 rolled out just after 5pm and started extremely positively. I made a good start, taking advantage of a poor jump by P3 and found myself in a 3 car train battling for the lead. Just a few laps into the race I had a throttle cable connection pop off in turn 11 leaving me powerless and needing to coast back into the pits. I was able to get it reconnected but lost 2 laps and just cruised around finishing at the back of the field in class. This meant I would start from the back in race 2 having the field set from race 1 results. Despite this my hopes remained high because the car was a rocket ship for those first few laps and easily as able to keep up with the lead.
Race 2
The Spec Miata race ended the night with us finishing just before 11pm. Due to the issues in race 1 I started the finale in 14th due to a few people dropping out before the start. Despite this I was in the zone and ready to be aggressive in the 18 minute race. On lap 1 I made my way from 14th to 6th being side by side in just about every corner on the track. Over the next couple laps I picked off the next 2 cars to find myself in 4th. Things started to settle down as I pushed to catch the podium through the middle part of the race. But a collision between 1st and 2nd left the 2nd place car spun in the middle of the track leaving me the opportunity to pick up the spot as he started to get back going.
Over the next couple laps I worked hard to find a way by the now 2nd place Christian Sarnecki with 4th place Matt Morin filling my mirrors. I made a move into turn 9 coming off the oval which resulted in contact between me and Christian letting Morin by and leaving my back in 4th. Coming to the white flag I made an outside move into the same corner and held on to take 3rd.
While I reflected on the race and realized I should have been more patient going for 2nd, I was satisfied with the result coming from 14th and finishing less than 6 seconds behind the eventual winner Evan Karl. This would be my final Spec Miata race of the season but sets my confidence high going into a hopeful return in 2021.
The in-car video from the epic race 2 comeback is up on my YouTube channel here:
