The Thompson Summer Double
2 events rounded out the 2021 regular season of racing this summer both at my home track, Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park. While it has been a track that I put thousands of laps on, coach for the driving club, and worked as a flagger at before getting into racing, it has also been the track where luck has always caught me out.
SCCA Majors Tour July 9th - 10th
The main goal of the Majors weekend was to at least complete 1 race to qualify for the SCCA Runoffs at Indy. Thursday test day was promising but a hurricane was set to move in bringing heavy rain for Friday. This led to no on track action as the track and paddock areas flooding forcing a revised Saturday schedule being the only race day.
I lined up 4th as they set the grid based on registration time which would be a good position going into the first turn. Unfortunately, the issues that plagued me at Watkins Glen showed up again with my throttle sticking wide open into turn 1. Fortunately I avoided incident but was only able to complete a couple laps having made a quick fix for the issue.
I still managed the 4th fastest time in Race 1 which lined me up in the same position for Race 2. This time I was able to survive the start but was still struggling with the issue when pushing the gas pedal down to the floor. Ended up finishing P4 regardless just a couple tenths off a podium. Still considered it a pretty weak result considering what I felt we had going into the event, but it qualified me for runoffs and allowed us to pinpoint the issue by the end (broken throttle pedal, go figure).
SCCA “Midnight Madness” Regional August 21st
An event I had circled on my calendar after some bad luck had me starting last in 2020, this was ran again at Thompson Speedway but with the 2nd race of the day taking place at night under a lit track.
Qualifying and Race 1
While my desire to win this event was like no other, this would also serve as a test for the car as we get ready for runoffs. Goal for the weekend would be break in the engine rebuild and bring the car home in 1 piece. This started off right with me putting it on pole in the morning qualifying for Race 1.
Race 1 turned out to be a barnburner. On the start I got beat around the outside of turn 1 on the brakes and found myself in 2nd coming out of turn 3. I stayed patient and waited for the race to come to me as I kept the tires in check more than the leader.
An epic battle ensued with me trying just about everything to make the pass and putting on a show racing side by side multiple laps in a row. Eventually I found an opportunity going into turn 1 and went for it, taking the lead and not looking back bringing me my long awaited win at Thompson Speedway.
Here’s the epic onboard video up on Youtube: https://youtu.be/H7v-HM23Y80
Race 2
Race 2 rolled off just after 11pm under full darkness. But that didn’t dampen down the excitement any as this race turned into a duplicate of race 1. Once again couldn’t get my braking late enough going into turn 1 on the start and found myself once again in 2nd. This time the deficit to P1 was greater than before as I found myself just over 1 second behind at once point. Once again I kept digging and let the race come back to me as I had the long run car. Caught up, battled hard again, and then was able to make a move stick around the outside of turn 1. I kept my pace up and continued to put in fast laps and completing the clean sweep of races!
The video from this epic race under the lights is also on Youtube at https://youtu.be/GRdQSkjTbTE
Epic rebound from the disappointing majors weekend and should give great momentum going into Runoffs. Ended up with a clean sweep having taken pole, fastest lap in both races, and 2 wins. Now its time to focus on the big one!
Thank you to Flatout Motorsports for supplying an amazing rental Spec Miata and to Ikoniqa for your support as well this season. Also shoutout to Nick Del Campo for some of the awesome pics from the night race.