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And in the blink of an eye...
Category Four-wheeled toys MARRS Race Video
MARRS 9, run September 23rd of last year was the pentultimate race of the '07 season. The weather at Summit Point Raceway was sublime and I was hoping to make a strong showing after my encouraging return to the track over Labor Day weekend. With a well-setup chassis but also a motor that was noticeably down on power to some of my competitors, I just hoped to stay close two-time MARRS champion Kirk Dohne in his Nissan 240SX and future Rookie of the Year Chris Perrera in his Acura Integra. Since I was only racing an abbreviated '07 schedule I had made the decision not to run for points in the MARRS series so as to not impact an existing points battles. Given that both Dohne and Perrera were neck-and-neck in the hunt for the '07 championship going into this event and whoever finished ahead of the other would be crowned as champ, I just wanted a remove as much pressure as possible.
Regardless of any points battles, my goal was a win. Knowing that I was down on power to my two closest competitors, I needed to use my handling advantages, guile and some luck to gain that checkered flag. Perera was on the class pole, gridded on the outside of row 2. Dohne was on inside of row 5, but his Nissan's torque advantage usually allows him to make stellar jumps on race starts. I was to start just behind Kirk, on the inside of row six. During a start that could only be described as hectic, Kirk jumped four positions and found himself on Chris's tail. I gained three positions leaving just one out-of-class car between us.
Chris had been considerably faster than Kirk all year, but his car reliability issues allowed Kirk to stay close all year long. On lap four, Perrera broke a half-shaf (neat name for an axle). When Kirk and I came up on his car, I think Kirk actually let off the gas for a moment in stunned disbelief that Chris was out and that all he had to do was stay on track to win a championship. I saw it as my chance to win! I'm not going to ruin this with commentary. Watch the video below for yourself. Kirk and I were nose to tail or side by side for the entire race. What a thrill!
I had my chance on the last lap. I came out of Turn 10 onto the front straight with one hell of a run, drafted right up to Kirk and popped out just ahead of the finish line. Unfortunately it just wasn't enough. Kirk took the checkered flag but 0.117 seconds. That's 117 thousandths of a second. Congrats to Kirk on his win and the championship.
MARRS 9, run September 23rd of last year was the pentultimate race of the '07 season. The weather at Summit Point Raceway was sublime and I was hoping to make a strong showing after my encouraging return to the track over Labor Day weekend. With a well-setup chassis but also a motor that was noticeably down on power to some of my competitors, I just hoped to stay close two-time MARRS champion Kirk Dohne in his Nissan 240SX and future Rookie of the Year Chris Perrera in his Acura Integra. Since I was only racing an abbreviated '07 schedule I had made the decision not to run for points in the MARRS series so as to not impact an existing points battles. Given that both Dohne and Perrera were neck-and-neck in the hunt for the '07 championship going into this event and whoever finished ahead of the other would be crowned as champ, I just wanted a remove as much pressure as possible.
Regardless of any points battles, my goal was a win. Knowing that I was down on power to my two closest competitors, I needed to use my handling advantages, guile and some luck to gain that checkered flag. Perera was on the class pole, gridded on the outside of row 2. Dohne was on inside of row 5, but his Nissan's torque advantage usually allows him to make stellar jumps on race starts. I was to start just behind Kirk, on the inside of row six. During a start that could only be described as hectic, Kirk jumped four positions and found himself on Chris's tail. I gained three positions leaving just one out-of-class car between us.
Chris had been considerably faster than Kirk all year, but his car reliability issues allowed Kirk to stay close all year long. On lap four, Perrera broke a half-shaf (neat name for an axle). When Kirk and I came up on his car, I think Kirk actually let off the gas for a moment in stunned disbelief that Chris was out and that all he had to do was stay on track to win a championship. I saw it as my chance to win! I'm not going to ruin this with commentary. Watch the video below for yourself. Kirk and I were nose to tail or side by side for the entire race. What a thrill!
I had my chance on the last lap. I came out of Turn 10 onto the front straight with one hell of a run, drafted right up to Kirk and popped out just ahead of the finish line. Unfortunately it just wasn't enough. Kirk took the checkered flag but 0.117 seconds. That's 117 thousandths of a second. Congrats to Kirk on his win and the championship.
