SCCA OVR Points Event No. 3 – May 29, 2005

Originally sent: Thursday, June 02, 2005 4:58 PM

Conor and Henry participated in another Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Ohio Valley Region (OVR) Solo II event last Sunday at Cooper Stadium in Columbus (home of the Columbus Clippers, a farm team for the New York Yankees). Solo II (a.k.a. autocross) consists of timed runs through a parking lot course full of pylons. There are no practice runs and the course layout is not known until the morning of the event, although participants are allowed to walk the course.

The age rules for SCCA are a bit different than our regular club racing, so both boys are in the same class (Formula Junior 2) this year. Each participant got five runs on Sunday. Henry did well on his first two runs, recording times of 60.362 and 59.625 seconds. Conor seemed to be trying a bit too hard on his first two runs, which were both in the mid 61 second range. On his third run, Conor knocked the benchmark down to 59.493 only to have Henry knock it down again to 59.299 on his third run. On their fourth runs, the timing light malfunctioned, allowing both boys to have a re-run. This was particularly good news for Conor, as he had a spin on his initial fourth run. On the re-run, with sticky tires and a warm engine, Conor knocked over a second off of his previous time, lowering the standard to 58.425. Henry again spoiled Conor’s glee with a time of 58.265 on his re-run. Neither boy could improve in their fifth run, in spite of Conor getting a second attempt as the result of another timing light malfunction. Both boys were over four seconds faster than the next fastest kart in their class and faster than all but two of the six stock Corvettes that were entered.

Henry earned the maximum 100 points for his effort. SCCA has a points scoring system that rewards close finishes, and because of the closeness of their finish (16/100ths of a second), Conor received 98 points. In spite of having missed the previous event (and having the event before that snowed out), Henry and Conor are in first and second place in the championship. Unfortunately, our schedule is such that nether will likely be able to participate in enough events (a minimum of six) to be eligible for the championship at the end of the season.

The next race for all three boys is MSOKC Race No. 5 at Circleville Raceway Park on Saturday, June 4, 2005. This will be the first of four night races of the season. Gates open at 1:00 PM, practice starts at 2:30, and the green flag falls at 5:00.

Bill