We tried something different and it seemed like everyone enjoyed it.
Just three races were preceded by a qualifying session, which paired up the fastest drivers with the slowest drivers for a subsequent team race-off.
Qualifying
| Name | Lap Time | Speed (Mph) | Place |
| Steve Stewart | 5.173 | 631 | 1 |
| Abe Maddox | 5.322 | 614 | 2 |
| Jerry Pearson | 5.643 | 579 | 3 |
| Shaylin Maddox | 6.035 | 541 | 4 |
| Eric Lane | 6.646 | 491 | 5 |
| Grace Maddox | 11.299 | 289 | 6 |
| Kevin Webster | DNS |
Junior driver, Abe Maddox was amazingly focused on his qualifying run. His 2nd fastest lap time shows just how much. Jerry Pearson, with the third-fastest time, actually clicked off a blistering 4.9-second lap during qualifying.
Team Race Race-Off
So the event format was to pair the fastest qualifiers with the slower qualifiers and set up two-driver teams with the goal of making team racing more challenging and competitive. By the looks of the first team race, the format was very successful.
Second fastest qualifier, Abe Maddox and fifth-fastest qualifier, Eric Lane, were pitted against third-fastest qualifier, Jerry Pearson, and fourth-fastest qualifier Shaylin Maddox in the first team race:
| Team Competition Points Summary | ||
| Track: SR3 Road Course Straight | ||
| Date: Sep-02-2023 11:30 Class: Viper V-SPEC SPEC RACER | ||
| Segment Length (laps): 10 Descr: | ||
| Team Name: | Cat People | Points |
| Team Members: | Jerry Pearson | 75 |
| Shaylin Maddox(2) | 64 | |
| Total Team Points = | 139 | |
| Team Name: | FastTrackers | Points |
| Team Members: | Abe Maddox(2) | 76 |
| Eric Lane | 67 | |
| Total Team Points = | 143 | |
If the above results aren’t a good indicator of just how successful this racing format works, I’m not sure what is. Just 4-points decided the first team race, very close racing!
Team Race Finale
After successfully winning the first team race in the bracket, the Fastrackers team was pitted against the fastest qualifier and the slowest qualifier in the finale.
The finale should have been much closer but junior driver, Grace Maddox, drove a superb race, bagging a second-place and a third-place segment finish and 46 total laps, only 7 laps less than the second-fastest qualifier and her big brother, Abe Maddox– awesome!
| Team Competition Points Summary | ||
| Track: SR3 Road Course Straight | ||
| Date: Sep-02-2023 12:07 Class: Viper V-SPEC SPEC RACER | ||
| Segment Length (laps): 10 Descr: | ||
| Team Name: | Fastrackers | Points |
| Team Members: | Abe Maddox(2) | 66 |
| Eric Lane | 62 | |
| Total Team Points = | 128 | |
| Team Name: | Silly Pickles | Points |
| Team Members: | Steve Stewart | 96 |
| Grace Maddox(2)(2) | 58 | |
| Total Team Points = | 154 | |
Team Race #3
Not sure how we decided on the team structure for the last team race but we didn’t qualify. We only had four drivers after Team Maddox had to depart to tend to some other important things (picking up a couple of new kittens). We decided to change up the racing platform from Vipers to to MegaG+ F1 cars for the last race of the day.
This one was interesting with three drivers winning two segments each. However, the “Donuts” team won four total. Eric Lane stepped up at the right time, winning two segments and sealing the deal with 74 of the team’s 156 total points.
| Team Competition Points Summary | ||
| Track: SR3 Road Course Straight | ||
| Date: Sep-02-2023 12:54 Class: Mega-G+ 1.7 Support Class | ||
| Segment Length (laps): 15 Descr: | ||
| Team Name: | Dollars | Points |
| Team Members: | Jerry Pearson(2) | 66 |
| Kevin Webster | 60 | |
| Total Team Points = | 126 | |
| Team Name: | Donuts | Points |
| Team Members: | Steve Stewart | 82 |
| Eric Lane | 74 | |
| Total Team Points = | 156 | |
So, what did the individual results look like on the day?
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Eric Lane | 183 | 203 | 1666.433 |
| 2 | Steve Stewart | 148 | 178 | 1159.493 |
| 3 | Abe Maddox(2) | 110 | 142 | 860.476 |
| 4 | Jerry Pearson | 57 | 75 | 449.013 |
| 5 | Jerry Pearson(2) | 82 | 66 | 812.677 |
| 6 | Shaylin Maddox(2) | 54 | 64 | 470.328 |
| 7 | Kevin Webster | 82 | 60 | 833.123 |
| 8 | Grace Maddox(2)(2) | 46 | 58 | 399.498 |
It pays to hang in there and run as many races as you can, way to go, Eric!
Something a little different and lots of fun. Thank you all for showing up and trying something new.
Okay, shut up and drive!
