Race #9 SLBloggers Grand Prix at Canyon track

The race weekend started out at Fairgrounds on friday , for my 2nd race of season this time in Late Models on the big oval . This time I actualy did ok , qualifying at back of pack , but getting up front after some laps to battle for 2nd with Jafo , with Greg Drayman running away with race.

Some iffy driving and i shuffled back to 3rd where i finished , with Greg in 1st and Jafo in 2nd. The 40 lap race had no red flags and was a great one overall .

Next up was Race #9 at the new Canyon track at PSU , sponsored by SLBloggers. This one promised to be tough from the get go , as practice times from many drivers all week had been very close .

Qualify was the usual nail biter, some people got lag , that hampered their efforts . I got 5 clean laps , but failed to score a superb lap . In the end Annie Gufler took her 2nd straight pole position . Ram Pharoah 2nd, Neko Carter 3rd , Jafo 4th , Silk Bamboo 5th, and myself in unlucky 6th for 3rd time , putting me on pole position for Group 2 race.

Caz Freschi ran away with the Group 4 race , but nothing prepared the drivers and spectators for the carnage to come in Group 3 race. From the get go the field drove in tight formation, banging and rubbing paint around several laps .

Rattra Raymaker was forced into his backup car after his starter was destroyed in a wreck. Early leader Suzy Cuddihy also lost a car on lap 8 . Caz led for 7 straight laps before being passed by Abacus Mimistrobel , only to pass him again on last lap for the win . Caz advanced again to Group 2 race.

Group 2 race, i just knew i had to win this to get into the Group 1 , so i lowered my head and just tried to drive right, i had fewer slips overall in the 25 lap race than i did in the 5 lap qualify round . I got the win , Yuriko Nishi had been right on my tail for the first 13 laps , fell back some , but finished 2nd , YumYum 3rd, Caz nabbed 4th , Brave Ashbourne 5th and TFFox Thomas 6th .

I made it to Group 1 race, only 5 good drivers in front of me....it wasnt promising for me , but I was happy to make it that far. Off we went , first majot turn on track is the hard left thru the tunnel , I let everyone else charge thru first and it paid off somewhat , I was in 4th after lap 1 , where I would remain most of race. The early part of race was Neko in 1st , Annie chasing him close in 2nd , Ram in 3rd.

Lap 6 I passed Ram, but Jafo passed me , then finally passed Annie lap 11. Neko led wire to wire for a great win . Jafo 2nd , Annie got her 2nd straight podium in 3rd, Crippy 4th, Ram 5th, Silk 6th .

I still lead Jafo in drivers championship by 10 points with 3 races to go , next one being in 1 week at Snowpeach. Grats to Neko for a great win today.