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NASCAR Driver (Pro V)
 
Posts: 7810
Joined: 08 Apr 2002, 9:45 am

Post 28 Jul 2017, 8:50 am

Some serious racing up in the Pennsylvania mountains!

Tuesday's 4-lap demo race, GM'ed by Jack Beckman, was run in Abu Dhabi on the Yas Marina Circuit. Track link: http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/tracks/YasMarina.pdf

Of the 11 racing teams, none chose a 100 start speed with most of the drivers opting for 20's. The grid set up like this (note: there is some uncertainty on the grid as nothing was recorded until the end of the race):

1. John Welage
2. Mike Polcen
3. Kevin Keller
4. Chris Hancock
5. Bruno Passacantando
6. Dennis Nicholson or Greg Smith
7. Don Tatum
8. Dennis Nicholson or Greg Smith
9. Jack Beckman
10. Chris LeFevre
11. John Vogel

Here's the finish:

1. Mike Polcen
2. Kevin Keller
3. Don Tatum
4. Jack Beckman
5. Bruns Passacantando
6. John Welage
7. Chris LeFevre
8. John Vogel
DNF Dennis Nicholson (brakes)
DNF Chris Hancock (crash)
DNF Greg Smith (retire)

Unfortunately, there are no pictures and my memory of the race is pretty much confined to my own experience, If anyone wishes to add their perspective, please do so!

John pushed to 80 to get through corner one on the start. That put him in as the front runner for about half the race but his wear burn rate would not sustain him. I thought about trying to keep up with him but chose to let him go and play my typical 'in the middle' race. At one point I fell as far back as 8th place but was able to retain a wear advantage over most the other cars. I was a bit lucky on the dice, too. I think I made about 6 or 7 naked rolls on Acc and/or Dec.. The race was pretty much won on the last lap in corner 5 & 7 where a few challengers got hung up. After that, it was just a matter of plotting ideal lines with my remaining wear (yes, I actually had some left for lap 4!). I finished a turn ahead of the chase pack.

Thoughts on four laps: The 3 1/2 hours it took to run the 11 car field was a little faster than I thought it would be. The time flew by and it didn't even feel that long. Perhaps it might be viable to have one of the WBC heats consist of 4-lap races. It did fit within the 4-hour window we're provided.

It was a very fun race with a lot of good drivers and plenty of laughs.
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NASCAR Driver (Pro V)
 
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Post 28 Jul 2017, 8:57 am

I don't have the full results for the first heat but I do know who the 1st & 2nd's are from the two races. Those four drivers are pretty much guaranteed a spot in the finals on Sunday morning.

Mexico City:

1. Chris Long
2. Tim Mossman

Sao Paulo:

1. Don Tatum
2. Kevin Kelley
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NASCAR Driver (Pro V)
 
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Joined: 08 Apr 2002, 9:45 am

Post 28 Jul 2017, 9:09 am

Also, Jack has an impressive array of very cool cars to run. I'm thankful he brought them considering that I left my batch of Doug's cars at home :rolleyes:. Sorry to those racers who can't drive their favorites. No... really... I AM sorry, Jimmy! Honest.
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NASCAR Driver (Pro V)
 
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Post 30 Jul 2017, 12:41 pm

I'm home and exhausted. By Friday, I was losing some critical thinking skills so I don't have the top two drivers from each race. I'll try to get a more complete report from Chris on the heats and the finals, conducted this morning.

I do know that I busted my brakes in Melbourne and blew my engine at Monza. Ah well, it was a lot of fun regardless of my personal outcome.
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Post 31 Jul 2017, 8:35 am

The 2017 WBC winner was Kevin Keller! Second place went to Don Tatum.

Congratulations, Kevin!

(thanks for sending the info, John)

I'll let you know when Chris's full WBC report is posted or more info comes in on the races...
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NASCAR Driver (Pro V)
 
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Post 02 Aug 2017, 7:32 am

From Chris Long

Results of the WBC finals were as follows:

1. Kevin Keller
2. Don Tatum
3. Brian DeWitt
4. Bruno Passacantando
5. Tim Mossman
6. Randy Needham

DNF's include:

Chris Long
Tim Carnahan
Josh Coyle
Jim Fleckenstein
Renaud Verlaque
Doug Gallulo