30th LOUELLA COOK MEMORIAL D SARRC

[V8Stockcar]

Roebling Road Raceway Saturday GTA Results

1. 57 Butch Kummer 15 20:20.160 1:17.722 2 93.564
Red, Woodstock GA, Chevrolet Monte Cuervo, 3, 76908, 79-142, Group 6
2.95 James Matheson 15 20:42.894 22.734 1:21.142 10 89.621
Red/White, Roswell GA, Pontiac Grand Prix, 3, 375034, 03-1709, Group 6
3.62 Hall Robertson 14 20:13.755 1 Lap 1:20.547 9 90.283
White/Red, Oxford FL, Chevrolet Monte Carlo, 83, 400635, 03-1658, Group 6
4.DNF 35 BJ Holley 3 4:00.809 12 Laps 1:18.134 2 93.071
Black, Jackson GA, Chevrolet Monte Carlo, 91, 372065, 34-899, Group 6


Sunday GTA Results

1.57 Butch Kummer 15 20:17.491 1:18.983 4 92.070
Red, Woodstock GA, Chevrolet Monte Cuervo, 3, 76908, 79-142, Group 6
2.95 James Matheson 15 21:03.578 46.087 1:22.340 14 88.317
Red/White, Woodstock GA, Pontiac Grand Prix, 3, 375034, 03-1709, Group 6
3.DNS Hall Roberson
4.DNS BJ Holley

[BK Racing]

It was not a V8SC event and it wasn't originally part of BK Racing's 2010 plans, but after a first & second at Nashville over Father's Day weekend we decided to see if we could pick up some more SARRC points at Roebling Road. We had also made some major suspension changes to Cuervo after the wreck at VIR in May, so this would give us another opportunity to sort some of that stuff out.

There were four GTA cars entered - BJ Holley, Jim Matheson, Hall Robertson, and myself. On Saturday we qualified fourth overall and first in GTA with BJ less than half a second behind followed by Hall and Jim. At the green BJ & I moved into third and fourth overall behind Jeff Bailey's GT-1 Monte Carlo and Richard Smith's very quick GT-2 Mazda (you guys from Florida know him - green/yellow/red #43). Hall got into Turn 4 a bit hot on that opening lap and fell to the back of the field, then ran the rest of the race in third and fourth gears only. On lap three Jeff apparently decided to park outside the Carrousel to see how the rest of us were getting through there (some say there was contact with the #43 but he says he just lost it), so BJ & I moved up a spot to third and second overall respectively. As we finished lap four something broke in the rear end of BJ's Late Model and his weekend was done. I had about a fifteen second lead over Jim and Hall at that point, so I dialed things back to save the tires for Sunday's race. Final order was Richard Smith (GT-2), Bill McGavic (GT-3), myself, Jim, then Hall soldiering on with a reluctant shifter to finish third in GTA, eleventh overall.

Saturday afternoon I had a meeting with the SEDiv ITO Advisory Committee to iron out their rules proposal for 2011. We had five ITO cars at Roebling and these guys are dedicated to building up this class for pony cars that don't fit in AS for various reasons (the primary one being because they're fuel-injected). The reason I mention that here is because they are a natural fit for the V8GT2 class and should increase our numbers next year.

BJ was done for the weekend and Hall decided discretion was the better part of valor after struggling most of the evening with his shifter and transmission problems. Both of them should be ready for the next V8SC round at Road Atlanta, however.

We had a bit of excitement on Sunday when the transmission got stuck in second gear on the out lap of qualifying. I decided to stay out and get at least one lap before bringing it into the pits to see if we could fix it, and I'm here to tell you that running 110 mph (7000 RPM in second gear) the entire length of the front straight at Roebling is pretty unnerving! I kept looking in the mirror waiting on someone to blow my doors off! It WAS sort of interesting to go all the way to Turn Two without hitting the brakes though! Bottom line is we started thirteenth of the fourteen cars that were left while Jim was six spots ahead of us. The good news is we were on the inside, at least.

I got by three cars between the green and Turn One, then two more to finish lap 1 in eighth place. I was right on Jim's bumper going through Turn Three and, since he was on old tires and needed to get a finish to satisfy his license requirements, Jim waved me by in Turn Four. From there I ran third and fourth gears the rest of the race and again ended up third overall (this time behind Bailey and Richard Smith) while Jim came home second in GTA and sixth overall, the last car on the lead lap.

It was disappointing to not see how the race with BJ would have turned out, but we ended up with two SARRC wins and loaded a running race car in the trailer at the end of Sunday. Jim got two seconds and confirmed they've solved the overheating and oil control issues that kept them from racing at Nashville two weeks ago. The weather was also EXTREMLY mild for Savannah in July (highs of 90 on Sunday, light breeze, no rain), so all in all we're glad we made the trip.

See y'all at Road Atlanta the weekend of July 16-18...