2011 Great Pumpkin Run
Back at Carolina Motorsports Park for my favorite weekend of the year, the fall race at CMP. Although the car count was well short of last year’s record setting 32 entries most of the fast guys were accounted for which always makes for an exciting event.
Saturday qualifying was smooth except for a GTS4 car that spun, I nabbed 5th of 17 cars with only a tenth of a second separating P3 and P5. The two front runners (Eric Palacio and Evan Levine) were in another area code with fast laps nearly 1.5 seconds faster than the rest of us. As usual it was a zany start, I took a healthy hit in the rear in turn 8 and got very sideways, cost me a couple of spots but I managed to get them back within a lap or two. The middle of the race was dominated by a great battle with Spec E30 veteran Robert Patton, a wily competitor who knows how to defend and is always a challenge to get around. I made a pass in turn 5 but gave it back a lap later after a slower car held me up for a fraction of a second exiting turn 14, allowing Robert to take the spot back. Fortunately I was able to pass him again in the same spot and make it stick, holding on to the position to finish third. Hooray podium finish!
Later that day was the 5th annual Inverted Field Unlimited (IFU), a Spec E30-only fun race that has become a tradition. This year they gridded everyone by their car number which put me third from last, this actually was good since it makes for interesting video. The first leg of the race was on the usual full course, I had a good start and was in the thick of things the entire time (although I did goof up a little and tagged Steve DeVinney’s bumper under braking, sorry!) Then the pace car came out and the top five cars were sent around to the back of the pack, leaving me near the front. Meanwhile the configuration was altered so we only used the “back half” of the track, and the race restarted. This was considerably less interesting as there wasn’t much traffic in front of me, in fact I didn’t make any passes nor did anyone pass me. Again the pace car came out after about ten minutes and the layout changed again, this time using only the front half of the track. But instead of five cars rotating around only the top two cars did which left me at the front where I easily stayed to finish the race. Can’t argue with a win, fun race or not.
Sunday was largely a repeat of Saturday, although I qualified fourth instead of fifth. The race itself was uneventful, Eric and Evan again were significantly quicker than anyone else so I was just happy to keep them in sight for most of the race acting as the unofficial chasecam while they had a terrific battle for the lead. All i had to do was keep it together for an easy third, ending the weekend 3-for-3 on podium finishes. The fall CMP event isn’t my favorite race weekend of the year for nothing!
A big thanks to my sponsors, without whom none of this would be possible. OpenNMS, Web Performance, Kirk Key, and Kirk Machine – you guys are the best!





