Al Thurmans Winterfest


Some of Arizona's (and former Chicagoans) best racers met in Queen Creek AZ for Big Al Thurmans WINTERFEST Saturday Jan 23, 2010.
Al had his track ready and just before the race Mike brought his Bucktrax in for some extra fun!

Al featured a retro brass car with Vintage body class that was really trick and fun to run.

Mike and Glenn dogged each other big time throughout while Ken and I tied for 3rd...he should get 3rd I suppose since I have no idea where I stopped!

Left - Bob K, aka Dr Gamma and a good friend of Al's, formerly a HOPRA racer now cuts laps on his home track in Lake Montezuma, AZ.

We had 6 for the Super Stock and the West East Valley's HO Guru Mark McVittie cleaned house. We managed 3

CORRECTION: Larry finished 3rd with 131 laps after a lap correction.
NOTE: I tried to post this while racing today but Al lives in the boonies and my connection was too weak. I'm putting this out w/o much description and hope ya'll followup It was REALLY great seeing some good old friends and racing was good with a podium finish

races on this one as I had Trakmate/computer conflicts to work thru

 Some of us genuinely enjoy showing the younger generation how our toys work and I caught Greg giving the neighbor kids some Gjet tips

Winter/Summer Series
MRT Endurance Report
Most everyone started showing up at about 10:30 am, with a couple of racers unable to make the race we had to adjust the teams.
Glenn decided to run by himself, Al Thurman teamed up with Mike Stewart, Team MRT consisted of Mark and Mark Jr., Team Cline consisted of Bill, Jordan, Alain and Jordan, Team Ramsey consisted of Tom and Morgan and Team Vespender consisted of Pete and Larry.

With everyone finished with setting up their cars we started racing at 12:15. In the first segment Team MRT took the lead with Glenn falling behind by some 60 laps while Team Thurman running a close second. Mark Jr. took the controls in the second segment and was fast but had some control problems and lost the lead to Team Thurman. Glenn was still having some handling problems and a slow motor but was keeping pace by not coming out.

On the next lane change Team Thurman pulled a larger lead over Team MRT and Team Ramsey along with Team Vespender keeping close with Team Cline smoking a motor so they were in the pits. Glenn kept up his consistency and was closing the gap to the pack ahead of him.

 On the next lane change saw Glenn getting very close to the leaders by just being consistent and staying in. Team MRT fell to four place with some inconsistent driving while Team Ramsey steady pace helped them pull ahead of Team MRT.

By the final lane change Team Gordan and Team Thurman were neck and neck and we saw the leaders exchange the lead many time making for an interesting challenge for the two teams. The fight for third was also interesting between Team Ramsey and Team MRT both have amateurs on their teams. All the while Team Vespender staying close but did not have enough with the car problems that kept them behind. Team Cline continued to have problems and changed out two motors and they didn't run most of the race.

Final results

Team Gordon......2875
Team Thurman.....2845
Team MRT.....2437
Team Ramsey.....2156
Team Vespender.....1955
Team Cline.....626

Wish to thank Jean for order some good Pizza and thank the 13 racers that showed up for this impromptu Endurance Race!!!!!

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Congrats to Larry winning Amateur Championship and Glenn for winning the Expert Championship!!!!!
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Finale at TOM'S RACEWAY

First would like to thank Tom and his wife for hosting the final race of the series and the Great PIZZA and CHIPS!!!!

Next I would like all the racers who have attended the first two IHORA series that has made this one of the most successful groups in the country, we are growing and spreading the passion of HO racing to young racers that will continue this life long sport. THANKS TO ALL OF YOU!!!!!!!!

Amateur

Now lets get to the race report, Mark Jr. looked to be the fastest of the Amateur field with his TQ while Larry, Bill tuning hard in the pits to catch up and be close by the time the semi's started. It was very close racing with Larry, Bill, Dan, Alain, Jordan and Levi staying within only a few laps of each other at the start of the race for the first couple of heat with Mark start on the gutter lanes. Mark keep his car very consistent on each lane making the rest of the field work hard to keep up with his pace making for many crashes and nurfing. Several of the racers had some problems and then Glenn cleared the raceway!!! With Larry, Bill, Dan and Alain fighting for second with Mark's consistent lap total was able to take the first position by a large margin, 264,Larry second, 237, Alain third, 214, Bill fourth, 191, Dan fifth, 187, Jordan sixth, 153 and Levi seventh, 136.

Expert

The Expert Semi saw Mark SR taking a small lead in heat one with Pete, Mike and Tom very close, By heat 3 saw Mark adding a couple more laps on the field with Al and Mark doing 55 laps each setting the high total for a heat. Heat 4 say all winning the heat and taking 3 laps off Mark's lead with Tom also cutting into Mark's lead. Glenn stayed on the same lap as Mark and was coming on strong with Mike and Pete close behind. Heat 4  saw Tom and Mark fighting for the heat win but Mark finished about a 1/4 of a lap ahead Tom, great duel for the heat. Heat 5 say Mark pull a couple of laps on the field but the real race was between Glenn, Tom, Mike, Al and Pete with and in the end Mike had ugly Blue lane and fell out of competition for a podium finish ending his series of wins. Al car was the class of the race with the fastest speeds down the straights with Mike and Mark within a foot. Heat 6 saw Mike coming on very strong to finish second for the heat. Marl ran a consistent race with more offs than he wanted but was able to take the win with 302, Tom second, 284, Al third, 269, Mike fourth, 264, Glenn fifth, 259 and Pete sixth, 253.

We took a 30 minute break to tune and watch the crash fest Nascar Race.

Amateur

The Amateur's in heat 1 saw Larry, Bill and Mark finding the right tune and after close racing where within a 3 lap3 of each other, Mark, 32, Larry, 29 and Dan and Bill 28. Heat 2 saw very close racing as in heat one with Mark, 31, Larry and Bill 30 and dan with 26 with Jordan and Alain 21 and Levi 15. Heat 3 saw a not close race with Larry, 34, Bill and Mark 30 and Dan and Alain 28 with Jordan 21 and Levi 13. Heat 4 saw Bill and Mark fighting for the lead with Larry close being, Mark 34, Bill 33, Larry 31, Alain 26, Jordan 19 and Levi 13. Heat 5 saw another close battle between Larry and Mark with Larry just nosing Mark at the end both finishing with 32 laps, Bill and Dan had their own close battle with 29, Alain 25, Jordan 17 and Levi 18 laps his best heat 6 saw the top three fighting for the win of the final heat with Bill, Larry and Mark all finishing with 27, Dan 25, Alain 23, Jordan 20 and Levi 16 laps.

Mark Jr was able to keep is lead with winning with 191 laps, Larry was second with 179 laps, Bill was third with 177 laps, Dan fourth 166 laps, Alain fifth with 147 laps, Jordan sixth 121 laps and Levi seventh 99 laps.


Expert

After tuning the Experts all looked fast and able to keep up and beat Mark's pace in the semi's. Heat 1 saw Glenn running very fast and smooth with the others were crashing, Glenn had 37 laps while the second group lead by Mike fought tooth and nail for second, Mike 34, Tom 34, Al 34 and Mark 34 with Pete have changed to Larry's car with 30. Heat 2 saw All pull a two lap gain with 38, Tom and Mark 36, Glenn 34, Pete 32 and Mike 29 having some issues in one corner. Heat 3 saw Mark doing 39, Mike 38, Al 37, Glenn 36, Tom 35 and Pete 32, so far this race has seen not one with a clear shot at the win. Heat 4 saw Mark getting away from the group slightly with 38 laps, Glenn 34, Al, Pete and Mike 33, and Tom 32 having been caught up with some crashes not his own. Heat 5 saw Glenn running smooth and fast with 36 laps, Al 35 laps, Tom and Mark with 34 laps, Mike 32 laps and Pete having problems with Larry's car 17 laps. Heat 6 saw a lot of crashing with Mark just slicing thru to finish with 35 laps, Tom, Glenn and Al 31 laps and Pete with 21 laps.

Mark was able to take the win with 216, Glenn was second with 208, Al was third 208 laps just behind Glenn 1/4 lap, Tom was fourth 202 laps, Mike was fifth 196 laps and Pete 165 laps,

Winter Series Amateur Points 08

Fall Series Points
(members only)
Amatuers

Race report, MRT Raceway April 5th, 2008

All I can say is WOW, this was the biggest group of Arizona racer in many years, with 10 amateur racers and 6 expert racers. This was an unexpected # of racers and there were 3 regulars that were unable to come to the race, which could have give us 19 to 23 racers, WOW this is fantastic. It has been some twenty years since we have had that many racers without the politics and run under a democratic type atmosphere.

We decided to split the amateurs into two groups, with the younger kids all running together which amd for a great race program that evening. I enjoyed watching the fin the kids were having and some of the comments they were making were so funny. Once such comment by one of the younger kids was that, when he came off the track onto the floor an saying " I lost 5 laps", the whole group fo experts, who were marshalling, were just laughing about what he had said, it was just one of the many high points fo the night.

Amateur Semi 2, saw some close racing with Bradwinning with 119 laps, Josh with 119 laps, James with 114 laps, Jordan V. 92 laps and Levi with 85 laps. WE watched as Brad and josh changed the lead just about every lap in the last sgment but Brad just barely nosed out Josh by about 10 feet what an awesome race they had.

Amateur Semi 1, saw very close reaing for the top four racers, Mark Jr, with 193 laps, Bill with 189 laps, Larry 182 laps, Jason 178 laps and Jordan C. with 137 laps. At one point during the segments each of the top three drivers were in the leadand it would be who could get thru the gutter lanes with the least damage to their total laps. Mark Jr was able to have excellent runs for the last two heats and was able to maintain the lead to the finish; it was a hard fought battle to the end.

The expert Sem saw Tom taking the lead half way thru and never looking back, Tom 207 laps, Mike 201 laps, Al 192 laps, Mark 175 laps, Blenn 160 laps and Pete 149 laps. This race had just as many crashes as the amateurs, which made it hard to get in the kind of lap totals that should have been run. It seemed like there was a wreck every lap and no one could concentrate on their driving. Tom was able to get thru all the carnage and take the lead, Great racing Tom! Glenn on the other never got his car to work and was having a difficult time as was Pete with a loaner car.

In the Amateur Main 2, Josh got a handle on this car and took the lead from the beginning and never locked back, Josh had 232 laps, James 210 laps, Brad 203 laps, Jordan  V. 172 laps and Levi 144 laps. It seems that had a lot less crashes than the previous Expert reace, what's with that!

The Amateur Main 1, was Mark Jr taking the point and never looking back, at on point Larry was within a couple of laps but struggled on the gutter lanes and Mark was able to put on several more laps, Bill smoked another motor and did not finish the race. Mark Jr. had 301 laps, Larry 272 laps, Jordan C. 234 laps and Bill had 118 laps whti his BBQ.

Pete was starting to feel dizzy, so his son Jason, took him home and so we lost Pete, Jason and Jordan V. for the main events. Went to visit Pete on Monday and his is doing fine, it was just the new medicine that had affected him, which is stronger than the other medicine he was taking. WE ALL WISH HIM WELL AND REALLY THANK HIM for putting the effort inot making the race.

The EXpert Main saw one of the closest battles in recent times, with Mike just barely beating out Tom by 2 1/2 feet at the last corner, what an awesome show these two put on in the last heat, if there had been another 15 seconds of racing Tom would have beaten Mike for the win. GREAT RACING TO MIKE AND TOM!!!! Mike had 325 laps, Tom had 325-2.5, Mark had 312 laps,m Al had 284 laps and Glenn had 151 laps having pulled his car off the track halfway thru heat 5. The racing was difficult with Pete leaving, Glenn had to run on a diry lane after the first heat and Mark had to run a dirty lane after Glenn left the race. Mark slowed down to  a pace so as to not crash too much but in the middle hairpin he got slammed and it broke his chassis. Mark went to the pits and glued the chassis finishing the race at a much slower pace. Turned out that Glenn's armature took a dump and that was why he pulled out of the race.

ALL I CAN SAY IS THAT IT WAS A GREAT RACE AT ALL LEVELS AND GREAT RACING MIKE AN TOM!!!!!!
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WISH TO THANK JEAN FOR THE FINE MEAL AND DESERTS, THANKS JEAN