What goes up, must come down...the team sees limited success at Pocono

Double Regional at Pocono, 12/13 May

The boys set out for Pocono with high hopes for some good finishes. After all, Greg dominated the event last year, and the high-horsepower of the NX2000 was expected to overcome its limited handling capabilities. Joe DiMinno expected to have a shot at Greg this year, and Jeff was looking forward to using the Saturn's advantages as well.

Saturday ITA qualifying had Andy Bettencourt in the "underpowered" Miata on the ITA pole, about 0.8 sec faster than second place Greg. Tim Klvana was in third, and Joe DiMinno and Windell Holmes rounded the top 5.

The race saw Andy leading the first lap, with Greg leading the second and Andy nipping at his heels. Then it began to drizzle on the third lap. The track was wet/dry for the remainder of the race; not enough rain to warrant anything but dry tires, but wet enough to make the place slick as snot. An unfortunate infield incident between Andy and Greg had them fighting to get back on the track, and Joe and Tim slipped by. Tim kept his nose clean and slipped through for a WELL-DESERVED first-ITA win, with Andy and Greg finishing second and third, respectively.

Greg could not attend the event Sunday due to a prior personal commitment, but the rest of the field showed up with Rick Benazic added in for flavor. Yet another unfortunate incident during qualifying resulted in Jeff Lawton packing up the Saturn for an early drive home, and Joe DiMinno carried the Kakashi flag to a strong third-place finish.

Results

Saturday

http://www.mylaps.com/results/showevent.jsp?id=208108

Sunday

http://www.mylaps.com/results/showevent.jsp?id=208116

Video

Jeff's in-car of Sunday qualifying incident:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuiQVgAnvgk

Joe's in-car of the same event:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3cqZjZNlho