BMWCCA NHIS Fall Classic
October 23-24, 2004

After a long break since the June race at Limerock I was able to make the NHIS Fall Classic BMWCCA club race in Loudon, NH.  Timing was perfect as the fall colors were at there peak making for some spectacular views. This was a two day event with practice, practice starts, qualifying and a sprint race the first day and a practice and an enduro race the second day. The weather was quite cool making for a slick track for the first day's session.  After a few laps the tires warmed up and I was able to manage an uneventful practice session.  I was the first at the grid for the practice starts and found myself at the front of the pack.  Fresh off rookie status I opted out of the lead position and followed the pace car into the pits and joined up at the end of the pack.  This was a fortunate choice as there was a minor collision in turn three that I managed to avoid.  As I worked up the pack we managed to complete 4 practice starts.  Then it was time to get serious and get a good qualifying time.  After having car problems at this track last year I was determined to improve my performance.  Unfortunately, things did not get off to a good start.  I followed Phil Sansossio into turn 3 only to see what looked like a brake lockup but must have been some sort of fluid spill as I hit that spot and slide into the tire wall.  The contact was minor and the only result was some tire marks on the fire wall.  No bent metal or lost parts.  I was good to go.  Brain make note to self... don't drive into to a fluid slick again - especially when you can see where it might be.  I did mange to do well and qualify 9th overall with best lap time of 1:15.269.  It was late in the day and the sun began to break through the clouds lighting the trees from a low angle bring out the trees best colors against a dark backdrop.  The race start was chaotic as Steve Fitzgerald opted for a series of stop and go false starts before getting the green flag.   I did my best but was blocked and had to settle back and give up most of my hard won position.  Once traffic settled down I began working my way up the pack.  I saw lots of excellent race action and every racer made me work for each pass.  Most exciting was a 4 car chain lead by Eric Heinrick, Scott Cassagrande, Frank Seldorf and Bruce Weinstein.  I managed to follow this chain for two laps before making my passes a lap at a time through the pack.  Scott has a video of me trying to make an aggressive inside pass on turn 6 on Eric with only my Motorsport ABS system saving me in the nick of time.  Eric manage to take advantage of my error and hold onto his position.  Later I was able to pass him up only to run out of gas on the next lap.  I managed to limp off the course 7 laps short of the checkered flag. After making a run to the gas station and refueling the car I was ready for my 1st enduro race on Sunday.  It would be a long haul due to my poor finish on Saturday I was relegated to the back of the pack and would have to repeat my efforts to climb through the pack and earn the best finish I could.  The race start was a repeat with a series of stop and go segments during the pace laps.  The start was clean but with the entire field ahead of me I was not able to gain any advantage on the start.  I started working my way up the pack and about 20 minutes into the race I was starting to think about making my pit stop.  Unfortunately, I got caught out on the track during a full course yellow and was forced to complete several laps while the field bunched back up again.  I decided to pit immediately after the course turned green and successfully completed a flawless pit stop.  Special thanks to Stephen Ayers and his daughter for acting as my pit crew.  I was refueled in plenty of time, got some water and wasted not time getting out on the track right after the 5 minute minimum pit time.  I continued the race in ernest and continued to work my way up through the pack and finish in 9th place with a 4th best overall lap time of 1:15.180.  It was a great weekend with great people.  My thanks to the other club racers, those who helped get me on the track, got the car cleaned up, acted as my pit crew and those who stopped by to chat.

Photos by Todd Merill
Chasing Eric Heinrick	Solo	Straight
	Turn 11