2009 Steel Cities Double Regional and Enduro at BeaveRun
The MCR77 Racing Team headed to their home track, BeaveRun Motorsports Complex, for the Steel Cities Region Double Regional and Enduro weekend. Driving the #79 GTL Honda CRX was Mark Connolly, in the #78 GTL Honda Civic was AJ Anselm, in the #40 ITS Mazda RX-7 was Dave Heinz, in the #9 ITS Mazda RX-7 was Mark Keefer and finally in the #25 Spec Racer Ford was Larry Meisner.
Hot on the heels of a strong podium finish at the Mahoning Valley National race at Nelson Ledges, Mark headed to BeaveRun with an even stronger home turf advantage. Mark put the GTL CRX on pole during morning qualifying with a very fast time of 1:06:508, the time was good enough to garner overall pole in a mixed field of EP, FP, HP, GTL, SRF and S2 cars. With the temperatures rising and no possibility of going faster in the afternoon session Mark chose to sit out the second qualifying session and instead focus on making sure all the team cars were ready.
Green flag dropped on the race and Mark let the leading trio of SRFs by knowing that he could easily overtake them if necessary. By the mid point of the 23 lap race Mark was back into the overall race lead and quickly drawing away from the SRFs. Mark began setting fast lap after fast lap and ended up taking the checkers and winning the overall race by 6.155 seconds. Adding to the impressive victory was the overall fastest lap of the race with a time of 1:06:645.
Tire pressure changes and some data analysis proved to be key on Sunday as Mark set off on a blistering pace and set the overall pole with a time of 1:04:654. The time was quick enough to come within 2 seconds of the current GTL lap record at BeaveRun.
Green flag fell on the race and Mark again let the SRFs and lone S2 car run their own battle knowing he could easily pass them. Mark and Bill Kasmer in the S2 began a dog fight over the fastest race lap as they traded fast lap after fast lap. By lap 6 Mark had passed the SRFs in front of him and soon after that the S2. Mark's pace was incredible as he lapped all the way up to 6th spot and up until the penultimate lap had the fastest race lap with a 1:05:012. At the checkers Mark won with a comfortable margin of 3.984 seconds, but narrowly missed out on the fastest lap as Kasmer set a time of 1:05:007 on the penultimate lap.
With two overall and class wins and a fastest lap of the weekend, it was another successful weekend of racing for Mark and the #79 GTL Honda CRX.
AJ Anselm 78 GTL
With AJ's FP BMW 318 undergoing an engine refresh he decided to hop into the backup GTL car, the #78 Honda Civic. The first qualifying session went smoothly, AJ ended the session with a respectable 1:14:929 and began preparing for the second qualifying session. AJ picked up a half second in the second session as he 1:14:471.
Disaster struck during the enduro qualifying as the car lost 4th gear. Green flag dropped on the race and AJ began a challenging drive, the car would fall flat on its face going down the straights as he shifted from 3rd to 5th. But he began to drive around it and began lapping in the high 1:13s. At the checkers AJ crossed the line in P2 in GTL and 11th overall with a fast lap time of 1:13:506.
After the end of the final group Mark and AJ pulled the transaxle to take back to the shop in an attempt to fix the problem for Sunday for the 17 lap race and enduro. The repairs were only temporary as AJ did not partake in the race on Sunday in an attempt to conserve the transmission for the enduro.
Dave Heinz 40 ITS
After a season of Pro Racing in the VW TDi Cup, Dave headed back to club racing with the newly procured Mazda RX-7. Mark and Dave had picked up the RX-7 a few weeks back, the car already had prior history after finishing in the top 5 at the ARRC. This weekend would not only be the debut for the car, but also Dave's first race at BeaveRun. Dave took the first session easy as he learned the track and the car, after the 20 minute session he had slotted into P2 in ITS behind David Ciufo. The second session went better for Dave as he retained P2 in ITS with a time of 1:10:800.
Green flag fell and Dave quickly got into a rhythm chasing down the leading ITS car, Dave continually lapped faster than the leader and would have won the race had it not been for a small miscue during the middle part of the race. At the end of the 23 lap race, Dave crossed the finish line 10 second behind Ciufo but more importantly setting fastest lap in ITS with a time of 1:08:944 which was just over a second slower than the all time lap record.
Qualifying for Sunday was even better as Dave slotted into P2 in ITS behind Abdul Aziz. Dave's time of 1:08:555 was his fastest lap so far in the weekend, and only 0.3 behind Aziz who had many more laps at BeaveRun.
Sunday's race started with Aziz taking an early lead as Dave and Aziz traded fast lap after fast lap. Lap 9 and Aziz dropped out of the race with engine trouble as Dave took over the race lead and looked to be sailing to an easy win until another miscue and he had to drop back behind Ciufo. At the checkers Dave crossed the finish line 5 seconds behind Ciufo, but had set a personal best time of 1:07:979 which was good enough for second fastest in ITS. The lap time was only half a second off the existing lap record.
Dave's race debut was impressive, two second place finishes and fastest lap in ITS on Saturday and coming very close to setting the track record on Sunday in ITS.
Mark Keefer 9 ITS
Qualifying 1 on Saturday put Mark in P3 with a time of 1:12:454 in ITS just a second behind Dave in the sister RX-7. The second session went much better as Mark picked up a half second to improve to a 1:11:938. Green flag fell on the race on Saturday as Mark began a steady drive clicking off fast lap after fast lap. At the end of the race he crossed the line in P10 overall and P3 in ITS and having improved his fast time to a personal best of 1:11:350.
Overnight tweaks to the car and some track analysis and Mark put down a very fast personal best of 1:10:471 during qualifying for Sunday's race to start in P4 in ITS and 9th overall. The race went even better as Mark picked up two spots to finish 3rd in ITS and 7th overall, traffic meant his fast race lap was a 1:11:957 just over a second slower than his morning qualifying time.
Larry Meisner 25 SRF
Larry took the green flag on his second race in SRF, Larry qualified 10th overall after the first session and 8th in SRF with a time of 1:10:859. The second session didn't garner any improvements as Larry took the green flag from P11 overall in the race. The race started well for Larry, but an off on lap 4 meant he would not finish the race.
Enduro - 4 ITS Mark Connolly/Dave Heinz
Mark and Dave would team up for the enduro in Dave's RX-7, Mark put the car on pole in ITS and third overall with a time of 1:08:686. With the #40 SRF dropping out Dave would start the race from the outside of the front row and quickly took over the race lead and handed the wheel over to Mark. Things were looking great until the cool suit box came loose and Mark had to make an unscheduled pit stop to remove that. At the end of the 1 hour enduro Mark crossed the line in P7 overall and took the win in ITS.
Enduro - 78 GTL AJ Anselm/Louis Angel
AJ would team up with Louis Angel for Sunday's enduro in the GTL Civic. Qualifying for the enduro would be held on Saturday, AJ put the Civic on pole for the GTL class and top 10 overall after the first qualifying session. Things started going south in the second session as AJ and Louis began to lose time dramatically, after pulling into the pits the team discovered that the Civic had lost 4th gear. The team headed back to the shop in an attempt to repair the transmission, but it appeared the repairs were only temporary as AJ lost 3rd gear during the enduro and had to drop out after 27 laps.
