The race was at Shawn Molter's track in Kempsville, because the fabled "Checkered Flag Raceway" was still in the box. Thanks to a practice session on Saturday, the track was in perfect shape for racing on Sunday. The crowd (that's an overstatement!) was small, but the fast guys all showed up!
BeachJet Qualifier - 3 minutes round robin
1. -Tom Bowman-----76.26--brp Ford GT SE
2. -Jerry Schmoyer-73.31--brp Crossfire GT
3. -Shawn Molter---68.10--brp Ford GT
4. -John Smith-----67.43--brp Crossfire GT
5. -James Kennedy--67.42--brp Ford GT
6. -Josh Bowman----64.68--brp Ford GT SE
BeachJets were wearing their Fray clothes for this race. Tom Bowman and Jerry Schmoyer were both running cars that competed in this year's Fray. The qualifier went the way the last couple races have gone, with Tom leading Jerry and Shawn. John Smith just pipped James for fourth by a section.
"B" Main - 3.5 Minutes
James----G:21-Y:22-B:20-W:20--83.71--3rd
John-----W:19-G:21-Y:21-B:19--80.74--5th
Josh-----B:18-W:19-G:20-Y:20--77.51--6th
James used the hammer lanes to build a lead over Josh and John, that held up through the gutters. Josh's shark mouth Ford GT SE was looking for a snack, but James and John were not going to let him catch them!
"A" Main 3.5 minutes
Jerry----Y:23-B:20-W:21-G:21--85.19--1st
Tom------B:16-W:22-G:23-Y:23--84.34--2nd
Shawn----W:20-G:21-Y:21-B:20--82.55--4th
The "A" Main was decided in the first segment, Jerry's flower power Crossfire GT streaked out to a big lead. Shawn gave chase, and Tom suffered a bent guide pin in an encounter with a marshall. Tom gave a strong effort in trying to catch Jerry, but came up a lap short. Jerry set the lap record on his winning run.
Super Stocks seem incredibly fast on the tight 5 x 12 foot Kempsville track...especially after running tjets! Jerry left and Triple A arrived to take his place. Triple hasn't raced with us in quite some time, but John set him up with a fast car and he did the rest, easily qualifying third. Team Wizzard driver, James Kennedy, put on a clinic in the qualifier... Shawn tried to keep his Kitty Kat in the flying James's long hair, but James Patriot P3 was too quick. John, Josh and Tom were closely matched, and would race each other again in the "B" Main.
1. -James Kennedy--161.23--P3
2. -Shawn Molter---147.51--Panther
3. -Aaron Aycox----139.17--P3
4. -John Smith-----134.41--Scorpion
5. -Tom Bowman-----131.53--P2
6. -Josh Bowman----130.46--Scorpion
B Main - 5 minutes------------TOTAL--OVERALL PLACE
John-----B:56-W:64-G:63-Y:60--243.07--3rd
Josh-----W:61-G:59-Y:60-B:53--233.00--4th
Tom------Y:57-B:53-W:57-G:54--221.42--5th
Josh's Spiderman car set the early pace, with Tom's Superman car spending a lot of time on the floor. John turned up the heat, with a fast run on White. He steadily ran away from Josh...finally in the last segment, Josh tried a kamikaze charge that resulted in the crash of the day, when his Spidey attached itself to the garage door!
A Main - 5 minutes------------TOTAL--OVERALL PLACE
James----W:63-G:74-Y:65-B:69--271.13--1st
Shawn----G:65-Y:61-B:62-W:61--249.70--2nd
Aaron----B:57-W:55-G:53-Y:54--219.36--6th
The "A" Main was going to be shootout between the factory racers, Shawn's Panther led from the start...but James's Patriot put him away with an outstanding 74 laps on the Green hammer lane. The pace was "Fast and Furious", maybe a bit much for Triple A, who has to rely on other senses, besides sight to drive. James was cruising now, to a big win.
