Porsche Clash @ The Glen PCA June 9-11, 2006
The Porsche Clash
traditionally runs the weekend prior to Grand Am's 6-hour race, and this
brings out a few strong teams and drivers that would not typically show
up at a Club Race. This year, the weekends were reversed, with the
Grand Am event preceding the PCA race, but that did not stop the event
from selling out with some strong competitors. Up until race time
on Saturday afternoon, the biggest challenge would come from the
weather, which regularly switched from damp to torrential rain.
We
brought 6 cars to this event. Our lone entry in Group 2 was Bill
Martin in his D class 964 USA Cup. Martin has had a consistent
string of podium finishes including a win in the enduro at this track
last year. The rest of our cars competed in Group 4, containing
the fastest cars in Club Racing. Even from the very first session,
atop the timesheets as usual was Leh Keen in his GT3RS, with the next
car typically about 5 seconds off his pace. Cory Friedman drove
the Autometrics Motorsports 997 GT3 Cup. This is the first race
for this car and served mostly as a shakedown for the Daytona Grand Am
event later this month. Bransen Patch is a Grand Am regular, but
this was his first PCA Club Race in his 2005 GT3 Cup. After
missing the Atlanta event, Mac McGehee entered the GTC3 class looking
for a podium. Also running the competitive GTC3 class was Kim
Linville in his 2002 GT3 Cup.
Inconsistent
weather conditions during practice on Friday made the choice between
rains and drys tricky and kept lap times slow. Most racers chose
to skip the fun race, but Cory, Bransen and Mac decided at the last
minute to run. They started at the back of the field, but by the
final re-start, all 3 had made their way toward the front of the
pack. Cory dominated the rainy race leaving Mac McGehee to lead
the rest of the field. Bransen ran in 3rd overall until a fogged
windshield lead him to bring it in early. The field was small, but
taking 1st and 2nd overall in any race is good, and the drivers had a
great time.
The poor conditions
continued on Saturday, and the event running behind schedule only made
things worse, as it was difficult to judge how much the track would dry
out. Bill got caught on rain tires during a drying Group 2
qualifying. He was in good shape until the last few minutes, when
the cars on dry tires had a distinct advantage. Bill would start
an unusually low 6th in class, 23rd overall. Conditions were
better for Group 4. Kim qualified 14th in class and Mac started
7th in GTC3. Bransen's time was good for 4th in GTA. The 997
Cup was not completely sorted in qualifying, so Cory would start 5th
overall. The big controversy was with the top 2 qualifiers,
including Leh Keen, who had his 6th straight overall pole locked up but
had to start from the back of the grid due to running at a reduced pace
on the out-lap.
The sprint races
were scheduled for 12 laps, but a caution shortened Bill's race by a
lap. Bill made a hard charge through the field, running in the top
3 going into the closing laps behind a pair of 964 Turbos, which are
becoming increasingly popular and competitive in D. Bill made some
great moves and overtook both turbos, but a dive-bomb pass with only 3
turns left on the final lap by the prior leader dropped Bill back into
2nd position. He picked up an amazing 15 positions overall in this
run.
In the Group 4 Sprint, we
expected Leh to make his way back to the front of the field, but it was
impressive how quickly he got it done. Not even halfway through
the race, he was at the head of the field and opened up a gap of almost
30 seconds by the end of the race. The real battle was for 2nd
overall. Cory moved his way up to the front of the field, and was
chased by GTC3 leader Dino Loles. Both cars were passed by a GT1
turbo, but that was a temporary condition, as the turbo's engine
suffered a catastrophic failure only a few turns later. In the
end, Leh and Cory took 1st and 2nd overall. It doesn't get any
better than that. Mac was not so fortunate, however. He got
into some oil-dry while overtaking a car causing his car to get
sideways, and his nose got clipped by the next car through. The
damage is not significant and no one was hurt, so it certainly could
have been worse. Kim Linville picked up a few positions through
the race, and Bransen narrowly missed the podium, finishing 4th in
class.
We had only 2 cars running
the enduros on Sunday. Bill Martin would finish his race,
co-driving with Cory and looking to take the class win like last
year. Cory moved to the front of the D class pack, maintaining a
comfortable margin over 2nd place until he came in for the mandatory 5
minute stop. After the stops had cylced, Bill was running in 2nd
behind a 964 turbo. In a stroke of good fortune for us, the lead
car was black flagged when his hood latch popped loose, and that put him
back far enough that he could not be a factor. Bill held on to the
class win and 11th overall. Cory was also scheduled to close out
the final enduro in Bransen Patch's car, and we were looking forward to
a good battle between him and Leh, who was supposed to drive with Dino
Loles. Unfortunately, that car broke and left Cory with only a few
challengers. Bransen ran a good first half, keeping the leaders
within striking distance, so when Cory got in the car, he was able to
pick them off one at a time. Nearing the end of the race, Cory ran
2nd overall and was quickly dissolving the gap to the leader. A
spin by the GT3RS that was leading sealed the deal, and Cory took the
checkers 1st overall.
This was
overall a great weekend with one unfortunate problem. We had 3 podiums
in the sprints and 2 wins in the enduro, including overall wins in both
of the fastest race groups. The event was great fun and wildly
successful, and we have our crew and drivers to thank for that.
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