results are not final for OA and M4 looks like mark might have set FTD and might have won M4 and OA and Brent won PA! way to represent CENDIV! i hear there were some protests and some pretty high speeds. cant wait to hear the stories. wish i could make it to cannon falls this weekend to hear them.
I was just looking at this, but the scores I saw only listed M4 as "Under Protest" with no times (or names). Where did you see M4 times? Still, I'm really happy to see Brent on the top of the PA podium, because that gives me a reference to measure my performance. Especially because I'm planning of beating his sorry ass on Saturday.
Congrats guys. It's nice to see I'm not the only one Mark stomps on on a regular basis. Gives me a whole new perspective on how I've been doing at RallyX.
I was protested for unsportsmanlike conduct and the ruling has not yet been made. I will not comment further until the protest is final.
yes, because this sounds exactly like you mark :roll: someone must have been jealous that they got stomped by the old guy in a dented n/a subaru :laugh:
Actually, I can see it. I have a feeling the group here looks at things a bit differently, and in a bit more of a relaxed manner, than a lot of other groups. I saw it all the time at paintball tournaments with the team i used to play with. We were a relaxed bunch of guys (one of the top scenario teams in the country) and we went at scenario paintball from a totally different, and highly successful, angle. Pissed people off to no end. Somehow we weren't following the spirit of the game or something. :banana: For example, people got royally pissed when i snuck into their base one game, and instead of stealing some of their props I locked them all to a tree so they couldn't use them. You shouldve heard the radios light up when they realized what happened.:laugh::lockd: Anyway, point is i could see people getting a bit uppity, and mark getting a bit belligerent, over a difference of opinion concerning something like course setup or safety or something.
it was a very fun weekend! hopefully everything can get sorted out with the protest. I ended up taking 7th in M4 only less than 2 seconds out of 3rd... there were some very close times... stupid missed gate on my first run on sunday cost me 10 seconds and the 3rd place spot... oh well there is always next year! they set up there courses very different down there.... It was a 1.3 mile course that was made up of a lot of single apex cones with a pointer cone, very, very minimal outside definition to the course... it was quite fast as well with a very hard compact surface.
It was a great weekend. My opinion is that regardless of the protest results, Mark did win M4. Amy and Kevin both represented LoL well. Once Brent got used to Amy's car, he wooped up on the PA class good. I will let him or Amy share the story of how it all went down with the last run. It shows that there is a great side to the event, not just those who protested Mark. The PA class really showed what sportsmanship is all about! Brent, Amy, Feel free to fill in here, since both of you are in that class. From the spectating/crewing side of things (hey, we made lunch and helped fuel) things went really well. I had a great time and am completely and totally exhausted today. I hope to be in bed with the kids tonight...maybe before. Congrats to Mark, Brent, Kevin and Amy for representing our region and doing a great job of it! I am proud to be able to say that I am part of the group. Carrie
Seconded! We had a blast...playing spoons all night Friday, that was fun. They had never heard of the game! Well I had fun and once all this is cleared we will be better off.
Have they given any time frame for resolution of the protest? Seems that something like that is either best handled right away or not at all. While I can imagine that Mark's competitive nature and the nature of the competition (most of the people who go to events like this are used to being the big fish in their own little pond, and may not be able to accept that they aren't the best), could rub someone the wrong way, but I have a hard time imagining Mark engaging in "unsportsmanlike conduct" outside of the minds of the people he's beating.
You should've seen the looks on the other PA drivers once Brent got the wagon figured out and his times starting dropping. If not for a horrible first run, he would've been even further ahead. PA was a cool bunch of guys. We compared times, congratulated and teased each other after each run. A really good time. Since I ran first and Brent ran last in our group, he ended up at one point being the only one having a run left for the whole weekend after a significant course change. We got together as a class to discuss what to do with the odd man out, have everybody rerun the last run or what? Everyone 100% agreed that Brent was clearly the fastest in our class, with a 10+ second lead, and couldn't be beat. With that in mind we agreed to give him the same time as the fastest in our group had for the last run and call our weekend over and him the undisputed champion. I was super pleased with the show of sportsmanship for our PA class. As to my performance? I was in 3rd after the first two runs in the mud. After that the course dried out and got very, very, very fast. I readily admit it was too fast for me to comfortably run at the speeds the wagon is capable of and I back off, think dirt track hard clay with tire squeal. The guy in the 323gtx and I had a great time teasing each other and encouraging additional spins and missed gates of each other to help ourselves in our battle for last place. See you all Saturday. The M2 throwdown should be a hoot. Amy
That's good to hear. One of my classmates at Team O'Neil was at he last two years nationals, and IIRC was running PA. Last year she was running in podium position and the guys who were behind her started being complete a-holes to her, to the point where (and she's been her region champion more than once, and has run a lot of solo, so she's not new to competition) she basically said screw it and backed off. wasn't worth it to her as she already knew she was faster then them. She got the last laugh though, as she finished out of the trophies, but all non-trophy winning entrants got in the drawing for Team O'Neil, and she walked away with a 3-day rally school She was ahnds down the fastest driver in my class, even those of us who got an extra day never caught up to her pace. And she was so hooked that she took the licensing school too (counts 4 coefficients towards the provisional license requirements in R-A), so you may see her on a stage someday soon.
They gave away the 3 day O'Neil this time too. They didn't do a raffle but rather it went to the guy that rolled his car. I was hoping it would go to the girl that finished last in the car that finished first Yeah, you read right. Someone rolled.... you'll all hear more Saturday I'm sure. amy
Yeah, I've seen some photos of the car on the trailer. nations are now 2 for 3, I think. Higher speed, higher level of competition, and sometimes bad things happen.
Check out the number of cones for this run. It felt like there were about 12 cones for the entire 1.3 mi long course. I was the car in front of this guy and even with a parade lap I was like, "Where the heck am I going?!!"
An older Impreza 2.2L. I've read three different accounts of what happened, but the most reasonable sounding one is that he broke a control arm and that started the roll. But like I said, that's only one of the stories I've heard.
He rolled twice (I saw a video after I tended to his cuts). Yeah, I got to respond with my first aid kit! Talk about adrenaline. They were minor cuts on his hands, thankfully. Only needed a couple of bandaids and some observation.
so now can we hear your side of the story? i've read lots of claims on other forums but who knows what's reliable
I am very happy that the truth about what happened came out in the end. I thought I had posted this before... well, better late than never! Here is my experience at the SCCA National RallyCross Championships. We planned to arrive at the site in time for the Test and Tune on Friday. We were there in time, but the rain changed our plans about participating. The site got very slippery and dug up wet. We changed from summer tires to winter tires on Amy’s wagon. (We had originally planned on using rally tires, but had to switch to the winters as the rally tires were rubbing on the springs at LSPR. When we went out on the parade lap the course was still very muddy. It was strange to me how they set up the course, not a single cone was standing that didn’t have a pointer cone with it! I started my run and I was all over the place! I’m not used to that much power at a RallyCross and I just couldn’t keep my foot out it. I even knocked the last cone over on course to boot! So, I’m sitting in 6th place and 10 seconds out of first after just the first run. I’m very upset with myself and on the second run focus on judicious use of the throttle and running clean. I did much better, but I was braking way to early and it was costing my a lot of time. But, I managed to get 2nd fastest time and just under a half second off the quickest run of our group. I settled down at lunch and the course dried up a bunch. In the afternoon runs I was fastest by 1 and 2 seconds on the two runs we had and sitting in 3rd after the first day 3 seconds out of first! Day two brought us a new course designed by another person that had much more cones. Our group was the first one to take to the course and we were running on wet grass for most of the course. This is where tire selection came into play. Us and another car were on snows and all the rest were on gravel tires, most new. The gravels got plugged up with grass and had much less grip. On the first run I made up the 3 second gap on the two in front of me and added 3 seconds of padding. I added another 4 seconds to my lead on the next two runs going into the lunch break. After lunch, it was just keeping it clean and under control. I let the others push hard and that paid off with another 3 seconds added to my lead on the next run. Since Amy and I was the only two-driver car in our class, I was a couple cars after our class on each run. I was waiting at the starting line for my last run when word comes in that a car had rolled on course. It was one of the m2 cars between myself and the others in my class. So now, everyone in my class but me has had a run and they have to drastically change the course. And the others in my class had already gone to their paddock to swap tires. So, when the dust cleared I got word to timing that something had to be done about our class. They called a meeting of everyone in our class. Our options were to have me run on the new course and use that time, make the other competitors change their tires and do one more run, or just give me a time for the last run. The battle for 3rd was very close (1/10th of a second) so I asked the others what they wanted to do. Everyone, even the guy that lost 3rd and $500 by that small margin wanted to give me the fastest time for that run and call it a day! I was very impressed with the sportsmanship with everyone in my class. Thank you again Amy for letting me drive your car at the event! Brent
I will be happy to tell my side of the story to anyone. However, I will not post it anywhere. This process has already damaged the RX program enough. If I post anything, it will turn into a debate and degrade to accusations and name calling. Maybe not here but those that lurk (there are plenty folks watching from the weeds) will take what I post and tear it apart in other forums. I have had enough of that already. I am happy with the final decision but wish the whole thing never happened. I haven't gotten that far in my thought process yet. I will guarantee that I will either be an official OR a competitor. I will NOT give up any rights as a competitor by volunteering to be an official. I've probably posted too much already.
First, Nashville is a long way from MN. Thank goodness for multiple drivers, snacks and our a reasonable unhurried pace. Mark was towing and we really didn't want any unplanned trip costs in the form of speeding tickets. As Brent said, the Nationals were run on courses very different from what we run here. We decided that the surface for practice on Friday would not be the same we were running on Sat/Sun. so we saved the wear and tear on the cars and rested from the long drive. Saturday, since I'm more used to the power of my wagon I was actually pleased with my runs before lunch and stood in 3rd place after the break. The course was extremely slippery, so much so that I thought more than one 2wd car was going to get stuck in the mud on course but none did during the race but one did on the parade lap. After lunch the course got alot faster. As Brent got faster I got slower. I can honestly say I wasn't comfortable with the speeds we were attaining towards the end of Saturday. As the clay dried it became more like a dirt track complete with the laying down or rubber from the cars. You guys know how fast a stage one car can go and I soon found the speeds more than I was willing to go for a car I had to drive home 16 hours on Monday. Sunday, Brent was doing well so my plan was to stay with in my comfort zone and not get a debead that would mess up his plans. I was not super thrilled with being the first car out of everyone on Sunday. They don't put out alot of cones for their courses and it seemed like 20 cones for the whole 1.3 mile course. I know there were more than that but with no tracks down and being first car I found myself rounding corners and scanning the horizon for the pointer cone. Sunday's course was even faster than Saturday's. I came in last in my class for the weekend but am comfortable with my decision to not push. It was great watching Brent, Mark and Kevin run and Amanda, Mary and Carrie keeping us fed was a great thing. I'm very proud of Mark and Brent for showing the rest of country what we already know, that some of the fastest RallyCross drivers in the country come from Minnesota! So just remember we have a pretty tough bench mark to measure ourselves against here. Oh, and if you want to see Amy crap, announce a roll over on course while her car her is potentially on course. Amy
