2012 LSX Challenge Series: Bradenton
Posted at 2:48 PM / March 27, 2012
It's hard to believe that the first LSX Challenge Series of 2012 was a a few weeks ago. The first race of the year was held March 15 - 18 down in sunny Bradenton, Florida.
While there is always decent coverage of the races, I decided to provide live updates via a thread on our message forum. If you hadn't read that thread yet check it out: http://www.planetlsx.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5382
This time my recap is different, I am sharing my thoughts from a participant perspective not as a reporter. I spent much of my time crewing for my good friend Andy Essary who hails from Lombard Ilinois and who campaigns a murdered out 2002 WS6 TransAm.
Over the last three years, Andy worked his car from a 8.26@168 down to a personal best of 7.52@190 at the final race in Indy. He came up a little short in the finals against Mike Brown of the Ohio Boys, who clicked off back to back 9.3's and sailed to a solid win last year.
This year we packed up the new trailer and left Tuesday night for what would end up a 22 hour tow. It was nice getting into the track early and getting a great pit spot. The weather was fantastic and quite dry, just needed to stay hydrated.
The track wasn't so great on Thursday despite the NMRA running the prior weekend. We struggled to run short times better than 1.4 and never got the car down the track and were unable to garner any useful data. Mark Koehler of the Ohio Boys babied his orange Firebird off the line and ran an 8.2 shutting it off at the 1/8th. Of all the pro cars making hits, only a handful ran any full passes.
Friday was a huge improvement, the track was prepped and a number of LSx heads up cars ran great. Steven Fereday piloted the LMR ODR TransAM to stellar 7.23@197 pass, and Mark Koehler clicked off a new personal best of 7.31@198. Andy Essary also cranked off a new best of 7.40@195. Mike Meeks also debuted his new ODR class car, a 2012 Camaro built from a body in white. Mike's nitrous-powered ride clicked off an 8.16 in testing first time out, as well as a sick 1.17 60 foot time. Mike Rimar, also debuted a new car, a nitrous-fed 2000 Camaro sporting a 440 cid engine and two stages of nitrous. In testing and quals he clicked off a number of solid mid 8 second hits.
In Real Street (RS) LPE laid down the best ET in quals, running an 8.5@161. They were later number one qualifer. Adam Preston rolled down from Kentucky and his Camaro sported a new blue and yellow wrap, similar to his third-gen Camaro that he ran a few years ago. Paul Falcon and Ted Timmerman made the trek from North Carolina as well. Right off the bat it was pretty obvious that these four cars were going to dominate RS. All were running between 8.6 and 8.7's in quals, and it looked like a driver's race.
All motor (AM) saw the return of several class veterans, Judson Massingill and his entourage of guys from SAM as well as Joe Honeycutt of LMR in his sunset orange 2002 Camaro. Robert Strong also returned in his 1987 Monte Carlo, which was sporting a 461 cid engine. And the rumors were true, Don Baskin debuted a new all motor 5th gen Camaro for the class. This orange Camaro was piloted by Greg Delaney and featured an engine built by Tony Bischoff. Delaney immediately put the other racers on the defensive running an 8.30 and 8.33 first time out with the car.
In eliminations we drew Mike Rimar first round. Not knowing if the track would still be there, we left a little easy and were also soft on the tree. Mike took the opportunity to run a new person best of 8.10@169 and cut a tree on Andy. We only came around him on the big end and we won't be taking him for granted whatsover... Nice job Mike! LMR ran a bye, spun. Mark Koehler and Mike Meeks squared off. Gremlins spoiled Mike's run and Mark ran a 7.66@164 letting off. Mark then had a bye and Andy ran Steven in the LMR car. They had trouble with the left lane and Andy hooked in the right, winning that round with a 7.48@193 to Steven's 8.2@196.
In the finals Mark and Andy ran each other. Tensions were high in the pits as we had less than an 90 minutes between the second and final round. Despite being good friends and being pitted next to each other, both teams were extremely focused and became tight-lipped. We quietly pulled to lanes. Andy had lane choice and went with the right again. Yours truly was stunned when the boards lit up with a win for the guys from Chicago. Andy ran a 7.41@194 with a new best 60 foot time of 1.23 to Mark's 7.78@151 on a 1.37. Mark later indicated that fitting had failed during the pass. Congrats to Andy and Team Chitown for his first ever win in the LSX series.
Tensions ran high in All Motor with Don Baskin's orange Camaro having run a string of 8.3 passes. Judson ran Robert in the Monte Carlo and advanced to second round. Baskin had a bye but still ran a stellar 8.36@162 mph! Joe Honeycutt got around Daren Pool Adams and ran a 8.7@149 agains Daren's 9.5@144. Round two started off with a bye for Judson who just broke the beams to save wear on his clutch. Then we saw the next big upset of the night, Joe Honeycutt ran 8.7@150 mph against Greg Delaney in the Baskin car who had transbrake issues! The Baskin car had run over four passes in the 8.3's only to be denied a shot at a first win. We heard it was the settings for the transbrake but as I have not directly talked to them it's third hand information from Charlie @ BES. We saw a famliar pairing in the finals, Judson versus Joe. Judson added another notch in his belt running a 8.50@150 over Joe's 8.80@156. I expect Judson to be on red alert for Atlanta as the Baskin car will be returning for another shot at the crown.
We saw some extremely tight racing in Real Street, and first round was no exception. Paul Falcon drew Kevin Rounsavall in his 1999 Camaro and the white Formula took the win, running an 8.68@156 over a 9.41@150. Adam Preston ran Kevin Rowlett and clicked off early with a 9.2@113. Ted Timmerman and George Toll squared off and Ted won with a 8.68@160 over a 9.0@151. Jon Ebert in the LPE Camaro ran a 8.70@159 on a bye.
In second round Adam Preston took out Jon Ebert with a 8.73@158 over a 8.96@160. Jon later commented that they tried to turn it up and they blew the tires off at the line. Friends Paul Falcon and Ted Timmerman drew each other and Paul advanced running a 8.75@155 over Ted's 12.66@89 mph.
The final RS was so close that they re-reviewed the race in the tower. Adam Preston beat Paul Falcon by what is probably just a couple of feet on the big end, running 8.69@158 to Paul 8.72@149. Paul also did his best to chop the tree and did get out on Adam initially which led to the extremely close race.
All in all we had a great time, and look forward to the next race, June 1-3, at Atlanta Dragway in Commerce Georgia.
As always I encourage shops and manufacturers to support heads up racing. Many of the heads up guys would benefit from help whether it's a price break on parts, some bucks to offset high fuel prices, or even a a few freebies here and there. Getting connected to one of these cars is a great way to advertise your business and to showcase your company.
See you all in June!
