Practice began for most racers on Friday, however OCR driver Justin Hall decided to not practice as a matter of principle based on the event schedule. Despite the best efforts of SCCA Pro, event organizers only provided Miata Cup participants two sessions per race day, one 30 minute qualifying and a 45 minute race - zero practice. Friday's practice was an additional $250 on top of the entry fees of $650 for the weekend. By mid afternoon on Friday, Hall was doubting his decision to stand on principle given a random sampling of the quicker drivers showed wholesale changes were being made to their cars in an effort to solve some perceived handling issues with the Hankook tires. Given Hall had zero previous experience on the Hankook tire, there was concern heading into Saturday's Qualifying session.

Knowing that two cars are faster than one, Brad Rampelberg and Hall decided to pair up and try to work together during qualifying. With lingering tire concerns and not wanting to hold Rampelberg up, the two decided that Rampelberg would lead initially and Hall would help on the straights. The first lap was spent with Hall reacclimating himself with the track as it had been a few months since he drove Laguna and getting a feel for the tire, all while trying to hang with Rampelberg. The Hankook tire has a stiffer sidewall which translates to a quicker and more responsive turn-in, however more effort is required (and speed scrubbed) to recover a car that gets too far out of shape compared to the Toyo RA1's. By lap 3 it was clear that Rampelberg was driving the wheels off a car that was fairly down on power, as Hall wasn't bumping Rampelberg as much as Rampelberg was being quite literally pushed down the front straight with continuous contact. Over the radio Hall requested a pass, and went on to finish the session with a top time of 1:49:700, good enough for a surprisingly respectable p2 on grid behind Carter's 1:49:390 and ahead of Dobson's 1:50:165.

The race started out with the typical games on the front row, with Carter and Hall jockeying for line and position before the green even drops. Ultimately the green flies with Hall getting a bit of a jump on Carter and cresting the hill with about a ½-car lead. Unfortunately for Hall, Dobson gives Carter a couple helpful taps pushing Carter just past Hall also allowing Dobson to sneak inside. Hall exits t2 in 3rd position and under assault from Rampelberg and Steve Ott. Early in the race Carter gets a bit loose out of t6 scrubbing a bit of speed and allowing Dobson to overtake into t8. Carter skillfully shuts the door preventing Hall from following Dobson through and Hall would have to be content to run in p3 for a few laps with the lead 3 cars developing a small gap on the field. Somewhere around lap 6 Carter again fought a bit of oversteer exiting t4 and had no choice but to defend the inside, however Hall's run out of t4 was simply too strong and Hall was able to complete the pass to the outside being clear of Carter before the braking zone of t5. Hall and Carter's tussle allowed Ott to catch up, and fortunately for Hall, Ott was keeping Carter busy allowing Hall to set his sights firmly on Dobson. Gradually Hall was able to catch Dobson and get a small run out of 11. Knowing the run wasn't strong enough to convert a pass into t2, Hall decided to look to the inside and entice Dobson into defending. Hall then moved to the outside and by increasing the radius of the turn was able to roll onto the throttle a bit earlier and steal the second apex of t2 completing a classic outside-in maneuver. At the limit of adhesion, Hall required most of the exit leaving only a bit of racing room for Dobson, resulting in a 4-off and allowing Hall a bit of breathing room. Over the next few laps Hall was able to open up a 5-7 car lead and seemingly had the race in control. However, rounding t11 Hall saw the unmistakable orange bumper of the Kanivas car in the middle of the track and his worst suspicions were confirmed with a full course yellow being displayed. Two laps later the green flies again with Donna Barham on the radio estimating 3 laps or so remained given time allotment. Hall held his position for the first lap but was under siege from Dobson having to defend into t2. The subsequent lap Dobson's exit from 11 was better than Hall's allowing Dobson the inside into t2 with Hall doing a poor job of defending. Dobson left Hall about as much room at the exit as Hall had left Dobson earlier in the race and Hall went 4 wheels off at the exit of 2. This allowed Carter to come up the outside with Hall braking a bit later holding his position into t3 but again dropping 2 wheels off at exit trying to carry a bit too much speed. The two-off didn't really result in a loss of speed as Hall remained flat however Carter's wider line left him with better exit speed which he was able to translate into a great run out of t4 forcing Hall to defend and drive Carter to the inside. Dobson had to be grinning ear to ear at this point -- Hall and Carter go through t5 side by side and unbeknownst to Hall, Ott slips to the inside of both Carter and Hall! So you now have 3 cars side by side going up the hill into t6, with Ott on the inside, Carter in the middle, and Hall on the outside. Neither driver was willing to concede resulting in contact between Hall and Carter, with Hall obviously on the losing end going 4 off at the exit of t6. Staying flat and trying desperately to keep the car off the tires and/or concrete, Hall is thankfully able to re-enter the track but now in 6th position with Johnny Davies, Ott, and Rampelberg all able to get by. With the red mist in full effect Hall how sets his sights on trying to at least reclaim some of what was his, but as he suspected the white flag was out as he rounded t11. Hall was at least pleased to see Rampelberg and Ott closely battling, and just as Hall was contemplating how to take advantage they made it easy with Rampelberg going a bit too deep into t2 spinning and Ott completing the obligatory sympathy spin. At this point Hall was hoping to put a bit of pressure on Davies and in doing so set his fast lap of the race on this lap dropping two wheels off at the exits of t3, t9 and t10 and 4-off at 11 but unable to get close enough to make a difference finishing a disappointing 4th.

Post race tech focused on weight, cam timing / inspection, intake and exhaust with the top 5 impounded cars found to be compliant.

Official Results

Written By: Justin Hall
Photos courtesy Doug Gentges, Donna Porter, and Spec Miata West, used by permission