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Saturday Practice:
Cyclone: 2, Matt: 0
This session was my very first time on the track, in any configuration, and it proved to be an adventure. I was suffering from massive understeer and just could not get on the gas early enough so I thought something surely had to be off with the setup. So Ted was presented with the perfect opportunity to show off his brand new super-precision highly-engineered limited-edition ride height gauge to the n00bie and sure enough, my front ride height was high enough for four-wheelin'. And it was a good thing too because my first two times through the Cyclone I decided to go trim the hedges a bit as they were looking a little out of control. That stuff could have been a fire hazard. You can thank me later for the service. The first thing in my head after the excursions was engine temp (followed closely by severe hay fever which persisted into the night) but somehow it remained under control, at least until I saw Brandon and my dad frantically waving me into the pits to clear up the screens. Bill seemed to come to grips with the track almost immediately. He set a good pace straight away and was already just under 2 sec. off his quickest time of the weekend.

Saturday Qual:
I started this session with a lower front end and newfound grip on the front tires. I love grip, grip is good. The car felt much better. The steering wheel still centers itself off-center and the front-end was scraping pretty badly into 14 and up the hill into 9 but it was a compromise that I was willing to make and adjust my driving style accordingly. I eeked into P3 with Stew ahead of me, and Bill leading the pack, with John at the back battling a lazy left front caliper and heavy pull under braking.

Saturday Race:
The Big Show
My memories of what happened during the race are a little fuzzy, it could have been the 100 degree heat or my insane hay fever but the order of events is not very clear to me. No matter, I sure remember my very first race start! From my perspective, it was a beautiful orchestra of controlled chaos, that's how I'll always remember it. Everyone held their line, nobody seemed to do anything irrational or unpredictable, it was just smooth as butter. Well, at least on the racing surface. A fumbling flagger threw Bill off-guard and allowed Stew and I to get a good run on him as we funneled down into 15 and this set the stage for some great side-by-side action with Stew. (I'm actually not sure if this was at the start or restart, but it was great) By the time we reached 10 Bill had recovered from the lazy start and remained in P1 until two PFM's tangled in the high-speed turn 1 and sent them into the barrier, and the safety car on track. At the restart it was Bill, Stew and I and that's how we finished. Meanwhile it also looks like Ted, John and Bruce really started picking up the pace and either getting familiar with the track's unfamiliar and crazy configuration or overcoming mechanical woes.

Sunday Practice:
The First Tow Is Free
This session was pretty short for me. I was out for 5 laps when my engine started sputtering and making interesting noises. "Well that's new…" Slowly (in racing terms) but surely the sputtering got worse and worse until the engine totally died by turn 3 and I coasted through 2 and had no choice but to park it at a real bad spot at the exit of this high-speed sweeper. I waited for the cars to stop flying by and quickly ejected myself out of the cockpit and skipped up the hill to the flag stand. I greeted the flagger and waited for the session to end as I watched my fellow racers speed by my starving steed. My first tow. Cute.

Sunday Qual:
Progress
I expected quicker laps this time around as we all became more familiar with the track. Everyone was at least 2/10ths quicker than Saturday's session except for Bill who was actually almost 3/10ths slower. I guess he figured he may as well save some fuel and tires and take it easy, eh? Not a problem though as Stew ended up still 2.5 sec behind, followed by myself, to replicate the starting order of day one. The rest of the pack continued to improve on their best times and John ended up taking 4^th from Ted by only 6/100ths.

Sunday Race:
Bill had a better start on Sunday and everyone had a pretty good run down into 15 and after a little bit of dicing I found a spot behind Bill and to the right of Stew. Exiting 14 Sean Prewett in his PFM dropped a couple wheels into the dirt positioning Bill and Stew to driver's left as he came back on track. I got a good run out of 14 and tucked in behind Sean and passed up Stew then followed Bill into the 13/12/11 complex. As Bill and I made our way through 11 Sean decided to give us an encore and spun midcorner giving Bill a chance to show off some impressive evasive maneuvering. I glided wide to miss Sean's rear by a few feet and came out of T10 in the lead, barely. Bill followed me around until the next lap when I caught up to a slow-moving PFM entering T9 and I couldn't maintain my momentum at the critical corner. I helplessly watched Bill cruise on by my right side and I cursed the offender as we sped underneath him thru T8. Then almost immediately after reclaiming the lead Bill put his newly developed theory into practice (tentatively titled: "If yer gonna spin, spin bad enough to scare the crap outta the guy behind ya!") and went hot and wild into the Cyclone, flying sideways over the inside of 5a. Not quite knowing where he was going to end up at the exit of the corner I coasted over the crest and sure enough, there he was sitting in a cloud of dust on the other side of the hill as he continued merrily on his way. I cautiously followed behind as he littered dirt/weeds/rocks/small children onto my nose and continued to follow him around until a few laps later a PFM got see-sawed on the back side of the same corner in a *real* nasty spot. Stew nearly tagged his nose as he came hauling over the hill but luckily contact was avoided and we gathered up for the restart.
Bill really turned up the boost after the restart and I focused on keeping my distance from Stew in 3^rd spot. As the race came to a close and I saw that I had a fair gap to Stew I decided to ease up the pace just a bit to avoid making a silly rookie mistake and throwing away my potential 2^nd place finish. Turns out I already made such a mistake earlier in the race by crossing over the pit lane blend line and losing my slightly taller 2^nd place trophy for a duplicate 3^rd. I won't make that mistake again!
The official standings for the 2^nd race (MFMC round 3) are Bill, Stew, myself and John showing a huge improvement and grabbing the 4^th spot, then Ted and Bruce.

Phew, how's that for a report? I just wanna finish by saying to all you guys that have helped me out so far, especially the WSM crew for putting this whole thing together, thank you a billion times over. I can't wait for the next round. You guys are a fine bunch, on *and* off the track.