Another Win for NEO Motorsport Ambassador Kent Owens at NASA Great Lake Region Mid-Ohio Race!
25 April, 2016
Story: Kent Owens
Photo credit Peggy Linneman
Our third NASA Great Lakes region event at Mid-Ohio was “interesting” for the #30 CMC Trans Am (sporting an “X” per timing and scoring). I’ve developed an extreme love/hate relationship with Mid-O over the years, as I love racing there, but have suffered a couple of DQ’s, (as well as a couple of cracked ribs), a number of mechanical problems, and the weather can sometimes be a challenge. After putting it on the pole for Saturday’s race (in the dry for a change), the electrical demons decided that lap #2 was going to be it until I pitted and gave the motor a stern talking to. And….it worked! I literally lifted the hood, said “Bad motor” (OK, perhaps there were a few adjectives of the adult variety), slapped the hood pins back in, and went out and ran fast lap of the race. Ironically, I pitted out directly behind the 913 of Derek Wright, and Bob Denton in the #67, who were right in the middle of a great race, with Derek taking the win by 0.402. It was a unique perspective being in third (albeit 5 laps down) and just keeping up without trying to make a move to pass. It was a great seat for a great race, but not one I care to have again. Saturday nights mild thrash to find the problem didn’t, as I still had a terrible mis-fire for Sunday’s warm up. In a “why we race” moment, most of the CMC crew helped me with a 45 minute Optispark change (Oooo, the dreaded Opti!) to get me out for Q. Having your competitors help get you back on track is something everyone in racing experiences, and it’s one of the reasons we all keep coming back to this crazy sport. Sunday’s race was a blast, with the #67 up my mirrors the entire race. Both Bob and Tim Bennett in the #70 ran under the track record, with Bob edging out Tim by a couple tenths to reset the class record at 1:39.377. I was lucky to hold Bob off for the win, beating him by 0.245 at the line. Once again, my NEO Motorsports calipers and #hawkperformance pads came through, as after doing my pre-race checks Thursday afternoon, I didn’t touch pads or fluid for the entire weekend other than to blip the fluid and go “yep, still clear as a bell”. Of note is that the entire class went across the rollers through the course of the weekend with no issues other than a couple cars got to “plate up” to gain a few ponies. Next race is the one I wait for, as we’ll be at my home track Road America May 21-22. Come on out and stop by to visit the “CMC crazies”. We’re not hard to find. Cool cars, cool beer, and cool mullets.
STARTING GRID
LAP 1
RACE FINISH!
