Awesome practice times! Jade, Randy and Owen 2nd in ST in morning practice today, with Adam and Trevor in 8th in ST.

Qualifying at 12:50-1:05, an entire 15 minutes - good luck, then the race this afternoon at 4:00 pm - weather to be cool, MINIs to be fast!

 

Great quali session! 4th for Adam in the 198 car, and 9th for Jade in the 197.

Super job getting two cars in the top ten starting positions! ~~~~~~~~~

Best of luck in the race!

 

198 IN TECH RIGHT NOW.

Now we get to see what they do with a little bit of a new tune.

 

Hey - 5th is good!!!!! 1st was nice for a while.........and 20th is a finish!
Good job - looking forward to the report.

 

It's to bad they got shafted on a restart when they were in the lead by half a lap.

Great job. Mid-Ohio may be the one.

 

#198 finished 5th after a great drive by Adam and Trevor. Trevor added a position on the last lap with a daring and spectacular pass on the #95 Turner BMW.

#197 finished 20th after a heart breaking penalty that moved the car from 1st (FIRST!) to last. The car had worked to a +30 second lead when a caution flag came out. The pace car gave Owen a wave by (error!) and he passed the pace car as instructed. GA sent a radio message to the pit telling him to drop back and maintain his #1 position. Unfortunately, the radio went out and we could not communicate with him. When he didn't fall back, they penalized us with a stop and go. They held us in the pit for 1 1/2 laps. . . 1st to last
There was no protesting because it was our fault for no radio communication.

Very disappointing !!

At race tech for the fifth place #198, all the GA officials expressed their disappointment and how they were cheering us on.

This race will be televised on June 14 on Speed. This is a MANDATORY race to DVR or watch. The Mini's were all over the coverage and put on a show that will make you proud. Please tune in!

Also, there was a huge turnout of Mini fans and owners . . Thanks for coming.

More later..........

Randy

 

What a tough break! Congrats on a great performance, will definitely watch the TV coverage.
Randy, we improved our times at Barber and won both races.
Steve: 1:43.3
Jason: 1:43.05
Good luck in July at Barber!

 

Cripes! I couldn't tell that by just watching the live timing. Gotta get to more races.
What a miserable call by GA. On the other hand,, what's up with that radio?

Team RSR is definitely showing marked improvement and getting so close to some outstanding finishes - soon! Great job!

 

Actually we had radio problems with both cars. We use handheld radios due to electrical interference in the hard wired units. It appears both radio failures were battery related. They use very expensive batteries that are not supposed to 'pattern' charge and should last for a full day. Both radios came off the chargers and into the cars at the start of the race. The ony explanation is bad batteries. First time it's happened . . . i ordered 6 new batteries last night @ $90 each.

The old ones were 2 years old so I guess we should have anticipated it. They gave no clue there was a problem.

Randy

 

June14, 2:00 PM, SPEED

You will want to see this one! Set your DVR (VCR?) and tune in.

The 197 Mini led the race by +30 seconds and should have substantial TV time. The TV crew was in our pit during the penalty controversy. It should be interesting.

The 198 finished 5th. The Mini's put on an amazing show at a track that is not historically Mini friendly. Trevor pulled a fantastic last lap pass on the #95 BMW to secure 5th place. Hopefuly that scene will make the cut.

TV ratings for the Koni Races are +110% this year. The races have been close and exciting. This one will not disappoint.

Randy

 

Opening a thread for Mid Ohio.

http://www.grand-am.com/assets/2009M...icialSched.pdf

This is a split class race. At MO last year, the 196 Mini won the pole and let the race until the rains came. The four wheel drive Subaru won the race in the rain . . . no surprise. They have been praying for rain ever since . . .

The #196 will return with Owen Trinkler and Jade Buford. The 196 was damaged at Lime Rock and missed the race at Watkins Glen waiting for parts.

The #197 will have Randy Smalley and VJ Mirazyan. VJ drove with us at New Jersey.

The #198 with again have Adam Burrows and Trevor Hopwood behind the wheel after two top ten finishes at Lime Rock (6th) and Watkins Glen (5th).

Mid Ohio is a good track for the Mini. If you are in the area, we race on Sunday.

The race will be televised Jun 28, 12:30 PM ET, SPEED.

Randy

 

I'll be there again this year and I'm sure Crashton will be too. Look forward to seeing you guys on Friday in the paddock area.

 

randy: i love your attitude. after many bright moments and a few heartbreaking disappointments in the last two races, it's on to the next race. good luck at mid-ohio. the cars' performances have certainly been improving and lady luck will eventually be in the house.
greg

 

Agreed!!!!
Many of the other teams agreed we got robbed out of a win.....

sad but true

Great job by EVERYONE on the RSR team

Let's get them at Mid Ohio!

 

Greg,
can't live in the past it's time to focus on the next race. This is another track that is more Mini friendly. The way the cars performed at the Glen which is NOT Mini friendly shows you how fast the Mini's are going now

2yrs ago at the Glen 2:14 was a fast time.... we clicked off 2:10s there this yr and the car has a stock JCW head and pulley on it

Everyone in ST has been picking up their games and the competition is fierce but we have been closing the gap.

 

I added to the Mid-Ohio Motoring Club Calendar. Hopefully we can get some more Mini's there on Sunday.

 

I'll be up to see you guys again, wouldn't miss it. I think Mid-Ohio owes you one.

 

DVR set, I'll be at sebring that day shaking ours down. Can't wait to see this one!

 

Koni Challenge and LeMans this weekend !

Too bad we wont see any Mini's at LeMans, maybe next year

 

Thanks for the heads up on the broadcast time Randy. DVR is all set.

 

The Ohio people say it's ok for you guys to win, so go get 'em, boys!

 

Yeah ... what he said!!

 

I know all of us Ohio MINI owners will sure be rooting for team RSR!

 

Just saw the replay of the race on Speed.

Lots of MINI coverage.

Even saw Mark and the famous "197 NO PIT" sign in the closing credits!


On to Mid-Ohio!!!!

 

Just saw that they've added a TC2 class to the world challenge, and from the sounds of it they are going right after the Koni challenge cars.

Any thoughts of entering one of the races with one of the MINIs?