2013 MidWest Championship Results

The second annual go around of the Midwest Championship races were held over St. Patrick’s Day weekend at Lucky Bob’s shop.  Some racers were looking for the ‘Luck of the Irish’, while others were trying to score some green (as in race cash) and others might just have ended up a little green after the action.  Whatever the case, there was bound to be some fun and exciting H.O. racing taking place on the excellent tracks and fine accommodations that were offered.

 

 

                                                                   T-jet

 

Kicking off the weekend of racing was the T-jet class on the ‘Brystal’ track.  Last year’s winner Jim Keen appeared to be the one to beat again this year, although he was having a bit of a struggle adapting the setup of his cars from the ‘Fray’ conditions to this track.  Local racers Brian Fleschman and Joe Kloskey were looking strong and Trevor Machuga from MI had some speed in his car and Tim Miller had a fleet that he was thrashing away on.  In a nail-biter of a finish, Jim Keen took the win by a matter of an inch or so over Joe Kloskey, with Brian Fleschman third and Tim Miller fourth.

 

                                           

      

 

                                                                                                l to r; 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th

 

 

 

1. Jim Keen                 164 + 1"            5. Lucky Bob                 151                     9.  Bob Dame           146

2. Joe Kloskey            164                    6. Trevor Machuga       148                    10. Bryan Thompson 137

3. Brian Fleschman     163                    7. Doug Morris              147

4. Tim Miller               153                    8. Joel Pennington         147

 

                                                                       Super Stock

 

Next up was the always competitive Super Stock class.  The hometown crowd seemed to be particularly dialed in with their Wizzard cars on the fast Wizzard track.  This held true through the racing with Joe Kloskey taking the win over Brian Fleschman.  Bob Dame tried to sneak by them in the ‘B’ main, but fell a lap short of Brian with a ‘G’ car.  Rick DeRosa took another ‘G’ to fourth place, placing in front of at least a few of the local racers. 

                                              

 

 

1. Joe Kloskey                  391        5. Bill Armour       370            9. Tim Miller            338            13. Duane Searies         317

2. Brian Fleschman           385        6. Lucky Bob        367           10. Trevor Machuga 337            14. James McKinney    313

3. Bob Dame                     384        7. Moe Money      360           11. Ron McCarthy    332           15. Bryan Thompson     290

4. Rick DeRosa                374        8. Jeff Blawas       340           12. George Apollo      331

 

                                                                    Gravity

 

 
Finishing up the day was the ultra-interesting ‘Gravity’ class back on the ‘Brystal’ track, featuring lots of different and intriguing builds.  Competitive and fun racing is almost   
 
always the case with these cars, and that proved the case again.  Tim Miller became ‘one’ with the sidewinder and track and really got going in the ‘B’ main.  Doug Morris did  
 
what he could with his new T-jet based pan car, but came up a lap short of Tim.  These two outpaced the top two from the ‘A’ main Jim Keen and Bob Dame, as they slid back  
 
to 3rd and 4th place respectively, thus proving that you can really get the win from any main.

 

                                               

1. Tim Miller

2. Doug Morris

3. Jim Keen

4. Bob Dame

 

                                               

                                                          Bottom row l to r, gravity finishers 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and the winner is on far right.

                                                              

                                              

 

                                                                                               The underside of the gravity cars.

 

 1st Place - Tim Miller                              

 2nd Place - Doug Morris                         

3rd Place -  Jim Keen                               

 

 

Brain Fleschman, Lucky Bob,  Bryan Thompson and Trevor Machuga ready to tackle the Byrstal Track with the Gravity cars.

 

 

Ready for Gravity action - Joel Pennington, Tim Miller, Doug Morris, Joe Kloskey

 

 

                                                                                                               Gravity Race cars ready to roll

 

                                                                          Level 25

 

First up on the second day were the level 25 cars on Lucky Bob’s Century 21 track.  The new day saw some new faces grace the shop and the ‘new arrivals’ seemed to get with the program quickly.  Due to a qualifying snafu, Moe Money took a spot in the 1st main and quickly set the pace for the rest of the field to go after.  In the next main, Norm Gardner continued the trend of the ‘late comers’ setting the pace as he took over the top spot with a furious run.  Not to let Norm have the final word, Maurice Hood came out in the last main to get the top spot and push his fellow ‘Sunday Drivers’ down a spot. 

                                                      

1. Maurice Hood

2. Norm Gardner

3. Bill Armour

4. Moe Money

 

 

                                                                       Concours

 

In concours, an expanded field was to be found with more racers catching on that there are valuable points to be gained towards the overall championship.  HOST man Bob Dame put his Corvette D.P. body to good use with a mostly hand-painted version of the SunTrust car to take the top honors.  Joel Pennington was second in a Porsche R-S and Rick DeRosa third with a Riley D.P. hybrid – a Lance Miles painted body and a vintage Mark Rosenwinkle interior!

                      

 

                    

1. BobDame

2. Joel Pennington

3. Rick DeRosa

4. Brian Flieshman

 

                                                                        Unlimited

 

So, after two days of racing on three tracks, it all comes down to a shootout on the fourth track - Rick DeRosa’s Quicker Engineering layout with the awe inspiring Unlimited Machines.  The racers were divided into two mains and the game was on.  In the first set, Norm Gardner was really hooked up in the middle lanes and putting some laps on current National Unlimited Champ DeRosa.  Brian Fleschman’s chances for the overall win took a hit when his car ran into terminal problems early in the race.  After two blistering segments, Norm seemed to use up what his car had as it ran out of power.  This gave Rick the opening he needed and with a very nice gutter yellow run, passed Norm for the high total at that point with 613 laps.  In the other main, Joel Pennington and Bob Dame went at it in the middle lanes while Joe Kloskey was putting in a fine run in the gutters.  All were ahead of the pace of the other side.  Once Joe hit the middle lanes, he took off and left the others.  Bob tried to run him down as he finished in a middle lane and although he did get by Joel for second, he wasn’t catching Joe on this day.  Joe Kloskey takes the Unlimited win and with it, the overall championship. 

                                                      

1. Joe Kloskey

2. Bob Dame

3. Joel Pennington

4. Rick DeRosa

 

 

Big thanks to Lucky Bob for again hosting the race, Bryan Thompson for running most of the races, Rick DeRosa for bringing his most exceptional track up for the race, Joel Pennington for coordinating the event and the others instrumental for volunteering to keep things running and making the event happen.

 

 

                                                       Overall Championship Standings

                                                                                                          (minimum 3 events)

 

1. Joe Kloskey                             4 points

2. Bob Dame                                6 points

3. Tim Miller                                9 points

4. Brian Fleschman                      10 points

4. Joel Pennington                       10 points

5. Rick DeRosa                           11 points