Bloomberg and Paluch Tied for First in Championship
Races 14 and 15 at AMP saw Paluch again take two wins over Bloomberg's two seconds to even up the championship. Glenn Gormely score his 2nd and 3rd podium finishes in the last four races to jump to 3rd in points.
Saturday
Morning practice showed that the AMP racing surface had gotten faster that in the September races. It felt like a day when Paul Bloomberg's 1:55.242 might fall. Times were fast in qualifying with Paluch setting a 1:54.767 Pole Lap and backing that up with a 1:54.85 2nd fast lap. Team Getto Boys racer Tyler Thompson managed a 1:55.5 on his non-spec 205/50 hankooks. Bloomberg was third with a 1:56. Saturday's mixed class race saw many of the 944-spec competitors with BMW's and Mini S' intermixed in the group. Unfortunately the Group Pole car set a very fast pace lap leaving the field string out over the first few corners at the green flag. This resulted in many drivers going into catch-up mode. Paluch went off twice in the first two braking zones putting him behind Thompson and Bloomberg who themselves were in and around a series of BMW's. Bloomberg and Paluch set off in chase mode attempting to reel in Thompson. As the traffic cleared Paluch was able to slip by Bloomberg on the inside of 16 using a good run through 14 and 15. He then set a new track record of 1:54.968 chasing down Thompson. Soon the Paluch Thompson battle was on. Paluch had the advantage through the turn 10- 11 - 12 complex and through the 14-15-16 complex. Thompson used the gearing advantage from the smaller diameter hankooks to great effect pulling all Paluch in nearly every corner exit. Thompson advantage was enough out of 15 to defend going in to 16, but really came to the front exiting turns 3 and 9. These consistently gave Thomspon a 2 car length advantage. Paluch would catch up to Thompson going into 14, but was never able to capitalize. About 3/4 of the way though the race Thompson made a small error exiting turn 1 and hit the dirt. Paluch seized the opportunity and slipped by. Thompson came right back and pushed Paluch hard going into the braking zone for turn 5. Paluch left the braking too late and was off in the dirt allowing Thompson through and Bloomberg who was never far behind. Paluch got back in the fight and chased down Bloomberg. He attempted another move in turn 16 that was defended by Bloomberg taking away the inside line. This hurt his corner exit speed and gave Paluch the edge where he went through under braking in turn 1. Paluch attempted to chase down Thompson, but time ran out. Paluch and the GEEZ! For Body 84 944 did take 944-spec class win as Thompson's 205/50 Hankooks put him in PS2. Glenn Gormely came in third place with an uneventful as the start has strung out the cars so much had not competitors close by. Team Ashley Furniture drivers Dennis Campbell and Michael Jedlowski came in 4th and 5th. Kevin Kane came in 6th place with another solid clean run on a day where many drivers hit the dirt at least once during the race. Steve Sapareto missed the race as a long delay earlier in the day forced him to leave before the green. The other Team Getto Boys racer Jason Boles finished his race, but use the Hankooks placed in PS2.
Sunday
Sunday's race began with a call from the 944-spec drivers for a split start in an attempt for close racing in the field. Tyler Thompson would start Sunday's race from 4th place on the 944-spec class grid after borrowing a set of spec legal Toyo from Dennis Campbell for qualfiying and racing. The difference between Toyo's and the Hankooks was showed clearly by Thompson being about 2 seconds slower on Campbells well broken in set. Campbell ran Sunday on 225/50 Kumho's with on 7" front and 8" rear fuchs wheels. Although pushing him out of 944-spec in to PS2, this change allowed Campbell gain 2 seconds on the field. Unfortunately for Campbell this kept him 9th in points leaving him just 2pts shy of 7th place Chas Wirken who missed this weekend. The value of a spec tire in the series for close equal racing was never more apparent with significant 2 seconds swings by Hankooks and Kumhos vs the Toyos. Kevin Kane was forced to miss Sunday's race due to spun rod bearing that was caught before serious damage was done.
A strong qualifying run by Glenn Gormely put him in second on the grid to Paluch 1:55.296. Bloomberg was in third followed Thompson, Sapareto and Jedlowski. The green flag went out to a tightly bunched 944-spec class field. Paluch took the lead on the run into turn 5 and started on a long string of 1:55 lap times never putting a foot wrong taking the 944-spec class win with a sizable gap. Gormely and Bloomberg started fight from the green flag that went to the finish. Bloomberg got the early edge on Gormely was able to hold him off the entire distance over many pass attmepts. Back and forth they went with Thompson being a factor in this fight until a small off caused him to lose time. Bloomberg kept his nose clean and the car on the track to take second place over Gormely by only 3.6 seconds. Thompson ran to a solid 4th place finish. Steve Sarpareto finishing in 5th with car that just did not seem to handle to his liking. Jedlowski finished in 6th.