VIR SPec Racing: Holy Cow!

[DanElam]

Virginia International Raceway was home to some of the season's (and
series) most entertaining racing, but the real story was newcomer Brian Cates.

Cates first cranked the engine on Thursday, finished building his car on
Friday, and brought it to the track to race on Saturday. Cates promptly
went out in qualifying and broke Bryan Dobyn's course record enroute to
winning the pole.

Saturday morning was a little damp and five spec racers took the
field. Victor Seaber was turning conservative laps (for him) in qualifying
before a stuck transmission ended his weekend. Saturday's race began with
Case in front followed a few cars with Dan Elam, Gary Krichbaum, and John
McIver. In typical Krichbaum fashion, the start belonged to Krichbaum who
made a great move to immediately close to Case. Elam had to move past a
few cars to form the trio while McIver was picking off the annoying
American Iron cars. The next several laps had Krichbaum and Elam making
moves to get by Case, but the traffic and smart driving left them with
little opportunity. Finally, at the top of VIR's Roller Coaster, as the
group was moving relatively slow due to traffic, Elam spun as the rubber
from his gas pedal became lose and caught with his brake. By the time he
recovered, Case and Krichbaum were well on their way down the track and
swapping the lead. When it was all over, the newcomer Case won the race,
but not before Krichbaum had made his own claim for the track record.

Cates just completed his Factory Five Spec Racer, but he isn't new to
racing. He is a former SCCA MARRS Champion and raced in the IMSA Firehawk
Series. His arrival on the Spec Racing circuit moves the competition up a
notch.

During the night it rained, so the track was damp on Sunday morning. The
racing line was mostly dry, but the edges were still wet. That didn't stop
McIver was setting his fastest time of the weekend during practice as he
blistered the entire field. Qualifying was another matter, however. Cates
and Elam went out fast and the strategy paid off when an accident cut short
the qualifying sessions. Cates and Elam would start 3rd and 5th while
Krichbaum, who missed qualifying due to a belt problem, would start in the
back of the field well behind McIver.

As usual, the start worked to Krichbaum's advantage and he picked off
nearly ten cars before crossing start finish. But this time Elam had a
good start too and took the lead from Cates on the start and pulled into
third position overall as the field entered into turn 1. Elam opened up a
little distance but it was short lived as Cates and Krichbaum were right on
his tail. For the next several laps the trio ran nose to tail with Cates
and Krichbaum looking for an opportunity to overtake. They came flying
down the front straight at about 140 MPH into turn 1 when Elam made a
costly mistake. In trying to defend the position, Elam decided to go slow
and inside, but carried a little too much speed. Krichbaum went off into
the red Virginia clay and somehow managed to get back on the track. Cates
hit the brakes hard and showed great skill in not hitting Elam. Elam
recovered and drove more conservatively since he needed to finish to take
control over the series points lead.


(I write the post - I get to select the picture!)

Cates got past Krichbaum on his way to blowing away the track
record. Bryan Dobyns, the former track record and winner of 32 of 35 of
the spec races he competed in (currently driving Grand-Am for former Spec
Racer Steve Marcus), lost the track record as Cates destroyed the previous
mark by more than two seconds. This wasn't just Cates cruising to the
win: it was setting a new standard.

So a yellow flag was probably the last thing that Cates wanted to see, but
the 'rookie' could only get so much luck in one weekend. Sure enough a
yellow came out and bunched the field with Krichbaum on his tail and Elam
just a Mustang and couple Porsches behind. A green flag with two laps
left meant a furious sprint. Elam used the Cobra power to get past the
Porsches on the restart and got close to Krichbaum's tail before a spinning
Mustang forced him to drop back. McIver, meanwhile, used the restart to
pick up another 4 positions! When the white flag dropped it was Gary
ducking inside of Cates to take the lead with Elam charging from
behind with one lap to go. In the back esses Cates made another run at Krichbaum but a little
bobble moved him to the side and let Elam close the final gap. At the top
of roller coaster, Elam's momentum gave him the inside line. Just a
quarter mile from the finish, Elam began the downhill run through Hogpen
with a conservative run to try to hold on to second place.

But the run was too conservative. Cates came flying furiously out of the turns onto
the final straightaway with a lot more speed than Elam. Elam made a, ahem,
move to the right forcing Cates to lift and stay behind as they cruised
across the line just seconds behind Krichbaum.

Krichbaum had an impressive come from behind win, but Cates left everyone
wondering how to stop this new guy once he really learns to drive the car.

Summit Point should be especially fun in a few weeks. With the series
points out of the way and Bryan Dobyns coming back for the last race of the
year, look for an all-out assault on Dobyns' track record and no lifting as
people look for off-season bragging rights. No question: Summit Point is
going to be fun!