Speed News Vol. 1 Issue 6 July : Page 28

MIDWEST REGION Ups and Downs at Grattan Grattan is funny track. Some drivers love it. Some hate it. The undulations and curves can evoke nausea. However, for those who don’t puke after every session, it’s challenging tight and narrow, and the event held June 2-3 featured some exciting action. SPEC E30 Cameron Bullard qualiﬁ ed on pole with a 1:32.781 with Sean Louisin in second and Kyle Smith in third. As the race drew closer, storm clouds gathered. The ﬁ eld gridded with crossed ﬁ ngers and dry-weather tires, knowing rain could hit at any minute. By the time the green ﬂ ew for the rolling start, Turn 1 was wet, and 28 everyone tip-toed their way through, side by side. Ryan CieChanski however, was quickly into third, then second and was battling Bullard for ﬁ rst as they approached backmarker Spec Miatas. In the downhill left Turn 3, a Miata ahead of Bullard lost control, hit Bullard in the left rear and shoved the quarter panel into his tire, ending his race. CieChanski squeaked by, giving him a healthy lead over Louisin in second. When the rain stopped, Louisin began to close in on CieChanski. With three laps to go, the faster Louisin was battling for the lead, but CieChanski held him off for the win. At the drop of the Michael Osborne leads Ryan CieChanski in Spec E30 at Grattan before CieChanksi went on to ﬁ nish second in the ﬁ rst race on Sunday. standing-start green for Sunday’s ﬁ rst race, row two got a jump and Dennis Barker was able to get a fender on the inside of Smith as they shifted to second gear. Smith had no choice but to go inside to avoid the slower cars. This pushed Barker into the grass, getting him a bit sideways next to the guardrail. After mowing down a cone, he was able to bring it back on track as the TOM HITZEMAN

Ups and Downs at Grattan

Grattan is funny track. Some drivers love it. Some hate it. The undulations and curves can evoke nausea. However, for those who don’t puke after every session, it’s challenging tight and narrow, and the event held June 2-3 featured some exciting action. Spec E30 Cameron Bullard qualified on pole with a 1:32.781 with Sean Louisin in second and Kyle Smith in third. As the race drew closer, storm clouds gathered. The field gridded with crossed fingers and dry-weather tires, knowing rain could hit at any minute. By the time the green flew for the rolling start, Turn 1 was wet, and everyone tip-toed their way through, side by side. Ryan CieChanski however, was quickly into third, then second and was battling Bullard for first as they approached backmarker Spec Miatas. In the downhill left Turn 3, a Miata ahead of Bullard lost control, hit Bullard in the left rear and shoved the quarter panel into his tire, ending his race. CieChanski squeaked by, giving him a healthy lead over Louisin in second. When the rain stopped, Louisin began to close in on CieChanski. With three laps to go, the faster Louisin was battling for the lead, but CieChanski held him off for the win. At the drop of the standing-start green for Sunday’s first race, row two got a jump and Dennis Barker was able to get a fender on the inside of Smith as they shifted to second gear. Smith had no choice but to go inside to avoid the slower cars. This pushed Barker into the grass, getting him a bit sideways next to the guardrail. After mowing down a cone, he was able to bring it back on track as the rest of the field pulled away. CieChanski went from last to first as the field exited Turn 1. Michael Osborne was in second, followed by Smith and Bullard, who passed Smith by Turn 4. Then as the field entered the hairpin Turn 10, Osborne bumped and spun CieChanski. That moved Bullard to the lead followed by Osborne, Smith and Dennis Barker. Smith got around Osborne in Turn 1 on lap two as Bullard started to pull away from the field. The four-way battle among Osborne, Smith, Barker and CieChanski heated up the next lap as they entered Turn 1 three wide. Barker and CieChanski battled side by side for third. Barker was able to hold the preferred line through 2, but lost the position as he again went side by side with CieChanski on his inside. The following lap, Osborne passed a Spec Miata on the inside of Turn 5. Barker followed Osborne through the inside, but the driver of the Miata didn’t see Barker and came back to the right to setup for left-hand Turn 6. The contact broke Barker’s front wheel and ended his race. Osborne and CieChanski continued to battle, eventually getting around Smith when Smith missed a shift on the front straight. Before the race ended, Bullard spun, relegating him to dead last. Bullard was able to reset the track record as he worked his way back through the field, eventually passing CieChanski with two laps to go for the win. Bullard crossed the finish line in first with CieChanski, Osborne and Smith in tow. Osborne and Barker were both later disqualified for avoidable contact, making the podium Bullard, CieChanski and Smith. Sunday’s second race was almost anticlimactic, with Bullard getting a great start and the win. GTS At the start of Sunday’s GTS race, Jamie Frauenberg got the jump on Denny Pedri, grabbing the early lead. Pedri made it past and into the lead on the second lap, only to retire a few turns later with a broken differential. That left Frauenberg and Ralf Lindackers fighting tooth-and-nail until lap 11, when Lindackers somehow broke several studs on the left rear axle. He was able to limp back around, but that ended his day, leaving Frauenberg alone to dominate GTS4. Lindaker’s consolation prize was a new track record 1:24.098 for GTS4. In GTS2, Mike Ward took a narrow win over Brad Waite after Waite muffed the 2-3 shift at the start. GTS3 was all Christian Maloof, who finished 14 seconds in front of a quick-running Bob Smith. SN

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