MARRS 1 Update

Great Falls, VA April 27, 2010
The first race of the MARRS season is in the bank and the results for Kopp Motorsports are respectable. Kevin, driving the Piper Motorsport #6, finished 4th in the 32 car field Sunday. Danyel (Kopp Motorsports #46) finished in the top 10 with a hard earned 8th and Jedd claimed the 12th spot in his first race (in a long time) in a brand new car, Piper Motorsport #44. Importantly, all three cars survived the mayhem that is Spec Miata and came home untouched (well, there were a few bumps and bruises).


Rain threatened all weekend, but the only wet on-track session was the Saturday morning qualifying round. In fact, the track was damp, not wet and everyone went out on dry tires. Those who have been following Kopp Motorsports for some time know the results of a wet session are fairly predictable. Kevin won the provisional pole with a 1:28.9; a full 1.5 seconds faster than the second place car. Car control dominated horsepower in the damp conditions allowing Jedd to slot into 7th and Danyel into 8th.

The second qualifying session was a 10 lap race held in the afternoon. The best time from the morning session and afternoon race sets the grid positions for Sunday’s race. The track was bone dry for the 10-lap qualifier and horsepower tended to dominate over driver car control. Nevertheless, Kevin finished 2nd and Danyel 5th. Jedd had an ignition problem right at the start and lost a lap while it was remedied.

The weather forecast for the race Sunday morning suggested a 50% chance the track would be wet, and it was damp, but after the first race finished and by the time the Miatas were on the grid the track had dried out. After 5 laps of the 18 lap race it became readily apparent that Kevin had a serious horsepower disadvantage with respect to the front runners. Each lap the two yellow Performance Auto Works cars (driven by Ken Zalner and Scott Brunk) slowly inched away from Kevin, and while the #6 was hooked-up and handling very well, the horsepower difference could not be overcome.

Danyel and Jedd both drove very consistent and error free races in new cars that have not had any real development time. We fully expect both drivers to move to the front as the season progresses and we develop the cars.

For now the cars are back in the shop and preparation for the important SARRC/MARRS Challenge at VIR over Mother’s Day is underway. Stay tuned. Follow the Kopp Motorsports VIR action on Twitter and Facebook as well as this blog – we will be posting from the track as the race weekend progresses.