MARRS Season Ends With a Win

Great Falls, VA October 24, 2010
The MARRS season ended on a high note with a Kopp Motorsports win in the last feature race of the year, but sadly we came up short in the series Championship and had to settle for second – but not without a lot of drama.

Start of the Sunday's Race - First Turn - Kevin is dark silver in the middle

We started out on the wrong foot Thursday afternoon during a private test day at the track (Summit Point Raceway Park in West Virginia) when we blew up our 3rd new race engine (in the last three weeks). Our engine builder (Dave Freeman) sped back to his shop, assembled a spare engine and brought it back to the track at about 8:00 PM. Long past mid-night we had the new engine in the car. Very early Friday morning we had the car on his Dave’s dyno. Many dyno pulls later everything looked good and we were back at the track around noon for the official SCCA test day.

First two runs on the track were OK and then the new engine started making familiar (and ominous) noises. At this point Friday afternoon we believed there was a gremlin in the fuel and computer systems that had been causing all of our engine failures over the last month. Throughout the rest of day Friday we swapped out every part that had to do with fuel system or computer electronics.

Saturday we’re up 7:00 AM and prep the car for the first round of qualifying at 8:30 AM. We sacrifice our weight advantage and run 60 more pounds of fuel than normal in case our engine issue is really a fuel “pick-up” problem in the tank (we believed this could also be part of the problem – fuel starvation). Kevin set a blistering lap a few minutes into the 20 minute qualifying session. To save the engine we bring the car in and hope that lap will be good enough for a decent qualifying position. As it turns out, the lap is good enough to win the pole position.

Saturday afternoon is the 100 point, 10 lap heat race. On the first lap two cars pass Kevin in the exit of turn one (a fellow not in the championship hunt and one that is – Scott Brunk). For the next 7 laps Kevin and Scott swap the lead back-and-forth. Two laps to go and the electronics on our car start acting up. The car is misfiring badly and we fully expect the motor to let go. Kevin is passed by the other Championship competitor, Kenny Zalner. One lap to go, the engine hangs on, but Kevin is passed by six more cars and ends up finishing 9th. Scott and Kenny finish 1-2 and we lose another 60 points in the Championship. By our point calculations we’re now toast.

When we come into the pits after the race we’re told SCCA is impounding the cars that have a chance to win the championship (all three of us). Four hours go by before we can even lift the hood to see the state of the engine. At about 6:00 PM we are allowed to work on the cars in the tech area. We find out what we really have is an electrical issue with the alternator and voltage regulator which is sending out low and erratic power to the engine computer and all the sensors. The insufficient voltage is completely screwing up the engine computer. This is very likely the root cause of all our engine failures over the last month.

At 8:00 PM we are forced to stop work and the car and it is locked up in a garage with the other two. We get access Sunday at 8:00 AM and start again to trouble shoot the problem. We have two hours before the final race of the season - 300 points, 18 laps. Thanks to Dave Freeman we make a lot of good guesses, override a bunch of systems and head to the grid. Good crowd on hand to watch this battle (it's been years since the championship was decided on the last race and even more years since there were three drivers with a chance to win).

Kevin still has the pole, but our championship hopes are done. The Green Flag falls, the war begins. First turn Kevin gives up the lead to someone not in the Championship hunt and slots into second. Kevin is passed by Kenny and Scott on the second lap. On the third lap Scott suffers a brake failure into turn one and ends up in the gravel trap (his championship hopes are done).

For the next six laps Kenny and Kevin run 1-2, but battling each other allows three other cars to catch the leaders. On lap 9 Kevin takes the lead and Kenny is passed on lap 10 and moved back to 3rd. Hoping the engine holds together, Kevin now runs as hard as he can alone at the front in clear air and we win by three tenths of a second.

The cars are now back in impound and the tech guys are going to start taking them apart. As it turns out, we miss calculated the championship points. While in impound we are told that Kenny and Kevin are tied 2500 points apiece after a whole season (20 races). The race officials now have look up the tie breaker rules. The tie breaker is number of 1st place finishes – turns out they both have the same amount of wins and are still tied. Next tie breaker -- number of second place finishes – they both have 3. We are now down to number of 3rd place finishes and our string runs out. Kenny Zalner wins the 2010 MARRS Spec Miata Championship.

There is no shame in losing to a driver like Kenny Zalner and the team that has supported him all season, but to be so close and lose still stings.

While the MARRS season is over and the Championship decided, there is one race left for Kopp Motorsports – The ARRC (pronounced “The Ark”) at Road Atlanta – the annual end of season gathering of 100s of east coast racers at a historic track.

Numquam Cedere