2008 Radical West Cup - Laguna Seca Round 1 & 2 – 12th February 2008

Wet conditions at The Corkscrew
Wet conditions at The Corkscrew
The weather would be the story for the first rounds of the 2008 Radical West Cup. We knew we were taking our chances with Laguna in February but now we have proved that rain is not a problem. Over half of the U.K. championship would be held in rainy conditions but this would be the first time for the Radical West Cup to run in full wet conditions.

The first 2 test sessions and qualifying for round #1 would be sunny and dry on Saturday. Everyone knew the rain was coming and got some great laps in before it came. Tim Day put in a blistering lap for the pole position while Dave Tweedlie turned in his personal best time at Laguna in his refreshed SR3.

Twenty minutes before the race was to begin on Saturday, rain made its way across the track. After a brief drivers meeting, the decision to delay the race until Sunday was made due to the limited time to get everyone on wet tires. A few cars chose to go out in the wet on slicks. That looked pretty exciting!!!

Super bowl Sunday was full of track time, wet weather and a Super bowl party to boot. The drivers had very limited rain experience before today so the first test session was getting acclimated with the conditions. Rooster tails were flying and there was heavy rain and deep standing water all around the track. Everyone was very successful in adapting and there were only a couple harmless spins.

We opted to run Round #1 in our second session on Sunday so we lined up according the Saturdays dry qualifying session. All though the track was wet and cold when the green flag dropped, Tim immediately took the lead as Dave, Bob, Craig, and the rest of the field followed suit. Matt had some difficulty through the first corner but managed to catch up to the field and pass Craig on the final lap. Dave pushed hard and produced the fastest lap of the race. Pete Fowler had an unfortunate spin while leading in turn six, while Ken Davis looked to have this track down pat in his Lola sports 2000 to win the Invitational Class

Qualifying for round #2 was also wet. Everyone went on the same tires as Round #1.

The final race found mixed conditions with most of the track dry. There was still standing water on the front straight. As they took the green flag Rene Lohr spun his tires in a puddle and slid into the front straight wall. He carried on with only minor scratches. Our defending champion Tim Day started from the pole and once again set sail to put another win under his belt. The “Godfather” Bob Majorino pulled one of his trademarked turn it on at the end strategies to pass Dave Tweedlie and was catching Tim Day but ran out of time.

Ken Davis once again took the victory in the Invitational but not without Pete Fowlers help. Pete showed a lot of speed in the wet passing most of the SR3’s until he encountered a … do you call running out of fuel a mechanical problem?

All the changing conditions made it a big challenge for the drivers. This was the kind of experience that will take your car control and race craft to the next level. We had very few off track incidence and I was very impressed with the performance of all the drivers. It was great to see that the U.S. Championship can have a great time in the rain too.

Special Thanks to Dan and Ted from Powertec for coming to support the event. Thanks to Jolene for running the BBQ even when it was pouring down rain and Thanks to the drivers for inviting the crew over to catch the Superbowl after the event.

If you missed out on this great event don’t worry. You can catch us at our next event at Spring Mountain on March 8 & 9. See you there!!!

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