Photo by James Ray

NERRC Season Nears End

As the second to last road race event of the 2020 season, the club racers turned up at Palmer Motorsports Park for the annual Pig Roast event. 144 drivers started off qualifying on Saturday and by the end of Race 3 on Sunday afternoon, 10 new track records had been set!

Two groups dominated the field – groups 1 and 6, with 39 and 35 cars respectively in each session. Full results from the event have been posted and are available for drivers to view and download.

The clear and sunny weather, combined with the cooler fall temperatures, were the perfect combination for previously held fast times to fall by the wayside.

While these 9 drivers (John Raudat actually set 2 lap records over the weekend in both SM and SM2) were tearing up the track, the weekend was not incident and casualty free. Contact impound was kept busy. Over the course of the weekend, and the days following after, plenty of discussions were had on the apparent increase in contact between cars.

Some contacts were racing incidents, with aggressive drivers vying for position, especially in the two largest groups. Some debated on the availability of passing zones at Palmer. And some were single car situations, where simply driver error or mechanical failure resulted in tire wall repairs. Overall, the stewards and drivers are sharing insights into how to minimize contact but keep the competition at its highest levels.

New Track Records

FB  – #42 Todd Park (1:34.146)

FV – #72 Alex Scaler (1:48.654)

HP – #82 Fred White (1:52.911 )

P2 – #15 Paul Omichinski (1:38.064)

SM – #63 John Raudat (1:48.538)

SM2 – #63 John Raudat (1:49.374)

SPU – #191 Peter A.J. Tonelli (1:45.445)

SRF3 – #187 Evan Slater (1:42.352)

STL – #80 Richard Astacio (1:46.852)

T4 – #58 Stephen Blethen (1:50.051)

Largest CRE

It was exciting to see such a large turnout for the final CRE of the 2020 season with 15 cars between drivers and instructors on track. As we wrap up the CRE for the year, the region wants to send a big thank you to Tread Connection for their sponsorship and promotion. Due to their participation, new drivers are learning the skills and taking the steps to join our road racing community.

What’s Next?

Heading into October leaves two final possible events for New England Region road racers. The SCCA National Championship Runoffs will take place at Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI October 3-11. NER competitors are already preparing for the trek to Wisconsin, and we’ll be here rooting them on.

For those not headed to the Runoffs, the last NER regional event will be our Championship weekend at Thompson Speedway, October 2-3. With the final points after Palmer tallied, there are 6 drivers comfortably sitting with their season championship trophy confirmed. But there are many classes where the title is still up for grabs. Take a look at the breakdown of which drivers have claimed the 2020 title, and which classes will be determined at our final NERRC of the year.

Event Photos

We have come to depend on James Ray for his dedication to photographing our events, and the region is beyond thankful for his support and hard work. His galleries from Palmer are all available to view. And if you get a chance, be sure and thank you for giving his time and talents to capture these images for the region membership.