05/06/2023 - Riverhead Raceway: Opening Night
Oooooh boy, it's here! Opening night at Riverhead Raceway! The weather claims is going to be warm and sunny, perfect for racing, and getting sunburnt (or a tan if you're that kind of person). The trip out to the track was a bumpy one, in an entirely literal sense; I mean have you ever tried hauling a maxed out trailer on Sunrise Hwy? It's like driving over a road made of rumble strips. 😅
At the last update, there were 56 numbers registered for the INEX Legends, which is absolutely insane! Personally, I'm only expecting about 40 cars max to show up on any given weekend, but we shall see. With practice being rained out last weekend, I'm a bit nervous about what will happen when we get back on the track, but I'm sure Ed will be fine.
Once we got to the track, we unloaded, made some new friends and got ready to wait for practice to start. With the new handicapping system in play, we'll be using a "pill draw" aka random number generator to determine the order of the heat line ups. Not knowing exactly what the upper limit was, but seeing the number before ours was 116, I'm guessing the range is 1-200, and we rolled a 3.... Most likely we'll be on the pole for our heat, but at least we've been in that position before. 🤷♀️
Practice 1 went well, still a little on the slower side, but consistently getting faster after each lap. For the second practice, we put on our newer set of tires to start breaking them in. We were a little slower, but much like the first round we got a little faster will each lap. In both sessions, the car was a little tight, meaning it didn't want to turn, but the rear of the car stayed glued to the track, so that is definitely a positive. Last year we were constantly fighting a loose car, which led to a majority of Ed's "dirt tracking".
As I guessed with the pill draw, we'll be lining up on the pole in the first of 4 heats. With the others in our heat, I fully expect us to fall back in the field a bit, but if we can hold on to some where in the mid pack, we should be in a decent spot. Starting on the pole, means we don't have the opportunity to gain any passing points, but fingers crossed that the heats are mixed up enough to give us a fighting chance.🤞 With a whopping 42 cars here tonight, even the Consi is sure to be wild.
Our heat race went about expected, and if it wasn't for a caution on lap 5, we could have had a better finish than we did. The restart put us on the outside, which it definitely not the preferred line, but we kept it in one piece and off the wall, and even ran our fastest lap of the night. Ed said he felt more race-y in the car and was happy with how the drive was.
For some reason, the track apparently decided to ditch the new handicapping system and instead took the top 6 from each heat. Had our heat stayed green the whole time, we may have had a chance but, unfortunately we are starting pretty far back in the consi, 13th out of 14 cars.
We managed to stay alive through the consi, and got a solid 7th place finish. Ed was super happy with how the car was handling, and even got some experience having to make his way around slower traffic. Ed also drove his fastest lap of the night! We weren't able to make the feature tonight, but all things considered, it was a very good night overall, and definitely better than some other peoples' nights. With it being a full moon (or close enough to it) the carnage and chaos was fully expected.
As always, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok for updates, clips, and random auto related stuff! A huge thank you too all our sponsors for helping to make this all possible! And be sure to check out our YouTube Channel too! The first episode of our vlog just went live!
~Sam (I can be found at KazulStudios on all social media)
At the last update, there were 56 numbers registered for the INEX Legends, which is absolutely insane! Personally, I'm only expecting about 40 cars max to show up on any given weekend, but we shall see. With practice being rained out last weekend, I'm a bit nervous about what will happen when we get back on the track, but I'm sure Ed will be fine.
Once we got to the track, we unloaded, made some new friends and got ready to wait for practice to start. With the new handicapping system in play, we'll be using a "pill draw" aka random number generator to determine the order of the heat line ups. Not knowing exactly what the upper limit was, but seeing the number before ours was 116, I'm guessing the range is 1-200, and we rolled a 3.... Most likely we'll be on the pole for our heat, but at least we've been in that position before. 🤷♀️
Practice 1 went well, still a little on the slower side, but consistently getting faster after each lap. For the second practice, we put on our newer set of tires to start breaking them in. We were a little slower, but much like the first round we got a little faster will each lap. In both sessions, the car was a little tight, meaning it didn't want to turn, but the rear of the car stayed glued to the track, so that is definitely a positive. Last year we were constantly fighting a loose car, which led to a majority of Ed's "dirt tracking".
As I guessed with the pill draw, we'll be lining up on the pole in the first of 4 heats. With the others in our heat, I fully expect us to fall back in the field a bit, but if we can hold on to some where in the mid pack, we should be in a decent spot. Starting on the pole, means we don't have the opportunity to gain any passing points, but fingers crossed that the heats are mixed up enough to give us a fighting chance.🤞 With a whopping 42 cars here tonight, even the Consi is sure to be wild.
Our heat race went about expected, and if it wasn't for a caution on lap 5, we could have had a better finish than we did. The restart put us on the outside, which it definitely not the preferred line, but we kept it in one piece and off the wall, and even ran our fastest lap of the night. Ed said he felt more race-y in the car and was happy with how the drive was.
For some reason, the track apparently decided to ditch the new handicapping system and instead took the top 6 from each heat. Had our heat stayed green the whole time, we may have had a chance but, unfortunately we are starting pretty far back in the consi, 13th out of 14 cars.
We managed to stay alive through the consi, and got a solid 7th place finish. Ed was super happy with how the car was handling, and even got some experience having to make his way around slower traffic. Ed also drove his fastest lap of the night! We weren't able to make the feature tonight, but all things considered, it was a very good night overall, and definitely better than some other peoples' nights. With it being a full moon (or close enough to it) the carnage and chaos was fully expected.
As always, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok for updates, clips, and random auto related stuff! A huge thank you too all our sponsors for helping to make this all possible! And be sure to check out our YouTube Channel too! The first episode of our vlog just went live!
~Sam (I can be found at KazulStudios on all social media)
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