Given that I was so late/lost to the first Chicago event, I decided to crash at a ratty motel in Joliet so I could get plenty of sleep before the event, as well as get out early to walk the course. I didn’t want to have any excuses this time, and wanted a good gauge to see how I would do. Unfortunately, the results were yet again disappointing.

By my normal measures, I performed similarly/as expected at the event. I was off pace by about what I expected from certain people, and in front of certain others by what I expected from them as well. The course was again different from what I’m used to, but it was much better this time around. The first stretch was pretty open with a lot of left rights, and by the end got much tighter. Aside from the end the course felt like a very good big power big grip course – of which I had neither. While we again had the threat of rain this event, we got none of it. I ran the second parts of heat 1 and 3, and while the HS car that beat me last event wasn’t here, I had a new challenger who was up to the task. I felt okay about my runs, but I just couldn’t crack any time I was shooting for. I had difficulty figuring out where I could go faster and where I needed to back off in order to get on the gas sooner. My runs were just so-so for the day, nothing really to speak of, other than I just need more seat time. I realized a lot of my line issues are actually issues with me going too fast for a corner and missing the line, rather than me not looking ahead/not shooting for the line. I’ll have to work on that for the next event.

Fastest time was a 66.439 – which was my final run. It was actually a decent run, apart from the normal stuff to work on. The only bad part was the slalom at the end, which I totally screwed up. It was a little difficult with the first slalom being so tight, and then the second slalom opening up before everything got tight again. Fastest HS car turned out to be a diesel VW Jetta – kind of out of nowhere, but the guy seems pretty fast. My PAX fell 9 spots from the last Chicago event, but as I said, by my standard measures I was where I “should” have been – maybe just more fast people for this Mother’s Day event.

So, a disappointing index time and my 3rd 2nd place in a row – but, a double header next week in familiar grounds will hopefully bring me back!

Fastest counted:

Chicago Region PAX: 51st (+9)

Class results here.
Index results here.

Things to work on for next event:

• Slow down in advance for certain elements, power out
• A lot of my line issues actually come from taking the corner too quickly
• Need more seat time to figure out where I can go faster and where I need to slow down, how fast I can take certain elements
• Brake harder/more aggressively

Run Count: 66