Racing Blog 6-15-2006
	Well, it’s started.  The 2006 Salt Lake Mini-Z Summer Championship has officially begun.  We had an awesome opening event this past Thursday, June 15, 2006.  For the 2006 Summer Championship we have made some modifications to the rules, as well as added some classes.  I’ll go over the changes in a minute.  We had a decent turn out, but I can’t wait until we get the full club together.  In attendance were: Brian (aka briankstan) Chad Luke Lynn (aka Clanure) Kelly Jacob (aka LibertySyclone) Josh Aaron (aka Z Zaniac) Shalayne Those unable to make it were: Mike (aka Stepchild) Mike S Chris Brandon John Joseph Jay Shane Chance Because of the size of our club, and because we have added a new class, we’ve actually had to bump up our timetables.   Track construction begins right at 5:30 now, with practice running until 6:30.  At 6:30 we start with our Overland (OL) race.  Our OL race is run on the event track, with jumps added for more fun.  At the beginning of the 2006 Winter Championship, there were 3 OL drivers.  I’m proud to say that at the beginning of the 2006 Summer Championship we have 6 OL drivers.  The OL lineup includes Brian, Chad, Luke, and Lynn, with Shalayne and Mike joining this season.   The changes to the OL race include running 8 minutes, instead of 35 laps.  So, for our first OL race, it was Chad, Brian, Luke, Lynn, and Shalayne.  It was some good racing, and I even led for quite a bit of the race.  In the end though, Chad managed to secure the win.  The final finishing order was: Chad (21 laps) Lynn (19 laps) Luke (18 laps) Brian (17 laps) Shalayne (8 laps) Here’s the big change for the Summer Championship.  We’ve added a F1 class to the lineup.  The F1 class will consist of 1 8-minute race per event.  For our first ever inaugural F1 race, we actually had 4 drivers.  Because Aaron was able to come up from St. George, he had the dubious honor of taking the rest of us greenhorns around the track competitively for the first time.  On the track were Aaron, Brian, Lynn, and Chad.  I was using one of Brian’s F1’s, but my F1 should be here in a few days.  Because Brian, Chad, and I are all new at F1’s, Aaron pretty much stole the show.  The F1’s are a lot of fun, with completely different handling characteristics than we are used to.  The final results were: Aaron (30 laps)                            Brian (27 laps) Core Missed 1 lap Chad (27 laps) Lynn (26 laps) After the F1’s wrapped up, it was on to the racers.  Because we only had 8 drivers for the night and because we were running such a large track, we decided to only run 1 main.  So everyone qualified and it was on with the racing.  We ran our 8 minute race 1st, and everyone did excellent.  Some of our newer members are still learning their cars and are suffering from some mechanical problems, but that’s to be expected.  The 8 minute race finished with Chad beating out Aaron, (although for some reason Aaron’s transponder stopped working right at the end of the race).  The final lineup was: Chad (28 laps)                                 Aaron (28 laps) Core Missed 2 Laps Brian (27 laps) Lynn (27 laps) Luke (23 laps) Kelly (20 laps) Jacob (13 laps) Josh (8 laps) After the 8 minute, it was time for the 12 minute.  Once again, because we only had 8 racers, we ran one main.   Everyone lined up, and we were off.  The racing continually improves every time we race, and most of our newer members are improving constantly.  The 12 minute raced ended like this: Aaron (43 laps) Brian (41 laps) Chad (41 laps) Lynn (38 laps) Luke (36 laps) Kelly (32 laps) Jacob (22 laps) Josh (13 laps) Another major change to the club is we are no longer running our HFAY OLPS on the same night as our regular club races.  This is good for a number of reasons.  One is that we now have time to get all of our racing in on a give night.   Nothing needs to be postponed or moved.  Another good thing is that we can practice with some time trials before we run the HFAY OLPS.  And the last really good thing is that we are now racing weekly, instead of every other week. So, because we had a little bit of time before we needed to run Monster Trucks, we spent some time messing around and just getting some practice in.  Then we tore down the track and set up the monster truck course.  This event we had some new jumps, courtesy of Luke, who once again outdid himself and made some very realistic jumps with crushed cars and everything.  I finally had my Venom Mini Giant all ready to go, and we had an excellent time.  The Monster Truck results were: Luke (10 points) Lynn (8 points) Brian (7 points) Chad (3 points) Shalayne (2 points) We actually wrapped up on time, ending around 10:00, for the first time in a few months.  We were able to accomplish everything we needed to accomplish, and had great fun doing it.  We will continue to tweak the rules and schedule until we have come up with what we think is the best combination.  So, look forward to hearing about changes for the next little bit.  I for one sure hope we bring back the shootouts.  I know there is a lot of carnage, but that’s just part of the fun. Also, I look forward to the next blog, where I hope to revamp the layout.  I think it will make for a better experience, and provide some additional treats for you all. Until then, keep racing. Lynn (aka Clanure)