NERRC #2 – RAL Road Racing at NHMS

NERRC #2

After a successful Thompson event, region club racers eagerly returned to NHMS for the second road racing event for the season. Almost 170 cars attended over the weekend, which included a CRE and OWDE classes. All of the classes were well represented over the 8 racing groups, giving everyone plenty of competition.

All of that hard driving also kept our flagging and course safety crews busy. Group 1 SRFs faced multiple incidents. My own husband, Steve Introne #12, snagged a ride with the flatbed crews on the first lap for three sessions in a row! It wasn’t until the final race of the weekend he was able to make it past lap 2. In fact, at least 3 races were called and ended early because of on course incidents that needed clean up over the two days.

Group 1 also experienced a first this weekend. Due to a problem in timing, there were no times recorded for the opening Qualifying session. That meant grid positions for Race 1 on Saturday afternoon were decided by drawing names out of hat!

For the big bore Group 2, Zack Kelly turned up the heat during the Saturday afternoon race and scored a new track record in his #0 T1 car. In Group 3, the FV’s Race 1 was one of those checkered early. Over all three races, #79 John Petillo, #60 Jeff Filipkowski and #39 Pete Meck swapped around for leader position and eventual winner.

Group 4 was the largest group with 41 cars. Unfortunately, our favorite NER photographer James Ray ended up in the wall during Qualifying, leaving James without a car for the rest of the weekend. These guys also had their Saturday race checkered early after just nine laps. Group 5 was the smallest class with the wings-and-things. #79 Giovanni Sorbello set a new track record in P1 before being forced to retire early and end his weekend.

Group 6 and 8 were our CRE and OWDE groups respectively. Wedged in-between was our second largest group – SM and Touring cars – with 37 entrants. Unfortunately, they also faced the most attrition, with 9 drivers not making it to the final race.

While it was not the cleanest of race weekends, the region once again came together to host another road racing event that allowed our drivers, crews and workers to enjoy a full two days of racing action.