Race report for the February 9/10 Sonoma race.
As usual, the weather for the February Sonoma race was typical Sonoma at this time of year. Miserable. A storm front moved through dumping rain for several days, washing all the rubber off the track. The wind whipped up and made for brutal, cold conditions. Fortunately, the wind died down on Friday evening but Saturday and Sunday remained bitter cold with it only getting into the 60's with bright sun that made driving into turn 2 difficult, at best, and downright challenging, at worst.
The Saturday race was very tight with less than a second separating the entire 944 field for most of the race. Lil'Kat took the lead, at the drop of the green, and held off numerous challenges during the race. There were several near misses with faster traffic with a blue BMW sliding out exiting turn 6 and barely missing Lil'Kat's left front corner and a RX-7 deciding to shortcut one of the S's, take to the grass, and regain control to get past the tightly bunched pack of 944's. Fast traffic caused several passing opportunities but she recovered in time and held on to the lead all the way into turn 11 on the white flag lap. Big Dog got a run off of turn 10 and was able to get inside and out brake Lil'Kat into 11. Big Dog got better traction coming out of the corner and just got by at the checkered flag.
Sunday turned out to be yet another challenging weather day at Sonoma, however, the sun came out strong and lifted the temperatures several degrees higher for Sunday, prompting Big Dog to break out the cool shirt box and pack it up with ice for the afternoon finale race. Big Dog qualified on pole with 0.1 second advantage and lead the pack of 944's to the green with Lil'Kat on the outside pole. Big Dog was in third gear for the slow start and Lil'Kat got the jump with her second gear start and led up the hill into turn 2. The Legends cars, just ahead were in a fierce battle, slowing themselves down and the snarling pack of 944's were on the back markers in a flash going into turn 3 and 4 with wheel to wheel battles going on everywhere. Things strung out going through 5 and to 6 with Lil'Kat consolidating her advantage over the field. She settled into a rhythm and started laying down faster and faster laps. The pack did not let her get away, however, the challenges happening at numerous corners. The tight racing was interrupted after several laps with first a local caution and then debris littering the track going into turn 10 and a full course caution. As the caution was ending, Big Dog got a jump and got by for the lead. Hard racing lasted for only two laps before more carnage brought out another full course caution and the race ended under caution with Big Dog in the lead.
With only 18 races to go, Big Dog is leading the season championship with Lil'Kat in a close second.
Jim Foxx
