[Fot] Blackhawk Farms race report

[Tony Drews]

The Triumphs made a good showing at Blackhawk with 5 in attendance.  To 
my knowledge, only one was beaten by equipment.

Bill's right, there was much discussion of the Thunderbolt at Tech and 
afterwards.

The weekend was blazingly hot, mid 90's Sat and Sunday and close to 90 
on Friday with very high humidity.

Triumphs that I know of that attended are myself (Tony Drews - TR4), 
Alexanders (Sean and Brendan driving - TR4), Murphys (Ryan driving - 
TR4), Paul Ricco (TR4) and Allen Washatko (sp?) (TR6 in a different 
group than the 4's).  I don't know Allen's finishing positions - but his 
car sounded sweet every time it went down the front straight.  The only 
mechanical issue I know of is Alexander's car broke a nice aluminum fuel 
fitting - he noticed fuel spray coming from the LEFT side of the hood - 
it was spraying all the way from the carbs to the other side of the car. 
Thankfully it got shut off promptly and fixed quickly.  Looking at the 
results, Paul Ricco didn't run the last two races, so he had some sort 
of malady.  Someone mentioned a front suspension issue but I'm not sure.

We had 3 "regular" races plus I signed up for the Dad's Day Scramble 
pursuit race.  Plus we had two practice sessions and two qualifying 
sessions.  First practice was wet track but no longer thunderstorming.  
Of the 9 cars that showed up on the grid, 4 were TR-4's.  :)

For the first race (Sat), I qualified 6th / finished 5th, Ryan qualified 
and finished 7th, Paul qualified 10th / finished 12th, Sean qualified 
25th / finished 15th.  32 cars in the group.

Murphys and Ricco have made great progress with their cars and are a 
looming threat to me in upcoming races - which is very welcome.  
Normally it's Sean and I with the epic duel, I look forward to more 
Triumph player entering that game.

2nd race (Sat) we started in prior race finishing order.  I moved up to 
3rd, Ryan to 5th, Paul didn't run (I heard something about taking front 
suspension apart), Sean dropped back to 26th with the broken fuel line.

Sean and Brendan ran the Enduro.  Sean ran a few laps, Brendan did the 
rest.  He came in a bit early thinking he was beginning to get 
dehydrated - a very mature call for a 22 year old!

Sunday feature our pole-sitter didn't show so I started in 2nd / 
finished in 3rd, Ryan started 4th / finished 5th (the fast car of Ron 
Suave spun in the 2nd race and finished behind us - when he took his 
rightful place he pushed us both down a spot), Sean started 25th / 
finished 11th (!).  Starting on the front row is always cool.

We all had good battles throughout the weekend.  I had two races very 
close to a Ford powered Elva Courier.  One of them he overcooked the 
last turn on the last lap and I pulled him by half a car length on the 
finish line.  That was an epic battle.

In the pursuit race, I was the only Triumph.  Of the 7 cars that stuck 
around, I was gridded 6th (fastest at the back) and worked my way up to 
4th.  One car got 1.5 laps head start on me, another had at least 2 laps 
head start.  I passed them both but not enough times.  :)

Race videos will be forth-coming.

TRiumphantly, Tony Drews