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<p>Thanks Lorne, we missed you this year!</p>
<p>And way to go Bob Lang is right! Bob made quite the impression with his driving on everyone. On a fresh motor he came to the track ready to race and showed us how it's done!</p>
<p>Congrats Bob on being the 2026 Kastner Cup Champion!!!</p>
<p>Henry</p>
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<p id="reply-intro">On 2026-06-25 23:33, Lorne Fritz wrote:</p>
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<div dir="ltr">Henry, Thanks for the race report for those of us who could not make it. Way to go Bob Lang. Lorne Fritz</div>
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<div class="v1gmail_attr" dir="ltr">On Thu, Jun 25, 2026 at 6:59 PM <<a href="mailto:yellow04@tr4racer.com" rel="noreferrer">yellow04@tr4racer.com</a>> wrote:</div>
<blockquote class="v1gmail_quote" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid #cccccc; padding-left: 1ex;">Track time was plentiful, 10 sessions plus more if you ran test day. <br />Friday was an easy day, a morning practice session, then an afternoon <br />qualifying session. Unfortunately for Mike Deweerd, his TR8 was out for <br />the weekend on Friday. This made it a little clearer what to expect up <br />front the rest of the event, with only one TR8 running it was Tim Cook's <br />time to shine up front. Spoiler alert, he did not disappoint!<br /><br />Our first special race was the Frank Mount Memorial MG/TR Challenge. To <br />give you some history, Triumphs have dominated this race for a while <br />now. The Canadians might just be a little bit sore about that fact, and <br />the rules for the race are always weighted heavily on participation <br />rather than finishing order! This year, they really didn't try to hide <br />their bias, they arranged the starting order as first come, first served <br />with the MG's taking the first 15 grid spots! Just to be sure we had it <br />as tough as possible, they put Tim Cook with his TR8 in the race group <br />immediately preceding the MG/TR Challenge race, so his participation <br />would be questionable. Then an added deterrent, the scheduled the MG/TR <br />Challenge just before the lunch break, and the Kastner Cup just after <br />lunch, so with minimal turnaround time many of our guys chose to sit out <br />the Challenge race. I am not sure what else they could have done to us, <br />other than leaving one plug wire off per car!<br /><br />Waiting for the grid to open, we strategized to put me in the TR250 <br />first, Phil Gott and Bob Lang lined up behind me. Also in line were Greg <br />Thompson, Walt Hollowell, Stewart Wigg and Dave Riddle. I had talked to <br />Tim Cook, his plan was to run the Challenge race if things went well in <br />his group race immediately prior. On the MG side, the car to beat was an <br />MG Midget piloted by the very talented and always fast Nick Pratt. Nick <br />and I have had some epic David and Goliath battles, Goliath has had the <br />slight edge in the past and has been victorious.<br /><br />The race starts with me taking a couple laps to clear the lion's share <br />of the MG's. It seems to me they are doing a great job blocking me in <br />wherever possible, but nobody is so obvious I can cry foul. When I <br />finally get clear track Nick has been doing fast laps by himself, and I <br />have over 7 seconds to make up. I settle in to the job at hand, and the <br />gap closes. Then, as I am motoring up the back straight, I see in my <br />mirror a white dot getting bigger! Tim made the race, and he in on the <br />hunt as well! The TR8 blows by me in a flash, and I'm thinking the good <br />guys have this one in the bag, if time runs out for me at least Tim will <br />be first. Then two laps later on lap 8, I turn my best lap of the race, <br />a 1:40.1 and I pass Nick on the back straight. Triumph 1 - 2, and I keep <br />Tim in my sights as he stays about 3 seconds in front of me for the last <br />4 laps.<br /><br />So it's Tim on the top step of the podium, I come in second and Nick <br />Pratt third. Bob Lang ran 4th overall. So I am not sure how the math <br />worked out for which team won, but I am pretty sure we didn't stand a <br />chance with the schedule effectively benching most of our team. But of <br />course, it doesn't matter, we all had fun and the streak of Triumphs <br />dominating the top spot is unbroken!<br /><br />Next up, the Kastner Cup race!<br /><br />Not much to say here other than I started second and finished second. I <br />was driving the wheels off the car trying to keep up with Tim's TR8, I <br />kept the gap between 1.5 to 3 seconds most of the race. Unfortunately, <br />when Pat Darrow had his little shunt in 1, that caused a waiving yellow <br />for the rest of the session, and I caught traffic on lap 11 and 12 in <br />the yellow flag zone, so the gap opened up to 5.5 seconds at the end. <br />Tim's comment to me after the race was thanks for keeping him honest, my <br />comment to him was I thought I had to work way harder than he did, in <br />which he agreed with me! My best lap was a 1:41.19 vs Tim with a <br />1:40.95, so that made me feel pretty good about the race.<br /><br />Then on Sunday, the Jack Drews Memorial Race, formerly known as the <br />Reunion Race!<br /><br />Tim had to get home on Sunday, so was packed up and gone by the time <br />racing started on Sunday. I was on pole, and Jesse Darrow did all he <br />could to keep me honest! I put about a 2.5 second gap on Jesse when Oily <br />Bob did his thing for the last time, putting a layer of oil up most of <br />the back straight. We reported to the pits and waited a solid half hour <br />for the track to get cleaned. I was sure we were done, but VARAC <br />announced they were going to let us go green for another 10 minutes! <br />This time it was Jesse driving like a man on a mission, keeping me <br />honest until suddenly, he was gone. In fact, I saw nobody in my mirrors <br />for the last two laps, upon finishing I see I gapped Chuck Gee in second <br />place by 14.2 seconds in 6 laps! Thanks for the motivation, Jesse! At <br />the podium, Jesse tried to sneak into Chuck's second place pedestal, too <br />funny. Apparently, Jesse ran out of fuel! Bob Lang took third.<br /><br />Finally, my group race!<br /><br />My bracket, VH3, means don't go faster than a 1:40. For whatever reason, <br />I happen to run at the bottom of that bracket, a 1:40 is a good time for <br />me. As such, I do well with the bracket. This year was no different, I <br />finished first in VH3 in the 3 races leading up to the feature race <br />Sunday afternoon. This year we had a bunch of Mustangs that had never <br />run with VARAC before, and for whatever reason they put them with us in <br />Vintage Historic. Not a great fit, and the one that was always gridded <br />with me had a problem with his fuel cell, he kept dumping gas on corners <br />at the beginning of the race. It was a slippery situation, to say the <br />least! And it took him several laps to put down a couple of faster laps <br />than me to be out of my hair. So in the feature, I am coming around turn <br />10 finishing up lap 2, and I am too close to the fuel spilling Mustang. <br />The second place VH3 car, a 911, gets a better run than I do and passes <br />me going into 1. I fall back behind him and find out he has a bit more <br />straight line speed, but is absolutely hopeless in 1 and 2. For 3 laps I <br />follow watching closely, figuring out where I am going to get him, <br />hoping I have a shot somewhere other than turn 2, as he is all over the <br />place and completely unpredictable. It's apparent I am going to have to <br />man up and do the deed in turn 2, so I give it a go with no joy. The <br />next time around I get next to him at the first apex of turn 2 on the <br />outside and we slide our way down the hill side by side. As we approach <br />3, now I have the inside line and he gives it to me. I proceed to drive <br />it like I stole it, I need to gap him so he doesn't take me on the back <br />straight. I proceed to put down a great lap, and can barely see the 911 <br />in my rear view mirror. I take the checkered flag knowing I should be <br />golden for another class win, hoping I didn't break out. I hold my <br />breath and at the podium I am given the first place trophy. All good, I <br />think...<br /><br />I pull out Speedhive to see I ran a 1:39.2, my best lap ever at Mosport. <br />I broke out, but Colleen didn't realize at the time! We will see if I <br />get penalized that lap at some point, but I have the hardware!<br /><br />So that's it, my time as Kastner Cup chair has come to an end. I hope <br />everyone who came enjoyed the experience as much as I do, and I look <br />forward to next year to see how many Triumph racers will now say their <br />June event is Mosport!<br /><br />Cheers<br /><br />Henry<br />_______________________________________________<br /><br /></blockquote>
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