Thanks! It was a fun event!

Results are up from NE Divisionals: http://solo.wdcr-scca.org/results/20050730.php#STS

Now that I had a night of rest it's funny to think of where I was last year at the DC Tour and last year at NE Divisionals at Ripken (with Philly).

DC Tour I was 16th place out of like 18 cars
NE Divisionals I was 8th place out of 12 cars

I knew right there my car was holding me back because Kevin McIlvain let me co-drive his 1990 Civic Si on the 2nd day of the NE Divisionals and I ended up 3rd or 4th for Sunday. But since I was so far behind the 1st day I didn't move.

Also this weekend Markus won his first major trophy, Paul Sciukus attended his first National event and walked away with shredded tires. The caliber of drivers in attendance always amazes me with their talent. Mike & Carrie Snyder did great considering the condition of their tires.

Also the commraderie at the event was next to awesome! I saw people helping out people to the extreme. Joe Austin had completely hard racing rubber and Chris Travis (SM Civic) stepped in to help him out even though it was funny to see super wide tires sticking out of an HS Mini Cooper I saw so many people giving out advice the whole weekend and helping each other - this is one of the reasons why I love this sport. Even though we are all competitors we are still best friends.

I lended a hand to Okas Elam because his car died after his 1st run on Saturday. I'm not used to taking co-drivers because in STS tire heat is our #1 enemy. He was only able to get 1/2 way through the course when his Toyota Corolla died. He searched frantically for a ride before his 2nd runs. Unfortunately he missed his 2nd run and had to take his 3rd run in my car. He ended up with a 65.1, which put him in 11th I believe. Day 2 got me somewhat worried because I was in 1st from day one and having two drivers would definitely make more heat. But we both ended up running our fastest runs towards our last runs (me on my 2nd and him on his last) - so that blew the tire heat theory out of the water Okas moved up from 11th to 9th.

I also enjoyed the endless banter that I shared with my fellow competitors and friends. Even got a call at 9pm Saturday night from one of my STS competitors saying "You're going down tomorrow Mike! You're going down!!!" That was hilarious!

Many thanks to all that gave me tips both days - Alan, Jim, Dave, Mike & Carrie, Mike Steere, Chris & Kristell, Markus, all of the DC & Philly guys.

Mike