Note: Our photographer hasn't been seen since he took a shortcut through The Bog on his way into town for a six pack of beer. His parting words were, "I'm sure they won't bother a 1961 Alfa Romeo Guiletta Spider".
Due to circumstances beyond our control, there are no photos available for this article.
10/1/98 - For this race, Papyrus allowed the beta team to join through the corporate firewall for the first time, so Achim Trensz, Doug Arnao, and John Wallace participated. There was a large field of 15 cars.
Matt Sentell took the pole ahead of Dave Kaemmer, with Achim, John Wallace, and Doug next up, so the beta team put up a very good showing in qualifying. I joined in from home, but could manage only 9th.
The race was a frought affair, with cars spinning and crashing, at times soaring wildly through the air...
Doug Arnao suffered electrical problems on the grid and was unable to start, and Rich Yasi bailed out of his car in frustration after an incident in the Loop on the first lap.
Dave Kaemmer got the jump on Sentell off the grid. The two had a classic battle in the early laps, with Sentell hounding Kaemmer's every move. Dave was hanging out the tail in his usual flambouyant style, while Matt repeatedly dove down the inside at every opportunity, only to think better of it lest both of them come to grief. Great stuff!
Behind these two were John Wallace and Achim Trensz, but Achim made a passing attempt in the esses on lap two, and a warp collision spun both well down the field and wreaked some chaos among the cars behind. Two laps later, Achim and John had another coming together in the braking area for the Loop, putting both off again. A lap further on, John spun on his own, causing him to lose touch with Achim.
On the 7th lap, the tail of Matt's Lotus stepped out in the kink, and he had a quick spin which, though he recovered quickly, caused him to lose touch with Dave. A few laps later, while Matt was lapping a pair of slower cars, one of the lapped cars spun in the same corner, and Matt, following right behind and under pressure from Tony Johns, spun too. This dropped him to 5th, behind Cassidy. At this point, beginning lap 10, the order was Kaemmer, Johns, Sanford, Cassidy, Sentell, Hine, Berry, Trensz, Wallace, and the rest a lap down.
At the end of the lap, Cassidy ran afoul of a lapped car in the braking area for the Ninety, and lost several places after some serious aerobatics. Moments later, I had one of the frights of my sim racing career when I came over the brow going into the Loop and found Matt's Lotus in flames, pouring thick dark smoke, sliding across my path from right to left, and a burning Ferrari sailing into the air after colliding with the guardrail to the left. Other cars were spinning, skid marks were everywhere, and it seemed the entire track was filled with smoke, flame, and out of control cars. I have no idea how I made it through.
This put me up to 4th, with Scott Sanford's Ferrari in sight. Scott had ttrouble getting by a lapped car, and I closed right up on his tail, but once he got by, I had even more trouble. This allowed Cassidy and Sentell to catch me, with Achim not far behind, and a punt from Randy going into the Ninety on lap16 put me into the weeds and back to 7th. The next lap, Matt slipped under Randy at the same corner to take 4th. Sentell then lost it in the esses, letting Cassidy and Achim past.
Meanwhile, the flying Kaemmer, with Tony Johns not far behind, was lapping the backmarkers. By lap 13 he was closing on John Wallace, in 9th, and he put Wallace a lap down after the latter had a moment and spun in the Loop. Kaemmer would eventually lap all but the top five cars, and Johns all but the top six.
On lap 25, Sanford lost it exiting the Ninety, letting Cassidy through into 3rd, but then Randy lost it himself in the kink a couple of laps later, and followed this with a blown engine going into the last turn. This allowed Sanford, Trensz, by now right on Sanford's tail, and Sentell through. With four laps to go, Trensz went by Cassidy as the latter got sideways exiting the final turn.
By now, Kaemmer had lapped me after I went off all by myself in the loop, at the same time letting Cassidy, who I'd passed a few laps previously, back up into 6th. Johns was coming up to lap me, with John Wallace right behind, also a lap down and fighting me for 7th. As we came up to lap a group of slower cars, two Ferraris collided braking for the Loop as Tony passed them. I was lucky to get through, but poor John got caught up in the melee, taking the pressure off me for the final laps.
Dave Kaemmer came home a very deserving winner after a fine drive. Tony Johns finished a strong second, and Achim Trensz upheld the honor of the beta team with a tigering drive up through the field to third place after his early incidents.
4 M. Sentell LOT 1:05.75