The last Buttonwillow event is history and my recollection as to the events is a bit vague. But congratulations should go to Ryan Flaherty for his win and a pole position, and to Guy Cunningham for Sunday's pole and fast time of the weekend for American Iron. Griggs cars are still proving to be the fastest, if not the best driven in the AI series. Guy is an experienced open tracker and has proven fast in qualifying, but having limited experience in wheel to wheel competition is finding it difficult to pass a formidable foe with the experience of Ryan Flaherty. GR40 Drivers Rob Ainscough and Vageli Karas continue to turn in strong performances.
At Thunderhill the GR42 car of Guy Cunningham suffered a bent shock causing a loose condition in Saturday' race, which made for an interesting but uncompetitive drive buy Guy, finishing third. The problem was found and remedied for Sunday's event, when Guy set fast time of the weekend again at 2:00.034, only a bit off AIX pole sitter' Ross Murray's time of 1:58.124.
The AI championship battle continues between GR40 drivers Vageli Karas and Rob Ainscough, who continue to perform systematically turning in strong performances each race. Vageli and Rob finished 1-2 in Sunday's T/hill event, Vageli proving again what it takes to win while Rob accumulates points.
Congratulations go to AIX Driver Ross Murray for back-to-back pole positions and wins at Buttonwillow and Thunderhill. So far Ross has won 8 out of 8. Expressing frustration about not having anyone competitive to race against, Ross has stated he wants to race someone on a closer playing field, but so far no one has come to the plate in AIX that can come close to the blue and white GR40 Mustang coupe. So a class change may be coming for the former A sedan national Champion. Currently the team is contemplating whether to give up the AIX championship in order to field Murray's experience against Flaherty's while Guy is gaining his.
We would like to welcome Kevin Chambers to the GR40 Camp. Kevin ran his first event in his newly converted GR40 Mustang, turning in a strong performance flawed by fuel delivery problems. With these problems rectified we look to Kevin to provide additional excitement to the series.
Of note, Ed Varon is improving in his efforts as an AI competitor, turning in a top three finish at Buttonwillow and a strong performance in Sunday's T/hill event.
And last we want to express our hope that GR40 driver Ernesto Roco is working toward improving his chances of his long overdue win by changing engine platforms in his 98 GR40 Cobra. After experiencing engine failure with his 4.6 32v power plant he has decided to change to a 5.0 based engine format for the remainder of the year. We hope the best for his effort.
Great Job to all of you,
Bruce Griggs