Redline Time Attack - Round 5 - Chicago

In front wheel drive Chicago local Charles Rhyu put his Top Setup K series swapped CRX on top with a 1:34.506, the fastest FWD time of the weekend! Pro Driver Jason Saini brought out quite a different steed. A caged 2.3 DISI swapped Mazda 5 is NOT something you see everyday. Regardless there it was with Jason behind the wheel who managed a 1:39.333 in the family sled. According to announcer "Nads" tech. required Jason to remove 50 lbs. of groceries before he could race...

All of the go fast bits on this Mazdaspeed 5 are dealer installed options. No warranty is expressed or implied....

Super Modified RWD saw new comer Ben Salasko in his Beast of an S2000 keep it together for a 1:33.757 and the win, not far behind in his very mildly modified turbocharged Miata was Richard Fisher (1:36.034). Rounding out the final podium spot was Jeff Ricca in his 240SX who turned in a 1:36.752 before suffering some sort of failure that sidelined him for the duration of the day.

Apparently rear diffusers work as Ben Salasko laid down a 1:33.757 in his Super Modified stook.

Later in the afternoon the weather had cooperated long enough and decided it was time to let the water loose. It doused the track in a 30 minute shower that left standing water on the front straight. After the rain stopped the Enthusiast class took to the track to provide some entertainment. The OS GIken 350 Z was carrying a nice drift through turns 1 and 2 with the wet conditions and the AWD cars were out showboating with some rally inspired maneuvers.

Charles Rhyu and Tony Wiesenhahn take the grid for the super session.

At the end of the day the super session was called to the grid despite the wet track and all of the days previous events were foreshadowing of things to come. The super session is basically a wheel to wheel race with multiple classes on track competing for position, no time attack stuff, just get it to the front! On the grid for the super session we saw Charles Rhyu in his CRX, Jason Saini in the Mazdaspeed 5, Richard Fischer in his Mazda Miata, and Kris Von Sydow in the VS motorsports Evo for the Super Modified classes. Also lined up were Whit Staples in the Fortune Auto Evo, Brian Lock in the Cobb GTR, Dave Hary in the S Max 240, and Tony Wiesenhahn in his Turn In Concepts WRX rouning out the modfied class representation. The final car on the grid was the Professional Awesome! Evo 7 of Daniel O'Donnell who was a one man show for the street tire class.

We should have known we were in for some carnage when Dave Hary spun his 240SX behind the pace car.... As they came around the starter held the green as long as possible to get everyone nice and close, he waved it last second and everyone struggled for traction. Whit Staples in the Fortune Auto Evo had hung back and got a huge run on the field dive bombing the inside heading in to turn one, the only problem was there wasn't room and he went two off, he eased it back on and couldn't avoid Richard's Miata. The tap resulted in oversteer that turned the Miata around and Staples moved past. On the outside line Jason Saini in the Mazdaspeed 5 was pressuring Charles Rhyu heading in to turn 5, all of this occurring as Kris Von Sydow made a clean getaway in the VS Evo. Staples moved past the two FWD cars to put pressure on Von Sydow and Saini put the Mazdaspeed 5 past Rhyu's CRX. Behind them the field was attempting to stay clean, it appeared that the Cobb GTR struggled for traction on the wet track. As the leaders came around again the Fortune Evo had moved past the VS motorsports Evo for the overall lead. Richard Fischer's Miata entered the main straight and attempted to put the power down and at that time the beginning of the end unfolded. His car oversteered heavily and headed for the inside armco, in a display of heads up driving he got it parallel and took a heavy impact to the passenger side of the car. He slid through the wet grass taking out the Redline timing beacon smashing the rear end and rear window in the process. He didn't miss a beat, righted the cars direction and headed right back out to continue racing.

He either hit is head in the incident or he has serious attachments, either way Richard Fischer pointed the car the right way and continued racing.

The Professional Awesome! Evo managed to avoid the carnage and as the field made it's way around while some brave soul ran on to a hot track to remove timing debris. This time around Jason Saini in the Mazdaspeed 5 went four off and, well, race tires don't exactly make for good traction in the wet grass. Saini put the family wagon into the hay bales and onto the armco, its front wheels dangling in the air... Smoke followed as did the black flag to end the drama filled super session. How you can identify winners in this session is beyond me, however they called it Whit Staples in the Fortune Auto Evo for the overall and modified class win, Kris Von Sydow in the VS evo taking the win in Super Modified, and Dan "no drama" O'Donnell in the Professional Awesome! street tired Evo.

Jason Saini beached the family truckster in the super session....

Quite honestly one does not come to a time attack and expect to see such carnage, needless to say those that attended got more than they bargained for this past weekend. The next stop on the Redline time attack tour is in Rosamond CA at WIllow Springs on July 2-4. If it is anything like round 5 make sure you're there to witness the action.