(Cool pics below)
944 Spec Points Battle Up in the Air at Midseason
With 5 of 8 weekends done in the 944 Spec Midwest season, less than one weekend’s
worth of points separates the first seven racers. Three drivers have won 3 races
each. Positions 2-7 are separated by less than 50 points. Each race from here on out
counts big, and can make the difference! Now that’s Spec competition!
The series welcomed several newcomers this year: Dan Pina, Ken Frey, Sam Grant,
and Tom Stein. All got to try out their racecars in tricky wet conditions for the first
two races, at Autobahn and Putnam Park, respectively. Despite the bad conditions,
everyone, including the new guys above, raced clean and hard. Ex-pro drifter
Dan Pina has been a consistent podium finisher, and has clearly taken well to the
Bennington Motorsports “Green Machine” rental car, earning himself an impressive
third place in the season points battle at this point. Ken Frey has impressed with
his exquisitely turned out race car, the product of two years of loving labor. Ken
has also become a series favorite for the delicious Pizza that he brings from his
restaurant “Pizza for U” in Wilmington, IL. Sam has shown some good speed,
despite being down on power, and will be a contender once his motor rebuild is
done!
Neal Agran and Eric Kuhns started the season hot, trading wins in the first two
events, and each having three wins going into the home stretch. Agran currently
leads in points, threatening to take away the regional championship title from
Kuhns this year. As the season has progressed, Ray Freundt has come on strong,
racking up 3 wins in two weekends to stake his claim on the regional championship.
Factoring in drops, the points battle between the three is a wash, which should
make the home stretch of the season very exciting!
The battle mid pack has been even tighter, with multiple podium finishes between
Angel Blazquez, Dan Pina and Joel Karns. Sudhir Chhikara has shown steady improvement
this year, running as high as third in the points going into this last weekend, before
mechanical gremlins caused DNF’s, hurting his current points standings. All four
drivers have taken good advantage of open data sharing, and car set up help, and
driver coaching from the faster drivers in the group. Agran & Kuhns in particular,
have focused on making driver development a hallmark of the series, helping many
drivers enjoy new personal bests at most of the tracks the series has visited this
year.
Series sponsor Bennington Motorsports has also been instrumental in this effort –
recently having purchased a big screen TV setup to go over data and watch video
highlights from the day’s racing. Owner Nick Miller has rapidly expanded his
trackside support efforts this year. He and his crew now directly support 3 “arrive
and drive” racers, and the “Green Machine” rental car at every event, as well as
continuing to provide affordable trackside support, food, and drink for the rest of
the series. Having such comprehensive, series-specific support trackside is a unique
asset of 944 Spec racing in the Midwest.
The rest of the season promises to be even more exciting, with the close points
battles being played out on such marquee tracks as Mid-Ohio, and Road America,
with the National Championships coming in between those events, and being well-
subscribed by the Midwest crew of 944-Spec racers. In an off-track tragic accident,
we recently lost one of our own, Tom Stein. His fun-loving and helpful personality
will be missed, and the rest of the 944 Spec racers will run Tom’s #444 on their cars
for the rest of the season in his memory. Godspeed, Tom.
Thanks to Andrew Secrist for coming out to shoot the class and giving it some flair! The conventional pics below that were done by my wife. Good times at Autobahn!
And a few regular pics of the action:
