englishtown weather N - NON-points and '07 Top 16
T - Includes Pro 10.0
P,E - Includes Pro 8 Shootout and 11.50
16 - Top16 - NON-points
'08 National, VA
Featured Drivers
2008 East Coast Supercharging Corvette Challenge Event 4 Winner Ralph Savarese 2008 American Racing Headers Pro 8 Shootout Race 1 Winner Could be you 2008 Cartek Racing Pro 10.0 Race 2 Winner Wayne Keegan
2008 Vette Doctors Pro 11.50 Race 1 Winner John Panuzzo
07/14/07 - Englishtown, NJ -
Three in a row adds up to one new Champion in the Cartek RacingPro 10.0 Index presented by Silly Goose Racing Stables. Total domination of the series is the only way to the describe David Shen, his Dad David and the 1965 Corvette soon to be featured at the top of the Corvette Challenge home page. That is right, Shen has mathematically clinched the Championship or shall we say, Shenpionship taking the race win and number 2 qualifying position. More on points later, let's look at the race.
For today's Corvette Challenge bracket results click here.
Qualifying
We had nine Corvettes enter the class today. Neil Fine entered his first Pro 10.0 of the season with the new 402 combination but on the first pass of the Corvette Challenge he experienced an issue (could not get the car to change gears) and had to bail on the day without making a Pro 10.0 qualifying pass. The other eight Corvettes can feel safe that they would make the field if they kept the car together. Leading the field was Michael Conway with the '97 Torch Red Coupe holding the number one spot after the first round of qualifying with a 10.110 @ 134.96. Shen followed behind him in the second spot with a 10.127 @ 131.99. 2007 race 1 winner, Chris Young was in the third spot with the Blue '93 pushing a natural aspirated 434 cid sbc motor to a 10.258 @ 131.81. Wheel lifter Wayne Keegan took the 4th spot with a 10.263 @ 132.06 on a no nos pass in the '80 Corvette. Anger Management Tommy Michalkowski took his '97 Corvette into the 5 slot with a 10.980 @ 128.27. George Benson had his '07 Z06 that started its life blue and is now white and was loaded for bear but the clutch was not having it so he could only muster an 11.129 @ 127.87 for the 6th position. In the seventh spot was Troy Nikola, another Anger Management member and his combination is so new these are his test passes and he was in with an 11.389 @ 123.79. On the bump, was me, Edgar Perez, in the '99 Torch Red Coupe. My previous pass in the Corvette Challenge something went wrong and the car would not get out of self induced power reduction, and traction control so it was going nowhere but I had no time to diagnose so I made the pass to make it official and clocked a 13.465 @ 120.71 with no real launch.
Runner-up Michael Conway
Front, David Shen (dad), Louis Vernarelli, Champions and Winner David Shen, Edgar Perez, Runner-up Michael Conway, Paul Ziajski, (rear) Troy Nikola, Tommy Michalkowski
Race 4 Winner David Shen
Come round two of qualifying the top two spots did not change either in position or ET so Conway and Shen remain 1 and 2. Keegan put a little shot of nitrous into the car and bettered himself up to the third spot with a 10.182 @ 134.79. Young improved his ET to 10.203 but was bumped to fourth by Keegan's pass. Benson got a better pass out of the failing clutch and moved up to the 5th position with a 10.633 @ 133.57. Michalkowski also improved his ET from 10.980 to 10.644 but lost a spot to Benson falling to 6th. Michalkowski by the way was quick to help out with my issue and found that I had cut a wire for the abs module when my serpentine belt came loose so he patched it for me and reset the computer codes and I was back in action. I was able to improve on ET, though still spinning the tires, placing myself in the seventh spot with an 11.108 @ 124.52. This left Nikola on the bump as he was not able to improve his ET from the first qualifier.
Round 1
First pair out of the gate was Conway (1) v. Benson (5). Benson pushed the .500 pro tree hard and left too early handing the immediate win to Conway with a -.101 light. Conway was on with a .090 tree and backed off a little with a 10.562 @ 109.22 not risking any breakout that would cost him any breakout penalty points. Conway's goal, other than racing in the field, was to try and qualify for PC Richard and Son show that only the top 2 racers in this class would go to. Chris Young came today holding that second spot and Conway wanted it. He had done his part. Young (4) would also do his part to hold the spot when his opponent Nikola (8) could not make the pass and Young was on his way to round two with a 10.209 @ 131.13. Shen (2) v. Michalkowski (6) was a little closer than expected when Tommy cut a super .014 reaction time to Shen's .089. Shen had too much power though as he made up the RT difference and took the win with a 10.299 @ 131.13 to Tommy's 10.681 @ 129.83. The final pair was another one of the anything can happen anytime race that I always seem to be a part of. In fact, several drivers call racing me in the Pro 10.0 the "kiss of death". I (7) would face Keegan (3) in the round. I went over to wish him luck and tell him I was going "deep" to try and cut a good light since I had nothing for him ET-wise. As we went around the wall all seemed good. I pull up the official and wait for Keegan to follow. He does not but I figure he is keeping it cool. Then I get waived to proceed to the water, but no Keegan. I open the window and said "what about Keegan" and he says he has a problem and it would be a broken bye run. Sorry Wayne. Turns out his starter had failed and could not start the car. As I left the line the car hooked then immediately broke traction so I had to lift and only ran 11.784 @ 122.51 for the win.
Round 2
So now in the pits, Conway is freaking out, sort of, because he gets paired with me. Though he did not recall at the time, he had beaten me before but also had suffered several freak losses to me so he wired the second stage...just in case. Shen (2) v. Young (4) would be first though. Remember Young is looking for that "Wednesday night" spot and needs to keep pace with Conway. Shen got lane choice and sent Young to the right. The right lane has been less than desirable the last weeks amongst our Pro drivers so Young felt at a loss. He got out first with a .145 tree to Shen's .213 but immediately lost traction. Shen would take the win with a 10.360 @ 129.97 while after running two straight 10.20s in the left lane, Young could only muster a 12.922 @ 140.94. it was obvious Shen backed off a little to avoid the breakout. So now the stage was set for Conway to take the spot but he had to get past his "nemesis" first. He had to get the monkey off his back. Conway (1) would have to get past Bad Luck Redgar (7) for the win. I went in deep again and the tree came on and we hit the gas. Conway was gone! He left the line with a .005, (why Mike...why)? Me, you guessed, right lane and I lit up the tires on the hit despite Michalkowski attempt to find me a good spot to hook. There was none. I finished the pass with a 15.540. Conway was across the trap with an 11.345 @ 87.15 obviously waiting for me to catch him which did not happen. Conway had clinched the second spot in the standing and thus the invitation to race on Wednesday August 8 to represent the Corvette Pro 10.0 and could not be any happier. The outcome of the final was irrelevant to him right now.
Final Round
The Shen's are a very methodical team. Always doing the right thing to the '65 to make it go down the track. Round after round and win after win, they are on top of that car like the true champions they are about to become. I did not know it at the time but a win in this round over Conway would put enough distance between them that they could not be caught regardless of what happens the next race. They stay home and win or show up, qualify last and breakout first round and still win the championship. Even not qualifying would not provide enough of a gap for Conway or Young to catch him. So this round meant a lot more to the Shen team. So you would not have noticed that by the reaction time. Both were very conservative. Conway took the tiny edge with a .235 to .236. Conway's Corvette, on two stages of nitrous has gone mid 9's so he was well out in front when he hit the brakes to avoid the breakout and gave up the stripe. Shen got to the stripe first with a 10.236 @ 129.28 and Conway was 10.372 @ 121.20. Totally unbeknownst to him at the time, Conway had lost his shot a championship. It did not matter as he was happy with the appearance in the Wednesday show. Congratulations and on the super consistent performance of the Shen team. Father and son racing together, getting in trouble together with the significant others and winning together. That is what it is all about. Great job men!
Congratulate the Shenpion, drivers and sponsors on the Corvette Forum
Awards and Payouts Today
Winner David Shen earned a payout of $100 in addition to the winner trophy
Runner-up Michael Conway earned a payout of $50 in addition to the runner-up trophy
Number 1 Qualifier Michael Conway received a plaque for his 10.110 qualifying run
David Shen received the Best Reaction Time plaque for the best winning reaction time in the first round at .089
2007 Points Standings
David Shen took a commanding lead in the points with Chris Young failing to get out of the first round and capturing his second event win of the season. He now leads by 65 points over Wayne Keegan and 66 over Chris Young in third. Of note, the top two drivers will be invited to compete at the PC Richard and Sons show in August and it looks like Shen is a shoe in but Keegan and Young will have to battle it out and Conway can play in the picture as well. The leaders after our fourth race will be invited. Mark Shaw and Alan Eckert lost quite a bit of ground today as neither could make it to the race.
Our next Pro 10.0 race will be October 20, 2007 with gates opening at 11 AM. Now who is going to play spoiler and stop the Shenpion from winning 4 in a row? Be there!
Videos
July 14, 2007 East Coast Supercharging Corvette Challenge won by Tony Cupolo and Cartek Racing Pro 10.0 Index won by David Shen
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