Season 1 of 2009 has concluded so while we patiently wait for Season 2 to begin it’s time to reflect on the goals of last season. These were :
- Finish Mazda series with more than 800 points
- Get a win in the Mazda
- Compete in at least eight racing weeks with the Silverado truck
- Lead at least a single lap in the oval discipline (it STILL eludes me!)
- Achieve a B 4.99 rating in both road and oval disciplines
- Have an ‘incident per race’ stat of less than 2.0
- Finish the season with an iRating above 3000
Looking at these goals, I had a pretty good season. First up I hit the objective of getting > 800 points in the Mazda series by finishing with 890. I also crossed off objective 2 by picking up a (somewhat gifted) win at VIR Grand West. It was gifted in a sense as I benefited from a low strength of field, otherwise I’d have not won for sure.
I also did OK with the oval objectives – I raced in 11 of the 12 Truck weeks and even led a lap at Las Vegas. I even led the last lap there to pick up my first (and only) Oval win!
I failed with the last two objectives – wasn’t able to maintain the 4.99 SR in Oval (although road SR was a firm 4.99+), and also my inc. per race fell above 2.0 during the season. Again, my road performance was fine, but racing the Trucks kills my safety rating, I was picking up 4x hits every single race.
Series Overview
Star Mazda Championship – 2009 Series 1
I had a decent time in the Mazda this year, but now that I’ve run a season I don’t think I’ll be spending too much time coming back to it. I don’t really like the ‘feel’ of the car and the way the car handles when you are really reaching the limits of grip.
The new tracks were welcome – it was fun to race at Road America and Silverstone for the first time, and I really loved the change of style with the two oval rounds (Milwaukee and Phoenix).
In the end I did ‘OK’, finishing 26 of 96 in Division 1 with 972 points. Picking up a race win at VIR Grand West was probably the highlight of the season.
Star Mazda Championship Season Results
Chevy Silverado Championship – 2009 Series 1
I enjoyed this series much more than I expected. I wasn’t able to get a handle on making my own setups (still out to sea when it comes to doing this) but I didn’t have a problem finding setups from other generous members and really having a good time. I had quite a few exciting and strategic races and only the constant 4x hits put a downer on the season. Almost every race, right on cue, I’d pick up at least one contact hit or phantom incident that affected my SR.
About midway through the season it was looking like I’d be able to get a top 5 finish in division 3 and in the end I just about managed it, finishing 5th of 176 in my division with a total of 858 points. Very happy with the seasons racing (especially that win I took at Las Vegas!)
Chevy Silverado Championship Season Results
Skip Barber Race Series – 2009 Series 1
I wasn’t planning on running a full season in the Skip Barber but once I had a few races done I felt compelled to. In the end, although I only raced in 8 weeks (so no drop weeks in affect) I actually scored more points in 2009 than I did last season! I scored 966 (last season was 933 points). I finished 23 / 102 in division 1.
The season had quite a few highlights, and some very close and clean races. Absolute highlight was probably the 99 entrant epic race during week 11, at Sebring. I’ll remember that for a long time!
Skip Barber Race Series Season Results
Season 1 Charts
Safety rating was perfect for the road licence, pegged at B 4.99. It was looking good for the oval licence too, until I picked up 16 incidents in a single race at Bristol in the Trucks.
iRating progression was good in both disciplines too, gradual increases throughout the season for road, and good early increases for oval. The oval rating looks to have levelled out, we’ll see how it changes going into the next season.
