Jeff Wood brought his reliable black Mustang to the first Great Lakes event at Mid-Ohio, unchanged from last year — and took the pole. During the race, he took the lead at the start, put down consistent fast laps and kept the lead for the win. Several racers experienced trouble at the tricky, quick elevation change of Madness: Mickey Remen, David Willoughby and Erik Sjoblom.
Sjoblom was the first to go off during the start of the race, but recovered quickly and finished fifth. Remen and Willoughby’s race ended in Madness. Eric Norris stayed clear of trouble, put in good laps, and finished second. Robin Burnett followed in third.
CMC lined up on the front straight for a standing start. Derek Wright and Kent Owens took off from the pack at once. Wright stayed ahead to get the win and Owens came in second. Michael Gerowitz and Joseph Sullivan had a close nose-to-tail battle going on for a few laps. Then Spencer Caudle made a nice pass at the end of the back straight on Gerowitz. Caudle then passed Sullivan and came in third.
The rain came down Sunday resulting in large flows of water crossing the back straight during practice and qualifying. Drivers speculated the rain would pass by the start of the race, but agreed the track would still be very wet. Sjoblom, who was on the pole, just tried to convince everyone he had never driven in the rain. At race start, the rain was down to a mist, the track was wet and the pavement was slick in a way that only Mid-Ohio can be, but everyone had a rain setup for the race.
The race featured a great battle between Sjoblom and Dean Martin. Though they were in different classes, the rain evened the classes up. Martin used lapped traffic to pass Sjoblom and he kept the lead until the end. With a drying track, the lap times started to go down, but nowhere near Saturday’s times.
CMC had another great rain battle between Kent Owens and Spencer Caudle in a Pontiac vs. Camaro showdown. They both drove the rain line all the way around the track, hitting every piece of pavement but the dry line. Both found their way off the pavement during the race, but Owens kept it on the black stuff at the end and took the win. Caudle came in second, with Peter Loftus in third.
