The first Midwest / Great Lakes Region crossover for 2009 once again had a very large turnout.  The AIX qualifying had Chris Griswold and his DSS Powered Maximum Motorsport Mustang on point with a 1.14.894, followed by Elliot Fisher in the Bravo Condoms Mustang, Bill Collins and John Miksula.  TJ Bain and his Pontiac Firebird took his first pole in AI with a 1.18.202 on a slightly damp track.  Bain took his first ever pole position Matt Erickson and his CJ Erickson Mustang clocked in second in AI followed by Dave Algozine, Todd Rogers, Mark Adams, Steve Post and Wade Gagich.

The when the green flag dropped to start the race, Fisher spun the tires letting Griswold take the lead into the first corner in AIX.  That would be the deciding factor in the race as Griswold slowly pulled away from Fisher throughout the race.  Both Collins and Miksula retired early with mechanical issues.

The AI race was much more contested as Algozine took the early lead over Bain and Erickson going into turn one. Algozine lead for 8 laps until Bain got alongside of Algozine when  he bobbled a bit going into turn 9 which allowed Bain to get inside for the drag race into turn one.  The lighter car of Bain took the corner slotting ahead of Algozine.  That lasted for a few laps as Bain judged some lapped traffic poorly which allowed Algozine to get by again for the lead.  The last lap lead to a bit of chaos as Bain went off in turn 10 with 1 lap to go and touched the guardrail.  It took him some time to get back on and going again and he crossed the finish line even after Griswold took his cool down lap.  What Bain did not realize is that Griswold had lapped Erickson, the 3rd place car, with one lap to go.  So as long as Bain crossed the finish line, he would take 2nd place behind Algozine because he did one more lap that Erickson.  Even more confusion had timing and scoring showing Bain as the winner.  It turns out Algozines’ alternator died, so his transponder did not hit the last 5 laps and his car died on the cool down lap.  Once the confusion was straightened out the results had Algozine in first, followed by Bain, Erickson, Gagich, Adams, Post, and Rogers.  Fast race laps had Griswold in AIX with a 1.14.523, Algozine with a 1.18.550.

Sunday again had Griswold on the AIX pole with a 1.14.602, followed by Fisher.  Algozine took the pole position in AI with a 1.17.697, followed closely by Bain, Erickson, Adams, Rogers, Gagich and Post.

The AIX race on Sunday would prove to be the best AIX race in the Midwest in a number of years.  Fisher put some new Hoosier R6’s on his Mustang to challenge Griswold.  The start of the race was much closer today as Fisher did not spin this time.  Fisher got about a car length on Griswold going into turn one but Griswold closed back up under braking.  The inside line proved to give the advantage to Griswold as he slotted ahead of Fisher going into turn two.  Griswold would gap Fisher a bit between turns 2 and 10, but Fisher would come screaming back down the straights and close up again with an advantage in straight line speed into turn one.  The first five laps had both the cars running consistently in the 1.14’s. The two AIX cars battled it out as they worked through lapped traffic.  Eventually Griswold cleared some GTS cars that Fisher could not get through cleanly so the gap increased to a few seconds.  The flex plate on Griswold’s car would eventually break and rip the main seal on the engine, causing the car to smoke on right hand turns (which is almost all of them).  Fisher then smelled blood but could not close in the last few laps and finished just a couple seconds behind at the line.  Fisher took fast lap by 0.122 seconds with a 1.14.458.

The AI battle had Algozine on point again with Bain all over him once again with Erickson right behind him.  The three would battle very closely the entire race until Algozine ventilated his oil pan with a rod going into turn 7.  Bain would then take over the lead of the race for his first ever AI win.  Erickson was very close challenging him but could not get by and took second place, followed by Rogers, Gagich, Adams, Algozine.  Algozine took fast lap with a 1.17.797 before his engine exploded.

The next race is Blackhawk Farms Raceway in South Beloit Illinois on June 13 & 14th.  We hope to see you there.