Midwest AI/X Report Autobahn Country Club 2009

Family day 2009 was once again held at Autobahn Country Club in Joliet Illinois.  The young kids had fun off track in the bounce house, and the old “kids” had fun on track.   Saturday qualifying had Chris Griswold back with his DSS / Maximum Motorsports Mustang on top of AIX with a 1.32.016, followed by Jeff Henderson.  John Miksula had a mechanical failure in Saturday practice with his timing gear that sidelined him for the weekend.  The AI pole had newcomer Ryan Winchester take the pole with a 1.37.815, just .023 ahead of Dave Algozine in his CJ Erickson Mustang in second.  The remaining order was Steve Post, Mark Adams, Jason Lakomiak, and TJ Bain.  Matt Erickson missed morning qualifying and would have to start in the back of the field.

Race one would have the AIX car of Griswold take off at the start and never look back, lowering the track record of 1.33.0 for the first of 3 separate times with a 1.32.122.  The AI battle was much more heated as Algozine took the lead into turn one over Winchester at the start.  They battled closely for the entire race but Algozine would stay ahead to take the win in AI.  Matt Erickson battled back to third from the back of the field and set fast race lap of 1.36.868 during his charge to get on the podium.  The remainder of the order had Post in fourth, followed by Lakomiak and Adams.  AI Points leader TJ Bain had a motor ventilation issue (pieces of motor everywhere) in qualifying retiring his #134 car for the weekend.

Race two again had Griswold take the win in AIX while lowering the track record to 1.31.298.  The field was positioned according to finish order of race one.  This race would have Erickson get a great start and get by Winchester at the start.  Erickson would then battle the entire race with Algozine getting side by side on a number of occasions.  Algozine would hold him off the entire race, barely.  Erickson would battle back and get inside of Algozine in the last corner, could not get by at the line. The margin of victory ended up to be 2 feet, a mere .116 seconds at the line, great race guys!  Winchester finished third and set fast race lap with a 1.37.013, followed by Lakomiak and Post battling overheating issues from debris in his radiator.

Sunday’s race again had Griswold take off and dominate AIX, lowering the track record for the third time with a 1.31.167 on his way to the AIX win.  Fisher and Henderson rounded out the field.  Algozine, Winchester and Erickson would once again have a great battle in AI.  Algozine once again took the lead into turn six over Winchester.  Erickson would battle back through the entire field to get by Winchester late in the race for second, and battle Algozine for the win. Erickson would set fast AI lap of the weekend during the race with a 1.35.902. Algozine would hold on to win once again, this time by .691 seconds, followed by Erickson, Winchester, Post, Bain and Lakomiak.

Autobahn Country Club once again put on a great show with some great close racing.  Even the kids had fun with the arts and crafts tent.  Our next event will be on August 8th and 9th in South Beloit Illinois.  Come out and watch!