PSG Event #3 - A Long Day with Few Runs, though the Competition is Fierce as Ever

Perfect weather greeted 5 of the PSG drivers present for the July 22^nd autocross at Plainfield, CT, the 3^rd official PSG Championship event. After suiting up, walking the course, and analyzing the aging pavement, Gus Lin, Phil Makaronis, Matt Gleiner, Jeffrey Guerrera, and Henry Tran lined up and set off for what turned out to be one of the slowest days of Fairfield County autocross yet this season; after run 2, the course was shut down for almost two hours to repair damage to the tarmac, thus giving each driver only three runs for the day.

Coming in first by an extremely narrow margin was ‘Sensei’ Gus’s 2006 White Evolution IX, taking the A-Stock 2^nd place trophy but earning the 1^st place PSG title just out of reach from Phil Makaronis. Phil placed 1^st in E-Street Prepared, and finished behind Gus in the PSG ranks by a mere .012 seconds (PAX adjusted time). Coming in 1^st in Rookie Stock and 3^rd in the PSG ranks was Matt Gleiner, also earning rookie FTD, ahead of his Rookie rival Jeffrey Guerrera, placing 4^th in the PSG event and 4^th in Rookie Stock. Henry Tran runs extremely impressive times, but like Jeff, hit a cone on his best run setting his ‘with-cone’ time behind the PSG pack. Henry placed 6^th in B-Street Prepared and 5^th in the PSG ranks for the day.

Referring to the 2^nd PSG points event, Gus Lin aided Jeffrey Guerrera when Jeff managed to strip lug nuts, preventing him from passing tech inspection, however ironically enough, at the end of the day, Gus had a stripped stud that turned with the lug nut, preventing the removal of his V710! Luckily the PSG friendly shop owner Kyle Bishop, owner of Bishop Motorsports (www.bishopmotorsports.com) had offered to fix Gus’s car. After three hours of chiseling the lug and stud, the rim came off, and the necessary repairs were made to get Gus back on the road.

Phil Makaronis is, as usual, placing in the top of the ranks. Phil’s consistency is rather impressive, and his skills are quite obvious when observing his smooth driving habits.

Matt is either getting used to the ECU issue plaguing his throttle response or has managed to work around it; he continues to get faster and faster each event. Matt is also getting acquainted with his new set of Toyo Proxes RA-1’s, so from here, Matt can only get faster.

Jeff was extremely surprised when the times were posted, as his time would have put him in 2^nd in Rookie Stock, however a late and unannounced cone call was made, setting him into the 4^th place position. Another interesting note: for the overall Fairfield Rookie championship points, Jeff and Matt are tied for 1^st place with three events remaining in the season.

Though in last place in the PSG ranks, nobody in the PSG club would dare expect Henry to stay there, in fact, if Henry cleans up his runs just enough to prevent tapping cones, he could pull directly in front of the pack. Keep at it Henry!