RACE: ArmsUp Motorsports June Sprints summary

"ArmsUp Motorsports suffers Heartbreak at June Sprints"

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. -- ArmsUp Motorsports driver Revere Greist suffered a heartbreaking defeat in the SCCA June Sprints held last weekend at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Greist had the car to beat all weekend taking the pole position in the twenty-five car Formula Continental field. After leading the race well past the halfway point; Greist was knocked out of contention after cutting a tire down from debris left on the track by an accident. With Greist out Kirk Kindsfater carried the torch for the seven car strong ArmsUp team scoring a sixth place result in Formula Continental.

The weekend started with the official test day on Thursday. While the layout of the track was the same, the ArmsUp group, which consisted of; Rick Balsley, John Dickmann, Revere Greist, Kirk Kindsfater, Pat Mc Ginnis, Chuck Moran, and Jim Victor, were treated to a much different Road America from the last time they had competed on the famed road course. The week previous to the June Sprints the NASCAR Nationwide series ran leaving a layer of unfamiliar rubber down which significantly affected the handling characteristics of the teams Van Diemens. With each test session the team was able to improve the performance of the cars headed into the double qualifying sessions.

The FC class ran together with Formula Ford at the Sprints making clear track in qualifying a premium item with 46 cars taking part in the sessions. Greist claimed the pole with a lap time of 2:13.371 in session one which would prove to be the fastest lap set by an FC car throughout the weekend. Next in line for ArmsUp Motorsports was Pat Mc Ginnis, the St. Louis driver wound up ninth on the grid after working though understeer problems for a part of the weekend. Kirk Kindsfater set the 11th quickest lap in his first appearance of the year. Team newcomer Chuck Moran was 14th in the long time club racers first time behind the wheel of a Van Diemen. Rick Balsley and Jim Victor lined up 17th and 18th respectively with John Dickmann 23rd on the grid.

When the green flag waived Greist took full advantage of his pole position and jumped out to an early lead. Greist had stretched his advantage to almost two seconds over the second place driver as the leaders caught the back of the Formula Ford Field. While Greist was leading both Mc Ginnis and Kindsfater had started moving forward with both drivers solidly up into the top ten before the midway point.

As the leaders working lapped traffic the second place car of Nike Coello was able to reel in the leader Greist. Coming into turn-14 the Waypoint Heath Innovations car was held up by a group of FF cars allowing Coello to close even further. Going into turn-5 Greist and Coello had a terrific breaking duel with Coello assuming the lead. Greist immediately gave chase and stalked Coello until Road America's high speed Kink. Somewhere during the previous lap a FF car had contact with the wall on the exit of the Kink leaving a debris field of parts. Greist just caught a piece of debris with his left front tire cutting it down and forcing the Madison, Wisconsin resident to pit, ending his chances at a race win. Later that lap Mc Ginnis, who had been running as high as sixth, would cut down a rear tire in the same debris field, ending his race in the Canada Corner gravel trap.

With both Greist and Mc Ginnis out Kindsfater assumed the lead of the ArmsUp drivers. Kindsfater, who had been fighting a brake issue most of the race, soldiered home to a sixth place finish. Rick Balsley and Jim Victor both drove smart races, avoiding the carnage in the Kink. Balsley took home his first June Sprints top-ten with a tenth place finish while Victor trailed his teammate across the line in 11th. Greist was able to pit and continue and finished 15th right in front of John Dickmann who came home 16th. New driver Chuck Moran suffered a suspension failure on the first lap of the race ending his day early in turn-eight.

"This was a tough weekend for us," commented team manager Brent Borland. "The NASCAR rubber threw us more of a curveball than we thought it would and we were kind-of playing catch up. All the drivers did a great job and kept working through the issues and we had a shot at putting four cars in the top-ten. In the race bad luck just caught us out with Revere and Pat, but these things happen. We'll keep working hard and come back with a better package for the Runoffs."

Jose Paredes was scheduled to make his first start of the year in the Formula Atlantic class. Unfortunately two uncharacteristic engine failures left him on the sidelines for the race.

ArmsUp Motorsports will be back in action this weekend. Kirk Kindsfater will make his second start of the year as the team travels to Kindsfater's home state of Colorado for the RMR National at the High Plains Raceway.

-source: armsUp motorsports