The Cobras returned to Hyperfest at Summit Point for the
fourth race of the East Coast Championship filled with
enough story plots to rival a daytime soap opera. At the top
of the list was whether Tony Buffomante and Paul Kaiser
would continue their strong runs fresh off the professional
circuit. Brian Cates has had an uncharacteristic up-and-down
season but came into the race as the ECS points leader. Tony
Johnson, second in the ECS points and nearly completing his
first year with the series, has shown strong performance and
collected several wins already. Dan Elam would see if his
new car finally had the gremlins sorted while Bryan Dobyns
stopped playing with his GTM long enough to see if he could
get the old Bondurant test car to run cool and fast. Add in
John George and Al Kaiser working off their provisional
licenses, Carl Thompson as the newcomer from another series,
and Rick Davis bringing his new car and entering HPDE-1 and
the 10,000 Hyperfest spectators weren’t sure where to look.
Buffomante showed he had forgotten nothing when he got in
the Cobra and promptly ran the fastest lap. His Grand-Am
teammate Paul Kaiser was not so lucky as his engine promptly
seized and ended his weekend. Cates, Johnson, Elam, and
Dobyns all ran quick, but were still well behind.
One hallmark of Buffomante’s incredibly run been good
planning and some luck in that problems never ruined a race
session. But that string finally came to an end when engine
problems in qualifying left him with a sick car for
qualifying and the race. Cates earned the pole for the
standing start, but had problems when the flag fell and Elam
came up to take the lead. Further back it was Dobyns picking
up a bunch of spots with Johnson and Buffomante also in the
mix. Elam and Cates were just inches behind the overall
leading car and just ahead of an AIX car determined to get
by. That left them to contest nearly every turn with each
other pulling side by side through various corners while
still looking for ways to attack and still defend from
behind. When Thompson brought out a caution in turn one it
was Cates keeping the lead for an entire lap and Elam
settled in inches from his bumper and pulling away from
everyone but Dobyns.
Further back it was the rookies in an incredible battle that
was eventually won by Kaiser. Johnson made sure that Dobyns
didn’t get away as he set a new track record.
Hyperfest means big crowds and the race officials were a
little jumpy with the flags. Elam finally got a run on Cates
in turn 10 and used the draft to slingshot out as they came
into turn 1 where they were promptly met by a red flag which
ended the race. Cates earned his fourth win of the season by
virtue of having passed start-finish just a few feet ahead
of Elam. More ominously, it marked the first time that
Buffomante had ever finished worse than second.
On Sunday the crowds were smaller, but the racing was
probably even better. Thompson had his tranny fail.
Fortunately, Cates had borrowed a tranny from Dave Riha at
BeaveRun and the replacement tranny was installed by
Thompson’s crew so fast that he didn’t even miss a session.
This time Buffomante was back on top as he earned the pole.
Cates would start beside him, but somewhat considerably
slower in his qualifying time. Behind them were the two fast
AIX cars, but the rest of the top seven cars were all
Cobras.
For this standing start it was Buffomante and Cates in a
dead heat drag race all the way down the straight. Elam
jammed Johnson to the side and muscled in between the two
AIX cars in an attempt to join the party with the leaders.
Not only did the Mustangs and Elam go into turn one three
wide, they went through the entire turn three wide. Later
one of the AIX drivers commented “There wasn’t an inch to
give and all three of us needed that inch.”
After the first lap it was Cates in the lead, but Buffomante
all over him. For the next five laps it was a train of
Cates, Buffomante, the AIX cars, and Elam all running nose
to tail. Dobyns got by Johnson but with his car overheating
everyone knew it was only a matter of time before he had to
back off.
With the AIX cars slowing him up, Elam finally made a strong
move to get by and join Cates and Buffomante. That turned
out to be the wrong decision since he couldn’t pull off the
move and ended up losing precious seconds he could never
make up. By now slower traffic was starting to get in the
way and Buffomante and Cates put on a clinic by using lapped
traffic to their advantage – all while pushing back and
forth for the lead.
Overheating Dobyns began to close the gap to the leaders
and, once again, it was Johnson sitting in position on his
tail. Dobyns would win the battle by ignoring his
temperature gauge. But it is hard to overlook Johnson’s
strong results in less than a year of racing.
Summit Point’s long straightaway makes drafting important
and for the final lap it was Buffomante pulling out and
drawing even with Cates. Just like the start, the two
crossed the line side by side. In all probability, whomever
who could win the late brake contest into turn one would win
the race. “I lost,” Buffomante later laughed recounting how
he slid off the end just enough to let Cates get away.
All throughout the pack the racing was great. Johnson has
showed incredible improvement and is now a potential
front-runner. Both Kaisers have already showed they can run
fast and George and Thompson were faster than previous
rookies. If they can avoid car trouble, Dobyns and Elam
appear to also be a threat in any race. Cates now has six
season wins and everyone knows that the Buffomante team will
rise to the occasion.
When it comes to the ECS championship the story isn’t as
exciting. With only Cates and Johnson actually running all
the races, Cates has a significant lead and seems to be in
the driver’s seat for the Championship. Elam is technically
in the race as well, but realistically only if Cates fails
to start one of the Mid-Ohio races will he fail to win.
Clearly the east coast drivers are in form for Nationals and
next they finish the ECS season at Mid-Ohio in August for a
little practice time. It would seem the best bet for the
west coast guys to win anything would be bingo at the senior
center
Write up Courtesy of Dan Elam |
