Elkhart Lake Rolex 08/07/2001   Saturday Practice & Qualifying   Saturday morning practice began with a torrid exchange of times among the top Prototypes. The Field / Field / Gavin Lola was again on top, but moving into second place was the Robinson R & S - Judd. Just as quickly it took a short cut back to the pits after dropping a load of fluid from the center section. It was none too serious as the car returned to the track after quick servicing. Their delay allows James Weaver to reassert top spot. The close exchange between the top two GT Porsches continues, Randy Pobst a tad above the Buckler GT3RS. The Mutlimatic Lola has now moved into the frame for SRPII honors. The team has had virtually no testing since their fine showing at Le Mans in 2000 and are now in a tight battle of fast times with fellow Canadians in the PorscheHaus Lola. The Orion Motorsports Mustang is now challenging the 09 Corvette for best time in AGT. The Saleen is doing commendable job of turning in dramatically fast laps, despite having no one to play with in GTS other than the G & W Jennifer Fund turbo Porsche. Thanks to Tim Crete for reminding me. The Speedvision World Challenge is sanctioned by the SCCA, not PSCR. GARRA does operate the Grand-Am Cup, the near equivalent to Speedvision, and the race which is being held this weekend at Road America. I think that this is important to point out. As I have stated, these two "Showroom Stock" series provide some of the best sports car racing in North America these days. The last pre-qualifying free session winds down with Weaver about .3 seconds faster than Gavin. All of the Prototypes are well within tolerances for a good competitive race. By the way, the Robinson car here is the old style Mk III, not the C. There were two big dramas in this session. Scott Maxwell set the quickest time within an increasingly competitive SRPII class, just before being pipped at the flag by Andy Lally. The other is that GTS seems to be down, at least momentarily, to only the Saleen as the Marshall / Wagner / Polk 911 GT2 sustained some damage in a spin at Turn 1. James Weaver made the early charge in qualifying, but was soon bettered by Didier Theys in the Ferrari-Judd. Jon Field was running third before pitting. Scott Maxwell surged into not only the lead in SRPII, but as high as 4th overall. Jim Pace is doing fine with 5th overall in the seldom used Kudzu. Dorsey Schroeder puts in a hot one with the no. 20 and passes the no. 16's time. Weaver doesn't hold back for long and re-takes pole with time for one lap left. The final order is Weaver (R & S-Ford), Theys (Ferrari-Judd), Schroeder (R & S-Ford), Jon Field (Lola-Judd), Baldwin (R & S-Judd), Pace (Kudzu-Mazda), Maxwell (SRPII, Lola-Nissan), Lally (Lola-Nissan), St. Jacques (Lola-Nissan), Roussel (Norma-BMW), Bucknum (Pilbeam-Nissan), Devlin (Lola-Nissan), Bentley (R & S-Ford), Bingham (Saleen). The lone GTS runner was placed into this group. Weaver's time was 1:59.195, with Theys at 59.835, Schroeder at 00.063, Field at 00.745, Baldwin a long way down at 03.263. There is about .029 between Maxwell and Lally. Kevin Doran: “We almost had them [Dyson] this time but Weaver has a knack of cranking out one last faster lap, and he did. I think he thrives on that kind of pressure. We’ve been running faster and faster each day, our grip is good now so tomorrow we will give everyone a run for the money.” In the GT / AGT session Randy Pobst took the early lead but was soon beaten by Kevin Buckler. Ken Bupp had the early edge in AGT, but Craig Conway not only ended up with the fastest AGT time but also best among the two-class group. Final AGT / GT order: 09, Conway, AGT Corvette 15, Pobst, Porsche 66, Buckler, Porsche 00, Pelke, AGT Mustang 11, Bupp, AGT Camaro 54, Borcheller, BMW V-8 81, Law, Porsche 46, Hitt, AGT Corvette [co-driver = Jerry Thompson, by the way] 82, Greer, AGT Corvette 50, Stanton, Porsche 34, Pumpelly, Porsche 61, Longhi, Porsche 57, Collin, Porsche 75, Policastro, Jr., Porsche 43, Baron, Porsche 39, Papadopoulos, Porsche 9, Bunting, BMW 98, Ave, Mazda 10, Fairbanks, BMW [repaired after Kopperl's "learning experience" this a.m.] 67, Dan Jones, Porsche The Mosler and the 58 Mazda Miata did not run. Janos Wimpffen Copyright ©2000-©2023 TotalMotorSport