After a 2-year hiatus due to Covid-19, 2022 saw the return of winter indoor carpet on road racing for the NORA club at the Skagit fairgrounds in Western Washington state. The club hosted 11 races at the temporary facility, featuring high grip black carpet on a subfloor. Racers were eager to get back to competitive carpet racing and battle in the winter points series with 8 of the 11 races counting toward the overall season championship.
I chose to compete in one of most popular classes; 21.5T Stock Touring Car, piloting my Xray X4'23.
The season championship came down to the wire. Through 10 races I was dead tied with Jeff Jenkins Jr. (also driving an Xray X4'23) at 344 points each. The scoring format meant that who TQ'd the final race would not matter, the driver that finished ahead of the other in the final main event would be the season champion!
(click to enlarge)
In the first qualifier of race 11, Jeff would take the TQ position as I struggled to find the steering needed for the tight and technical layout. In Q2, Jeff would again lead the heat from the start. In the final minute, I was able to close the narrow lead by running some fast laps and take over the lead to secure the TQ by a narrow margin. Starting from P1 in the final main event of the season, I was able to drive a clean and protective line and settle into a good pace after early pressure. I was able to maintain the lead a few seconds ahead of Jeff and win the race main, as well as the overall season point's series. Through my 8 counter events I was able to secure 7 TQ's, 5 first-place finishes, and 2 second-place finishes.
It was a great indoor season, and excellent to see a nice rebound in attendance following the pandemic closure. A massive thanks to the NORA club and all of the volunteers. Without their hard work, we wouldn’t have such a high quality racing program.
Now it's only a few weeks until the weather will hopefully lets us kick off the outdoor asphalt on road racing season in the Pacific Northwest.
(click to enlarge)
21.5 stock results:
1. Peter Robinson - XRAY X4
2. Jeff Jenkins Jr - XRAY X4
3. Jeff Jenkins Sr
