Awesome weekend guys, bloody cold but awesome all the same.

My weekend kind of started the week before when Todd fell off the wagon and decided to do another line. That coupled with Mark's return to AI glory, Stuart, Bert, Corey and Rusty we had a decent field of 7 entered for round 2. Our best AI field since Hallet 2018 and really happy to see the car count not only back to decent numbers but looking like it's growing (more to come there folks) #makingAIgreatagain

Saturday qualifying kicked off in near perfect fast-lap weather conditions. I won the race to best grid spot and held the field up on a slow out lap to clear traffic for a fast couple laps. The Purple People Eater felt great and my second lap yielded a 1:19.627 absolutely my best lap ever at Cresson. Awesome P1 for Race 1. Mark's first session back saw a 1:21.091 and right on pace in P2. Corey stepped his game up with a 1:22.110 and looked to have kicked his fan belt gremlin in the butt for P3. Stuart was right in the mix also with P4 and Todd, Rusty and Bert all right there too. Here's my Qual lap vid straight from our YouTube channel (hint hint) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhnj3_3n8qc

Stage set for an awesome Race 1. Well so we thought.....

Race 1 standing start, Fire Truck, Fire Truck, Flying Truck, Flying Start. Well as it turned out, not so flying start. Flag dude in the Big Bend corner station must have had "Hey Macarena" playing from his corner station juke box, just as I thought he was going to drop the green he started dancing some odd jig and I just sat there mesmerized by his gyrations........and then there went Bert with a rooster tail of mud and grass in his wake.....and we're off. Well some of us anyway. Mark was motionless and as captivated as me by the flag dude's dance, Corey wanted a closer look but found Mark's right rear bumper. Corey made it clear of the track and had to sit out the race from the inside braking zone of Big Bend with a bent left spindle. The rest of us got going before we got cleaned up by the CMC field to chase down the rampaging Bert, who now had a fair old jump on the rest of us. Bert's 1st place run got him all the way to Little Bend before the attraction of soil and sod got the better of him leaving me leading Mark through the remainder of Lap 1. We were into ST traffic by lap 2 and with Mark hot on my tail it was to be a battle of traffic management strategy. Booking in laps in the 1:20.low with traffic the AI lap record looked to be up for grabs too if either Mark or I could manage a clean lap. Lap 6 we came up on the 3rd Gen ST4 car braking into Rattle Snake, Mark found the inside and executed a great pass for the lead. Chasing him down I over-drove the car and got it out of shape in Wagon Wheel and the rest was history. Huge congrats to Mark turning a new track record 1:19.914 for the win, me in 2nd and Stuart in 3rd. Here's my Race 1 vid straight from our YouTube channel (hint hint) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPUY_evKVXU

Race 2 Standing Start. You heard it right, standing start. I got a cracking start to lead into Rattle Snake. One look in the mirror to see Covini and Mark two-wide through turn 1 allowed me enough space to make some ground on them by Ricochet. Mark came out the better for his battle with Todd but I had enough ground at the end of lap 1 to hold the lead. Me in 1st, Mark 2nd and Todd 3rd with Bert hot on his tail. Here's my Race 2 vid straight from our YouTube channel (hint hint) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLMVN84O7Ls

Saturday evening fire was big to fend off the cold but the crowd was small, limited only to those with sufficient diameter nuts to brave the conditions. To be clear, John, Daniel and I.......big nuts. Liney has close to the right size nuts but no staying power, with similar stories for Bert and Steven. Everyone else.....big girls blouse.

Race 3 Standing Start (they all start out that way at Cresson). Me to the inside and Mark to the outside with Corey and Todd second row, Stuart and Rusty 3rd row and Bert 4th row. Bit of wheel spin off the line this time but managed to lead into Rattlesnake with Corey and Mark two wide through 1, 2 and into 3 before Mark's inside line got the better of Corey to fill in behind me. Unfortunately Mark had some engine problems, possibly related to a header issue, and had to pull off near to the end of the race leaving me 1st, Corey 2nd and Todd 3rd. Big shout out to Rusty who picked up 4 seconds from his Saturday times, imagine what he could have done with a Saturday night fireside whiskey..... My Race 3 vid is uploading to our YouTube channel as I type this (hint hint)

Race 4 Rolling Start, inverted field. Mark was out as too was Bert both with engine issues from Race 3. I started from Row 3 behind Corey and managed to get around the 521 off the line and alongside Rusty heading into Big Bend. Both Rusty and Stuart took the inside through the Bend leaving plenty of room on the outside to sneak through. I filed in behind Todd entering Rattlesnake and enjoyed the orange rear of the Continental Challenge veteran car through to Little Bend taking an inside pass for the lead. Corey's car suffered a gearbox issue on lap 4 leaving him sidelined out of contention. Todd and Stuart duked it out for the silver and bronze podium steps with the final results Me 1st, Todd 2nd and Stuart 3rd. My Race 4 vid is nearly finished editing to upload to our YouTube channel (hint hint)

All in all a great weekend of American Iron racing. Stoked to have both Todd, Mark and Stuart back in the field and thinking about Eagles in a few week's time. Corey had what I think is likely his best weekend of AI racing yet and really good to see Bert and Rusty making some solid progress.