# Midwest Series Race #4 Cincinnati, OH



## onefastdude (Nov 6, 2002)

The 4th race of the Midwest Series was in Cincinnati, Ohio this past weekend. This is the 40th year of the Midwest Series event, the longest running RC event in history. Tri-State Racers hosted this event and the weather was going to be unusually mild. 15 degrees cooler than normal for the year in the mid to low 70’s. Attendance had been down for the year from the previous races do to the economy, but this race was looking to exceed the previous attendance records other than Toledo which had 80. With 51 entrees there were a few so-to-speak hot shoes in attendance. Josh Cyrul being the top hot shoe and quite a few contenders that had been former National champions of one class or another. With that said practice was beginning and racing would start shortly after 12:00. The race director had the drivers meeting and was announced that we would have three qualifiers and possibly a fourth depending on time. Also the Masters class of 1/8 and 1/10 would be run together with the open classes, but would be scored differently.

Round one began with the 1/8 scales, three heats of them, then 1/10 scale sedans with 2 heats of them, then the GT class with 1 heat. After the first round of qualifying finished it was John Schuster with his Serpent 960 for 1/8 scale open class. Eli Ezrow with his Shepherd for 1/8 Master’s class, Josh Cyrul with his Shepherd for 1/10 touring car open, Kevin Roberson for 1/10 touring car Master’s, and Joe Retherford with his Kyosho GT2 for GT class. All classes had broken the previous track records.

After a short break round 2 began and after the round was over and there was a new TQ in 1/8 scale with Josh Cyrul with his Shepherd car and new track record. Eli Ezrow still remained TQ in 1/8 Master’s class. Josh Cyrul still had TQ in 1/10 touring, Chuck Pfahler with his Nitro TC3 had taken over the Master’s TQ in 1/10 touring with another track record. Joe Rutherford would also remain TQ in GT class. 

Another short break and round 3 began. After round three there was no change in the TQ for any of the classes. We decided to run a fourth qualifier because the program ran through without any problems and it was early in the day. The track was getting faster and faster so we could possibly see some new track records get broken again! After the smoke had cleared from the fourth round it was still Josh Cyrul TQ with his second round run for 1/8 scale. Eli Ezrow TQ with his first round run. Josh Cyrul with a new TQ after the fourth round for 1/10 touring. Chuck Pfahler with TQ and another track record for Master’s class. Joe Retherford with his third round TQ to remain on top.

The track was awesome and some of the racers opted to practice to change some set-ups. After about a half hour or so it started to sprinkle rain and practice was over. It had started to rain a lot now and was looking like to track may not be as fast tomorrow.

Sunday came and the Tri-state racers helped dry the track off to begin racing. There were only a few puddles to get cleaned up. And when the track was drying practice started. The scheduled time to start was 9:00. This would be pushed back a little do to track conditions.

The mains started with the “C” main of 1/8 scale. John Schweitzer was on the pole followed by Dennis Young, Lou Przybyla, Allen Broecker, Wayne Broecker, Gary Anderson, Mark Graham and Mike Becker who showed up on Sunday and didn’t get a good qualifier in for the short time that he was here to race. When the horn went off, so did the leader John. After a few laps it was John out front, Lou 2nd, Mike 3rd, Allen in 4th, Wayne in 5th, Dennis in 6th, Mark in 7th and Gary Anderson was unable to start. There was quite a bit of mayhem after some more laps when John and Mike were battling it out for the lead. Third place not far behind was Dennis Young and he was definitely the fastest of the three. Dennis having a bad start and wheeling his way through the field from 6th to 5th to 4th and now in third was ready to take no prisoners. At this point there were only three racers left, as the rest of the field was riddled with mechanical problems! About half way through the main Dennis has a electrical failure and caused a run-away. This demolished his car and he was then out of contention. Mike Becker was in second and did not waist much time wheeling his way to the front. After a few laps he was leading the main over John. They were battling back and forth for 36 laps. After the buzzer went off for the end of the race they were only separated by 8 seconds. This was a great main between them. Pictures and awards were presented after there main and it was Mike Becker in 1st, John Schweitzer in 2nd and Dennis Young in 3rd.

The “B” main 1/8 scale was up now after a short break. On the pole for this main would be James Conder, Mark Unger, Jamie Kroener, Clay Slusher, Steve Lazarus, Allen Denzine, Sam Stanley, Mike Chiappetti and Gary Thomas. The horn sounded and Mark Unger hesitated slightly to give James Conder the lead, until the first fuel stop. James slid back to 4th while Mark regained the lead. Mark was not going to make any more mistakes at this point and would continue his dominance throughout the rest of the main and finish first on the podium. Gary Thomas would take over 2nd place and not really be challenged until a mechanical failure of stripping out not 1 but 2 belts 4 laps before the end of the race! He had enough cushion to still place him on the podium for 3rd place. Coming in 2nd getting by Gary was Steve Lazarus, who finished 2 laps ahead of Gary. 4th place went to Mike Chiappetti who started 8th and would be the turtle through the rest of the main. Mike only finished 4 laps back from Gary Thomas. James Conder after having a problem with his first pit stop ended up in 5th place, three laps behind Mike. Jamie Kroener, who also had mechanical problems was unable to finish along with, Clay Slusher, Allen Denzine and Sam Stanley.

Now the “A” main 1/8 scale was up and many former National Champions were in contention for winning the “A” main. Josh Cyrul, Monti Panzica, Eli Ezrow, David Lee, John Schuster, Jason Conley, Doug Filo, Ted Hammer who only showed up on Sunday and Tom Cohen in that order. The horn sounded and the race was on. Josh jumped out to an early lead do to Monti and David trading some paint. Eli sat back in fourth position until after the first lap, then it was on. Monti made a driving error and Josh looked to be conserving tires, but really was having some brake issues. Eli went ahead and made a run for the lead. After another 20 laps or so Josh regained his composer and decided to lead the main. Eli was in second with Monti in third. Followed by Jason Conley, David Lee, Ted Hammer, Tom Cohen. Doug Filo was working on his car and John Schuster was out after 3 laps due to mechanical failure. A little more than halfway through the race Josh was still in first, Monti took over second, Eli was in third. The rest of the field was Jason, David, Ted and Tom. Doug Filo after some difficulty with his car made it back to racing again. It was nearing the end of the race with about 1 more pit stop when Jason Conley had run into the entrance of pit wall. This moved him down a position where he would finish 5th. After the 30 minute main the following positions were as follows: Josh, Monti, Eli, David, Jason, Ted, Tom, Doug and John was unable to finish.

“B” main 1/0 Touring Car was up and the grid would be Loran Whiting (an up and coming woman driver) on the pole. Chris Bozik second followed by Kevin Roberson, David Craft, Dave Leslie, Mike Parker, James Palansky (second in points for the Midwest Series), Gerald Argalas and Karl Ennulat who was unable to start. The horn went off and the racing began with Loran Whiting jumping out to lead and going wire to wire. Behind Loran the field of racers were jockeying and trading paint for track positions. You would think that the main was just a couple of laps long and you could possibly win in the first few laps…lol. After they got settled in a bit it was Dave Leslie, a local, who just started back racing after being off a few years to take second place. He was doing a terrific job of running laps close to that of Loran. He came in for his fuel stop and seemed to start having some issues with the car. After a few more laps, he was off the track. This brought Kevin Roberson into second place now followed by Mike Parker in third. The rest of the field followed by Gerald Argalas, who was probably the eldest racer and person that has raced since its inception40 years ago was now in fifth. Chris Bozik sixth, James Palansky in seventh, David Craft in eight. There was altercations on the track and bam, some positions changed again. Now it was Loran still running away from the pack and making it look easy. Second was still Kevin, third was now Chris, fourth was now Gerald, James was fifth and David was sixth. Mike Parker had some problems and was out of the race! The main ended and the finishing order did not change. Congrats to Loran Whiting for taking home the victory against all the veterans and guys in her main

 The “A” main for 1/10 touring was up with Josh Cyrul sitting on the pole again (surprise…….lol). Second through ninth was Andy Power (current Midwest Series points leader), Monti Panzica (up and coming touring car enthusiast), Chuck Phahler (running RC cars since dirt was created……lol) Jeff Whiting (Father of Loran Whiting – up and coming current GREAT woman driver), Fabio Evaneglista, Mike Mcbride (who is currently in second place for points in the series), Allen Denzine (5th in Midwest Series points) and Mario Liberman (Who is currently in second for points in the Midwest Series) 3-2-1 and the horn sounded off, Josh jumped out front with Andy, Monti, Fabio, Chuck, Jeff, Allen, Mario, Mike all following. After the first round of pit stops the line-up changed a bit. It was now Andy, Monti, Chuck, Jeff, Allen, Mario, Mike and Fabio. Josh had some mechanical problems that would put him out of the rest of the race. A little less than half way through the main and the gremlins started rearing there ugly heads! Fabio Evaneglista would not be able to finish, Allen Denzine would have issues and drop him back to 7th for the rest of the race. Chuck Phahler would move into 2nd place over Monti Panzica. Jeff Whiting would be in 4th. Mike Mcbride would move into 5th, Mario in 6th . Another pit stop of two and BAM, Monti moved back up into 2nd and Chuck 3rd , Jeff wasn’t far behind for 4th , Mario 5th , Mike and Allen were following a few laps down. Nearing the end of the final, Monti had some gear issues that would give him a DNF. The checkered flag waived and it the finishing order was Andy, Chuck, Jeff, Mario, Monti, Mike, Allen, Fabio and Josh.

 The final main for the the day would be the GT class consisting of TQ Joe Retherford (local racer and former oval National Champion), Stephen Deaton (local racer, nice youngster and new to the hobby), Zachry Stanley (another local youngster and new racer), James Palansky (leading the points for the Midwest Series), Karl Ennulat (fourth in points for the series), Bob Rexroed and Gary Waldhelm (third in points for the series). Racers were ready and the race began. Joe got a terrific jump on the start and after a couple of laps, wanted to make the race fun and interesting by having fun with Stephen as they typically do on club race days. They traded back and forth the lead a couple of time and showed the spectators how much *FUN* racing should, and can be. The 3rd qualifier Zachry was staying back hoping the leaders would make a mistake. It didn’t look as though this was going to happen. Both Joe and Stephen had their GT cars hooked up! Bob Rexroed remained in 4th and James was bringing up the rear after Gary and Karl had problems and put them out of the race. As they crossed the finish line it was Joe winning by a lap over Stephen, followed by Zachry, Bob and James in that order.

 Overall this race in Cincinnati was one of the best this year with having an extra qualifier and being finished on Sunday early. The weather cooperated greatly by making the track fast on Saturday and slightly slower on Sunday, due to rain. Track records were broke, racers were able to see other racers that post on the web and meet them face to face. The new Series directing is getting off to a great start for having to take over in mid season. Looking forward to the next Midwest Series race in Portland, IN. New track, new Facility and new racers. The final results based on open classes and Master classes will be posted on the Midwest Series site.

-Eli E. Ezrow


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