[Fot] Duel in the Desert

[billdentin at aol.com]

Amici...

I have not been receiving very many FOT emails recently, and many I do receive suggest they are the 4th or 5th response to previous email threads which I definitely did not receive.  Thus this may be old news.

I spent last Saturday and Sunday at the Spring Mountain Motor Sports Ranch in Pahrump, Nevada.  It is a nice 'Country Club' type circuit, and VARA was holding its Duel in the Desert spring event.  A nice gaggle of Triumphs was entered, including Chuck Gee and Stephen Jones in GT6s, Kevin Ayers, Jerry Baker, Richard Grabowski, Greg Siam, and Dale Wallace in Spitfires, and Ken Knight in his TR4.

I understand that both Kas Kastner and Joe Alexander were in attendance on Friday, and I am so sorry I missed seeing them.  Saturday was really messy.  Lots of rain early, and wet, moist, misty weather all afternoon.  Practice and qualifying sessions were a lot more like ice skating than road racing, as the cars tip-toed around the track.  All of the Triumphs were assigned to one race group.  It was a large, competitive group.

On Sunday the Race Gods smiled, and there was good weather again.  The Triumphs raced in the 1:30 PM Flag Race, and were spread throughout the grid.  Ken Knight was highest, sitting fourth on the grid.  He passed the third place car on Lap ONE, and the second place car on Lap TWO.  He was closing in on the leader, but never had to catch or pass him, as at some point the leader retired.  Ken Knight got a very nice First Overall finish.  The course they were running was 3.4 miles, and so the twenty-five minute sessions were only lasting five laps or so.  It was very impressive for me to see a TR4 finish first overall.  Kudos Ken Knight (hmmmm...alliteration).  As I did not see a sheet with the final race results, and because I was clocking Ken, I am not sure how others made out.  But I do know that there was excellent dicing throughout the race group and the Triumphs were heavily involved.

There were some interesting cars entered in that race group as well, including an Allard K2 and a Marcos GT.

I had a good time.

Bill Dentinger
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