Liz Mulig Wins Her First Corvette Challenge in Event 8
10/28/06 - Bradenton, FL - The RevXtreme Florida Corvette Challenge Event 8 was under way and the big news was Liz Mulig has captured her first RCC event win in only her second appearance but the even bigger news is Craig Gingerich's chances keeping Larry Beutlich from capturing his fourth RCC Championship in a row took a bad hit when he failed to get past first round and Beutlich went on to gain 30 points on him. There is only one event left for the 2006 season and Beutlich holds and 80 point lead. Beutlich needs only to pass tech to capture the championship now for an amazing fourth year in a row. Not only did Gingerich lose ground to 1st place Beutlich but third place, Marc Fisher, went 1 round more than Gingerich and now sits 2 points out of second place.
Larry Beutlich won the "Best Package" award with a .030 light ran 11.00 on a 11.08 dial for a .038 package.
Round One
Tracy Lewis was out first in the first round against Tom Colby. Lewis was better on both ends of the race against the first time racer Colby, who he hopefully did not scare away. Tracy was .140 and 11.785 on 11.76 dial in this round. Gary Guest did the same to another new guest to our Challenge when he eliminated James McHale in the C6 in a double breakout race. Gary was under by less with a 12.896 on 12.91 to McHale's 12.902 on 12.95 dial. Our third new driver suffered the same fate. Glen Cottrill cut a great light at .033 and was on his way to win but broke out going 16.015 on 16.09 dial in the 1982 Corvette giving the win to Richard Martell who was .055 on the tree and 13.277 on 13.23 dial. Larry Beutlich cut a .016 light and got the win with Dan Bouldry went red by -.001. Robin Wahler got the win when eventual event winner, Liz Mulig, sent herself to the buy back lane missing a shift and not running her number. In the battle for second place in the standing it was Fisher over Gingerich when Fisher was .051 on the tree and 11.60 on 11.53 dial to Gingerich's .030 and 13.193 on 13.02 dial well on the brakes. Candace Swenson got the lucky draw got the bye run this round and went 13.084 on 13.06 dial.
Round Two
All of the first round runner-up bought back in with the exception of Colby. In addition, Blair Bannock bought into the second round as well after missing first round which was hotly debated but an accepted practice in buy-back type races which was confirmed by Bradenton Motorsports officials. So we were back at 13 Corvettes for round two. Tracy Lewis would get Gingerich in this round and Gingerich lit the red light, -.022 giving Lewis the win and free pass in which he went under 11.745 on 11.76 dial but it did not matter as Generic was red. Robin Wahler also was the benefactor of a red when James McHale went -.014 red. Gary Guest took out his second rookie of the day when he won on both ends cutting a better light with a .081 and running closer to his dial of 12.90 running 12.959 over the '82 Corvette. In an identical .076 reaction time race, Richard Martell came out the winner over Candace Swenson when he was closer to his dial of 13.25 with a 13.329. Dan Bouldry advanced to the third round when Marc Fisher was late on the tree. Liz Mulig was able to eliminate late arriver and late on the tree driver Brannock while Beutlich got the bye this round.
Round Three
Dan Bouldry advanced in his high 9-second Corvette when Tracy Lewis dropped a red light on him. Beutlich used a .039 light to defeat Gary Guest. Robin Wahler cut a .067 and defeated Martell to advance. Liz Mulig got the single this round.
Round Four
Four Corvettes left for the semi-final round. Robin Wahler would get paired with Beutlich. Both drivers went red but Beutlich, dialed 13.11, went red first so Wahler's red did not matter. Wahler ran it out to a 12.10 on 12.25 to which luckily did not cost him. Mulig would face the 9.69 dialed Bouldry. Mulig was better on the tree with a .053 and on the dial running 12.098 on 12.04 dial in the 97 Corvette and she was on her way to the final in only her second appearance in the RCC Corvette Challenge.
Final Round
Wahler kept his 12.25 dial despite running 12.10 in the previous pass. Mulig kept her 12.04 dial. Wahler was late, way late and Mulig was off with her best light of the day when it counted, .031. Both drivers stayed in it and both broke out but it was Mulig breaking out by less. Mulig was 11.917 on the 12.04 while Wahler 11.906 on 12.25. These two cars would make for a nice heads-up match up as ET's were almost identical. Congratulation to Liz Mulig. She has definitely caught the bug and has gotten the hang of bracket racing pretty quickly.
Congratulate the drivers on the www.corvetteforum.com.
The next RevXtreme Corvette Challenge will be the final race of the season on November 18, 2006 right here at Bradenton Motorsports Park. Hope you can all make there.
In case you have not noticed, the 2007 National Corvette Challenge has been scheduled for Saturday, February 24, 2007 at Richmond Dragway in Richmond Virginia. Several RCC racers have signed up to attend, you should join your teammates in the National. Visit http://national.corvettechallenge.info for more information.
If you would like to visit the Corvette Challenge throughout the nation, visit The National Schedule
)
)