The regions new name Great Lakes, replaces Ohio/Indiana but there is no replacing the intense racing in the GTS Challenge. All eyes were on the weather reports as is always the case with April at Mid Ohio. For those that choose to run the Friday practice, it proved to be a prelude to the weekend, with combinations of wet, dry and in between.
Scott Berkowitz didn’t need the practice as he placed his GTS/3 M3 on Saturday pole, edging John Haas’s GTS/4 Porsche 911 by .010 of a second. A new color brought big speed out of the box for GTS/2 pole sitter Scott Good in his 944/S2. Fast Jim Ginter placed his immaculate BMW E30 on GTS/1 pole, edging out 944 pilot Brant Giere.
Weather remained dry but threatening as the large Autobahn Group rolled through the pace lap. To no surprise, the Berkowitz/Sean Tillinghast GTS/3 rivalry began immediately as the field filtered through the dangerous esses at the end of the long back straight. Scott Good jumped out to an early GTS/2 lead over Mike Ward’s 968 and the 944 of Carl Picelle. In pursuit of the leaders, John Haas was forced to the grass exiting the Keyhole in back marker traffic, damaging his nose and ending his race. The same lap had consequence for front runners Berkowitz and Tillinghast as they brushed over the top of the esses, resulting in a Tillinghast spin and later, a penalty to Berkowitz. |
Tillinghast eventually took 1st overall, 1st in class, over Jamie Frauenberg, BMW and 3rd place finisher Robert Lasser in his 952 Porsche. While Scott Good appeared to checkout, the 08 version of the Jim Child, Carl Picelle rivalry picked up again. Child slipped past on a great outside pass at the end of the back straight while Picelle held off Ward. The train pulled in Class leader Good, later to be DQ’d, and finished with Child edging Picelle by .176 of a second and Ward finishing 3rd. Brant Giere drove strong to a 1.5 second win over Ginter, with Bill Edwards taking third.
Sunday weather had deteriorated, cold, wet rain. Berkowitz once again grabbed pole over Canadian driver Scott Girard, Porsche. Also displaying Canadian wet weather speed was Scott Ginnou in his 911, eclipsing the GTS/2 field by 3.2 seconds to take class pole.
As some opted out of the hazardous conditions, the Autobahn group took the start under a steady rain. Berkowitz displayed his wet weather abilities, pulling out a comfortable lead from the start, holding on to win over Tillinghast and Girard, while lapping the entire field from 5th on down! Scott Good remained resurgent, topping the GTS/2 class over fellow 944S2 competitor Brad Waite, showing good wet form and Carl Picelle, 3rd. John Haas took his 2nd win in GTS4, and Jim Ginter grabbed 1st in GTS/1 |
