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The Pony Express 130 was run from the rest area on highway 305 to Austin, Nevada and back to Battle Mountain, Nevada. It's a 130.66 mile course that crosses the old Pony Express route. This was the third year MKM Racing Promotions put on this event, though the first time at this distance. They're web address is www.openroadracing.com. |
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This year four 928s from NorCal928 and two others from the western US
entered the Pony Express. Bill Ball in his 89 S4, Richard Sanders
and his wife Ann in his 80 ex-Callaway Turbo, Paul Mooradian in his
82S and me in my 90 S4 with Tim Bosserman as my navigator. Tom Moore
and his brother Dave, from the NWPac928, had entered his 93 GTS and
Dave Lomas from Utah with his navigator Joe Fugate were in a 86S.
This is the first race that I will get to try out my new Murf 928 supercharger. I had run the event before in the 145 class, but this time I was targeting 155. This is a difficult class, because the tech limit is 168 mph, only 13 mph higher. I would have to run over 70 miles at 165+ to meet the average. I was also asked to be the Event Photographer for MKM this season. I took a lot more photos, but had a lot less time for my own web site, so this year's event pages are late and abbreviated. I'll include a link to my Photo Sells site below. |
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| Because of a swarming of Morman Crickets, the event was started late. There was also a yellow flag area about 3 miles from the start because there were so many of them smashed on the road, that it was very slippery. Also thunderstorm were forcast for latter in the day with severe winds. As it turned out, the first leg of the rally was stopped (before I could go) because of a lightning fire had started on the side of the highway, and BLM fire trucks were dispatched to fight the fire. This was after a restart that had many participants return to the starting line because of a Viper had caught fire, and the Advanced Fire and Rescue were sent to the scene. |
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| The Super Sport (160-170) cars and I were convoyed to the South turnaround. We were going to make the run back (83 miles) to Battle Mt. The first Super Sport , #79, a 1954 Studebaker, was sent on the road at 2:30, followed by the other 8 cars. I left the starting line around 3 PM. After 19 miles, they red flagged the race, when the #79 car had left the road at 180+ mph and flipped several times. Emergency vehicles were sent, and the event was stopped. It was decided not to restart, because of time constraints and funnel clouds were reported at the finish line. So ended a very eventful but unfulfilling first race of the season. The results were based on the times from the first leg, but since the 9 SS cars and I had not run that leg, we didn't receive times. |
The 928s
 George A Suennen/Tim Bosserman 1990 928 S4 Grand Sport 155 class |
 Tom and Dave Moore 1993 928 GTS Grand Sport 150 class |
 William Ball 1989 928 S4 Grand Touring 140 class |
 Paul Mooradian 1982 928S Grand Touring 135 class |
 Dave Lomas/Joe Fugate 1986 928S Grand Touring 125 class |
 Rich/Ann Sanders 1980 928S Grand Touring 125 class |
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928 Results
| Division | Target | Number | Driver/Navigator | Model | Finish | Times/Avg Speed | Fastest Radar |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand
Sport |
155 mph | George A Suennen Tim Bosserman |
90 928 S4 | No Time
Red Flagged |
160 mph | ||
| Grand
Sport |
150 mph | Tom Moore Dave Moore |
93 928 GTS | 18:53.378 (+0:12.098)
148.399 mph (-1.601) |
154 mph | ||
| Grand Sport |
140mph | Bill Ball | 89 928 S4 | 21:23.938 (+1:22.567)
130.997 mph (+9.003) |
150 mph | ||
| Grand Sport |
135mph | Paul Mooradian | 82 928S | 20:53.773 (+0:07.906)
134.149 mph (+0.851) |
142 mph | ||
| Grand Touring |
125mph | Dave Lomas Joe Fugate |
86 928S | 22:30.458 (+0:04.922)
124.544 mph (-0.456) |
138 mph | ||
| Grand Touring |
125 mph | Rich Sanders | 80 928 | 23:01.550 (+0:36.014)
121.742 mph (-3.258) |
135 mph |
| All in all the cars ran well, but the elements didn't cooperate. I'll have to wait until the next event to really test my new supercharger install. |
| Complete Results | My Photo Site |
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Copyright 2004, George A Suennen
written: 11/11/04
rev: 11/11/04