THUNDERJET CHALLENGE
	DATE	4/1/2006
	RACE	#14	Race Report below
		DRIVER	VEHICLE	ROUND	ROUND  1		ROUND  2		TOTAL
		NAME	BODY STYLE	TIME / LANE	LAPS-SEC.		LAPS-SEC.		LAPS-SEC.
	1	Steve Dickinson	Camaro	10 Min.	212	34	210	49	422	83
	2	John Durbin	AMX	"	200	16	199	68	399	84
	3	Larry Weaver	Porsche 906 GT	"	193	55	199	62	392	117
	4	Mike King		"	194	55	198	52	392	107
	5	Jeff Eve	Lola GT	"	198	44	194	23	392	67
	6	Dave Failing	Ford J	"	196	46	191	26	387	72
	7	Austin Lesterhuis	XKE Jaguar	"	191	51	196	16	387	67
	8	John Peckham	XKE Jaguar	"	190	67	89	18	279	85
	9	Paul Graziano	Lola GT	"	189	56			189	56
	10	Mark Webster	Lola GT	"	188	22			188	22
	11	Guy Graziano	Dino Ferrari	"	187	24			187	24
	12	Rick Kibler	AMX	"	185	60			185	60
	13	Nathan Peckham	XKE Jaguar	"	185	21			185	21
	14	Chris Costellaw	Ford J	"	179	12			179	12
	15	Chris Mathewson	Dino Ferrari	"	173	47			173	47
	16	Tim Traynor	XKE Jaguar	"	172	37			172	37
	17	Jan Lesterhuis	Porsche 904	"	172	15			172	15
	18	Shawn Mulcahy	Lola GT	"	164	34			164	34
	19	Joe Greco	Lola GT	"	158	60			158	60
	20	Colby King		"	153	46			153	46
	21	Donovan King		"	148	49			148	49
	22	Nick Traynor	Ferrari	"	148	8			148	8
	23	John Voellinger	Cobra GT	"	145	44			145	44
	24	Fran Thorne	XKE Jaguar	"	106	3			106	3
	25			"					0	0
	14th ANNUAL THUNDERJET CHALLENGE
	Race Report
		4/1/06 - Once again, Greenbrier Raceway’s THUNDERJET CHALLENGE proved the thrill of
	Thunderjet racing is still alive and well. Attendance was heavy for Greenbrier’s 14th Annual Thunderjet
	Challenge… tying the race record with 24 entries. It would also seem Greenbrier’s TJC has slowly become
	a family affair. This year’s entries included many father / son teams… John & Nathan Peckham, Mike King
	and his 2 sons Donovan & Colby, Tim “Woody” Traynor and 8 yr old Nick, Jan & Austin Lesterhuis, and
	who in the circle can forget the brother team of Paul & Guy Graziano from ‘Jersey’.
		You would expect with this many people for issues to arise, and yes, this year’s start was not without
	controversy as many of the ‘Top Gun’ racers found their cars being bounced from pre-tech.
		While Last years Champion, Jeff Eve was asked to change a pair of questionable pickup shoes,
	the biggest issue had to do with tires.
		Per John Peckham (race coordinator), the ‘intent’ was to keep all tires in check with skinny T-Jet
	tires but still allow room for aftermarket tires (e.g. the newer Johnny Lightning tires). However, the rules were
	written before there were any suitable rubber aftermarket tires available and had never actually been changed to
	reflect this intent. This left officials no choice but to deem the ‘fresh’ rubber of JL tires illegal, resulting in
	four vehicles (including John Peckham’s Jag and Steve Dickinson’s Sunoco Camaro) having to change to
	older original T-jet tires.
		To add to driver misfortune was the fact that all ‘testing’ of changes made would have to be done
	during the race as it was now time to “Start your Engines!!!”
	ROUND 1
		The race started with Dave Failing, Austin Lesterhuis, Rick Kibler, and Chris “Scooter” Costellaw on
	the pole. With heat laps in the 42-47 range, by heat 3 John Durbin and Jeff Eve had set the mark to beat in the
	usual 50 lap range.
		Around heat 6 things began to slow a bit as many of the younger & new racers seemed to be grouped
	together on the roster (random entry / position draw), but in heat 13, Steve Dickinson gave everyone a wakeup
	call - turning 53 laps.
		The next 3 heats would show a man possessed… Steve was on fire and no one could put him out.  It was
	evident the tire change didn’t hurt Steve’s blue Camaro a bit… not even the squeal of the motor in the last 2 laps
	slowed him down. All said & done, Steve would wrap up his round with a 54 (tie track record), 52, and another 53.
		The last 8 drivers now had the task of trying to catch Steve but this would never happen. While some of the
	numbers looked good by any standard, Steve would finish round 1 clearly on top.
		Another note in round 1 would be the ‘luck’ of John Peckham. While John’s tire change didn’t fair as well as
	Steve’s, John would pick up 3 extra laps during round 1 when other cars would jump lanes and go threw his lap
	counter (endro-rules). This would keep any one of 3 possible racers (Paul Graziano, Mark Webster, or
	Guy Graziano) out of 8th place, the main, and put them on the trailer home.
	Round 2
		Starting round 2, the final 8 would be (in current order) Steve Dickinson, John Durbin, Jeff Eve, Dave Failing,
	Mike King, Larry Weaver, Austin Lesterhuis, and John Peckham.
		The first 4 up (Austin, John D, Mike, and Dave) would show Dave making his bid out of 4th with a 51 to
	Austin’s 50, John’s 49 and Mike’s disappointing 46. Mike would fire back, however, turning a 53 in the very next
	heat while everyone else stayed a couple laps back.
		In heat 4, it was a quick splash & go oil stop before Steve proceeded to hand out another dish of “Whoop-butt”
	as he ripped out 55 CLEAN (no one jumped his lane) LAPS from the counter – a new track record!!! It was quite
	clear at this point (short of a total Camaro meltdown) the race was now for 2nd and / or 3rd place.
		As Greenbrier Raceway’s 14th Annual THUNDERJET CHALLENGE neared its end, John Durbin would keep his
	average going with enough laps to hold on to 2nd place while Mike, Larry, and Jeff battled it out for 3rd… which
	Larry would claim by only a few sections.
		With the race now finished, Officials couldn’t wait to get their hands on Steve’s Camaro. After every MM of
	Steve’s car had been gone over with a fine tooth comb, it was determined Steve must have had just the right
	set-up and skill to (literally) walk away with new Heat, Round and Race track records, along with this years
	THUNDERJET CHALLENGE CHAMPIONSHIP!!!