There were a limited number of entrants on hand to take advantage of the 3rd High Performance Sport Driving Day of 2013 at Pacific Raceways, so there was plenty of time to drive, check out and learn new lines and more.

The corner workers who watch over the tracks 2.25 mile twists and turns are a very important part of the action at Pacific Raceways. This service is provided by Lost Mines Safety Team LLC (find them on face book) and they took the extra time to cross train their workers at the track.

Keith and Marie Kirby who oversee the workers provide this service at a number of tracks in the northwest interchange their workers to get the experience at all areas of the courses they cover. Looking at each entrant’s car for things that may cause an incident is first and the most important part of what is provided by the team, at the Technical Inspection. (Safety First). With that completed they bring to attention the nuances of the track to all the workers. The new workers to the track are trained on what they may encounter and those who have worked the course before were busy repairing the equipment that is needed at their assigned stations.

First time course worker Amanda, was wide eyed and smiling seeing the road course up close and listening to what Marie was teaching her.

With just a small number of cars on the track for the 30 to 40 min. sessions, Amanda’s corner brought out the caution flag just once for a spinout and a report of a car moving a cone in a caution area that she needed to reset.  That made for a pretty non-stressful work day, and made things much easier to learn in on the road course as the drivers push themselves to do better times.

With all the different racing groups that they cover, each class has its own set of things to look out for according to Marie. With Mother Nature providing a good portion of the day under the sun, the slipping and sliding was kept at bay giving the entrants the opportunity to rubber in the turns and improve their lap times. It was a good learning day for everyone involved.

Images from the event are now available in the Photo Gallery.  To go there – click here.

The 2013 road course season kicked off with fog and light rain, not uncommon for this time of year in the Northwest. More than a two dozen drivers tested themselves against the 2.25 mile track surface, a surface that will change early this spring as re-paving on parts of the track is in the works.

With the number of entrants and a 9-5 PM session, the drivers were able to do many laps during the un-timed sessions. Instructors were on hand to teach those who are new to the track showing the right line to follow around the course.

The 2013 Road Racing schedule is up now at Pacific Raceways Website: http://www.pacificraceways.com/RoadRacing/2013Schedule.aspx. The event today was the first opportunity for some seat time this season and it may prove to be quite helpful during the racing season.

Images are available now in the Photo Gallery – Click here to go there.