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I was nervous that we wouldn't be able to field a full grid for the 2nd event of this year's Gran Potato Cup. Luckily the boys stepped up and we had 8 gladiators contend for the title of GP Cup event winner!
This event went looooonnnngggg. For 12 hours straight sweat & musk filled the air over at Greg McKeever's while we battled it out to decide who would be crowned the event winner for the Q2 2018 GP Cup Event. It was nice to get some new racers out and we definitely had improvement all around. Here is a little synopsis of each racer did and overall impressions:
Andrew Dickins - 8th (Qualified: 8th)
This was the first time out for Andrew and he didn't even put in any practice laps before he stepped in for qualifying. It was no surprise then that he qualified 8th and lost his first matchup. It wasn't until his 5th lap of that matchup that things started to click. Unfortunately he had to leave right before his 2nd matchup and you can't help but ask...What if?
Brian Ackerson - 4th (Qualified: 5th)
Drivin' Brian might have a new nickname after this event. We will have to call him 5 lapper after multiple times of him setting a new fastest lap at the last moment. He had the most seat time as he had at least 3 battles that went for 1 hour. He showed the determination of a champion but was only able to finish 4th after a second titanic battle against Greg McKeever in the same event.
Greg McKeever - 2nd (Qualified: 4th)
Greg qualified a shocking 4th after being on pole position from the previous event. Things got even worse after he was upset by Brian Ackerson in an epic battle in the 1st round of the Upper Bracket. He fought his way through the Lower Bracket in a run similar to Mike Hansen last time out. After disposing of Mike Force in the Lower Bracket Final, he met up with his arch-rival once again in the Grand Finals as positions were reversed from the first event. This time he had to take out Mike Hansen twice to win the event but unfortunately was unable to make it happen.
Jeff Meisenzahl - 5th (Qualified: 2nd)
Jeff kicked off qualifying by putting in an impressive lap to qualify 2nd. Things were looking good as he took out Preston Woods in the first round of the Upper Bracket, but lost two times in a row to finish a disappointing 5th. He has shown potential but needs to clean up things with consistency.
Mike Force - 3rd (Qualified: 3rd)
Another new racer this time out. Force showed up with an impressive 3rd in qualifying. He then won his first two matchups to guarantee a podium position and make it to the Upper Bracket Final. He lost the Upper Bracket Final followed by the Lower Bracket Final to only take the bottom step of the podium, but was still an impressive display for his first time out.
Mike Hansen - 1st (Qualified: 1st)
Can anyone stop Mike Hansen!? Not only did he qualify on pole position for this event, he swept through the competition to take his second (and back to back) event winner's title. He never even had to use a fifth lap in any matchup to set a fastest lap. He took out Greg McKeever in the Grand Finals once again to improve his record against him to 3-0. Overall, this was about as dominating a victory as you can get.
Preston Woods - 7th (Qualified: 7th)
Even though Preston has points from the first event, this was the first time he has stepped behind the wheel. Similar to Andrew Dickins, it was a bit of a rough start, but the improvement was noticeable by the end. In his first matchup, Preston was unable to better the first fastest lap set by Jeff Mesienzahl. In the Lower Bracket though he raced on the dirt and was able to get into the seat multiple times as he and Greg McKeever went back and forth but couldn't take him down in the end.
Travis Roof - 6th (Qualified: 6th)
Travis started by qualifying 6th. He compounded that rough start by losing his first matchup of the day against Mike Force in the Upper Bracket. Things quickly turned though when he moved from tarmac to dirt. His matchup against Brian Ackerson will go down in GP Cup history. This was the longest matchup to date as each competitor set the fastest lap at least 5 times. Some of these went all the way to the 5th lap before setting it. Unfortunately he was not able to get the better of Brian and finished where he qualified.
Final standings of the Q2 2018 GP Cup Event:
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