For my last event of 2008, I really wanted to give it everything I had. Even if that meant breaking my car in the process. Fortunately, the Integra withstood the abuse of Alex and I thrashing it through a co-drive this past Sunday for Cincinnati's last points event of the year at River Downs. Despite a cold start to the day, STS ran in the later heat of the day and was able to enjoy slightly warmer weather. But with temperatures still in the 60's, I was thankful to have Alex as a co-driver to keep heat in my new Kumho XS.

Figuring about a 50 second course, Mike would have to beat me by about eight tenths to win the STS championship for Cincinnati. After clinching the Western Ohio championship at the previous event, I hoped to go two for two in Ohio. With a tighter course than average, Mike and I both hit cones on some of our fastest runs. As I lined up for my fifth and final run, I stood about seven tenths behind Mike's best time of the day. Although I stood to just barely win the Cincinnati region, I wanted to win the event as well. With a clear head and confidence that I could clean up my fast runs, I proceeded to lay down a solid clean run that was just .033 seconds ahead of Mike! A close finish such as this was only fitting for the close competition that has continued between Mike and I all season long.

Alex had a difficult time adjusting to the various differences in my street tire Integra compared to his BSP S2000. However, he finished well and consistently improved throughout the day. A fairly awesome slide/spin across the course may have hurt his confidence a bit, but it was fun to watch nevertheless. His fastest time was a little over 2.5 seconds behind me. He agreed with my impressions of the Kumho XS: excellent lateral grip, great handling of heat, and vastly superior turn in as compared to the Azenis.

Here is a video of my fastest and last run. With a time of 54.213, it was good enough to place 19th in Pax (out of 85), and win STS (a class of 7). Stay tuned for a brief summary of my 2008 season and some additional improvements to Rzoops.com!