Sears Point May 19th, 2002.

Does it ever rain at Sears Point, it appears so.

In the midst (or should we say mist) of what was a great week for Chad Block, the twist came on sunday morning. With less than 20 laps in the Knighthawk Lola Mg 675 car in the dry, Chad would have to start the race in the wet from 5th on the grid.

Things started off well earlier in the week on friday, when Chad first took to the small MG 675 car run by Knighthawk racing. Taking his time to get up to speed, after not driving a race car since Sebring, Chad quickly came to grips with the carbon fiber LMP car:

"It is always difficult to be out of a car for a month or so at a time, and then jump back in. The MG is a serious piece of machinery and Sears Point is a serious track. I am just being cautious, as I want to get up to speed but not make any mistakes. Without Steve (Knight) and Mel (Hawkins) of Knighthawk I wouldnt have this opportunity at all, I don't want to disapointment them by doing something stupid."

This is Chad's third race in an LMP car, after having run Daytona in an SR2 car and then Sebring in March in an LMP900 Panoz.

Chad was sent out to qualify on Saturday and quickly put the car 3rd on the sheets ealy in the session. With just enough fuel he was sent back out to do another flyer when they were bumped back to 9th. After one warm-up lap Chad blew off a 1.27.8 which was good enough for 6th on the grid, and over 4 seconds faster than any of this 20 or so practice laps. That was good enough for second in class, behind Jon Field's Intersport MG which was 4th overall on the grid.

"I was determined to go faster than in practice, and we did that. I can't argue with 6th on the grid. There is definetly more in the car, probably a 1mins 25sec lap if I just had more time in the car. I just hope I made the Knighthawk team happy, I'm sure we will do well in the race."- Chad said.

Sunday's morning was met with torrential downpours on and off, coupled with poor drainage on the track. The sealer from the recently paved sections made the track into a rollerskating rink. After the morning warm-up many teams were displeased with the drainage and track conditions. Steve Knight and Mel Hawkins made it out in the MG, but Chad did not.

At 12:30pm, as the cars sat on the grid, it was still raining heavily.

"I have never driven an LMP car in the rain before, and I dont think they have hardly any time with this car in the wet. Mike Gromkey (the Knighthawk engineer) and I had thought it would be best to hope for dry conditions early in the race, we will see. I am just going to stay out of trouble." - Chad added.

When the race went green Chad was 4th on the grid because of the misfortune of the Intersport MG's electronics problems, and the 5th place Panoz was crashed in the morning warm-up. As soon as the green came out, it was obvious Chad was having difficulty with the car. A few laps in on a restart while running mid-pack, Chad spun when the boost came on, but quickly recovered. Just moments later the engine shut-off and left Chad stranded at the far end of the track while the crew worked on what could be the problem. After sitting for 12 laps, Chad was back underpower, after playing with all of the computer boxes and switches in the cockpit, and soon after was into the pits.

As the track started to dry Chad was setting some of the top 3 fastest laps of the race. About one hour and 30 mins in, Chad pitted for dry tires and fuel and managed to again set some of the fastest laps of the race. Then at about the 2 hour mark he turned over driving duties to Steve Knight, who then did an excellent job of making up some track positions.

Chad had these comments at the end of the race...

"This was a difficult situation for sure, one that noone could have predicted. The rain ruined our chances for a fantastic finish. If we wouldn't have had the electronics problem for those 12 laps, we would have ended up somewhere inthe top 5 overall. But that's racing, I learned some valuable things today. I just need to thank Mel Hawkins and Steve Knight for making this a reality for me. I think there is the opportunity to win races in this car, and I will be back...I'm very optimistic."

Knighthawk ended up 2nd in Class about 2 laps down at the finish. Their next race is the Le Mans 24 hours in June.

Stay tuned as Chad prepares himself for a rematch on the 675 class rivals at Mid-Ohio, we hope.