Day 2 of GoRacingTV’s Daily News Show from the 5th annual NASA Championships. News coverage is courtesy of Honda HPD.
Day 2 of GoRacingTV’s Daily News Show from the 5th annual NASA Championships. News coverage is courtesy of Honda HPD.
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Miller Motorsports Park, Tooele, UT
National Auto Sport Association (NASA) 2010 National Championships presented by Toyo Tires.
Sponsored by: Toyo Tires, Hawk Brakes, Mothers Polishes, OG Racing, Sampson Racing Communications, Mazda, Honda Performance Development
Group A National Championship Race, 10:45 p.m. (45 minute race)
Factory Five Challenge
Camaro Mustang Challenge (CMC)
Camaro Mustang Challenge 2 (CMC 2)
Factory Five Challenge
The 2010 NASA National Championship Factory Five Challenge race held at Miller Motorsports Park was filled with a field of twelve beautiful high horsepower Factory Five Racing cars running on Toyo RA-1 tires. The rolling start race began with TC McNett, sponsored by Just Cruzin and Alarmco, leading the mob of loud Cobras into turn 1 also known as Sunset Bend. A few laps later it was Scott McKay, sponsored by McKay Law Firm, in his orange and blue number 64 Factory Five Cobra moving up through the field and grabbing the lead spot. In the early portions of the race Paul Kaiser was putting the pressure on McKay, then Kaiser fell back with some mechanical issues. John George, sponsored Factory Five Racing and Tinboats.net, drove his flat black Cobra (with the headlights on) and stayed patient during the race, slowly making his way toward the front of the pack. TC McNett held onto second for a large portion of the race until George got by him. McNett ran hard to try to get that second position back (set the race’s fastest lap at 2:13.013) but ended up spinning, risking a podium finish. McNett was able to get back on track and stay ahead of the fourth place car to the finish. At the line under the double checkered flags was Scott McKay becoming the 2010 NASA Factory Five Challenge National Champion. John George earned the second place position and on the final podium spot was TC McNett.
Camaro Mustang Challenge (CMC)
The Camaro Mustang Challenge 2010 National Championship race had an outstanding last lap battle and pass for the win with David Balingit in his Ford Mustang getting past Rob Liebbe in his Chevrolet Camaro. But all of that hard racing was for not, as both cars were disqualified in impound. That made Eric Sjoblom in his number 65 Ford Mustang the 2010 NASA Camaro Mustang Challenge National Champion. Sjoblom ran a smart conservative race and stayed out of trouble which gave him the win. In second place was Don Lariviere in a Ford Mustang and in third place was Team Incidental Contact also in a Ford Mustang making the CMC national championship finish a Mustang podium sweep.
Camaro Mustang Challenge 2 (CMC 2)
The Camaro Mustang Challenge 2 NASA National Championship race also found itself in the throws of impound drama as the first place number 33 Chevrolet Camaro turned out to be too low. This allowed for Jeremiah Kellam, who drove door to door with the Camaro on the last lap, to become the 2010 CMC2 National Champion in his Ford Mustang. Kellam was sponsored by Bright Futures Foundation. Nick Steel started on the pole and had the lead early in the race but ended up spinning in Tooele corner, giving up his lead and moving back in the pack. Steel kept his calm and kept his pace earning him a second place finish for his Unbalanced Engineering Chevrolet Camaro. The final podium spot went to James Ray in his Ford Mustang sponsored by Diamond Warranty Corp. and Steeda.
Group C National Championship Race, 1:40 p.m. (45 minute race)
Honda Challenge 1 (HC 1)
Honda Challenge 2 (HC 2)
Honda Challenge 1 (HC 1)
The 2010 NASA National Championship Honda Challenge 1 race sponsored by Honda Performance Development (HPD) ended with Graham Downey earning his third Honda Challenge National Championship in a row driving his Honda Civic sponsored by Redstone Racing, Honda Performance Development, Toyo Tires, Carbotech Brakes and BlackTrax. Graham led flag to flag, including the restart after a yellow flag session in the middle of the race. Graham said he won all three national championships with the same Honda Civic. Brandon Kraus finished second in the race in his black Honda Prelude but some issues during impound disqualified him which moved Brian Shanefeld in his 4-door Acura TL to the second finishing position. Shanefeld said even though he had probably the biggest and heaviest car on the track, it was still very drivable. Hartanto in the 88 car finished third.
Honda Challenge 2 (HC 2)
Honda Challenge 2 provisional results show Jonathan Meris, sponsored by Midnight Peformance winning. Donna Gilio driving her blue Acura Integra sponsored by AIM Tires came in second and Gregory Neuwirth finished third. Final results from impound were not available at the time of this posting.
Group E National Championship Race, 12:55 p.m. (45 minute race)
944 Spec
Spec E30
944 Spec
One of the largest fields at the 2010 NASA National Championships presented by Toyo tires was 944 Spec with 28 Porsches rolling toward the start/finish line waiting for the green flag to drop. Into corner 1 out in front was David Dirks in his red number 76 Porsche 944 sponsored by 944 Motorwerks. Dirks pulled away and never looked back. But behind him was Tyler Palmer in his lime green Porsche in an epic battle with Todd Bellwood, Charles Buzzetti and Scott Bove. Palmer eventually pulled away and left the rest of the mob of 944s to battle it out for third place. On the last lap, final corner, Bove went for an inside pass on Buzzetti in order to get on the podium but couldn’t get it done allowing Buzzetti, sponsored by John Milledge Engineering, to finish third. David Dirks became the 2010 944 Spec National Champion with Tyler Palmer finishing second.
Spec E30
Eleven closely matched BMWs lined up for a standing start for the Spec E30 class race at the 2010 NASA National Championships presented by Toyo Tires at Miller Motorsports Park. Previous National Champion, Chris Cobetto, sat on the front row with Frans Hansen to his left. When the green flag dropped Hansen got the jump on Cobetto by a mere fraction of a second but Cobetto didn’t give up and they headed into turn one side by side. The black number 69 BMW of Hansen, sponsored by Cruisweb.com, pulled out and began to put some space in between his lead and a tight pack of E30s battling for second place. In that battle was Gary Rieger in his number 291 BMW, sponsored by Berkeley Motor Works, and Chris Cobetto, sponsored by Delta V Motorsports. Because of the spec nature of this class the racing was tight for entire race and the drivers in Spec E30 from second place to seventh mixed it up and had a chance to finish on the podium. But in the end it was Hanson who became the 2010 Spec E30 National Champion. Rieger finished second and Cobetto third.
Group F National Championship Race, 4:10 p.m. (45 minute race)
Spec Miata
Spec Miata
Spec Miata was the largest field, with 41 competitors in evenly matched MX-5 Mazda Miatas, at the 2010 NASA National Championships presented by Toyo Tires and MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development. Drivers who win a National Championship in Spec Miata are eligible for the MAZDASPEED Club Racing Shootout which can earn them a ride in the Playboy MX-5 cup pro series. Additionally there was over $8,000 in cash available to the winner between Mazda and Toyo tires. This gave every Mazda driver plenty of incentive to run hard. The field was filled with heavy hitters in the Spec Miata world including Randy Evans (Spec Miata Champ), Dean Thomas (who just won the Ford Racing Mustang Driver Shootout at Miller Motorsports Park a few weeks prior to the NASA Nationals at Miller) and newly 16 year old (by just a few days) Tyler Vance. In the qualifying races for the grid positions for the Spec Miata National Championship race Dan McKeever lost an engine so he had to start in the 26th position. Sammy Valafar started on the pole.
When the green flag dropped Sammy Valafar ran away with the race, but a National Championship was not to be. Due to some impound issues with the struts on Valafar’s Mazda he was disqualified after the race. At the start, Dean Thomas, on the front row, was alone in the airflow, allowing a train of Miatas to his left to bump draft passed him. Sixteen year old Tyler Vance was in the hunt for the first third of the race but then fell back to finish tenth. The success story in Spec Miata was Dan McKeever in his black and orange number 10 Mazda Miata sponsored by Falcon Graphics and Reynolds Racing. McKeever moved up though the tight field from 26th position all the way to the front to win the 2010 NASA Spec Miata National Championship. In second place was Darin Polsley in his blue and silver number 51 Miata sponsored by Evil Genius Racing. The final podium spot went to Tyler Dahl sponsored by Race Engineering and MiataCage.com.
The two separate qualifying races (one Thursday and one Friday) determine grid positions for NASA National Championship races Saturday and Sunday September 18-19, 2010, at Miller Motorsports Park.
source http://www.nasaproracing.com/
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