| Feb 23rd, 2003 - Willow Springs
Raceway, Lancaster, California.
The fastest road course in the west was a 2.5 mile 9 turn course.
We had 2 qualifying sessions, one on Saturday afternoon and one on
Sunday morning before racing later that afternoon. |
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| Race Day - Sunday.
The track was cool and the air was still as 36 cars (17 Spec Miatas)
lined up for the race. I was 11th on the grid (4th in the SM class
grid) as we came around turn 9 heading for the starters stand. I had
an average start as everyone behaved nicely and made it cleanly through
turn 1. My car had felt very loose on the parade lap. I was
hoping that the tires were just not getting fully warmed up yet. But
as the race started, it didn't take long for me to discover that my car
was not sticking at all.
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Click the following links for WMV video. Start Race -
1:16
Lo Res - 0.9MB
Hi Res - 4.7MB
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I must be the witness to almost all the off course excursions during our
race. On lap 2, Andrew Fernandez took to the gravel but still
maintained control. Just about the same time, the #25 red
Miata went off on turn 1 as he tried to overtake me from an outside line.
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Lap 2 - 0:46
Lo Res - 0.5MB
Hi Res - 2.9MB |
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Steve Fidler in his #21 Miata was trying very hard to get away after
passing the black Miata of Shawn Sampson. But Steve was not
successful and probably over drove his tires as he spun out exiting turn
9.
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Steve Off - 2:50
Lo Res - 1.3MB
Hi Res - 10.4MB |
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I was held up momentarily as the Porsche GT3 braked for turn 9.
Johnny took the opportunity to slip past me on the straight.
Gathering my momentum back, I chased down Johnny as we climbed toward turn
3, only to find Kanavas Sr. (Johnny's dad) right there approaching the top
of turn 4 at the same time!
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Chasing Johnny - 0:44
Lo Res - 0.5MB
Hi Res - 2.8MB |
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I kept the pressure on Johnny coming around turn 1, 2 and 3 which probably
caused him to go off line at top of the omega at turn 4. Johnny's
back end started to come around. He tried to catch it and eventually
drove off into the dirt as I set my sight on 5th place.
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Johnny Off - 1:01
Lo Res - 0.7MB
Hi Res - 3.8MB |
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It was the last lap and I had caught right up to Shawn by turn
3. I was looking for a room to squeeze by but none
existed. The only place left was turn 9. It was going to be a
case of who dared to keep the foot down longer. Shawn was not
letting up. I had to counter steer going into turn 9 which basically
ended any hopes for a last corner pass. And so I ended up in the 6th
spot.
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Last Lap - 1:55
Lo Res - 1.4MB
Hi Res - 7.0MB
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