| Mar 29th and 30th, 2003 - Buttonwillow
Raceway, Buttonwillow, California.
March 29th/30th was a double header weekend at Buttonwillow. With
qualifying time in thousandths of a second between the top few cars, that
promised some tight racing on both days. Having qualified 6th for
Saturday, I got a good start from the 3rd row but was boxed in and squeezed out
into a spin at the first corner. Thus began the charge through the field from
dead last past 20+ cars back to an 8th place finish. For Sunday, I
qualified once again in 6th, just 1/1000th sec behind 5th. Soon after the
start, I find myself battling for 4th and 5th with Michael Abbate and Shawn
Sampson. It was a matter of who can get through traffic cleaner. In
the end, we finished where we started.
|
|
| Race Day - Saturday.
That was not how I anticipated running my race after qualifying 6th out of 25 in Saturday Spec Miata race. With a split start from the I.T. cars, I followed with the SM leaders from the 3rd row into our first corner. I was boxed in by the car in front and on the inside. With a little encouragement from my fellow competitors, I did a 360 at the edge of the track as the whole train roared by. By the time I got back up to speed, there was no one left in the rear view mirror. Now that I was dead last, every spot became a fight for position!
|
Click the following links for WMV video. Start Race -
1:16
|
|
It took me almost half a lap to regain my form. I was back up 1 spot at the end of lap 1. With pedal to the metal, I climbed up 5 more positions in lap 2, and narrowly avoiding a spinning car in middle of the pit straight. Carrying my momentum, I got back another 3 positions in lap 3 including passing one that spun off before the pit straight. There was a big gap in lap 4 before I came upon a group of 4 cars. One after another, I cautiously threaded my way through while one of them spun off before the pit staight. Now, that were 3 cars spinning off in the about the same spot in the last 3 laps!
|
|
|
I passed 5 other cars in the next 3 laps, one of which also spun off before the pit straight. I crawled past 3 more cars on lap 8 and then it was another lap and a half before catching up to Sho's 2002. Sho waved me by, but the miata just didn't have the power to pull with the 2002. Finally I carried enough momentum heading toward the bus stop/dog leg but it was a tight squeeze and we ended up with an unfortunate wheel banging moment. Luckily there were no major damage to either cars.
|
|
|
With laps running down, I managed to get past another 4 cars within a lap, 2 of which were once again in the bus stop/dog leg section, passing one on the right, the other on the left. I did not let up and had a clear lap 12. I followed the Viper past the start/finish and was given the 1 lap board.
|
|
|
In this final lap, I got past one of the Integras after turn 1, then made it past another spinning miata after turn 2. Gained 2 more spots coming around magic mountain, then waved the I.T. leading CRX by. He got bogged down coming out of the esses by some other miata so I kept my foot down and passed them both. The CRX repassed me just back just before the finish line.
|
|
|
So, after getting past 30+ cars, I managed to crawl my way back up to 8th in Spec Miata.
|
|
|
Race Day - Sunday.
With my Saturdays' race from dead last over, I had to set my mind off onto a completely new race. With 48 starters and 25 Spec Miatas, the track would be real busy again. Shawn Sampson and I qualified in 5th and 6th respectively, just like we did on Saturday! With Michael Abbate and Charles Buzzetti just in front of us and Andrew Fernandez and Don Thibaut occupying the front row, and qualifying times in thousandths of a second increment separating some of us, the race had the making of a thriller.
|
Lap 2 - 0:46 |
|
We aligned perfectly after the esses and rounded into the pit straight for the split start. Andrew dropped the hammer and off we go as the green flag waved above us. We (including myself!) made it through the first few corners without incident with Andrew leading Don, while Charles managed to squeeze by Michael in turn 2 as I followed them through and Shawn followed suit.
|
|
|
By the time we reached the esses, we had caught up some of the I.T. cars. With Andrew threading his way through some of the back markers, traffic could be a deciding factor in the race. I had pulled several car legths from Shawn as we headed towards Magic Mountain. As the lead cars passed a VW going toward Magic Mountain, the Golf put a wheel off and shot across from right to left in front of me and went off track in a big manner.
|
|
|
The first 4 Spec Miatas managed to get by the Mini in the sweeper before the door closed on me. Going into the esses, I had to let off completely to avoid running into the Mini. That robbed my momentum but behind me, Shawn timed it perfectly and sqeezed passed us just as we were exiting the esses and then pulled a few cars lengths going into the pit straight!
|
|
|
It took me almost a lap to get back into position right behind Shawn. Shawn caught up to Sho's 2002 at the corner just before the pit straight, took to the inside, but was not able to complete the pass until after the corner. I kept my momentum going around the corner and took a peek to the outside of the 2002 on the right. Didn't think the stewards wanted to see a rally pass with 2 wheels of the track, I swung back to the inside and to the left of Shawn as we dragged toward turn 1 and dared each other to brake as late as possible.
|
|
|
Shawn had the corner so I fell back in line. As we rounded turn 3, the Z caught up to us and split us up. It took the Z all the way to the sweeper before he made his way pass Shawn. Then Shawn and I rejoined our battle and once again we were nose to tail going into the pit straight. I took a look inside but thought otherwise.
|
|
|
We had caught up to Michael Abatte, who was in 4th and was stuck behind a train of 5 other cars, going into the bus stop. I had the momentum and made a run on the inside for the exit of the bus stop but backed off knowing Shawn was still next to me and I would have drifted out. Shawn kept his foot down, and then made probably one of the best passes through traffic in the race.
|
|
|
Shawn's car must have hooked up really well as that point as he swept passed Michael on the outside going into Riverside/Talledaga, then dived back down inside going pass a VW. He then drifted back out to the left to take the position away from the Integra and closed in right behind the yellow 2002 as they go through Magic Mountain. Meanwhile, Michael took the opportunity and attached himself to Shawn's bumper while I was held up behind the Integra.
|
|
|
At the sweeper, Shawn and Michael easily made their way passed the 2002. On the other hand, I had to wait for the Integra to run out of track in the sweeper before I was able to get though. The Integra almost collected me when he tried to steer back onto the track! By this time Shawn and Michael had pulled out almost 6 seconds ahead of me!
|
|
|
I finally caught up to the yellow 2002 at turn 2. He pointed me by on the short straight but like the day before running against Sho's 2002, the Miata have no juice. I waved back hoping he would see me in the mirrors so he would just keep going as fast as he could. I actually backed off just a slight bit to give the 2002 driver some room so as not to repeat the wheel banging incident like I did on Saturday with Sho's 2002 at that same bus stop/dog leg section of the track.
|
|
|
We gave each other plenty of room as the 2002 driver pointed me by going into Riverside/Talledaga. Fortunately during this time, both Shawn and Micheal were not getting away as they were held back behind a VW. Finally they made it passed the VW going through Magic Mountain while the VW missed the turn-in. The VW went way wide to the left and was struggling to stay on track. The VW then shot back across to the right and took to the dirt. The VW driver mananged to maitain control but then cut back across to the left side of the track right in front of me.
|
|
|
In the next 2 laps I kept me foot down and caught back up to within a second or so of Shawn and Michael who were battling amongst each other. Michael had just taken Shawn at the sweeper but then he ran wide going into the pit straight and put 4 wheels off. He merged right back on but that was just enough for me to get by before turn 1. Shawn was not getting away and I was able to pull even with him as we got to the sweeper. But I was on the outside, so not much I could do there. Meanwhile, Michael was right there on my bumper so I had to defend my line too.
|
|
|
Going up Magic Mountain, I left the inside a bit open and Michael aimed for it and took his spot back. The last several laps really used up the tires and now I had to back off just a tad to keep the Miata on the track. Michael managed to squeeze past Shawn with 2 laps to go in the short chute after turn 3 and held his 4th position at the finish line with Shawn in 5th while I took 6th.
|
|
