Rush Motorsport Struck Gold in Spec Miata At California Speedway
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Under scorching mid-summer sun and heat, 25 Spec Miata (SM) drivers, together with Rx7 and the I.T. alphabet soup, presented themselves for a "featured group" showdown at California Speedway at last weekend of July. In all 70+ cars took to the track for this featured race.

The 8am early morning qualifying session went off without a hitch. Jonathan Christian claimed pole followed closely by the Rush Motorsport cars of Don Thibaut, Bob Wright and Clement Lee. These top 4 qualified within 3/10th of each other, while Jonathan's brother, William, was a close fifth. The Chrisitan brothers were about to give the Rush Motorsport cars a run for their money.

A "3-way split start" was in effect for this featured race group with the I.T. cars getting the first green, followed by the Rx7's and finally, Spec Miata (SM) rounding out the field in the 3rd split. Each of the 3 green flags went off without incident. The anticipated chaos in turn 3 & 4 (transition from oval to infield) did not materialize. Majority of the drivers understood the need to get through the first lap cleanly.

Bob Wright missed a shift coming out of turn 5-6 (180 left-hander), almost getting clouted by William Christian and Clement Lee who were following inches behind. By the end of the 1st lap, it became evident that the race would be a show down between the 2 Christian brothers, and the Rush Motorsport teammates of Don and Clement. The quad, with Jonathan leading Don, William and Clement, began to open up a gap on the rest of the field.

In the next couple of laps, Jonathan and Don, in nose to tail fashion had opened a few car lengths gap on the pursuing William and Clement. William overcooked the decreasing radius turn 9 right hander, allowing Clement to slip through. Clement, with the bit between his teeth and a few lucky traffic breaks, was able to close the gap on the lead pair while Jonathan and Don was busy battling back and forth for position. Now the race became a 3-way battle for the lead.

The 3 lead SM drivers began catching up to the Rx7 and even some I.T. cars that started in the splits before the SM class. The 3 SM drivers dove every which way they could through traffic: under braking, left, right, in between car in turn 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, onto the oval, turn 1, 2, 3, and 4. It was either stay with the leader and pass or game over scenario. It was probably exiciting for the corner works to watch as the cars danced on the edge of adhesion and disaster.

Under hard braking, Don took over the lead from Jonathan coming into the infield. A Rx7 driver that Don also passed in the process must have felt like the need to race someone as he charged into turn 5 just inches behind Don. The Rx7, with brakes locked up, tagged Don and promptly half spun him around, and barely avoid collecting Jonathan and Clement in the process!

With Don out of the picture, the race became a 2-way battle between Jonathan and Clement. Clement in the second Rush Motorsport car tailed Jonathan for several laps as they continued to snake in and out of traffic. Finally, Clement made his move and took over the lead under heavy braking coming into turn 3. Jonathan countered promptly and returned the favor and regained the lead at turn 12. They continued for a couple of laps in nose to tail formation until Clement, taking advantage of traffic coming out of turn 15, made the pass to take over the lead once again.

Little did Clement and Jonathan know that while they were battling, Don had sneeked back up on them, drafting behind on the oval, in one big sling shot, and taking advantage of some I.T. traffic, passed all of them under heavy braking into turn 3. You can probably visualize Clement and Jonathan yelling at themselves.

Don, now in the lead, had a slightly easier time slipping through traffic than the pursuing pair while Clement and Jonathan, continued to run just a couple car lengths behind. Coming out of turn 7-8 kink, Clement and Jonathan had to split left and right to pass an I.T. Civic. For some bizzare reason, just like the Rx7 that tagged Don, the I.T. car charged into turn 9, tagged Clement and promptly sending him into a spin. Clement had to wait like an eternity for traffic to clear before he could point his car back into the right direction.

With laps running out, the incident effectively ended what would have been a race to the finish. In the end, Don Thibaut in the Rush Motorsport car finished first, Jonathan Christian came in second while Clement Lee recovered to salvage fifth.

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Sunday was a brand new day and a brand new race, but the weather was just as hot and sunny. In classic fashion, the Rush Motorsport cars of Don and Clement claimed the front row in the SM grid. Jonathan was relegated to share the 2nd row with Bob Wright. Once again, a "3-way split start" was in place for the race group, again I.T. cars starting first, followed by Rx7s and finally Spec Miata.

As the SM cars got the green flag, everyone decided to drop low, leaving Clement out in the cold. Clement was going backward like he had dropped anchor. Fortunately he found a hole and squeezed in line into 4th.

Instead of an orderly turn 3-4 transition into the infield, the scorching heat must have caused a few brain to fade as a few drivers tried to win the race in those corner. Clement was hit hard on the rear quarter by someone charging up from behind, almost sending him into a spin in front of the field. Fortunately after a few wiggle, Clement caught it and managed not to loose any position and motored on.

At the end lap 1, Don Thibaut led Tim Weaver and Jonathan Christan, with Clement Lee and Mark Carrutters following just a couple car lengths behind. Tim tried to outbrake everyone going into turn 3 but out braked himself and went off instead. A couple of corners later, Mark Carruthers over cooked turn 9. With both Turn7 Team cars out of the picture, Clement once again closed the gap on Don and Jonathan.

By lap 2, the lead trio already caught up to some Rx7's. With the Spec Miatas cautiously slicing through traffic, Don Thibaut in the first Rush Motorsport car, Jonathan Christian and Clement Lee in the other Rush Motorsport car recommenced the battle where they left off the day before.

Two laps later on lap 4, Clement took over the chase, out braking Jonathan into turn 3, putting the Rush Motorsport cars into 1-2 position. On the next lap, John Norris BMW caught up to the 3 lead SM as they all entered into the braking zone for turn 3. The BMW managed to just make it past the 3 Spec Miatas. Don kept the lead while Clement and Jonathan swapped positions under braking once again. With John Norris powering away, the trio continued their nose to tail fight.

The trio caught up to more Rx7 at turn 12. Don made the pass and tried to gap the pursuing pair. Jonathan and Clement waited and waited, and decided they could wait no more and made the pass at turn 15, wall or no wall.

Once more around to turn 3, the lead trio came upon a red Rx7 while the Viper was charging down the middle. Don made it pass the Rx7 and stayed in front but Jonathan and Clement were stuck behind both the Rx7 and Viper. After turn 4, the Viper powered off into the distance as Jonathan made it pass the Rx7. Unfortunately for Clement, the red Rx7 felt the need to race and would not let Clement go through easily. It was not until turn 9 that Clement out braked the Rx7, but by this time, both Don and Jonathan had opened up a sizable gap. While Don and Jonathan continued to battled on, Clement could not make up the lost time.

In the end, the Rush Motorsport car of Don Thibaut finished 1st, Jonathan Christian came in 2nd, while Clement Lee in the other Rush Motorsport car finished 3rd. After the race Don commented: "I was lucky with traffic on both days. It would have been difficult to catch Clement and Jonathan on Saturday after getting tagged and spun. And I got some good traffic breaks today." Jonathan thought: "They [slower traffic] spoiled a good race." Clement on the other hand was less thrilled: "Both Don and I got tagged and spun by slower traffic on Saturday while some other backmarkers made it difficult to get by them. They got 30 seconds or more head start in the first and second split in a different class and they tell you that they are racing you for position!? I don't get it."

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In spite of the hot weather, the three Spec Miata leaders provided even hotter action on the track, running nose to tail, racing inches apart, swapping positions back and forth. It was wonderful to see their car control, respect for each other, and their give and take so they could do that lap after lap in close proximity of each other without incident. Their intensity were only broken up by inteferrence from traffic.

It was disappointing to see the club award 5 trophies to those classes with literally a handful of cars on Saturday while handing out only 3 trophies to the Spec Miata class that had a majority of cars?!

Regardless, in the end, one must thank all the flaggers and corner workers, grid and other personnels for their service, staying under the blazing sun and heat all weekend long.

Congratulations to Don Thibaut of Rush Motorsport, Jonathan Christian of the Christian racing family and Clement Lee driving the other Rush Motorsport car for an exciting race and another fine drive over the weekend. Coincidentally, all the winners were all running on Toyo Tires and Team Dynamic wheels.

The Spec Miata show returns to Buttonwillow on Labor Day weekend and we hope to see everyone there.

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