Spec Miata 2007 National and Regional
================================
After a mild winter break, more than 40 Spec Miata drivers eagerly arrived bright and early at California Speedway for the 2007 season opener National/Regional event. Tech was busy all morning getting quite a few cars through inspection. Under a beautiful cool and calm Southern California weather, the race events began on Friday afternoon with a combined National/Regional practice. We saw familiar faces as well as new ones. Quite a few SM sporting new colors and graphics too.
 

The excitement began early Saturday morning with Regional qualifying. All the National event drivers took part plus a few more Regional drivers, making this one of the largest SM race group to date. Brad Rampelberg showed off his superior power, qualifying on pole 1.5 seconds ahead of 2nd place! The rest of the SM field were left to fight for second. In fact 2nd through 8th qualifier were so tight that they were seperated by only 0.2 seconds! When the qualifying times were posted, Don Thibaut qualified in 2nd, while his Rush Motorsport teammate Clement Lee qualified in 3rd, just 4/1000th behind. Next in line were Cole Dahn, followed by Jonathan Christian. Drew Staveley (taking a break and having some fun away from his MX-5 Pro Racing) was in 5th, followed by Tim Weaver, William Christian II, Sammy Valafar, with Mark Hoover rounding out the top 10.

The National drivers got a 2 hour break after the Regional qualifying to get ready for National. When it was time to put the hammer down, Brad Rampelberg once again rocketed into pole position. When the time sheet were posted, the top 10 regional qualifiers shuffled the orders a bit. Don Thibaut of Rush Motorsport once again qualified 2nd, Mark Hoover slipped into 3rd, followed closely behind by Cole Dahn, Tim Weaver. Then William Christian II, followed by Clement Lee, Bob Cunningham, Jonathan Christian with Sammy Valafar in 10th.

The drivers got more track time with a 20 minute Regional qualifying race on Saturday afternoon, the finish order of which determined the starting order of Sunday's Regional race. Almost everyone drove responsibly. As expected, Brad Rampelberg easily came out on top. Don Thibaut came in 2nd, Tim Weaver in 3rd, followed by Marc Hoover, Jonathan Christian. Then Clement Lee, William Christian II, Dan McKeever, Drew Staveley and Sammy Valafar once again in 10th.
 

Back to Top

The National drivers got to race bright and early on Sunday morning. Brad Rampelberg blasted off into the lead with Don Thibaut and Marc Hoover in hot pursuit, while William Christian, Tim Weaver and Clement Lee were battling each other just a tad behind the front group. Rampelberg must be bored as he locked up his brakes and spun out coming from the oval into the infield. That dropped him back to 10th. With excess power in his SM, he was back in front within a few laps.

Meanwhile, Tim Weaver, Dan McKeever, Clement Lee, CJ Johnson and Jonathan Christian continued to battle furiously, never too far off each others bumper as they swapped positions back and forth. This group was in a tight formation as they were shown the 1 lap to go board. The train spread 3 wide coming into the infield but Clement Lee did not make it through as he had contact and was spun off.

After 16 laps, Brad Rampelberg easily crossed the line first. Don Thibaut came in 2nd with Marc Hoover in 3rd, Tim Weaver in 4th and Dan McKeever in 5th. Then Jonathan Christian, CJ Johnshon, William Christian II, Cole Dahn and Bob Cunningham rounding out the top 10. Clement recovered to finish in 11th.


The Regional race took place in the afternoon right after lunch. A few National drivers who ran the regional qualifying race skipped the main regional race but that did not detract from the quality of the race. Just like the National race, there were racing everywhere. The field was in tight formation as the green flag flew. Don Thibaut took the lead followed closed by Tim Weaver and William Christian. Thibaut relinquished the lead momentarily but regained it after a couple of laps and never looked back.

Just a tad further back, Jonathan Christian, Dan McKeever, Clement Lee plus Drew Staveley were battling furiously for positions, just like they did in the National race. Again they were nose to tail coming into the final lap. There was no incident as they gave each other sufficient racing room. Dan McKeever edged out Jonathan Christian by a nose hair (15/100th) at the finish line to come in 3rd and 4th respectively. Clement Lee was right behind in 5th with Drew Staveley following through in 6th.
 

Back to Top

Congratulations to all the drivers on this beautiful season opener of mostly incident free SM racing. The event moves on to Willowsprings at the end of February for more close racing action. Look forward to seeing all drivers out in force again in a few weeks time.
 

Back to Top