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Nov 2008 - NASA - BW |
Having sold his car after the Oct
event, Clement took part in the final round of this season's Spec Miata
regional championship at Buttonwillow in a Rush Motorsport customer car.
It was another cool and clear weekend. Clement put the car to good use
to finish Saturday's race in 2nd then close out the year on Sunday with a
race win. With this result, Clement completed the 2008 season as the
1st runner-up in the Spec Miata Regional Championship. |
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Oct 2008 - NASA - BW |
A beautiful sunny and cool
fall/autumn weekend at Buttonwillow. Clement qualified his SM#33 on
Saturday the second row. Unfortunately, the car blew a fuse 3 corners
into the race resulting in a DNF. Clement came back with a vengence on
Sunday, qualifying in 3rd and battled Jonathan nose to tail for the most
part of the race with Clement finishing 1st just ahead. |
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Jul 2008 - NASA - WS |
14 dedicated drivers showed up at
Willowsprings for another exciting race weekend. For Race #1, the top
5 drivers all qualified within 3/10th. In the race, 2 groups of 3
raced nose to tail to the finish with Clement finishing in 4th. For
Race #2, the top 5 qualified with 5/10th and again, they battled nose to
tail with Clement finishing in 5th. We now takes a summer break before
racing again in fall. |
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Jun 2008 - NASA - BW #1CCW |
Under sweltering heat, we returned
to Buttonwillow Raceway. Unfortunately, Clement's car suffered another
malfunction after the practice session and was unable to continue. The
problem was traced to a bad alternator but there was no space parts
available to remedy the problem, forcing a DNS for the weekend. |
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Jun 2008 - SCCA - CS |
Clement suffered his first DNF of the season on Saturday. Clement qualified in 2nd, less than 1/10th off pole and was pressuring the lead car in the race when Clement's car sputtered, lost power and retired for the weekend. | |
| Clement ran his new
1.8 car at Buttonwillow configuration #13 for the first time. The
extra weight required by NASA for this model year, combined with this tight
track configuration did not help in the handling department. In spite
of the unresolved handling issue, Clement still put the car in the 2nd row
for race #1. Don ran away and won the race from pole in the more
nimble 1.6 car. Clement battled throughout the race for 3rd with other
'99+ generation cars that claimed 3rd thru 5th spots, with Clement finishing
in 4th. Sunday's race #2 saw more problems for Clement as he managed to put in only 1 qualifying lap before coming upon his other teammate, Angela, spinning out. (Don had prior engagement so did not participate in Sunday's event.) Clement took to the dirt to avoid contact but tore off the front bumper in the process. With the front bumper dragging, Clement ended his qualifying session. Surprisingly, that 1 timed lap was good enough for 5th on the grid. Clement was running a solid 6th in the race before being black flagged for a stop-n-go penalty for having 4 wheels off in the dirt twice. With that, Clement eventually finished in 8th. Clement car needs a little bit more
development to be sufficiently competitive on the tight technical tracks. |
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| 27 Spec Miatas took
part in 2 beautiful Southern
California days of racing at California Speedway with NASA. On Race #1, Clement qualified 7th
on the grid, picked up some good draft in the race to finish in 2nd
while Don finished just behind in 3rd.
An inverted qualifying race (grid based on race #1 reversed finishing order) saw Clement cautiously climbed all the way from the back of the grid to 7th for the main race #2. In race #2, the 2 front cars partnered and broke away from the
pack as Don
running alone in 3rd. Robert, Clement and Jonathan battled for position
throughout all the way to
the checkered flag. Jonathan finished in 4th just ahead of Robert and
Clement who crossed the line side by side. Clement finished behind in 6th by just
2/100th. |
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| Spectacular racing
on both days with 7 cars battling nose to tail. Don took the win
on Saturday with Clement finishing 6th. Sunday saw the top 7 cars
qualified within 3/10th as Don and Clement took the front row. Don
finished 2nd just 2/1000th short, while Clement crossed the finish line in
3rd. |
Video |
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Feb 2008 |
Clement debuted his new car
at Willowsprings, finishing a respectable 5th on both Saturday and Sunday's
race. The car is a bit down on power and the extra ballast required by
NASA rules did not help. The car handled well but can still use a few
extra test days. |
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| Don and Clement sat out SCCA's season opener as they expected heavy rainfall to pound on Southern California. Clement will debut his new car in the next event in February. |