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Nov
2009 |
A beautiful weekend greeted all the
racers for the final weekend of racing in 2009. Clement stormed to
pole position on Saturday in the most difficult configuration, #1 CCW, at
Buttonwillow Raceway. Clement continued his dominance in the race to
claim first. Sunday is more of the same with Clement taking pole once
again. Clement drop to third at the start of the race but quickly
began challenging for the lead. Clement took over the lead before half
way and never relinquished. Clement finished off the year with another
first place, finishing of the year in good form. In spite of a few unluck
DNFs in the season, Clement claimed 1st runner up in the regional
championship standing. With his double victory in the final weekend,
Clement is in strong position to challenge for the lead in 2010. |
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Oct
2009 |
After a long Friday night of work
on a new product release, Clement took a 2 hours sleep then drove 4 hours to
the track, arriving just in time to qualify in the penultimate weekend of
championship racing. Rush Motorsport had the car towed to and readied
at the track for the qualifying session. Having to skip the early
morning practice session, Clement qualified off pole out of the 23 car
field. With the event running the Bus Stop and Sweeper track
configuration, that left the field with practically no passing opportunity.
Clement comfortably finished in 2nd in Saturday race. Data analysis showed that battery in Clement's car was not charging. He was lucky to have finished to race. The following day, Clement took out Don's #68 and ran it instead. Clement qualified in 3rd for the race. Before 1/2 way thru the 1st lap, Clement took over 2nd spot, glued to the leader and ready to challenge for the lead. Unfortunately after a couple laps, the #68 mysteriously lost power and expired in the plume of smoke. With just one weekend of championship racing remaining, the results are now more or less settled barring any unforeseen circumstances.
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Sep
2009 |
Murphy's Law struck Clement at
National Championship as he experienced mechanical and electrical problems.
His car was experiencing fuel pickup issue. A new fuel pump assembly
was ordered but was still awaiting delivery when he had to go out to
qualifying. The was also an electrical short circuit traced to the
radio wiring harness. As a result he missed 2 of the 5 test sessions
on Wednesday as well as the warm-up session for the qualifying race.
In-spite of the problems, Clement still managed a qualifying lap for 10th
place on the grid (out of 41 cars) for the qualifying race.
Unfortunately Clement's luck ran out during the qualifying race as he was
punted out on the 1st lap in turn 5 by Karl Zimmerman. While he
rejoined near the back of the pack, a different car spun an 180 in front of
him on following lap, also at turn 5, and stopped right in his tracks,
resulting in a head on collision, forcing a DNF and retirement for the
weekend. Here's the video of the incident: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_AWtx7oZqA
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Sep
2009 |
2009 NASA US National Championship
at Miller Motorsports Park, Utah. Sep 9th - 13th: Wed - Test and Practice Details available at:
http://OnyxMotorsport.blogspot.com |
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Aug
2009 |
Hot dry sunny weather awaited us at
Auto Club California Speedway. Clement qualified 4th on Saturday but
had a terrible start on the oval as he had to avoid a spinning car on the
Nascar banking and dropped to 10th before the first turn into the infield.
Eventually Clement clawed his way back to 3rd, closing in on the leaders.
Unfortunately he was held back by a back marker and lost 2 sec in one lap,
dashing any hopes of closing into the lead, so Clement settled for 3rd.
Sunday saw the same weather condition with Clement qualifying in 2nd.
Ryan Ellis bursted into the lead with Clement in hot pursuit. The pair
drafted and broke away from the rest of the pack. Clement made a
decisive pass 3/4 of the way into the race on the transition coming into the
infield and held on to the lead to the end. |
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Jun
2009 |
25 Spec Miatas braved the scorching
hot, dry but calm weather condition at Buttonwillow to compete in this
event. On Saturday, Clement comfortably qualified in 3rd. By
race time, temperature has reached 110F (43C). Thanks to the
coolshirt system, that helped to keep the driver cool. Clement hounded
the leader once the race started and took over the lead after several laps
and never looked back to claim his first victory of the weekend.
Sunday saw even warmer condition with temperature reaching up to 120F (49C).
Clement repeated his performance in these difficult conditions and scored
another win for the weekend. With the double header victories, Clement
is now 2nd in the season points score board, trailing but just a small
margin, with 6 more points race to go. |
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May
2009 |
Willowsprings greeted us with hot,
dry and windy condition. With the wide open track configuration, this
fastest road in the west is famous for some close battles. Clement
qualified in the 3rd row in 5th just fraction behind the pole sitter for
Saturdays race. As soon as the race began, the top 6 cars dropped the
hammer and broke away from the rest of the pack. Once cleared, these 6
cars began battling for the lead. With 5 different cars taking over
the lead over the course of the race. Clement paced himself into 2nd
position on the penultimate lap and waited for the final lap, final corner
to make his move. Exiting the final Turn 9 at over 100 mph, Clement
caught the draft, held position, then jinxed out at the last moment for the
dash to finish line. It was a photo finish. The official AMB
transponder says Clement gave his new car the first win by just 5/1000th of
a sec. Sunday saw the same hot, dry and windy condition. Twin sonic boom greeted us as the Space Shuttle landed near by at Edwards Air Force Base. A qualifying race determined the starting order for Sunday's race and Clement qualified in 3rd for Sun race. At the start, the Christian brothers who occupied the front row managed to work together and ever so slightly opened up a small gap between themselves and the pursing pack. Taking advantage of back makers from a different class, the opened up the advantage. The rest of the pack was left to battle for 3rd place. Unable to get through traffic cleanly, Clement fell back to 4th. A 3 car battle for 4th place ensued with Clement finishing in that position at the end of the race.
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Apr
2009 |
More clear dry racing weather at
Buttonwillow. Almost 20 SM took part in the event. Having
resolved sputtering issues from the last event, Clement qualified 4th for
Saturday's race. In the race, in spite of having to run on used set of
tires, Clement battled mightily to finish in 3rd, just several seconds off
from the winner and 3/100th ahead of 4th place finisher. With tires being
used up, Clement can only manage to qualify in 5th on Sunday. Despite
some contact at the start, Clement challenged for 3rd place right at the get
go. But with tires all worn out, he can only maintain the challenge
and pressure for half the race. Eventually, Clement dialed back into
tire conservation mode and settled for a 4th place finish. With the
car running properly, Clement is looking forward to the next event at
Willowsprings. |
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Apr
2009 |
Another great weekend weather for
racing, this time we returned to the "home" track at Buttonwillow for SCCA's
Double National. The car is almost dialed-in as Clement qualified in
3rd for Saturday's 40 minute race, which started in the late afternoon at
5pm. Soon after the Start of the race, Clement climbed into 2nd
position and was ready to take over the lead at the 1/3 mark when his car
mysteriously lost power, but was able to sputtered back to the pit. Having
completed less than 1/2 distance, it was a DNF. On Sunday, Clement
drove the #68 spare car, and qualified off pole position by just hundredths
of a second. Clement took the lead after the first turn and was on a
break-away pace when the #68 car suddenly lost max power after a few laps.
While able to continue albeit at a reduced pace, Clement still struggled
home to finish in 5th. It was an unusual weekend with multiple cars
having seemingly similar problems. Will have to diagnose the problem
before the race in 3 weekend.
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Mar
2009 |
Perfect weather greeted Clement and
30 other Spec Miata drivers at AutoClub Speedway (aka California Speedway). Clement
continued to work on getting his new car dialed in for this second outing.
In spite of some slight handling issues, Clement qualified 7th separately
for both Sat and Sun races.
In Sat race, the top 3 cars escaped while Clement steadily climbed through the field and battled side-by-side in the final lap to finish in 4th. Sun race saw another intense dog fight with an 8 car train battled nose to tail and door handle to door handle for the lead with multiple position changes for the majority of race. Clement was on target to finish in 3rd when an unforced miss-shift dropped him back to 5th in the final lap. Clement is satisfied with the progress and expect the new car to be well sorted out for the new event.
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Mar
2009 |
Another perfect weekend weather for
racing at Willowspring Raceway. Clement debuted his new car this
weekend. In spite of an on track incident when the lead car in a 5 car
train spun out of control and tagged Clement's car during qualifying,
causing some minor body damage, Clement still qualified in 3rd for
Saturday's race and finished a hard fought 3rd. Sunday saw just as
nice conditions as Clement qualified in 4th and finished another close race
in 4th. Considering having a new car and running on new spec tires,
Clement was satisfied with the result.
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| A small winter storm
threatened to spoil the weekend with rain. Clement's new car debut was
postponed as it could not be ready in time. Friday's practice saw a
damp track with puddles at some inopportune spots. Fortunately they
did no harm. Saturday, the weather was cool, cloudy but dry.
There were 2 qualifying sessions and a regional race. In spite of a
lack of power with the spare car, Clement still qualified in 3rd.
After an intense multi-car battle, Clement finished in 2nd just 3/10th
behind the leader. Sunday saw a cool, clear and dry day with a
National race in the morning and another regional race in the afternoon.
Clement qualified in 4th for the National Race with the top 5 all within
2/10th. After another hard fought multi-car battle, Clement finished
in 4th. Clement started the afternoon Regional race in 2nd (based on
previous race day finishing order). With the car loosing power,
Clement trailed the lead pack to finish in 4th.
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| After a short winter
break, the 2009 racing season is about to begin. Clement will debut his new car in the
first event of the year at the Auto Club California Speedway.
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