Willow Springs NASA 3/2009

Greetings to all,

After a long off season it was nice to get back on the track with the NASA family at the first event of the year in So Cal. held on March 7th and 8th at Willow Springs Raceway in the High Desert.This was a great weekend in my young stages of racing,after some delays and very strange luck,it was finally licensing evalutation weekend!

The rain that was predicted veered north and blessed us with dry conditions.A couple of windy and frigid nights near 30 degrees were toughed out as I camped in the main paddock friday and saturday nights.Days were around 60 and pleasant,great racing conditions. It was nice to get out in my car again and get used to my re-valved shocks from the guys at Progress, enjoy the new 4 point EG rear brace from Password:JDM,as well as get a feel for my new rear wing and Function7 Rear LCA. In this final weekend of evaluation I was put in unpredictable scenarios on track by some instructors to see how I would react.I was unsure if I can do this wheel to wheel racing thing,but this weekend bridged the gap and gave me the confidence boost I needed.I also learned more about overall awareness, and also drafting and working with someone to be faster in a race. The most important thing I learned is to keep my eyes up and observe the communication of the corner workers and that should be a rule for beginners to remember foremost. Drafting and running side by side with other fellow honda enthusiasts is exhilirating.

My number 64 Gear-X civic handled extremely well thanks to the parts and help from my sponsors; proper balance and plenty of speed was key as I did not worry about my car and could focus on driving. It has much more speed than I can offer it right now,my skill will get better with experience.At the end of sunday and 2 days of 4 on track sessions and hours and hours of class time, I was tired and sore,but I reached my goal and received my competition certificate!

This was the most fun I have had in a long time and can not wait to race in 2 weeks at California Speedway with the rest of my fellow Honda Challenge friends.I know I will be nervous,but I am doing my own thing and if I can, I will hook up with somone of slightly better speed and try and keep up with the fast guys. Time to get some points in the H1 class.

Thanks for reading friends and Big Ups to my sponsors for the support while I have been growing.

Cheers, Justin J.W. Racing