Honda Challenge NASA 3-28-09

Greetings,

We meet again for another update from the JW racing camp. This past weekend March 28 and 29 2009, NASA So Cal held the 2nd event of the season at Auto Club; formerly California Speedway, in Fontana and it was a great turn out.

I arrived early on a Windy Friday to test and tune to dial the car setup for the track.The super strong santa ana winds made the car move around lane to lane on the oval section at high speed which was quite uncomfortable,though everyone was in the same boat. I managed to get ahold of the track conditions and tire pressures and was ready for my race on Saturday.

I qualified my #64 civic conservatively and ended up 7th on the grid Saturday.After starting on the inside row behind a slower car that outqualified me by .2 seconds, I was unable to pass on the apron below the white line so this made me a sitting duck for the ones behind me.Immediately I droppped into about 12th or 13th position.I was patient with my attack on the first lap and after waiting and watching a few cars tangle and go off track,it was time to boogie on out! So I got in a rhythm and one by one I picked off the Hondas ahead of me,along with traffic from other classes like 944 spec.

About half through our 35 min sprint race, I noticed my pace was steady and I was catching the leaders.I was careful to manage my tires and this allowed me to not loose pace like some of the other who were too harsh on their tires in the early stages of the race.My car was running smooth and strong and I was in cruise control.With the white flag for the final lap shown,I began one last strong push for the next position and though I made up a several second deficit to the next car, I was not able to catch 4th before the checkered fell.I finished 2nd in H1 and 5th overall in Honda Challenge for my very first sprint race!

Sunday was another chance for me to battle with the best, but a little gremlin decided to jump into my wire harness and my car developed a mis-fire before the qualifyer for Sundays race. Thus I was unable to back up my Saturday performance. It was super fun and all of my fellow Honda Challenge racers were real nice to me and fun to be around,I am glad to be friends with such a fun and awesome group of racers! In the end you can hardly see my trophy I am holding in the picture;but its not about the trophy.We do not get paid to compete or get to enjoy fancy podiums with girls and champagne, we do it for the fun and love of racing.

So we are off to the technical Buttonwillow circuit next month and I hope to do well after I get the car sorted back out and running as it was all year.

Thanks to my friends and supporters and especially my sponsors for having great products and to Password for letting me Blog.

Untill next time

Cheers,

Justin