NASA Honda Challenge Buttonwillow 4-25-09

Greetings,

Well I don't have to tell you time flies,yes it is that time for my Monthly race report again! This past weekend was NASA So Cal's 3rd event of the season held at the technical Buttonwillow raceway west of Bakersfield California. With an electrical gremlin from the last race possibly figured out,I arrived mid-day Friday to get a few practice sessions in to make sure the car was running correctly.I was very happy it was, this meant my saturday and sunday can be spent driving and not watching!

Saturday I went out for qualifying and was not used to the track and did not have a very comfortable feel for my car's handling limits, I qualified 12th out of 14 overall.So I added some downforce with my rear wing and went out for my race. During the race I got to follow some faster drivers and this had begun to pick up my speed and confidence in my car.I was far behind the pack though so a decent overall finish was out of sight,though I did manage a second in my H1 class.

Saturday night was the NASA 3hr enduro that goes well into the night.This is always a pleasure to watch with the different lights on all the cars, and brake rotors glowing red hot in the night. It was entertaining and I was happy to see our buddies Jeremy Croiset and fellow rookie Robert Bawdon run Rob's red and white civic coupe in the enduro,after a small penalty issued to Robert dropping them back of the top three, Jeremy attacked the night and rounded out the second stint of the race well and giving them a podium finish in the E1 class, great job guys!

Sunday was another day for racing and points.I need all I can get for points in H1 with my sponsor and mentor Jeff "Kiwi" Owen in a commanding lead.In the morning qualifier,I was surprised I was much more comfortable with the track and my car. After a few laps I found myself all alone,which is rare and great in a qualifier because you can attack laps with no traffic around inhibiting your line or speed.I ripped off many consecutive laps times, 5 laps of 2:06, that was about 3 seconds faster than saturday's best lap. I missed H1 pole by .3 second with a 2:06.4, my best laps at Buttonwillow 13 clockwise with much more on the table. The race,which had a fun standing start,was awesome.After the start I needed a lap or two for the tire pressures to come up and get a zone.About 3 laps in I realized I was able to fight for the lead in H1,so I drove as fast as I could.Twice I had to nearly stop from 100 mph in a very short distance due to cars going off and bringing up dust cluds one could not see the front of their car in. Instinct and quick gut decisions are cruicial durung a race and I am always amazed at the awareness needed to race a car.Anyone can go through classes and learn to race, only true racers have the skill and ability to think and react in a matter of seconds where a fan goes "he's gonna wreck,OH he made it!". That moment of decison and control is what seperates the Great drivers from the others.

With dangerous blinding rock and dust clouds from a couple incidents and debris being thrown up at me,I am in need of freshend up bumper paint from my good friends at Auto-B-Craft collision. I managed to steer through the problem areas safely,though I was passed when I slowed for the dust,and found myself running side by side for the lead. After a few turns in second, I took a risky inside late brake pass on the leader and ended up going off the track on the turn exit,trying to maintain control doing 75mph in loose and powdery dirt,I eased back on the track safely and was still side by side! In the next turn I got in front and a few turns later my H1 competitor mis-shifted trying to catch me and damaged his engine causing it to expire dramatically.This allowed me to cruise my #64 machine to the finish for my first Honda Challenge and road racing Victory!

An amazing weekend and I am already looking forward to next month at Willow Springs Raceway. I hope to keep my luck and continue to get some good points towards the So Cal H1 title and Best new Driver Honors. I want to thank all of my sponsors and supporters and I hope you enjoy my reports.

Untill next time, Cheers

Justin

J.W. Racing