NASA Honda Challenge Buttonwillow 6-27-09
Greetings my friends,
Summer is here isn't it! My goodness it has been sizzling here in California. June 27 and 28 was the start of the summer leg of the So Cal NASA racing season held at Buttonwillow raceway where we ran the Counter clockwise #1 configuration.Temperatures soared in the mid day to 105 after a warm morning low testing man and machine to their limits.
My car was looking sharp and ready for racing with new Torque wheels from Rota.The morning was filled with off track excursions and accidents with many cars as I watched other groups run,a messy start to the weekend for the officials to deal with.After my morning practice I was happy to have the bugs from the previous event worked out and my friends at Church auto testing did their job giving me power and fixing my fueling issue.I also was on a new custom set of shocks from the Progress Group along with different spring rates than I have been running all season.
Qualifying was tough in the heat and I did the best I could qualifying mid pack with a 2:15 lap.The car began acting strange turing right at the end of qualifying,indicating an issue with the left front suspension,where I later found my shock oil leaked out form a defective seal.This made the car bounce from the spring force having no resistance.
With nothing to loose and no spare,I went into my afternoon sprint race with a heavy right foot.I managed a great start picking up 1 position before the first turn and another a few turns later,I was on a push to the front.I had to stay on my toes to avoid several spins and contact between other cars.A few laps in after some hard driving the left front suspension was getting worse and the car was bouncing dangerously,so I backed off my pace and made sure to bring the car home in one piece.With the H1 points leader not attending the weekend I was able to gain a few point Saturday.Due to the suspension and a failed alternator I withdrew from Sundays action for safety reasons.
Next month is a fun race again at AutoClub Speedway,I tend to favor this track and did well in the season opener,lets hope to continue the roll.
thanks for reading and thanks to my sponsors for supporting
Cheers
Justin
JW Racing
