Write-up coming… Eventually? In the meantime, here are the photos from Sunday. Enjoy the gallery, buy stuff so I can keep coming out and covering the races (also so I can replace the pants I ripped hopping fences this last round), and stay tuned for the write-up.
It was a nice day out at Utah Motorsports Campus! Mostly sunny with some intermittent clouds, sport bikes from the Apex Track Days event wailing on the West Track, and tires howling in the West Paddock from the drivers of the final Salt City Drift event of the season. At the end of the day, there would be two winners crowned: the winner of the event, and the overall season champion! Let’s see how that all played out:
In third place in the day’s competition was OP Anderson! Despite organizing and being one of the guys running the event, and despite having a box stock Saturn Sky Redline as his chariot, he managed to go out and slay enough to get on the podium.
In second place was the man, the myth, the Southern Dandy: Blaize Potts! We finally got to see his LS powered FC RX-7 ripping, and rip it did. Put a pin in this, cause we’re gonna get back to him in a minute.
Taking home the win was Trevor Malan! Trevor’s S13 has everything that the internet seems to love: sparkly paint, big Weds wheels, a DMAX kit, JDM nose, it’s dumped, and it’s a ripper. And it has something I love: a dude behind the wheel who’s down to drive. Doesn’t matter how cool your car looks, or what parts you’ve thrown on it: if you can’t/won’t drive it like it’s supposed to, then you’re blowing it.
INTERMISSION
This is John. I like John, cause he’s down to get weird. Here he is in his Wisefab equipped E36, munching a cone. It also has some crazy stiff springs out of the Lyfe Motorsport GTR. It was quite a sight to behold.
This is Devin. His Corolla has Arizona tags, lives in a garage in Michigan, and has a BEAMS 3S-GE under the hood. He drove, in that Corolla, all the way from Michigan just to drive in this event. And it isn’t some well sorted, fully developed Corolla. Very recently it was just a lump of 80’s Toyota, sitting in his garage. He got the car on the ground, got it running, then got it running well enough to drive across the goddamn country to slay some tires. Think about that for a second. Devin is the man.
BACK TO SOME ACTUAL NEWS
In addition to the actual competition, there were two games being played: limbo and table. Not quite sure how limbo worked, but the guy who won got some cash. Good job there, fella! It looked like Blaize was going to take the table win, until Nick Stucky showed up. He was having car troubles, but finally managed to get his car running. He did some tandem with Scott Bradshaw, and then he went for the table. Name of the game was to drift through the last two turns of the course, then slide your car to a stop next to a table. You needed to be parallel, or close enough, to the table to be in the running. Blaize set the bar pretty high, or low, but Nick cleared it in whichever direction was necessary. He slide to a stop mere inches from the table, on his only table run of the day!
Speaking of tables (AWKWARD TRANSITION), here’s the podium for the season championship: in third place, with an E30 325, is Hayden Campbell! He might have taken second if he drove the event, but third isn’t bad!
In second place is the guy who used two cars this season: Blaize Potts! He sold the KA24DE powered S13 coupe, and was handsomely rewarded for doing so. Look at that 2nd place trophy and moderately priced champagne!
And the winner of the 2016 Salt City Drift driver’s championship is: Nick Nengas! Proving many things this year (any seat time is good seat time, the 350Z is a solid platform for damn near anything, looking like a child has its benefits) netted him the top spot. It wasn’t an easy task, there were some guys who could shred, but Nick shredded harder. Now, what do three guys with champagne do with it after they’ve received awards?
There was much rejoicing. And so ends the Salt City Drift season. It was an enjoyable one, a solid one, and hopefully one that has a bigger succeeding season. Congratulations to the winners, the people who tried, everyone who came out to support the events, and especially the folks at Salt City Drift. They’re trying to bolster this community we have by hosting these events, and it’d be killer to see some more folks driving, or even volunteering at these events.
The 2016 NASA Utah season came to an end this past weekend. I know, I’m sad too. But instead of the usual, conventional, “one track configuration for the entire weekend” business that we’ve seen at every other weekend this year; Dave, Matt, and Momma NASA (Cheri Miller) had something special for the end of the year. Instead of running the Outer Loop, or the East track, or even the Full track, they arranged it so the drivers could race on ALL THREE IN THE SAME DAY!!! Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the TresDuro.
IT’S BACK, BABY! Just like last year, and the year before; BUT, unlike last year, they were blowing the dust off the gigantic Full track. To the best of my knowledge, the last time the Full track was run was two years ago. I should probably explain how one wins the TresDuro, since it has been a year. It’s pretty simple for the race groups: you qualify once, and start the first race from that position. Where you finished in that race is where you start the next race from. Where you finish also gives you points. Driver/team with the most points at the end of the third race wins. For TT: they take your fastest times on each track, add them together, and person with the lowest overall time is the winner. Got it?
It’s been a hot minute, but the drivers managed to drive the track without getting lost or forgetting which configuration they were driving! However, the weekend wasn’t without incident. That incident, while unfortunate, provides a convenient segue into the actual race coverage.
THUNDER
German Touring Series Unlimited
Taking home the win in GTSU by a mere 5 points was Makes & Models, in their Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo 620-2. Their main competition throughout the day was David Donner, in his Porsche 911GT3R. You know, the other Effort Racing car that showed up at Air Power Racing at the beginning of this year. David had the pace to run away with it, but a broken axle in race 2 served up the win to Makes & Models. The TresDuro would hinge on the third and final race. The Lamborghini was on the pole, and Les Long’s 997 Cup car was starting from second. And then this happened.
This is video of the start of the third race, shot from Michael Eifling’s ST1 Corvette. It was uploaded by Brendon Stewart, driver of the Makes & Models Huracan. FULL DISCLOSURE: I’ve known Brendon for many years, long before he was working and driving for Makes & Models. Makes & Models has been friendly with us, we have stickers on the Huracan and a few other Makes & Models cars. That said, it’s pretty clear Les makes a move to the left to keep the Lamborghini behind him. Then as the Lambo starts moving to his right and passing him, he moves to the right and pushes him West pit out. The result of all of these moves was the Huracan spinning out in turn one, and having to rejoin at the back of the field. Despite that, Brendon fought through the field and finished second.
5 points behind Makes & Models was David Donner. It’s been a few rounds since we’ve seen him at UMC, but he’s been spending that time wisely. He’s very in tune with the 911 GT3R, and showed INSANE pace in the first race. Good God was he flying! David, I’m begging you!: come out for more races! I’d love to see you, David Lockwood, Derek, and the DXDT guys have an all out death match (not really a battle to the death, but you know what I mean) one NASA weekend. Do it for me, do it for the children, do it for America! Or England if your James Burke.
In third place, with 255 points, was Les Long. He narrowly edged out David Lockwood for the final podium spot. Les is a really good driver, but I’m not used to seeing him drive as aggressively as he did on Saturday. From what I’ve seen over the years, he is most definitely not a dirty driver. Just an aggressive driver, something we typically enjoy. While he may be at fault for the incident at the beginning of the third race, I think he just got caught up in the heat of the moment.
Super Touring 1
Being alone in a class has advantages sometimes, and Michael Eifling took full advantage of being the sole ST1 driver. He took the fight to Robert Gardner, in the orange Jagermeister Porsche, and they had amazing battles all day long. Good on ya Michael! Thanks for not just turning laps, and taking the easy win. Also, thank for bringing Buddha!
Super Touring 2
ST2 started the day with two competitors: JR Smith in his Porsche Boxster, and Toby Crawford in his Subaru BRZ. By the end of the first race, there was only one. The head gaskets in Toby’s BRZ let go, allowing the man, the myth, the legend that is JR Smith to take the win.
Super Touring 3
ST3 had a field of 5 cars: four of the Ford Performance Racing School BOSS 302 FRSes and the Minion mobile, the UAO Clothing M3. I know I saw Alex in the car on Saturday, so I’m going to say it was he who won the shiny, not chocolate filled gold medal for ST3. I’m sure I’ll hear about it if I’m wrong, but until then: congratulations Alex! UPDATE: Todd Ainsworth also drove on Saturday. Matt Guiver probably wasn’t in the car on Saturday, so we can rule him out. So congratulations Todd and Alex on the win!
In second place was Frank Gannett. Frank the Tank has been pounding away in that Mustang, and doing a damn good job too. Hopefully we see Frank in a different chassis next season, preferably one that doesn’t belong to the fine folks at the Ford Performance Racing School.
Rounding out the podium was Josh Williams, in the #85 FPRS BOSS 302 FRS. It’s in my favorite color, which makes it the best looking Mustang they have at the school. Ask for it by name!
Super Unlimited
Super Unlimited also had a five car field, but unlike the ST3 field there wasn’t a dominant model in the field. There was; however, a dominant team: CA Sport. They represented four of the five cars, the fifth being George Smith’s Corvette. It was also a rather diverse field: the aforementioned Corvette, a PWC TC Class 370Z, a widebody E92 M3, and a pair of Cayman GT4 Clubsports. It was one of those Caymans, the #41 driven by Andrew Smith, that took home the win.
Chasing Andrew was Davis Warnock, in the #70 CA Sport Cayman GT4 Clubsport. It was really fun watching these two cars duke it out for first place, and mix it up with some of the other classes. And the new liveries look great.
Locking out the podium for CA Sport was Lara Tallman in the 370Z. Hey! I just noticed that it has one blue mirror! I like that. And also congratulations to CA Sport for locking out the podium! That quite the feat, especially considering who all could’ve run in the class and taken a spot on the podium.
And there you have it for Thunder! Looking for Lightning or Time Trial? I’ve got those in their own posts, so you don’t have a 3000+ word article to rifle through
*Article and Photos are copyright of CAMautoMag.Com and their respective owners.
It was a crowded weekend, and it was a good weekend. We had the good ol’ boys and the plucky series from California joining our local heroes: the NASA Utah drivers, crew, and hangers on. We’re going to start our recap of the races, at least Saturday’s races, in the Lightning group. Specifically in the GTS2, where Chris Haunold drove like a madman to take the win. He didn’t have to drive like a madman to do so, because he was all by his lonesome on that day.
Papa SMurf is wise, but Papa Smurf also has had some issues with his Smurf mobile. This Saturday it was some unintended three wheel motion that sidelined the blue Miata, but thankfully Todd Green has access to the legendary, mighty, and all powerful Paul Mitchell. With the noble steed betwixt his thighs underneath him, he secured himself the win in PTE.
In a tight Spec Miata race, Chris “three measures of Gordon’s; one of vodka; half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it over ice, and add a thin slice of lemon peel” Bond somehow held off Matt Williamson. Matt was on a mission the whole race, but couldn’t get anything to stick. So great to see this race happen. I’ve been telling you people to watch Spec Miata!
Our lone Thunder Roadster entrant, JD Stull, ran a solid race and turned a fastest lap of 2:16.545. Not too bad.
944 Spec has a new driver! Otto and Sam have a new challenger: Greg Troester, and he made his presence known by taking the class win by over nineteen seconds!
We’ve now come to Spec Z, which was insane. Not because it was a close race, but because almost everyone felt the need to test the off-roading prowess of the Nissan 350Z.
There were a lot of Z’s covered in dust at various points in the day, and plenty had some after the race.
Speaking of, Arthur Golebiowski took the win. He dominated, because that’s what he does.
Jeff Burton, in his Cayman R, hung a 50 second lead on Mark Reichman to take the GTS3 win. Now, we need to have a chat Jeff. You seem like a nice enough guy, but you need to do something about the looks of your car. It’s too understated. Hear me out! Throw a classic Porsche livery on there. Not Matrini, not Rothman’s, definitely not Gulf. No, you need the Pink Pig. Think about it…
Anywell, in GTS4 we had Byron Smith and Darrell Troester battling it out. Unfortunately, Byron retired from the race. Having the win in hand, Darrell kept getting good laps in. His best time in the race was a 2:03.079.
ST1 had the closest finish of the day, and maybe of the season. Bob Evans and Michael Eifling had a close battle all race, with neither one giving an inch. Bob, being cagey, got the nose of his Sprint Cup Ford Fusion JUST ahead of Michael’s C5 Corvette at the line. Bob’s margin of victory was .045 seconds! This battle was good enough for Bob to win Racer of the Day honors at the barbecue. Recognizing the hell of a drive Michael had, Bob decided to give the award to Michael. It was a great act, but not without a touch of Bob-ness: Dave Kizerian made the announcement that Bob was giving his award to Michael, Michael came up and gave Bob a hug. Bob, while still hugging Michael, spun 180 degrees. They let go of each other, and Bob began making his way back to his seat… with the award still in his hand. He gave it to Michael, but it was a fun little sequence.
Despite not having a splittler, due to it coming loose and disintegrating during an earlier TT session, Toby Crawford took home the ST2 win.
Todd Ainsworth, in the Minion mobile, defended himself against a herd of Ford Performance Racing School Mustangs in ST3. He held of the colorful ponies, and got himself the win.
We had a new challenger in Super Unlimited. Well, a new car. Steve Burns hopped in this former Trans Am Mustang, and went toe to toe with the likes of the Makes & Models Huracan ST, the Air Power Racing 911 GT3R, and Swamp Thing. He did well in the new car, beating out Swamp Thing for the class win, and coming in P2 overall.
In P1 overall, and setting a new class record in the process, was Derek Wolthoff in the Makes & Models Huracan ST. He ran away with the race win, with a 29.990 second gap over second place.
Lyfe Motorsport had a few drivers out in some Porsche Cup cars. In the yellow 996 Cup car was David Bradshaw, who took TT1 with a best time of 2:06.481.
We had a dramatic upset in TT3! Mike Bratsch, taking advantage of James Pasquier’s absence and Andy Moench being a new daddy (congrats buddy!), ran a fast lap of 2:09.044 and got himself a shiny new piece of hardware.
We had some Miata on Miata violence in TTB! Darin Beaudoin, in his white S2000, faced an attack from Nam Yoon, in his white S2000. Less than a second separated them, but in the end the affable Darin got himself another win. Does this win prove that the S2000 is the ultimate TTB machine? YOUR GUESS IS AS GOOD AS MINE!
Max Dufford, in the wrong-from-a-purist’s-POV-but-right-from-a-physics-stand-point Porsche, ran a 2:16.078 en route to a TTC win.
Trever with an E Pope took home another TTD win, and hit the kerbs in the Attitudes like they owed him money.
Pictured above is Papa Smurf, winning PTE with a best time of 2:15.343 and before he drove a wheel off of the Smurf mobile.
In the second of the Lyfe backed Porsche Cup Cars was Mike Kresser. He was driving it in TTU, and took home a win with a 2:01.452.
This f*ckin guy. I mean, seriously. Shawn Murphy set a TT2 record last month AND became the first Subaru to break the 2 minute mark on the Outer Loop, and now this month he breaks his own record by over half a second. Is it not good enough for you Shawn? WHY CAN’T YOU JUST BE HAPPY?!? But seriously, this is a hell of a feat. He didn’t just break his own record by a little but. The .6whatever it is he broke it by, is a a decent margin. And this is still a “full interior street car”. Imagine if it were lighter…
And that’s that. We have one more round coming up, the legendary TresDuro! Keep October 7, 8, and 9 open, because there will be multi track configuration racing on Saturday, and FULL TRACK MADNESS ON SUNDAY!!! You best be out there.
*Article and Photos are copyright of CAMautoMag.Com and their respective owners.
Drifting is a very colorful thing, undertaken by very colorful people. This is not going to be colorful, because I did some black and white edits of the photos I shot after sundown. I call it…
Yes! It actually happened! There was an organized, legal drift event that went off without fear of rain! And it was a solid six-ish hours (drivers meetings, loading and unloading of cars, and so forth) of driving! Of course local hero Brandon Wicknick was there! And so was Nick Stucky! Although his banana mobile decided it wanted to plantain. And Derrick Lopez came out, in an SR20 powered S13 hatchback, that was a lot like Brandon’s. Just more pedestrian in the looks department.
Scott Bradshaw and Dane Seering were out in LS powered S13 coupes. Scott went with a bass boat theme, while Dane went with a general death and destruction vibe.
We had some friends come up from Southern Utah, and they taught us some valuable lessons: You can link the whole track if you have a twin cam KA in your 240 and have enough lights, and a stock E46 M3 is ready to party as soon as you pull the right fuses. It wasn’t just a drift event, it was a learning experience.
Speaking of learning, there were a lot of new faces out there! It was good to see some guys who weren’t afraid to go out, suck out loud, and seek out answers as to why they suck, from people who don’t. That’s how you learn kiddies: go, do, suck,, figure out why you sucked, go again, do again, suck a little less. I hope we see these guys out again, because by the end of the night they made some progress in the right direction!
We also had our first contest! Blaize Potts, in his KA24DE powered S13 coupe, finished in first. Nick Nengas in a virtually stock 350Z finished in second. Third place was occupied by Hayden Campbell in his E30 BMW. This wasn’t just a contest for the sake of having a contest. There are season long stakes on the line! Whoever has the most points at the end of the season wins a roll cage, or possibly a set of wheels. Not bad for coming out and sliding with your buddies!
The next event is June 18th, out at Utah Motorsports Campus. This is a daytime event, running from 9am until 5pm. There’s a mandatory lunch break, so you won’t miss out on any driving because you want a burger. We hope to see all of these (mostly) smiling faces, along with yours out there!
YOU THINK YOU WOULDN’T GET SOME BONUSES?
*Article and Photos are copyright of CAMautoMag.Com and their respective owners.
There were fifteen entries in Spec Z on Saturday. 15! The other Lightning group classes, combined, had eighteen cars. It’s safe to say that we’re drowning in Spec Z’s. Anyway, on to the coverage! And let’s begin in Spec Z, where Arthur Golebiowski was fighting off four other drivers for the top spot in the championship. None of the four drivers, nor Arthur, took the win. It was James Burke who won the day. Yes, James Burke and that delightful accent of his took P1 in class and overall in the group. Yeah, I called his accent delightful. Have you heard him speak? Best accent on the grid!
In the next largest spec class, Spec Miata, Bond, Chris Bond took home another gold medal. He’s still holding to the top spot in class, but Matt Williamson is still hot on his heels.
And in the loneliest spec class, Spec Boxster, Mark Boschert turned some solid laps.
We got some 944 Spec action! Samuel Kapp held off Otto Silva and took home the win in the all Porsche class.
Nathan Rohner took home another win in PTBrrappp. Seriously, this thing was shooting fire going into turn 1. Someone join him!
Todd Green, in the mighty Paul Mitchell, ran away from Randy Cummings in PTE. Here we see Todd next to Dave Dingman, 4th in Spec Miata, going into turn 1. Todd, or at least Paul Mitchell, took home the win in TTE as well.
Jeff and Blake had a new running mate in GTS3! It was Bob Boileau, in a BMW Z4! Good job Bob, solid work.
I don’t know why, but I have this weird urge to insert an H into Tom Rogers’s name. Call him Thom. Don’t know why. Anyway, Thom and his BMW took the win in GTS2, a square 26.159 seconds ahead of Chris Haunold and his Porsche.
Somebody buy a BRZ and challenge Trever Pope. He’s alone in TTD, and could use a friend.
Darin Beaudoin and his dirty, drifty Miata grabbed the TTB win. If anyone is getting sick of me calling S2000’s Miatas, I have bad news for you: I’m not stopping. AND NEITHER IS DARIN!!!! MAUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
James Pasquier piloted the Porsche of my dreams to a win in TT3 over some BRZ’s, and a friendly guy in a Subaru. Seriously James, I want your 911 or a reasonable facsimile!
Alex Whetman and the Focus of Doom, which I did not strap a camera to, came out of wherever it is they hide and took the TT2 victory of Shawn Murphy, his new flares, and his weird desire to go off-roading. We’ll hunt down the elusive Alex and stick a camera on the Focus at Round 4! Or whenever.
Jordan Priestly was out and about in the 2016 Camaro development mule. He then decided to DQ that car, and jump in Michael Eifling’s Corvette. And in doing so winning TT1.
We finally come to TTU, which was a bit different than usual. As you can see, this isn’t Wade Hall’s Mustang, nor is it the Makes & Models Super Trofeo Huracan. This is, however, Brendon Stewart, and it is a Makes & Models car. It also was the fastest TTU car of the day.
Speaking of 996 Porsche 911’s: Darrell Troester collected a GTS4 win with his 996 Cup Car!
In ST3, and *just* in front of whatever CA Sport car was coming out of Release, was Frank Gannett. He brought home another win in the black Ford Performance Racing School Mustang.
JR Smith piloted him E36 BMW to a solid ST2 drive, which got him a gold medal.
George Smith ran his Corvette in ST1 trim, which meant he was down on power. Normally this wouldn’t be much of a problem, except ST1 had a five car field. And Bob did some more aero modifications to the Snickers car (that’s a story in and of itself). Despite all of that, George took home the win!
Les Long broke out his 997 Cup car, which I’ve heard rumors about. Rumors that make me want to know more about the car. Anyway, Les and the pirate Porsche took home the SU class win.
Mckay Snow, and his determined look, claimed a GTSU victory. Frankly, it would’ve been more surprising if he didn’t win. The big story in GTSU is the lack of the Makes & Models Huracan ST. Unfortunately, the Huracan met the wall during an earlier practice session. Things were broken, but Derek was ok. The car? Well, that’s TBD. When I saw it, it didn’t look so bad. Then again, I grossly underestimate how bad things look to repair.
And that’s that. Another NASA Utah weekend in the books. Join us for the next race weekend, June 10-12. They’ll be on the West track, where things can get interesting.
*Article and Photos are copyright of CAMautoMag.Com and their respective owners.
Oliver Gavin in the #4 C7.R nosed ahead of the #3 C7.R driven by Antonio Garcia by .034 seconds to take the GTLM win at the Rolex 24! We don’t have a photo of either of them, but here’s George Smith in his equally yellow C5. Like Oli and Antonio, George has won his fare share of races and championships.
It was a wonderful weekend at Miller Motorsports Park, or so I’ve been told. I missed out on Saturday because my car decided it didn’t want to have any oil in it, but I made it out on Sunday! And Sunday was a day where at least on championship would be decided.
The GTSU championship was a tight battle between Les Long of Air Power Racing, and Derek Wolthoff and Allen Turner of Makes & Models. A second place finish for Les and a fourth place finish on Saturday for the Makes & Models team seemed to have tighten up the race. Fortunately for the R8 pilots, Les parked his 911 GT3 Cup on Sunday. Les’s absence allowed the Derek to wrap up the title! He took first place over the upstart DXDT Racing team. All was well, until he rechecked his math and realized that he actually had it locked up on Saturday. He’s a racing driver, not a mathematician! Congratulations to the Makes & Models team for their GTSU Championship.
Shawn Tatum took the win in GTS4 on both days, and has been alone in the class since August. Does that matter? Not when his Tatum Racing prepped Cayman looks that good.
The GTS5 results were the same on Sunday as they were on Sunday: Darrell Troester, in his 996 GT3 Cup car, held off Karsten Nossack, in the Nossack Food Group 996 GT3 Cup car, for the win.
Dan Worley took home ST1 wins on both days, and had one hell of a battle with Matt Guiver on Sunday.
Mike Mielke claimed a win in ST2 on Saturday, but didn’t start the race on Sunday. I’m not sure why…
Damnit Mike! Put the steering wheel back on the car!!!
Travis Tidball, in the JDP Motorsports/RaceCo/DigiCert Corvette Z06, out drove the field of Mustangs (and pair of M3s) to collect a pair of wins on the weekend.
And in SU, Jeff Kearl had to deal with some hot hands on Saturday. Madison Snow brought out the UIS 911 GT3 Cup car, and Vesko Kozarov was out in an M3. Jeff beat the both of them, and earned himself a win on Saturday. He was the lone SU competitor on Sunday, but after Saturday’s battle, he earned himself a free pass.
You can’t throw a stone without hitting a Spec Z car in the paddock these days. It’s insane how fast this group has grown! On Saturday there were 13 cars in the field. 13!!! I remember vividly when there were only a handful of cars in the class.
Arthur Golebiowski continued his season long battle with Tom Kaminski on Saturday, with Arthur taking another win. Way down in 12th was the #22 Lyfe Motorsports Z. It only completed 4 laps. Sunday the tables were flipped!
And by “flipped” I mean Cole Powelson won, and spawned the hashtag #ColeonPole. Nothing was really flipped beyond the #22 climbing out of the bottom of the standings… Don’t know why I said that, I’m sorry.
Jim Miller and his Boxster cleaned up in GTS2 all weekend.
Mayor McCheese, AKA Blake Troester, out dueled Carol Nichols for the win in GTS3.
The Unfair Advantage Audi (still not sure what the advantage is) claimed PTE wins on Saturday AND Sunday, a feat that can only be accomplished on a weekend.
The #54 Spec E36 collected a pair of wins on the weekend, but with two different drivers at the helm. Saturday was Jeff Kearl’s win, and Sunday’s victory belonged to Rhett Longman. “Rhett Longman” sounds entirely made up. I’m gonna need to see some ID…
Tyler Dahl had a battle with Allen Anderson in Spec Miata. When the dust settled, Tyler emerged victorious.
Greg Valdez and Shawn Murphy wrote another chapter in their TT1 battle. This weekend they traded victories, with Shawn winning on Saturday and Greg on Sunday.
TT2 belonged to Rhett Panter on Saturday, then he punched a hole in his block. Not bad considering that motor had 5 years of good, hard use on it. With Rhett on the trailer, Sunday was all about Robert Poirer and his red Mustang.
Travis Tidball took TT3 both days, because why wouldn’t he?
What’s this??? Brendon Stewart making a return to the NASA Utah competition??? You bet your ass it is! And he made his homecoming quite the spectacle.
He didn’t burst into flames, he didn’t slam into a wall, he just took TTB in a FRS with some coilovers, slicks, heavy wheels and fresh OEM brake pads. Seriously, just the parts I mentioned. Toby Crawford has a supercharger in his BRZ, and Dave Wann is in the best Miata ever: a Honda S2000 built to TTB spec. Brendon may be some sort of savant behind the wheel. I want to see him in a TTU car, see what happens.
Kelly Fisher took the win in TTC behind the wheel of the ProTintUtah.com GTI.
It’s not quite a Mazda, and it’s not quite a Maserati, but it’s good enough for Tyler Nisonger to win TTE.
Lyfe Motorsports focusing their efforts on the World Time Attack Challenge GTR and Spec Z efforts has left a vacuum in TTU. Their only consistent competition, the Makes & Models Audi R8 LMS, rose to the top spot, but behind them are a host of occasional others. On this weekend, the Makes & Models crew took home the win (and championship) on Saturday, while Wade Hall and his obscenely powerful Mustang claimed a gold bottle opener on Sunday.
And there we have it. This was the final points weekend for Thunder and Lightning, and we’ll discuss the champions in a later post, but suffice it to say everyone earned their class championship. The next, and final, event is the legendary Tresduro! Last year the drivers ran on the Outer Loop, East and West tracks all in one day. This year is a bit different. They’re still running on the East and West tracks, but this year they’re going to be running on the Full Track! And for TT and Open Wheel, this will be their last chance for points. The second annual Tresduro is happening on October 24! Be there and watch the last event at Miller Motorsports Park!
It was a nice morning at Miller Motorsports Park. The paddock was buzzing with activity as drivers were preparing to go out on track, and crews were readying the cars. The first group out were the Pirelli GT3 Cup Trophy, which featured a couple of locals.
Both Desire Wilson and John Scarlett were driving out of the Air Power Racing garage, and both did well on the weekend. Desire finished first in Platinum on both days, and John took home first in Platinum Masters on Saturday and second on Sunday. For those keeping track, with their wins that makes a total of 6 wins for MMP locals! Could Vesko do some upsetting in GTS and make it 7?
Unfortunately no. Vesko did wind up in second though, behind one Mr. Michael Cooper in his Blackdog Speedshop Z/28 Camaro. With his win on Sunday, and with Andrew Aquilante’s 12th and 10th pllace finishes in the weekend’s events, pushed him to a 107 point lead in the driver’s championship standings. Seeing a black and red Camaro cross the line 1st at the Ford GP of Utah gave me a feeling of deja vu.
The two cars involved in the big incidents on Saturday, the Swisher Z4 GT3 and the iRacerCoaching.com R8 LMS Ultra of Drew Regitz, were back and ready to go for the final GT/GTA/GT Cup race of the weekend. And things were different up top!
JD Davison…
…
!
Collected his second second place finish of the weekend. Guy Smith on the other hand…
Yes, a previous winner at Miller in the Continental GT3 swooped in, and finished in third. Third!
But our guy Johnny took first. Again. See, the top spots were different because Guy… I’m not gonna spoon feed you on this one. Now, to address the fellow with the dog.
That fellow is Colin Thompson, driver of the #11 Porsche Bucks County/Penn Valley 911 GT3 Cup. The dog is his dog, which made the trip out from Pennsylvania to watch his owner claim the win in the GT Cup category, and join him in celebrating the win on pit lane. I forgot the dog’s name, but he was super chill.
GTA Shook out with a pair of SLS GT3s in the top two podium places, and a Ferrari on the last spot. Frank Montecalvo in the Bayshore Racing SLS crossed the line first, with Eric Lux’s Rembrandt Charms/Monticello Motor Club SLS following behind. Eric’s journey to second in class wasn’t easy. Martin Fuentes in the Scuderia Corsa/Hublot/Samsung Ferrari 458 GT3 Italia kept Eric in his mirrors most of the race, but Eric fought and got around Martin to take home second.
And there we have it, another amazing World Challenge event in the books. Opportunities to see cars, drivers and racing like this don’t come up too often, especially in our neck of the woods. Watching the GT, GTA, GT Cup and GTS cars stretch their legs on the massive front straight, and blast through the high speed corners, then seeing the Touring Cars bang around the track and hit the kerbing and getting air under the tires all in the same day is one of the best ways to spend any day. With the news that Miller Motorsports Park will become the Utah Motorsports Campus, and that the new ownership is just as excited to keep the racing going at the track, we’re hoping to see more Pirelli World Challenge events at our home track in the coming years. And we’re hoping to see more of you guys out there too! Seriously, where can you go from seeing this:
To this:
Then see the drivers up close:
And sometimes personal:
Before they grid up and take the green flag?:
Not a whole lot of events are this open to their fans, and feature this diverse a line up. If you get a chance to, come to the track and spend the weekend watching high caliber racing!
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