June 2008 Thunderhill Raceway Report, Willows, CA
written by Scott Neville Race Chair
June 2008

Sunday's Early Race Start Donny Edwards leads Carl Chiu and Brenden Selvig in the Turn 5 Bypass Photo by Kregg Miller

Race Chair Report: Steve Krshul (NorCal Spec E30 Race Director) asked me to chair this weekend's race and I gladly agreed. I look forward every month to racing with a group of great guys who, over the last few months, have become my good friends. One of the best aspects of racing is in the paddock after the race sharing your experiences with the guy you just had an intense 30-minute door- to-door battle with. You park your race car, unbuckle and get out of your gear and head over to your competitor to shake his hand, give a slap on the back or even better a big bear hug. You quiz each other as to the events of the race...why did you slow down in Turn 11? Did you miss a shift coming out of Turn 6? You re-live and recount that 30 minutes of total racing intensity and concentration. This sport is all about competition...to quote Al Unser Jr : "Besides winning, [the most fun thing is] getting out there and mixing it up with friends; it's the competition." I totally agree! When people find out I race sports cars one of the assumptions folk's have is that I'm in this sport because I like to drive fast. My response is that when you're racing you don't even think about the speed you are travelling...it's all about the wheel-to-wheel competition. That's what flips my skirt! And I know it's the same for all my competitors.

A great race weekend is where everyone is able to finish the weekend safely and trailer their race cars home in one piece. This weekend one of our most dedicated Spec E30 racers had the unfortunate experience to crash under a local waving yellow flag. He saw the yellow, but was following two other out-of-class cars and thought the yellow was for a single car that was off in the weeds on the right-hand side of the track. But there was a second car further down the track smack in the middle of the asphalt. He reacted too late and admittedly did not slow down enough and was ready to stop as the rules mandate. He was ok, and the driver of the stalled car was shaken up but not hurt. This is one of those racer mistakes that NASA Race Officials really come down hard on. And rightfully so...racing is dangerous and flags are our only form of communication between the course workers and the racers in cars. Serious yellow flag incidents happen a few times each race season; we are human beings in fast moving objects and the laws of probability mean that mistakes will happen. The SpecE30 driver's car was extensively damaged but is in the process of being fixed and he will be back racing. The point is, we saw first hand the serious consequences of a moment of inattentiveness on the race track. The SpecE30 driver was suspended for four races and will have to pay for repairs on the Rx7.

Some other "lessons learned" this weekend involved the definition of blocking with your race car. One of our enthusiastic young rookie racers was in a heated battle to retain his third place position and was making blocking moves and keeping the faster 4th place car from making a clean pass. Race Officials docked our young racer one finishing position for blocking. He learned a good lesson this weekend and will be a better racer for it. This 2008 season we have a mix of new and veteran racers...our class has expanded beyond everyone's early estimates at the season start...and with growth we will have some growing pains. But I'm confident we will get over those growing pains in 2008 and continue to make better this exciting and fun Spec racing class.

I'm also happy to announce that the NorCal Spec E30 group contributed $208 to the cookie jar fund for the two course workers injured last month at Thunderhill. This weekend's winners for the AutoAnalyst II drawing for Hawk Brake pads were Scott Clough and Adam Lazur. Other weekend highlights were Friday's group dinner at the Casa Romas, checking out Adam Lazur's new tow rig (a Ford E350 Diesel former Red Cross Ambulance Van complete with working sirens...Adam was goaded into trying them out at the motel parking lot after Friday's dinner).

Special thanks also goes out to future SpecE30 racer Kregg Miller who took the great photographs you see in this report. I also would like to thank Don Bailey (my good buddy from my GTI-Cup racing days now racing a Spec Miata) and Kevin Borchers who helped get my car race ready after my collision (pealed a fender, destroyed my rim/tire and knocked out my front alignment) with a spinning Baby Grand during Saturday's morning practice session. Don helped me with the body work (a lot of hammering and some sheet metal screws) and Kevin helped me re-adjust camber and toe.

Battle for 3rd Place Sunday's Sprint Race Brenden Selvig leads Gary Rieger and Scott Neville heading into Turn 14
Photo by Kregg Miller

The weather for this June weekend was going to be hot...but not too hot....sunny, clear with temps in the high 80's on Saturday and in the low to mid 90's on Sunday. Walter Ford with Valley Motorwerks brought his large trailer up on Friday morning and grabbed a good paddock spot for the rest of the SpecE30 racers. VMWerks drivers Kevin Borchers and Carl Chiu were testing on Friday with Trackmasters. We had a nine car field this weekend; Donny Edwards, AJ Goldsmith, Adam Lazur, Scott Neville, Kevin Borchers/Carl Chiu, Gary Rieger (driving Mike Swartzbart's car), Scott Clough, Brenden Selvig, and Tommy Lo/Paul Ko driving the Valley Motorwerks rental SpecE30. Ron Harness was out of town this weekend and Steve Krshul's car was still under repair and would not ready for the event.

The SpecE30 field would be racing in Group A along with the Performance Touring Cars, Super Unlimited and Honda Challenge cars. The total field of Group A cars was about 40 cars. As usual the SpecE30 cars would be doing a standing start behind the first green flag for the Hondas. Performance Touring and Super Unlimited cars would follow with a flying green flag start.

Donny Edwards leads Carl Chiu, Brenden Selvig and AJ Goldsmith in the early stages of Sunday's sprint race Photo by Kregg Miller

Saturday Qualifying: Donny Edwards, driving the #1 Brimstone Dynasty E30, took the pole position on Saturday with a screaming fast 2:08.513. Donny would also drive the #1 car on Sunday as co-driver Elliott Taylor could not make the race due to conflicting commitments. Kevin Borchers took second position in the #36 Valley Motorwerks SpecE30 with a time of 2:09.998. Kevin would be sharing driving duties with Carl Chiu who would be driving the #36 car on Sunday. The rest of the field qualified as follows: AJ Goldsmith 2:11.728, Gary Rieger 2:12.365, Brenden Selvig 2:12.526, Scott Neville 2:13.881, Paul Ko 2:14.199; Adam Lazur 2:16.120 and Scott Clough 2:18.891.

Saturday Race

Donny, being on pole, took the lead going into Turn 1 with Kevin on his tail, followed by Scott Neville who pulled a good launch at the start. AJ was in 4th, Brenden in 5th followed by Gary, Adam, Paul and Scott Clough. On lap 2 Brenden and Gary where hounding AJ for the number 4 position while Scott continued chasing Kevin and a slowly disappearing Donny on lap 2. By lap 3 the three-pack of AJ, Brenden and Gary were slowly gaining on Scott while Kevin and Donny were pulling away. Scott would soon have a fight on his hands to keep 3rd position. On lap 4 AJ managed a clean inside pass on Scott in the braking zone of Turn 14. By Turn 5, Gary Rieger was on Scott's tailpipe and their cars went over the bypass side-by-side. Gary made an inside pass on Scott just before Turn 6 but bobbled on the exit loosing momentum...Scott was able to regain 4th by Turn 7. Brenden caught up with the group and was now nosing up Gary's tailpipe as well. In the meantime Donny and Kevin had gapped the group and were having their own battle for first place.

On lap 6 a faster Subaru WRX came into the group battling for 3rd spot and with this car in the mix allowed Gary to sneak a pass in on Scott in Turn 2...the same Subaru caused AJ to yield the apex in Turn 8, causing him to lose momentum going up the hill towards Turn 9. Gary and Scott took full advantage of AJ's misfortune and quickly put him back from 3rd to 5th place. At the start of the next lap our group came around Turn 2 and were surprised to see Kevin out in the weeds and re-entering the track. He had gotten loose in the marbles and spun battling Donny. This made the top 6 running order as follows: Donny, Gary, Scott, AJ, Kevin and Brenden. Kevin was on a tear and by the next two laps made passes on AJ and Scott. At the checkered flag the finishing positions were: Donny, Gary, Kevin, Scott N., AJ, Brenden, Paul, Adam and Scott C.

NASA Tech requires the top four finishing cars to head directly to impound to get scaled. Gary (who is also a NASA instructor and was out on track with a student) missed the Group A driver's meeting and didn't realize it was necessary to go to impound after the race to get scaled. As a result his hard fought 2nd place finish was DQ'd, bumping Kevin to 2nd place and Scott N. to 3rd.

Click here for in-car video of the entire race from Scott Neville's in-car video.

Fast race lap times were as follows: Donny 2:08.981 (new lap record) , Kevin Borchers 2:11.080, , Scott Neville 2:12.674, AJ Goldsmith 2:12.766, Brenden Selvig 2:12.097. Paul Ko 2:14.616, Adam Lazur 2:15.054 Scott Clough 2:17.479 and Gary Reiger 2:12.105.


Carl Chiu leads Tommy Lo and AJ Goldsmith during Sunday's qualifying session
Photo by Kregg Miller

Sunday Qualifying: As is becoming the norm....Donny Edwards, driving the #1 Brimstone Dynasty E30 took the pole position on Sunday with a fast lap time of 2:09.411. Carl Chiu took second position in the #36 Valley Motorwerks SpecE30 with a time of 2:11.278. Third fastest was Brenden Selvig with a 2:11.880. The rest of the field qualified as follows: AJ Goldsmith 2:11.902, Gary Rieger 2:12.182, Scott Neville 2:13.600, Scott Clough 2:14.623 and Adam Lazur 2:15.422. Tommy Lo driving the VM Werks #01 car clocked a 2:12.283 but the was found to be underweight and was DQ'd. Tommy would race the car as a non-points "Fun Run".



Scott Neville in front on Adam Lazur exiting the S's during Sunday qualifying
Photo by Kregg Miller

Sunday Race

It was another standing start behind the Hondas for Sunday's sprint race. With the drop of the green flag, Carl took the early lead with Brenden in second place followed by Donny, AJ, Scott N., Adam, Scott C, Tommy and Gary. In Turn 2, AJ went wide and hit the marbles causing him to get loose and lose his position to the pack. By Turn 6 Donny made an inside pass on Brenden putting him back to 3rd spot. Scott N. was in 4th followed by Adam, Scott C, Gary, AJ and Tommy. By Turn 10 Donny would make an inside pass on Carl putting him in first position. He would hold this spot for the rest of the race. Carl would hold second spot for the rest of the race too. Left to fight for the remaining podium spot would be Brenden, Scott and Gary (with AJ on a tear to catch up to this group). Gary passed Adam towards the end of the first lap and was starting to gain on Scott & Brenden. Scott went wide in Turn 2 on lap 2 and lost momentum, falling back a number of car lengths to Brenden, however later in the lap he had
caught back up to him. Meanwhile Gary kept his steady pace and by the middle of lap 3 was visible in Scott's rear view mirror. By this time Carl and Donny had gapped 3rd place Brenden by about 5 or 6 seconds.

On Lap 4 Gary made a clean pass on Scott in Turn 6 and was now hunting down Brenden. This is where things got a bit interesting...down the main front straight Gary was on Brenden's bumper and trying to draft pass him...but Brenden was making moves that were clearly blocking ones and not defensive line moves. When interviewed after the race by race officials he was instructed on what constitutes blocking moves vs. a defensive line. Brenden is a quick study and will learn from this race....especially since the Race Director knocked him back a finishing position. On the next lap these positions held with Brenden making additional blocking moves...and in front of the starter stand Scott took advantage and made a pass on Gary who was being held up going into Turn 1. These positions held for the next two laps. All the while AJ was slowly gaining on Brenden, Scott and Gary and was maybe 6 or 8 seconds behind. In Turn 2 a waving local yellow flag was flying for two cars; a Honda was off in the weeds to the right and a RX7 was stalled right in the middle of the track at the exit of Turn 2. Brenden did a good job and slowed down.. all three drivers passed safely but AJ saw the yellow and thought it was for just the Honda (two out-of-class cars were in front of him most likely obscuring his view) and could not react fast enough to miss the RX7. AJ hit the RX7 square on with his car and in the rear quarter panel of the RX7. AJ was thankfully not hurt and the RX7 driver was only shaken up. As a precaution the RX7 driver was taken to the local hospital by ambulance for a check-up and released. The accident caused a full course black flag ended the race. Gary passed Scott in Turn 9 under the black flag and would be later docked to the last class position.

Fast race lap times (in order of official finishing position) were as follows: Donny 2:11.047, Carl 2:11.436, , Scott N. 2:12.860, Brenden 2:12.795, Adam Lazur 2:15.176, Scott C. 2:15.177, and Gary 2:11.796. AJ Goldsmith (DQ'd due to his yellow flag mishap) did a 2:11.840 and Tommy Lo on a "fun run" clocked a 2:14.543. Click here for an in-car video of Sunday's entire race from Scott Neville's in-car video.



AJ Goldsmith's E30 following Sunday's yellow flag crash with an RX7 in Turn 2
Photo by Kregg Miller


Scott Clough (L) and Adam Lazur (R) were this weekend's winners for Hawk Blue Brake Pads from Auto Analysts II