June 2011 Infineon Download
Sonoma, CA (June 11-12, 2011) —
Post Event Email Letter to SE30 Group by Scott Neville

Hey Everyone!
   
Happy Post 4th of July!  I hope you all had a great holiday weekend.  June blew by pretty fast for me!  It was a busy month for me that's for sure.  My oldest daughter graduated from High School the Friday night before our race weekend so I felt I was behind on stuff from the get-go.  We've been finalizing all her college stuff this month too...mostly the financial preparations as the first bit of tuition was due July 1.  If you think club racing is expensive...think again.  Private college beats SE30 racing hands down!  My daughter is off to Duke University in August and tentatively planning on studying Biologic Engineering.  I told her that I want my money's worth from Duke so I'd like her use her new-found skills to help engineer a cheap renewable fuel source that works as well as 91 octane so that me and my SE30 friends can keep racing cars!  Only after that she can then start work on a cure for Alzheimer's!

Infineon Raceway hosted Round 5 in June under perfect Wine Country weather conditions.  I guess I should start off that the worst part of racing at Infineon is that there is no Casa Ramos Restaurant nearby...no frosty Brazilian Margaritas...no awesome chips/salsa...no Donny Edwards buying shots of Patron...oh well...  But the weekend format that NASA tossed at us made up for the potential dinner-time Casa Ramos fun that's for sure.  We fielded 28 Spec E30s this weekend under beautifully clear Sonoma skies and with a cool sea breeze. Twists and turns were thrown at NorCal SE30 racers all weekend by the NASA Race Officials. 

A Saturday morning "pill draw" determined grid position for the 20-minute qualifying race on the using Infineon's "Long 7" track configuration.  Tommy Olivier, who drew the pole race start also won the qualifying race followed by Paul Blickman (P2) and Scott Neville (P3).  The rest of the top ten for the Qual race were: Brad McClure (P4), Steve Ferrario (P5), Donny Edwards (P6), Derek Welch (P7), Bennett McMicking (P8), Loren Trefethen (P9) and Greg Peterson (P10).

NASA turned everything upside down and inverted the 28 car field for Saturday's points race which made for an exciting first few laps as racers sorted themselves out on a flying start for the Long Turn 7 track configuration.  Loren Trefethen emerged victorious in Saturday's race but he had to earn it as Gary Rieger (P2) and Brad McClure (P3) were hot on his tailpipe all three finishing a mere 1.2 seconds apart.  The rest of the top ten in Saturday's race were: Frank Bushman (P4), Rob Lamb (P5), Greg Peterson (P6), Tommy Olivier (P7), Steve Ferrario (P8), Andy Chittum (P9) and Ray Zanotto (P10).

Saturday's race finishing position determined the grid for Sunday's 50 minute race...again not without a few curve balls from NASA.  The first surprise was that the top ten finishers were all moved down ten positions for Sunday's grid plus the racers would be running the NASCAR track configuration.  The standing start for Sunday was incident free for the 28 racers.  Midway through the race saw Loren Trefethen in the lead when a double yellow and pace car emerged on to the track.  NASA's third surprise was a mid-race course change.  The NASCAR configuration went to a modified traditional configuration but skipping Turn 9 with the harsh 90-90 degree turn which leads back to Turn 10.  Brad McClure emerged victorious from his starting in 24th place to win the race followed by Loren Trefethen (P2) and Tommy Olivier (P3).  The rest of the top ten in Sunday's race were: Frank Bushman (P4), Greg Peterson (P5), Scott Neville (P6), Ray Zanotto (P7), Steve Ferrario (P8), Donny Edwards (P9) and Team Gone Racing (P10).

Race Contingencies and Gifts:

North Bay Bavarian Pole $100 Position: I got mixed up after the race on Sunday with everyone wanting to get packed up and tech issues...what I did was award the fastest pole using the Point Six Fast Race Lap $100 bill.  Since we only had the one qualifying race on Saturday I awarded the $100 to Brad McClure for turning the fastest lap. (Maybe I should reconsider asking my daughter to work on an Alzheimer cure first...!!)

Point Six Fast Race Lap $100 Award: Since we had three race track configurations this made picking the fastest race lap not possible.  Tommy O had the fast race lap on Sunday (NASA only posted the NASCAR config) and Brad McClure had the fastest lap in Saturday's race...so we flipped a coin. Tommy O won calling heads and Rick Row of North Bay Bavarian supplied the Ben Franklin.

Evil Genius Racing $100 Hard Charger Award: Brad McClure was awarded the Evil Genius Hard Charger Award not only for his on-track performance working his way up the inverted fields, but more importantly for helping his competitors work on their race cars (both days) until the very last minute before each race.  Brad really went out of his way helping other folks in the paddock.  This was a great example of sportsmanship.  Congratulations Brad!

AIM Tire $100 Gift Certificate:  The driver who finished 4th on Saturday won the $100 gift certificate to AIM Tire...that driver was Frank Bushman!

Anarchy Eyewear Sunglasses: The winners of the coolest shades in the paddock go to Rob Lamb and Yours Truly!  I picked out a pair to give to my daughter Hannah...she'll look cooler than cool when she starts College in August...wear 'em pound future Blue Devil!

Trefethen Wineries Fine Wine: Loren was MIA early Saturday and we didn't organize a wine draw...we agreed to double up the wine giveaways for the next race at Thunderhill.  Thanks again Loren!

Nichols Wealth Management Fine Central Coast Wine - It was great seeing Kevin Nichols compete this weekend despite all his car sorting ills.  Kevin awarded a bottle of wine to the top finishing rookie orange plate for Saturday's race which was Frank Bushman and to the 4th place on Sunday's race which was also Frank Bushman.  But with all the confusion after Sunday's race we gave Greg Peterson the bottle.  We'll get it squared up next time.

Pro Racing Simulator Race Winners:  Lorne Trefethen and Brad McClure gather up one hour of SIM time for their first place wins.

Pro Racing Simulator Race Hard Chargers: Saturday's Hard Charger (most positions gained during the race) goes to (according to my ciphering...which might be off since the weekend was so flipped around) Brad McClure (Q25 P3) for Saturday and for Sunday Tommy O (Q17 P3).

TFB Performance $75 Coupons:  10th place for both Saturday and Sunday - that would be on Saturday Ray Zanotto and Team Gone Racing on Sunday.

GPR Parts Discount Coupons BMW Parts:  According to my notes - we didn't assign winning positions for the GPR Coupons.  We'll have some extra ones to hand out at Thunderhill.

Driven Karting $50 Coupons: Those went to P15 on Saturday and P15 on Sunday.  That would be Bill Shawhan and DJ Riley!

If we add up all the contingencies for the weekend (including Toyo Bucks) we're looking at about $2100 in weekend prizes.  A big thanks to all our sponsors and supporters.

Hope you all have a good July off from racing and see you at Thunderhill in August.

Cheers,
Scott

Evil Genius Racing Hard Charger Award Winner Brad McClure gets Handed a Crisp Ben
Franklin from NorCal SE30 Series Director Scott Neville
Scott Neville Photo