2008 Season Finale Infineon Raceway
written by Brenden Selvig, Race Chair
November 2008


Turn 1 at the start in Sunday's Sprint Race One
Photo by Kregg Miller

Spirits were high as all thirteen cars were unloaded from their trailers for the last weekend of the season.  We finally had a run group with the Spec Miatas, which meant clear track without faster traffic mixing it up with us for most of the race.

After Saturday's practice and qualifying, the rain started. People started backing out of the non-points race that afternoon.  Despite the wet track, six cars took the green. Donny Edwards spun in turn 2 on the out lap,  man was that a slippery section of the track!  Green flag drops, I spin my tires and hope someone will rear end me so I can get going but no such luck.  I enter turn 2 in second position, and end up spinning due to an unclean shift. The whole pack passes me, and I think I sure have my work cut out for me.  In turn 4 Mike Schwartzbart spins and I get by him cleanly.  Now I have Walter Ford in the only Valley Motorwerks car that went out, and Scott Clough in front of me.  I find my way by them between turns 6 and 7. By this time, Adam Lazur and Donny Edwards have put some serious distance on the rest of us.  I catch Adam and make a pass stick around turn 9 going into 10.  Start to leave him behind as my mission is to catch Donny which I do towards the end of the race before I spin going into turn 3.  I am able to hang onto second when the checker drops…All in all, a really fun race. I wish that more people had come out with us to experience the rain. Check out my rain race in-car video here.


The SpecE30 Paddock with the beautiful hills of Infineon Raceway in the Background
Photo by Scott Neville

Sunday morning started practice with a moist track that quickly dried out and left a clean line for us.  Qualifying took place with some very fast times being thrown down. Saturday's qualifying gridded us for the first points race of the weekend. I started third, behind Donny Edwards and Kevin Borchers with Scott Neville in hot pursuit right behind me.  The race was super fun, as Scott and I battled throughout, with the end result putting me on the podium with Donny Edwards and Kevin Borchers.  Before our second race, there was a crazy crash in Race Group A with a US Touring Car. The Team Spoon Sports Opak Honda driven by Angelo Zucchi apparently suffered a front steering failure which caused the car to go straight at turn 1. The car went up the embankment and launched itself into the unoccupied grandstands. After the car landed it rolled down the grandstand steps and came to rest wheels down. Angelo suffered a serious back injury in the crash. We all hope that Angelo has a speedy and complete recovery. For more information about the accident click here.  AIM Tire has organized a fund raiser for Angelo, for more information about donating to Angelo's Get Well fund call AIM Tire at 707-938-9193.


The #18 Spoon Sports OPAK Acura driven by Angelo Zucchi in the Turn 1 Grandstands
Uncredited Photo

As a result of the Spoon OPAK Honda crash the schedule was pushed back about an hour, which made them shorten the race to about time for eight laps. I qualified fourth for the second race behind Donny Edwards, Carl Chiu, and Scott Neville with Tony Zwain hot on my heels.  After the flag dropped, Carl Chiu got the nice jump which put him in the lead.  He held off Donny Edwards for a couple of laps until Donny Edwards passed him entering turn 2.  After this, the race from my point of view settled down, as I had picked up my pace from the first race; subsequently, did not have any pressure from behind.

What a great weekend to end an amazing season in Northern California SpecE30.  With the majority of the drivers in the class being rookies, we all learned mass quantities about racing, whether it was car set up, traffic management, or race craft.  A few of us learned the hard way about some of these with a couple of incidents… I couldn’t ask for more in a group, with us all paddocked together we made long term bonds that we share at the track.  Battles raged throughout the whole pack, which makes it exciting whether you are racing for the podium or battling for 10th spot.  A big thank you needs to go out to Donny Edwards for being a great competitor, and mentor to all in the paddock.  Whether he was persuading us to get to grid early, telling us, “Smooth is fast,” or borrowing your air pressure gauge in the paddock, we were lucky to have him in the series.

Next year we will continue to fight for our position as the best series at the track!  We should have more cars adding to the field, with some big talent coming in, and more car and driver development…
Brenden Selvig (#88)

For additional photos check out Valley Motorwerks Gallery. For lots of in-car video action from multiple race cars click here. And for official MyLap timing and scoring results click here.

NorCal SpecE30 Race Directors Report
by Scott Neville

Wow...what an amazing 2008 season for NorCal SpecE30. We started the season in February with 7 SpecE30s at Infineon and ended at this same track with 13 SpecE30s (minus 2 E30s who could not attend the event). We have more than doubled in size this year and NASA NorCal has now combined SpecE30s with the Spec Miatas to run in our own Race Group which nicely matches the two spec series in performance and size. The 2008 season had its growing pains but as the year progressed all the racers got to know and trust one another on the track which makes for better and safer racing. We are looking forward to more SpecE30s racing next year and we hope our car fields will make or exceed 20 cars.

2008 Season Regional Points Final Results

Congratulations to Kevin Borchers and Carl Chiu if Team Valley Motorwerks for finishing in the top spot for 2008 with 1615 points. Second place went to Team Brimstone Dynasty drivers Donny Edwards and Elliott Taylor who together accumulated 1563 points. Third spot went to Scott Neville driving the Valley Motorwerks-sponsored #44 E30 with 1450 points. Ron Harness finished the season in 4thh with 1121 points and AJ Goldsmith placed 5th with 920 points. For a complete tally of the 2008 season points click here.

SpecE30s rounding Turn 11 as they make their way to the Starting Grid
Photo by Kregg Miller

Turn 6 Action, Walter Ford #37 leads Adam Lazur, Ron Harness and Tony Zwain in Sunday's Race 1
Photo by Kregg Miller



Dan DiTrapani leads Mike Swartzbart in Turn 11
Photo by Kregg Miller

Thundering Herd of SpecE30s Turn 2 First Lap in Sunday's Race 1
HeadOnPhotos


More Turn 6 action; AJ Goldsmith followed by Greg Peterson, Ron Harness, Walter Ford and Mike Swartzbart
Photo by Kregg Miller



Close Battle for Third Place in Sunday's sprint race Brenden Selvig #88 and Scott Neville #44 entering Turn 11
Photo by Kregg Miller



A Familiar Scene for the 2008 Season. The #36 car driven by Carl Chiu (and Kevin Borchers) in hot pursuit of the #1 Brimstone Dynasty E30 driven by Donny Edwards
photo by Kregg Miller

Sunday's Race 2 Podium L to R: Carl Chiu, Donny Edwards and Brenden Selvig
Photo Courtesy of NASA NorCal

2008 NorCal Regional Champion Team Valley Motorwerks - Kevin Borchers and Carl Chiu
HeadOnPhotos

Contingencies

The Auto Analysts II random drawing for a set of brake pads to a finisher not on the podium went to AJ Goldsmith for Race 1 and Adam Lazur for Race 2. Valley Motorwerks had season commemorative T-shirts made for all the racers and their friends and family. Much thanks to all of the series sponsors: AIM Tire, Valley Motorwerks, and Auto Analysts II.