Our GTIs were grouped in Race Group "A" along with the Honda Challenge cars, Spec Miatas, Factory Five Cobras, Mazda Pro7s and various Pro Sedans. For Saturday's race we would also run with the USTCC sedans.  For the weekend Group A had a showing of up to 60 cars.   Weather for the weekend was mild and picture perfect for racing in the California's wine country....sunny in the mid 70s for both Saturday and Sunday.   Race Group A was the first scheduled race for both days with the race starting at 1:20 PM.   Lap times for all the Nor Cal NASA races can be access at MyLaps.com by clicking here.

Saturday Sprint Race:  Dan Pina grabbed pole in his dad David's #19 GTI with a quick 2:02.94.  Joe qualified second fastest with a 2:03.05  followed by Scott with a 2:03.74 then Carlos 2:04.10 Calvin 2:05.85 and Ron 2:06.90.   Race Group A would be starting with a standing start with the Spec Miatas doing a flying start following the standing start grid who were in turn followed by the USTCC group.   The GTIs were grided next to one another at the rear of the first pack of cars.  The GTIs got off to a clean start without any Turn 2 problems.

Dan led the first lap until he got hit by a spinning Pro7 driven by Kurt Frietzsche in Turn 9 which bent his A-Arm and destroyed his inner CV joint.  He limped to a stop just after Turn 11 and sat out the rest of the race in the in-field.  This left Joe in the lead followed closely by Carlos.  Scott was in 3rd followed by Calvin and Ron.

Joe and Carlos continued to battle for first.  Scott was keeping up and looking for any opportunity to advance but fell back after getting behind two slower Pro7s which Joe and Carlos had managed to pass in Turn 6.  Ron and Calvin had a great battle going for 4th place until Calvin's engine grenaded in lap 8.
 

Joe Craven finished first, followed closely by Carlos, only 1.2 seconds behind.  Scott Neville finished third, followed by Ron.  Individual quickest race  laps were as follows Joe 2:02.11,  Carlos 2:03.00,  Scott 2:03.35,  Ron 2:05.94, and Calvin 2:06.03 before his engine grenaded.
 
 

Sunday Sprint Race

Dan Pina would be sitting this race out...but he and Calvin were able to get the #19 GTI back in running order with a replacement A-Arm and new axle/CV combo (plus an in-field front end alignment).  Calvin would be racing today to finish getting his rookie races completed such that he could have the opportunity to drive in NASA 25-Hour Enduro this December (no rookies are allowed to drive in this race).  Qualifying had Joe in first with a 2:02.68, Carlos in second position with a 2:03.78, then Calvin 2:03.90, Scott 2:04.11 and Tom 2:07.48.  The GTI racers asked NASA if we could ditch the standing start and grid behind the Spec Miatas for a flying start...which NASA said OK.  The start was clean with Joe and Carlos neck and neck for the lead taking the lead followed by Calvin, Scott and Tom.  By Turn 6 Joe was in the lead followed by the pack of GTIs.
 
 

This running order held until the end of lap 3 where Scott was able to make a pass on Calvin in Turn 11.  By Lap 6 the order was Joe 1st, Carlos on his tailpipe in 2nd,  Scott 3rd,  Calvin 4th and Tom 5th.  Calvin was pestering Scott until he lost momentum in Turn 3A due to a recently spun Toyota MR2.  Scott increased his gain on Calvin but Joe and Carlos were still about five seconds ahead and pretty much uncatchable.  On lap 8 Scott's tranny decided to stick in third gear coming out of Turn 4 so he limped back to the paddock.  This put Calvin back in third and the checkered flag saw Joe 1st, Carlos 2nd, Calvin 3rd, Tom 4th, and Scott a broke-down 5th.   Individual fast race laps were as follows:  Joe 2:02.65  Carlos 2:02.63  Calvin 2:03.62, Tom 2:07.38,  and Scott 2:03.77.