This weekend saw a six car GTI-Cup field for what would be another 3-race weekend.  We ran our usual program on Saturday (practice, qualifying and a sprint race) but on Sunday saw a practice session, a non-points (inverted grid) qualifying race and a final sprint race.  GTI-Cup racers for this weekend included Joe Craven,  Don Bailey,  Carlos Suarez ,  Scott Neville,  the team of Shed Racing (Tom Aiken and Ron Swett) and on Sunday Calvin Wan.

Our GTIs were grouped in Race Group "A" along with the Honda Challenge cars, Spec Miatas, Mazda Pro7s and various Pro Sedans.  For the weekend Group A had a showing of up to 35 cars.   Weather for the weekend was mild and perfect for racing....sunny in the low to mid 80s for both Saturday and Sunday.   Race Group A was the last scheduled race for both days with the race starting at 5:20 PM.   Lap times for all the Nor Cal NASA races can be access at MyLaps.com by clicking here.

Saturday Sprint Race:  This was a hard fought and exciting race.  The time differential between 1st place and 4th place at the checkered flag was only 3.6 seconds after 30 minutes of racing!  Saturday's qualifying saw Joe Craven grabbing pole with a qualifying time of 2:13.88 followed by Don Bailey with a time of 2:15.73.  Scott Neville qualified a close third with a 2:15.82,  Carlos Suarez qualified forth with a 2:16.03 and Tom Aiken of Shed Racing fifth with a 2:17.83.  Race Group A would be starting with a standing start with the Spec Miatas doing a flying start following the standing start grid.   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 as we had had with previous races.

Joe grabbed the lead and led the race from flag to flag leaving Carlos, Don and Scott to fight over 2nd place...which they did.  After a number of trades between 2nd, 3rd and 4th place with a little paint exchange between Don and Scott on the last lap battling for 2nd place...the finishing order was Joe, Scott, Don, Carlos and Ron.  This was a very close finish...3.6 seconds separated first place and forth place.  Individual fastest race laps were as follows:  Joe  2:13.71, Scott 2:13.82,  Don  2:14.33, Carlos 2:14.16,  Tom 2:18.00.

Sunday Qualifying Race: The grid for Sunday's 20-minute qualifying race was determined by Saturday's sprint race finish but NASA threw in a twist as the grid would be inverted from Saturday's finish.  Therefore, by not racing on Saturday, Calvin Wan was our pole leader driving David Pina's #19 GTI followed by Ron Swett,  Carlos, Don, Scott and Joe.

The GTIs would start again in the back of the first wave with a standing start.  Ron took the early lead followed by Carlos, Calvin, Joe, Don and Scott last.  In the opening lap Joe spun in Turn 3 and by Turn 10 Carlos had wrested 1st place from Ron with a pass in Turn 10.  Don snaked by Ron this same lap in the S's ...Scott was trying a little too hard and on his inside pass move on both Don and Ron found himself skidding off Turn 14 and back in fifth place behind Calvin.  He managed to re-pass Calvin in Turn 1 and by lap 3 Joe was working his way back from last place.  By the start of lap 3 Joe was on Scott's tailpipe challenging for forth place.  They traded paint and tire rubber at 100 mph in Turn 1 as they both were neck and neck at the turn in point.  It took Joe until Turn 15 to pass Scott and with his momentum got by Ron by Turn 1 down the main straight for 3rd place.  Scott passed Ron on the next lap in Turn 8.  Carlos and Don continued the battle for 1st place with Don applying constant pressure on Carlos.  This order held to the checkered flag with Carlos taking 1st, Don 2nd,  Joe 3rd, Scott 4th, Ron 5th and Calvin 6th.   Individual fast race laps were as follows:  Carlos 2:14.82, Don 2:14.84,  Joe 2:14.07,  Scott 2:14.40, Ron 2:15.35 and Calvin 2:18.52.

Sunday Final Sprint Points Race:  The grid for this final points race was set by the finish of the qualifying race... Carlos on pole followed by Don, Joe, Scott, Ron, and Calvin with a standing start.  Don took the lead off the start followed closely by Carlos then Joe, Ron, Calvin and Scott.  Scott inched by Calvin in Turn 2  and Joe passed Carlos in Turn 9 this same first lap.  Don was in first position for the start of the second lap followed by Joe,  Carlos,  Ron,  Scott and Calvin.  Scott got by Ron in lap 2 and Joe managed to get by Don this same lap for 1st place.  The running order by Lap 4 was now Joe 1st, Don 2nd, Carlos 3rd, Scott 4th, Ron 5th and Calvin 6th.  On about lap 6 an unknown incident caused a full course yellow with the pace car coming out and gathering up the group.  This resulted in the front running GTIs (Joe, Don and Carlos) to get mixed up with the front running Spec Miatas.  The green flag dropped and all racers were hard charging for the checkered flag for the remaining few laps.  Joe bobbled in Turn 2 on the restart lap and Don made the pass for first place.  On the next lap Joe draft-passed Don and in Turn 1 regained the lead.  By Turn 8 the 3rd and 4th place Spec Miatas were trying hard to get past the lead GTIs.  The #64 Spec Miata ended up punting Don Bailey off into the dirt at the exit of Turn 8 at about 100 mph.  Don's car slid sideways until it hit a small depression and rolled three times laterally then, according to turn workers,  pirouetted on its nose a couple of times before settling on all four wheels.  Luckily Don emerged unhurt but very pissed off at the overly aggressive #64 Spec Miata.  Watching Don go off track and roll caused Carlos to check up slightly allowing Scott to gain on him in Turn 9.  Carlos had slowed out of concern for Don and was preparing to help Don if a fire had erupted...but luckily this did not happen (fire is pretty rare occurrence in rollovers in production sedans according to the Fire and Rescue workers).

Scott was able to pass Carlos coming out of Turn 14 for now what would be  second position behind Joe.  This running order held and the checkered flag saw Joe 1st,  Scott 2nd,  Carlos 3rd,  Ron 4th,  Calvin 5th and Don a crashed-out 6th.   Individual fast race laps were as follows:  Joe 2:13.65 Scott 2:14.28  Carlos 2:13.82, Ron 2:17.88,  Calvin 2:16.70 and Don 2:14.05.  Thanks to all the great NASA emergency workers who responded so quickly to Don's accident.  We couldn't race without them!