Saturday
This weekend had a five car GTi field running the full track configuration using the Turn 7 NASCAR corner which is slightly longer than the standard 2.54 mile road course.... Carlos Suarez , Dan Pina, Scott Neville, David Pina and rookie Don Bailey Sr. for his first GTI-Cup sprint race.  The weather for Sonoma was going to be cloudy and rainy for Saturday and clearing for Sunday.  We qualified in the rain with former rally racer and drifting instructor Dan Pina taking his first pole a full 7 seconds over the next fastest GTI (Dan likes to drive sideways apparently!).  Dan's pole time was 2:30.4 Carlos was second with a 2:37.3 and Scott third with a 2:38.6.  David was still at work and Don was late getting to the track and both did not qualify.  As usual the GTis were in Race Group A and were grouped with the Spec Miatas, Honda Challenge, SU's, RSR's, & Pro7s, P7s and PS-1 through PS-3 cars.  The total grid for Group A was 39 cars. The GTis were gridded in the back of the pack where we prefer to be.  You can call this race "spinning in the rain"  Dan spun 6 times, David 3 times, Scott once.  Carlos avoided spinning as did Don.  Scott and David were battling for second place.  Dave spun three times and each time Scott would pass David only to be repassed by David's stronger running car.  Carlos led most of the race.  Scott was running in second on the last lap but got re-passed by David.  After all was said and done Carlos got first, David second place, Scott third, Don forth and Dan fifth place.  Dan was also awarded first for artistic merit for his 6 spins.  Quoting NASA HPDE Instructor Al Butterfield..."racing in the rain is half the speed with twice the fun".  He is right!   Carlos' fastest race lap was a 2:30.1 ....Dan was able to turn a 2:32.4.  David turned a 2:34.2.  Scott had a 2:37.0 and Don's fastest lap was a 2:37.3.  Check out the in-car video from David's car it shows his three spins during the race...click here.

Sunday

Sunday weather was going to be dry (thankfully) and we knew the track would be dry by race time since Race Group A's race was that last event of the day...race start time 5:25PM.  Qualifying went as follows: Carlos (pole) with 2:08.4; Don got second fastest with a 2:09.8; David third with a 2:11.7, Dan forth with a 2:13.6 with Scott coming up tail-end-Charlie with 2:14.7.  Joe Craven with his PS-3 GTI qualified a blazing 2:04.3. Both Dan's and Scott's cars were not running right.  Dan was complaining of of miss and Scott's car would not rev much past 5500 RPM (later found out that the timing marks were off...Dan still hasn't cured his misfire problem).

At the drop of the green flag Don took the early lead followed by Carlos then David,  Dan and Scott.   The four GTIs started pulling away from Scott by Turn 7 as his car was way down on power and could not keep up.  Dan managed to hang on until the second lap where the three lead GTIs slowly pull away.  The rest of the race was a close battle between Don, David and Carlos.  On Lap 2 Don continued to lead followed very closely by Carlos and David: all three cars are within 10 car lengths of each other.  By Lap 3 Don is still in the lead.  In Turn 2 the three lead GTI's got caught behind a slower Spec Miata and by Turn 6 all three make the pass in the Carousel. During this pass....David gets next to Carlos exiting Turn 6 and out drags and makes the pass on Carlos by Turn 7…Don is still in the lead now with David in second followed closely by Carlos.  On Lap 4 Don still maintains his first place position but with faster Proformance Stock Cars beginning to get into the  mix David makes a pass on Don in the braking zone at Turn 6.  Lap 5 finds David in first, Don in second with Carlos a close third.  Dan and Scott are nowhere to be seen and find themselves not trying to get in any of the other class cars way with their misfiring cars.  This same lap, Carlos made an inside pass on Dan at the exit of Turn 6 then tried an inside pass on David at the hairpin Turn 11.  David held him off and continued to lead for all of Lap 6. The three lead GTIs are all within 10 or so car lengths of each other...so any mistake by the leader can be taken quick advantage of by the two following cars.  Big pressure on David for sure.  Lap 7: David still holds his lead. Carlos is now in second place with Don a close third.  Joe Craven, in his faster PS-3 GTI, passes David after Turn 11 in the straight; then Don manages a pass on Carlos in Turn 1 going up the hill into Turn 2.  Carlos tries to return the passing favor to Don at the exit of Turn 6...but loses the drag race down the back straight to Turn 7.  On Lap 8, as the GTIs get mixed up with more traffic, Carlos passes Don in Turn 6.  For the last lap Carlos and Don are breathing down David's tailpipe the entire lap but David holds them off to take the win.  Check out a video clip of the last lap as seen from David's in-car camera....note the rear view mirror dedicated to the video camera and see the pressure Carlos and Don were applying to David.  Click here for the video clip.  Carlos gets second place, Don third, Dan forth and Scott fifth.  Fastest race laps were as follows: David 2:08.2; Carlos 2:08.1, Don 2:08.1, Dan 2:13.1; Scott 2:16.1.  Joe Craven turned a blazing 2:03.5 in his PS-3 GTI.<