NASA April 2015 WHP-West

Wildhorse Pass, Chandler AZ hosted the April NASA event April 11 and 12 of 2015 for one of our last events prior to summer vacation and rebuild time.  NASA-AZ hasn’t been to the WHP West track since 2014 and while it is the smallest track we visit it does have a superb paddock and viewing area.  Not much has changed at this track but I do see some activity at other parts of the track and on this weekend the East track and Drag Strip were all in operation.  It’s good news to see activity here.

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Coming up next on the schedule for Arizona:

On to the show!

HPDE

HPDE4 had another successful weekend.  No incidents or issues.  Drivers were given 3 quick drills each morning to help them wake up and get their brains in sync with their cars.  Drivers reported getting into the groove quicker and feeling more aware at the start of the 1st session.  On Sunday DE3 and DE4 were combined and made for extremely impressive session as all the drivers worked together and shared the track with one another.

HPDE4 Driver Jon Davies who had demonstrated great character and attitude all weekend was rewarded with a free entry into the UMS Time Attack.  He didn’t disappoint by taking 3rd in his debut in TA!

For HC2, Steven Williams with Backwards Logic Racing built a new car since the last event at WHP East.  He brought the car after the first practice session.  His driver Robert Rose made the cars debut in qualifying, taking 2nd place by .3 seconds.  In the race he took the outside line at the start, held it to turn 8 and then took the lead for the win in a car that had arrived to the track and made its debut just hours before.  Well done!!

Michael Hanshew in his new Fox Body

Michael Hanshew in his new Fox Body

HPDE1 is a very important part of NASA and we are greatly appreciative of the following drivers who have taken the plunge into competitive road racing: Justin Bayliss, Vince Burbes, Thomas Burke, Carlos Cardenas, Kevin Espiritu, Michael Hanshew, Gregory Hladysh, Damon Humphries, David Hunter, Aaron Jones, Maximillian Master, Ronald Matthis, Kenny Mons, Steve Ramirez, Daniel Schlueter, Edward Seok, Tony Thomas and Eric Underwood.   It is very important to us that you had a good time and we want you to return for another event. If you have any comments or suggestions or need some guidance on how to move forward please email me: [email protected] and thanks again for coming out!

UMS Tuning Time Attack

14 participants ran the Time Attack session on Sunday (www.umstuning.com).  Michael Kasdorf had the fastest overall time and led TA-B.  Sally McNulty led the TA-C group followed by Russ Whelan in the Nissan GTR.  Jay Ronquillo topped the TA-A times and with 4 cars in TA-R the leader was Chris McAra followed by Clayton Paplaczyk

Time Trial

Our Time Trial event featured the return of some seasoned vets including Tony Szirka and Tage Evanson taking 1st and 2nd respectively on Sat and then swapping places on Sun in TTU.  Nice to have the Evo back and Tage on track in anything with race tires on it.

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Jeremy Renshaw set a track record for TT2 and Team Schotz with a blistering time of 1:03.478 in a TTC car!  Eric Jacobson dominated TTF,  Team Whiskey Business was fastest in TTE on Sunday and Chris Ambrosio in TTD followed by the NASA AZ Race Director Paul Bloomberg among many other excellent runs throughout the weekend.

Full results and scores are posted:  http://www.nasa-tt.com/Arizona_Regional_Results/p2040_articleid/121

Race Group

Big Bore and Small Bore races were combined on both days due to attendance numbers and popular demand.  This type of format may be more common the remainder of 2015 unless the car counts trigger the split.  Its good practice anyways!  Speak with your Series Director if you prefer to see different formats or different schedules for the weekend days.

That Viper!  If you haven’t seen the video: http://youtu.be/TzP3NhiJSYw

Thanks for bringing that car out.

The Saturday race was led by that insane Viper with Ritch Marziale slicing up the field.  There were some good “learning opportunities” in this race to review flags and safety procedures and restarts.  It’s not something that happens every weekend thankfully so an occasional review of the CCRs on flags and special circumstances is a great idea.  When the dust settled our winner was Ritch Marziale in the Viper turning sub 1 minute times, Brian Turner in ST2, Erik Davis in ST3, Team Backwards Logic in HC2, Marty Saltzman in GTS3, Hal Dunn in PTC, Norm Hamden in 944 and James Sample in the red PTE Rx7.

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Sunday was another Combined race but without the mighty Viper on the pole and instead the Stock car of Jim Harris leading the pack to a 1st place Podium finish (his first).  Congrats Jim!  Merv Tan drove the blue Honda to victory in the Small Bore race, cutting up traffic lap after lap.  It was great to watch you setting up your passes in the same places lap after lap.  Nice work!!

And that wraps up the recap of April 2015 racing with NASA.

NASA-AZ Info

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www.nasaaz.com

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Edits and comments:  [email protected]   PS… Always glad to get input from other classes and drivers that want to help expand the information in the recap.  Pictures, notes, assistance, editing are always appreciated!