NASA – SoCal Region | We Drive Harder!

Everyone was eager to drive the new spring package for Spec E30 at Buttonwillow in April. The question was, would the old track record of 2:05.559, which was set at this event in 2016 by Michael Mihld, hold up? When the qualifying session concluded, brows raised when they saw that Andrew Clark posted a 2:04.407 lap time!
In qualifying, Clark somehow went faster than he did in the morning warmup, securing pole position by laying down a smoker of a lap at 2:03.573! Not to be left behind, Sean Aron posted his fastest lap of 2:04.303 and .3 seconds behind him Steve Stepanian laid down a 2:04.619.
While the track was rewarding in the morning qualifying session, it would not be as accepting of speed during the afternoon race.
As the green flag fell, Stepanian and Aron got a tremendous start and were up to the doors of Clark, splitting him as they

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Coming off a two-win weekend in March at Willow Springs, SoCal standout Ryan Pond scored another double tap at Buttonwillow Raceway in April.
Starting from pole on Saturday, Pond made some errors in the opening moments of the race, which allowed Rob Burgoon squeak past and take the lead. Burgoon held the lead for most of the race when the front runners hit lapped traffic. A 944 Spec was shown a blue flag, but the driver was unpredictable and Burgoon lost a position.
“I lost control of the car, flew off the track and Ryan got past me,” Burgoon said. “Then I was overcome with a horrible case of red mist and worked on running down Ryan and was just about catching him at the white flag and then one of the E30s let him by but did not let me by on the way into the Esses, so that was pretty

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It’s easy to be nonchalant about racing at Buttonwillow. After all, NASA SoCal visits Buttonwillow more than any other track on its calendar.
But that familiarity belies the track’s complexities. When it gets dark at Buttonwillow, it’s pitch black. Then there’s the dust, which hangs in the air in the corners when there’s no breeze to clear it. There’s also the track itself, a twisting band of asphalt where you’re either shifting, steering or braking at darn near every spot on the track. It’s relentless, as were the 31 Western Endurance Racing Challenge teams who took it on in April.

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Team Das Boot Motorsports battled the dust and darkness like everyone else, but the team gambled early in the race. There was an incident early in the first hour and they capitalized on a flagger not having a yellow out. That move put them ahead of their competitor, who was turning faster

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