Sunny skies welcomed 23 Spec and Showroom Spec Miatas looking for a weekend of bump drafting and side-by-side racing. When the green flag flew on Saturday, the top five qualifying Miatas of Sammy Valafar, Jonathan Christian, Grant Westmorland, Tim Weaver, and Clement Lee worked together to check out. They would dice throughout the race and finish with more than a 20-second gap on the rest of the field. At the line, Christian edged Valafar for the win. While T3 was relatively calm during the opening laps throughout the weekend, it was the location of some determined passes which impressed spectators. Saturday's results set the grid for a qualifying race Sunday morning, which was fairly uneventful as most drivers were eager to at least retain their finishing positions from Saturday.
five cars opened a gap then proceeded to swap positions. Despite
remarkable cornering speeds, the importance of utilizing the draft in
these cars was apparent as, with the help of a push from Lee, Christian
was able to pass both Weaver and Westmorland between T2 and T4. By the
checkered flag, Valafar had powered to a 4-second lead for the win in an
extremely competitive class. Austin Christian drove consistently all
weekend, finishing in fifth on Saturday, while Curtis Gong put on solid
performances throughout the weekend, keeping the front pack in sight on
Saturday. Ken Saward came back from a 22nd finishing position on
Saturday to an impressive 7th place Sunday.
Miata racing will return April 17th and 18th for some close racing at the
technically challenging Buttonwillow Raceway. See you there!
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