It was a fantastic spring weekend at Sears Point for the second race of the west coast CMC season.  21 cars showed up prepared for battle, and a battle it was! It was a good mix with 12 CMC cars and 9 CMC-2 cars, and all were ready to race. Joining CMC-2 was new driver Mike Nunley who showed up with his new 2008 Mustang.  Welcome Mike!

Saturday’s qualifying went well, with 3rd gen Camaros up front - Mike Plum posting the fast time in CMC with a 1:55.3, and Dave Schotz following with a 1:55.6. In CMC-2 Tony Guaglione set the fast time with a 1:53.3 in his Mustang followed by Michael Arnheiter in his Camaro with a 1:54.9.

Saturday's race featured a flying start with CMC and CMC-2 mixed in together by time. The green flag dropped, and the CMC-2 LS1 powered cars of Arnheiter and Brady Flaherty flexed their muscles and took a quick lead, with Guaglione following close behind.  Arnheiter led the pack into the carousel but went in too hot and the lead was quickly snatched up by Guaglione. Tony held onto the lead for the rest of the race with Arnheiter finishing second and Flaherty finishing third.

In CMC, Mike Plum and Dave Schotz got off to fast starts and their battle began. Plum held onto the lead for several laps until Shotz took advantage of him when he lost momentum in traffic. Schotz held onto that lead for the rest of the race, taking the win. He was followed by Mustang drivers Mike Donahoe in second and rookie Jeremy Bua in third. Late in the race Nick Steel blew his motor in his Camaro entering turn 10 and crashed into the tire wall. This left the track completely covered in his oil, and unfortunately Plum got caught in it. He too went into the tire wall and hit the stationary Steel. Luckily for the rest of the field, the safety broadcast had told the drivers what had happened, and most everybody got around it safely. There were close calls as Kirk Theis and Mike Nunley both spun in the oil, but avoided any contact. Thanks to the high safety standards, nobody was hurt.

Sunday started off with a blast as the group had an inverted race based off of the previous day’s fast lap time during their qualifying session. The green flag dropped and the race was on! It was quite a sight as for the first couple of laps it was common to see cars going three or four cars wide into the corners. Eventually the field started to separate. Guaglione held onto the CMC-2 lead for about half of the race until Flaherty decided to take the lead for himself. Flaherty held the lead for the rest of the race, followed by  Guaglione and Peter Hopelain in his Mustang.

In CMC, Plum and Schotz began their battle from the back of the pack. After a couple of laps, Plum had found his way to the front with Schotz not far behind. Schotz finally got around Plum with and came away with the victory. Plum was in second, followed by Bua.

The final race was set to be an exciting one. It was a standing start, and it was easy to tell that the spectators loved the rumble of 20 V8’s, waiting to be let loose. The green dropped and the race was on! In CMC-2 Flaherty got off to a good start as well as Guaglione and their battle was on. It was a great battle with both drivers showing fantastic car control. Guaglione led the early laps but Flaherty was not done, charging to the front and taking the lead for the rest of the race. Flaherty was followed closely by Guaglione and Arnheiter.

In the final CMC race, Schotz and Plum were at it again! It was a close battle for the entire race, with Schotz coming out as the winner. He was followed by Plum and Bua.

It was a great weekend altogether. Congratulations to Rookie Jeremy Bua who scored three third places in only his second CMC weekend. We hope that everybody comes out to Buttonwillow on April 26/27.