Buttonwillow April 25/26  2008

It was a nice weekend at Buttonwillow with temps in the high 70’s on Saturday and the low 90’s on Sunday for the third weekend of the West Coast CMC season.   Joining CMC was Texas region driver Adam Ginsberg, who showed up ready to race with the California boys.

Saturday qualifying went well with Mike Plum posting the fast time in CMC with a 2:07.2, followed by Jeremy Bua with a 2:08.9. In CMC-2 Dave Schotz set the fast time with a 2:03.0 followed by Peter Hopelain with a 2:04.1.

Saturday's race featured a flying start with CMC and CMC-2 mixed in together by time. The green flag dropped and the three LS1 powered cars flexed their muscles and took a quick lead with Hopelain and Nick Steel following.  Schotz took the lead early, and held onto it for the rest of the race. He was followed by Michael Arnheiter and Steel. In CMC, Mike Plum took the lead and held off Bua for a first place. Derek Tisinger finished third, with Doug Clements taking 4th.  Adam Ginsberg pulled off early, as he had a hub starting to go away.  Missing from Saturday’s races were Tony Guaglione, who had found a pretty serious oil leak after backing his car out of the trailer, and Karl Chicca, who was off getting his heads redone following some blown head gaskets. These two would eventually fix both of their problems and were back to join the races for Sunday.

That Saturday night, Peter Hopelain and Brady Flaherty took part in the 3 hour enduro in Peter's S197 Mustang. Tragically, early in the race, they were caught in an accident and were hit by 2 different cars. The result was that the ear of Peter's car was totally ripped apart, but the car was still ok to drive after a few large band aids were strategically placed.  They did indeed finish the enduro after a long night.

Sunday’s Race 1 started out with a blast of fun, as CMC had an inverted race based off of the previous day’s finishing position during their qualifying session. The green flag dropped, and the race was on. It was great race as the entire CMC field was bunched up into one big group. Eventually the field started to separate. It was a close race in CMC-2 for the longest time, but unfortunately, Dave Schotz was forced out off the track.  Later he brought it in, as he wanted to cool down and get his head in the right place. The winner in the CMC-2 race was Peter Hopelain followed by Michael Arnhieter. In CMC, it was a close battle for the entire race with Mike Plum getting the victory, followed by Derek Tisinger, Jeremy Bua, and Doug Clements.

The final race on Sunday was a standing start, which got the competitors and spectators excited.  In CMC-2, Tony Guaglione had the lead after a fantastic start for the first lap, until Peter Hopelain went way too hot into a corner and pushed both himself and Tony off the track.  While both cars continued the race after the field passed by, Tony came back in to calm down and assess the damage. After that, Dave Schotz took the lead, held onto it, and took the win. He was followed by Peter Hopelain and Nick Steel. With some more bad luck, Brady Flaherty, Michael Arnheiter, and Karl Chicca came off the track with motor related issues. In CMC, it was a close battle with Mike Plum and Adam Ginsberg for the lead, with Mike pulling out the victory. Ginsberg finished second followed by Jeremy Bua.

It was a great weekend of racing for everybody and we hope to see you all at Willow Springs on May 24th and 25th.