Camaro-Mustang Challenge Race Reports

06/28 – Infineon Raceway It was a gorgeous weekend for the 5th race of the West Coast CMC series. The weather was fantastic with it being in the low 70's the entire time. It was our largest field to date with 21 cars ready to race. CMC was happy to see the return of driver Kevin Margetta, who recently got back after doing a tour of duty for the Navy in the middle east, and Pat Stone, who took the first part of the season off to focus on his work, also The Griffith’s returned for some good fun. Welcome back guys! Saturday qualifying went well with Mike Plum getting pole in CMC with a 1:58.4 and Nick Steel getting pole in CMC-2 with a 1:54.6. The first race was a flying start with the green flag dropping and the drivers taking off. In CMC-2 Nick Steel got a good jump on the start and took off with Tony Guaglione in pursuit. The two battled all race long with Nick Steel getting the victory followed by Tony Guaglione and Peter Hopelain. In CMC Mike Plum took the quick lead. However, late in the race he spun trying to pass a slower AI car, and rookie Jeremy Bua took the lead. Jeremy held onto the lead for his first ever CMC victory, followed by Kevin Margetta and Mike Plum. Karl Chicca had to retire early due to engine problems, and Ron De Blauw unfortunately spun his car into the wall off the esses. While he was ok, the car had enough damage to make him retire from the race. We had a fantastic BBQ on Saturday sponsored by the CMC directors and with the help of Susie taking care of all the details we ended up feeding 70-80 people, lets do that again soon! Sunday started off with an inverted race with the 20-car field reversed from the previous days finishing order. Tony Guaglione was heard saying " How the @$!# am I going to pass all these cars?" The green flag dropped with cars going into turn one four cars wide. Due to turn one's decreasing amount of track space there were multiple side-to-side contacts between cars. All drivers and cars were fine, with the exception of the cars having new donut marks on the doors. In CMC-2, Nick Steel worked exceptionally hard to pass all the cars and retake the lead after starting in the back. He caught up to leader James Griffith, and the two battled it out until Nick took the lead. He would hold onto that lead and win the race. Nick was followed by James Griffith and Peter Hopelain. In CMC, it was an 11 car battle as all the drivers where trying their best to get to the front. Mike Donahoe took the early lead and was leading the pack. He held onto that lead until driver Addison Lee took it away from him and Addison held onto that lead and took the checkered flag, earning him his first ever CMC victory. He was followed by Mike Donahoe and Adam Ginsberg. The final race was a standing start with position based on qualifying race finishing position. The green flag dropped and the sound of 20 V-8's being gunned drove the fans crazy. Nick Steel took the quick lead with James Griffith following close behind. However, that would end quickly. Nick spun the car going into turn 11 after a small tap from behind , and Jeremy Bua went into the corner too hot under caution and hit him right in the drivers door. The drivers were ok but both cars had received heavy damage. After the corner was cleared up and the green flag dropped again, James Griffith took the CMC-2 lead with Tony Guaglione right behind him and the two duked it out with James Griffith getting the victory followed by Tony Guaglione and Michael Arnheiter. In CMC, Addison Lee took a quick lead and was followed by the rest of the field. He held off a hard charging Mike Plum to take his second victory. He was followed by Mike Plum and Mike Donahoe. It was a fantastic weekend with drivers Jeremy Bua and Addison Lee getting their first victory's in CMC. Way to go guys! Another piece of good news was that driver Gary Brantley finally discovered his year long smoking car problem and fixed it. And while it is unfortunate that Jeremy and Nick's cars were highly damaged, it was good to see both drivers walk away from a bad wreck unharmed. Our next event is Thunderhill, Backwards, on October 4th and 5th . See you there!