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Round two of the 2011 MotoIQ Pacific Tuner Car Championships has come and gone and Berk Technology found themselves on the top of the podium yet again! The second round of the ten round series was held at Firebird Raceway just outside of Phoenix, Arizona. The track utilizes the raceway’s ¼ mile drag strip as the front straight of a 1.6 mile road course that weaves through the Arizona desert. Following a flag to flag victory at the series’ season opener at Willow Springs Raceway in March, the Berk Technology team and driver Mike Bonanni were anxious to get back out on track with their Tuner Over class BMW 135i.
The new MotoIQ Pacific Tuner Car Championships race series pits cars together based on power to weight ratio. There are two classes, Tuner Over which boasts an 8:1 power to weight ratio and Tuner Under which boasts a 12:1 power to weight ratio. The Berk Technology competes in the Tuner Over class putting out 410 horsepower thanks to Berk Technology exhaust parts, GIAC tuning software, and AEM Electronics methanol injection. The car weighs in at 3,300 lbs. with driver with the help of carbon fiber body panels from SEIBON Carbon. The aerodynamics rules in the series allow more freedom than most sanctioning bodies making for some very cool and very fast cars. The Berk Technology 135i runs a combination of APR Performance and VFiber products along with custom pieces designed by Andrew Brilliant and fabricated by Berk Technology.
Day one of the two-day event is slated for practice where the Berk Technology team usually dials in the car for Sunday’s race. At this race however Mother Nature decided to intervene and rain fell all day long which made the concrete surface of the drag strip front straight dangerously slippery. Since the Berk Technology 135i remained un-changed since the last event and Sunday called for sunny skies and no chance of rain the Berk Technology crew decided to park the car for the day as to not risk damaging the car.
Fortunately the weather man was right and Sunday was sunny, warm, and most importantly dry. Because of Saturday’s weather driver Mike Bonanni had only one session in the morning to both practice and qualify the car for the race. Bonanni turned seven laps in the Berk Technology 135i and qualified the car on the pole position for the second race in a row. Next to him on the outside of the front row was Robert Ramirez in the Road Race Engineering Mitsubishi Talon. Row two consisted of Deiter Heinz-Kijora in the Evolution Racewerks BMW 135i and Clint Boisdeau in the Apollo Performance Ford Focus. As the green flag dropped Bonanni lead the pack into turn one with the rest close in tow. The Hankook Ventus Z214 DOT racing slicks and KW Suspension allowed Bonanni to hold off the pack and stretch out a small lead through the first few corners. The lead grew bigger as the other cars battled for position allowing Bonanni to run clean and consistent laps. When the checkered flag flew Bonanni and the Berk Technology 135i crossed the line first with an eight second lead over 2nd place finisher Deiter Heinz-Kijora in the Evolution Racewerks BMW 135i. The victory extends Berk Technology’s points lead heading into round 3 which will be held at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA on May 28th and 29th.
Berk Technology would like to thank the following sponsors:
- Hankook Tire
- Performance Friction Brakes
- VMR Wheels
- KW Suspension
- GIAC
- APR Performance
- VFiber
- Seibon Carbon
- OS Giken
- AEM Electronics
- European Auto Source
- Macht Schnell
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