Photo from RedlineTimeAttack.com
After what seemed like an eternity, the 2009 Redline Time Attack season has finally begun! The season opening event was held at the famous Buttonwillow Raceway in Southern California, which has become the benchmark for time attack in the USA. The event was packed with a record number of competitors showing that the sport is alive and strong despite these harsh economic times! We saw the return of a lot of familiar faces from seasons past as well as many new teams with some serious hardware! We saw the return of 2008 champions Tyler McQuarrie and Matt Andrews who were back to defend their titles as well as Factor X Motorsports Development who was ready to redeem themselves after a troubled season in 2008. Newcomers like Fontana Nissan with their new Unlimited RWD 350Z were there and ready for action as well!
The weather at the track on race day was anything but ideal. Steady winds blowing 20-30mph with gusts up to 40mph played havoc with the cars on the track creating a track constantly covered in dirt and debris. Lap times were estimated to be 2-3 seconds slower than usual because of the weather conditions, but that didn't stop some teams from setting some new records with blazing fast times!
The Unlimited Class was out for blood and 2008 champions Tyler McQuarrie and the C-West/Brian Crower Honda S2000 were in for a fight. In the first time attack session Billy Johnson in the Factor X Motorsports Development Acura NSX set the pace with a blistering 1:45.516 on his first lap only to blow the transmission halfway through the second lap ending their day with only one lap time on the board. The Factor X team had to sit and watch as reigning champion Tyler McQuarrie in the S2000 and Tarzan Yamada in the Crawford Performance Subaru STI gave chase. Nobody was able to touch the time set by Johnson in the Factor X NSX giving them the overall win, the Unlimited class win, and the Unlimited RWD division win as well as a new RWD and Unlimited RWD track record! Defending champ McQuarrie had to settle for second overall and in Unlimited RWD with a time of 1:47.992 which was an improvement on the event winning time he placed in 2008. Third place in Unlimited RWD went to Ernesto Roco in the Hoosier Tire Ford Mustang with 1:49.115 which was also better than his last year's lap time. Unlimited AWD was won by Tarzan Yamada in the Crawford Performance Subaru STI with a lap time of 1:48.883, closely followed by Gary Sheehan in the newly painted GST Motorsports Subaru Impreza L with a time of 1:49.203. Third place in the Unlimited AWD class went to Russ Warr with a 1:52.532 in the ESX Motorsports Subaru STI. Unlimited FWD class ringers Chris Rado and Tage Evanson were nowhere to be found this year giving Frank Yeung in the HPS Racing Integra an easy with posting a time of 1:58.717. Second and third place went to Graham Downey in the Redstone Motorsports Civic with a 2:01.169 and Andrew Gillis in the Haggis Racing Ford Focus SVT with a time of 2:05.389.
Last year's Modified Class winner MFQ Motorsports was another car that was MIA at this year's season opener. Had they shown up, they would have had their hands full with Ryan Gates and his Evo X who took the overall Modified class and dominated the Modified AWD class with a 1:55.221 lap time! Giving chase to Gates in the Modified AWD class were two new Nissan GTRs. Doug Tabbutt piloted his Switchcars.com/Synapse GTR to a 2nd place finish in Modified AWD with a 1:58.418 while Russ Warr took the 3rd place spot in his GTR with a 2:00.001. The Modified RWD class would go to Charles Ng in his SCCA T1 prepped Chevrolet Corvette with a time of 1:56.422 with Richard Taylor in second place with a 1:59.501 in the AE Performance Porsche GT2. Past Modified class and overall season champion Matt Andrews had to settle for third place with a 1:59.700 after a midnight engine replacement in his Robispec/Nitto Tire Mazda Miata. Repeating his success in 2008, the Modified FWD class once again went to Tim Kuo in the SportCar Motion Honda Civic who murdered the competition with a 1:55.809. Second place finisher Tom Liang in his Honda Civic came across the line with a best time of 2:04.005 with John Lindeman coming in 3rd in his Acura Integra with a 2:06.178.
The Street class was absolutely huge at this event with over 60 entries! None of them however could beat Jeremy Toye's 1:58.651 in the Reese Tuning/Robispec Mitsubishi Evo VIII. Toye walked away with the overall street title and Street AWD title. Following closely in Street AWD however was Erik Islas in his Robispec/Tuning Technologies Evo IX and Scott Vanderheide in his Robispec/EDO Performance Subaru STI. Islas finished in second place with a 1:58.972 with Vanderheide in a close third with a 1:59.151. The Street RWD class was once again a battle between Manly Kao in the TrackHQ.com/APR/Toyo Lotus Elise and Robert Walker in the Evasive Motorsports S2000. Both cars beat the winning street class time from last year's competition, but it was once again Manly Kao taking top honors with a 1:58.872 despite having transmission problems. Walker came in a close second with a 1:59.182. Coming in third, and also beating last year's winning time was Charles Ng in the Berk Technology S2000 with a fast lap of 2:01.044. Dino Todakawa set a new class record in the Street FWD class turning a 2:00.552 in his Mazdaspeed/Playstation/Yokohama Mazda3. Coming in second place in Street FWD was Matt Andrews in the newly built KBR/Robispec/Nitto Mitsubishi Eclipse GST Spyder with a 2:03.850. Third place went to Clint Boisdeau with a 2:06.191.
The next stop for the 2009 Redline Time Attack series is Willow Springs Raceway May 30th and 31st. This high speed track is a new edition to the circuit so check back to see how things stack up!
RESULTS:
Overall:
Billy Johnson - Factor X Motorsports Development Acura NSX - 1:45.516
Overall Unlimited:
Billy Johnson - Factor X Motorsports Development Acura NSX - 1:45.516
Overall Modified:
Ryan Gates - Gates311.com/AMS Mitsubishi Evo X - 1:55.221
Overall Street:
Jeremy Toye - Reese Tuning/Robispec Mitsubishi Evo VIII - 1:58.651
Unlimited RWD:
1 Billy Johnson - Factor X Motorsports Development Acura NSX - 1:45.516 *NEW RECORD
2 Tyler McQuarrie - C-West/Brian Crower Honda S2000 - 1:47.992
3 Ernesto Roco - Hoosier Tire Ford Mustang - 1:49.115
Unlimited AWD:
1 Tarzan Yamada - Crawford Performance Subaru STI - 1:48.883
2 Gary Sheehan - GST Motorsports Subaru Impreza L - 149.203
3 Russ Warr - ESX Motorsports Subaru STI - 1:52.532
Unlimited FWD:
1 Frank Yeung - HPS Racing Acura Integra - 1:58.717
2 Graham Downey - Redstone Motorsports Honda Civic - 2:01.169
3 Andrew Gillis - Haggis Racing Ford Focus SVT - 2:05.389
Modified AWD:
1 Ryan Gates - Gates311.com/AMS Mitsubishi Evo X - 1:55.221
2 Doug Tabbutt - Switchcars.com/Synapse Nissan GTR - 1:58.418
3 Russ Warr - Nissan GTR - 2:00.001
Modifed RWD:
1 Charles Ng - Nitto/949 Racing Chevrolet Corvette - 1:56.422
2 Richard Taylor - AE Performance Porsche GT2 - 1:59.501
3 Matt Andrews - Robispec/Nitto Tires Mazda Miata - 1:59.700
Modified FWD:
1 Tim Kuo - SportCar Motion Honda Civic - 1:55.809 *NEW RECORD
2 Tom Liang - Honda Civic - 2:04.005
3 John Lindeman - Acura Integra - 2:06.178
Street AWD:
1 Jeremy Toye - Reese Tuning/Robispec Mitsubishi Evo VIII - 1:58.651
2 Erik Islas - Robispec/Tuning Technologies Mitsubishi Evo IX - 1:58.972
3 Scott Vanderheide - EDO Performance/Robispec Subaru STI - 1:59.151
Street RWD:
1 Manley Kao - TrackHQ.com/APR/Toyo Lotus Elise - 1:58.872
2 Robert Walker - Evasive Motorsports Honda S2000 - 1:59.182
3 Charles Ng - Berk Technology Honda S2000 - 2:01.044
Street FWD:
1 Dino Tadokawa - Mazdaspeed/Playstation/Yokohama Mazda3 - 2:00.552 *NEW RECORD
2 Matt Andrews - KBR/Robispec/Nitto Mitsubishi Eclipse GST Spyder - 2:03.850
3 Clint Boisdeau - Toyo Tires B.C.R. 2005 - 2:06.191
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