Round #3 of the 2009 Redline Time Attack series is in the books and it was the series' first stop in the Midwest. The event was held at the Autobahn Country Club Raceway in Joliet, Illinois just outside of Chicago. Although rain threatened the racers all weekend mother nature held off long enough to get dry laps in for the timed sessions on Sunday.
Hometown favorites AMS Performance and their new Mitusbishi Evo X were the talk of the paddock leading into the event but they would have some stiff competition from the west coast and the Crawford Performance Subaru STI in Unlimited AWD. A few more familiar faces from Willow Springs made it out to play at Autobahn including the BC Racing 350Z, Nitto/Robispec Mazda Miata, and another hometown favorite the Gates311.com Mitsubishi Evo X. Overall champions from rounds #1 and 2 FX Motorsports Development and other top teams like the C-West/Brian Crower Honda S2000, GST Motorsports Impreza, Fontana Nissan 350Z, and Sierra Sierra Evo were all no shows at this round.
The Unlimited Class was a battle to the finish between AMS Performance and Crawford Performance. The battle between the new Subaru STI and the new Mitsubishi Evo remained close all weekend long but it was Tarzan Yamada in the Crawford Performance STI edging out Mark Daddio in the AMS Performance/NOS Energy Evo X in the end for the event championship, Overall Unlimited Class win, and Unlimited AWD Class win with a blazing 1:26.735. Daddio and the AMS team came in second overall and in the Unlimited AWD class with a 1:27.695, just a hair less than a second behind the Crawford team. Rounding out the podium for the Unlimited AWD class with a time of 1:36.362 was Alex Grabau in the Dent Sport Garage Mitsubishi Evo. Coming in third overall and first in the Unlimited FWD class was the double winged World Racing Scion tC piloted by Chris Rado with a incredible time of 1:30.717. Trailing behind in the Unlimited FWD class was Aaron Byram in the PURE Tuning Honda Civic with a 1:34.063 edging out third place finisher Charles Rhyu and his Top Setup Honda CRX who clocked in at 1:36.061. The Unlimited RWD class was won by Scott Bush and the BC Racing/Relentless Autosports/JWT Nissan 350Z with their time of 1:32.382 follwed by second place finisher Jeff Ricca in the 240SX Motoring Nissan 240SX coming in at a 1:35.664.
The Modified Class was all but destroyed by Round #1 champion and local favorite Ryan Gates and his Gates311.com/AMS Performance Evo X with a time of 1:30.781. This time was not only good enough for the Overall Modified and Modified AWD Class wins, but was only six one hundreths of a second off of being the third fastest overall time of the day. Sharif Abdelbaset set the second fast Modified class time of the day with a 1:33.095 which was also good enough for 2nd in Modified AWD in his Forged Performance Nissan R35 GTR. Coming in third overall in Modified and third in Modified AWD was 2008 season champion James Elterman in the Takata Time Attack Subaru STI with a 1:34.221. 2008 Co-Grand Champion Matt Andrews in the Robispec/Nitto Mazda Miata was back at it again winning the Modified RWD class with a 1:36.429, but hot on his heels in 2nd place was Scott Bush in the BC Racing/Relentless Autosports/JWT Nissan 350Z just a few tents behind at a 1:36.709. The rivalry between these two cars has been going on since 2007! Ross Miller in the PTuning Chevrolet Corvette took the third spot on the Modified RWD podium with a 1:37.345. In the Modified FWD class, Ross Miller earned himself another podium finish with the PTuning/Lustine Scion tC beating out all of the other Modified FWD competition with a 1:35.771. Benjy Jay in the GTMotoring Honda Civic was right behind him coming in 2nd in Modified FWD with a time of 1:37.135 followed by the 1:41.428 of Allen Liang in the ProFunction Automotive Honda Civic for 3rd.
This event was the first for the Street Class East Division and the bar was set by Tony Wiesenhahn in the Turn In Concepts Subaru WRX taking the Overall Street and Street AWD class titles with a 1:35.708, an incredibly fast time on street tires. Nathan Pitcher took 2nd place in Street AWD in his AMS Performance sponsored Mitsubishi Evo IX with a 1:40.389 follwed by Dylan Peterson in the DS1 Motorsports Subaru STI with a 1:40.796 for 3rd. Second overall fastest Street Class time and 1st place in the Street FWD class went to Douglas Wind in the Forced Performance/Continental Tire Dodge Neon SRT-4 with a time of 1:39.321. Trailing him by a little over a second and no stranger to the podium was Michael Ostby in the GTMotoring Acura RSX with a 1:40.494 followed by another 2008 season regular Nik Bender in the Tri-State Racing Honda Civic Si in 3rd with a 1:42.504. The Street RWD class continued the trend we have seen from the first to events with Honda S2000s swarming the podium. Aaron Leichty in the Injected Performance Honda S2000 emerged victorious with a time of 1:39.764 good enough for first place in the Street RWD class and third overall fastest Street Class time. John Nguyen in his Honda S2000 took the 2nd place spot in Street RWD with a 1:42.103 and breaking up the S2000 party was Jeff Bender in his Tri-State Racing Nissan 350Z taking 3rd place with a 1:43.048.
Being a new class to the Redline Time Attack season this year, the Stock Class had only a small handfull of cars enter. Running un-opposed in the Stock AWD class didn't stop Mitch Blynum and his Robispec Mitsubishi Evo from running an impressive 1:40.474 taking the overall Stock class title and the Stock AWD class win as well. Patrick Reyes in his Mashimoto Tires Honda S2000 CR came across the line with the second fastest Stock Class time of the day and the Stock RWD class win with a 1:41.503. Taking 3rd overall and 2nd in the Stock RWD class was Brandon Anandan in his Tri-State Racing Nissan 350Z with a time of 1:45.740 follwed by 3rd place Stock RWD finisher Eric Eismeuller in another Nissan 350Z with a 1:51.008. Running un-opposed in the Stock FWD class was Shane Simmin in his Honda Civic Si with a 1:50.494.
This event also held the second Redline Time Attack Super Session of the year which is gaining immense success amongst competitors and spectators alike. The wheel to wheel sprint race pits some of the fastest Unlimited and Modified class cars against each other in a battle to the finish where lap time doesn't matter, only which position you cross the finish line in. The bonus round is good for extra points towards the year end championship title and is optional to the competitors. Those who were left with fully functioning cars and enough guts to enter the Super Session were paraded around the track on a pace lap and as the pace car exited the track the group of time attack cars waited for the green flag to drop. As the green flag dropped the rain started trickling in, but the competition was heating up at the same time. Tarzan Yamada in the Crawford Performance Subaru STI took the early lead and extended it the whole race taking the win well ahead of the crowd. James Elterman in the Takata Time Attack STI made a good showing coming in 2nd in the sprint race followed by Matt Andrews in the Nitto/Robispec Miata taking third. Others in the race included Charles Rhyu in the Top Setup Honda CRX, Ross Miller in the PTuning Chevrolet Corvette, and Ryan Upham in the AMS/Stance/Girodisc/Hamflex.com Mitsubishi Evo.
Be sure to check out Round #4 of the 2009 Redline Time Attack Series as it makes its stop in the country music capitol of the world to fight the clock at Nashville Super Speedway in Lebanon, Tennessee July 25th & 26th.
RESULTS:
Overall:
Tarzan Yamada - Crawford Performance Subaru STI - 1:26.735
Overall Unlimited:
Tarzan Yamada - Crawford Performance Subaru STI - 1:26.735
Overall Modified:
Ryan Gates - Gates311.com/AMS Performance Mitsubishi Evo X - 1:30.781
Overall Street:
Tony Weisenhahn - Turn In Concepts Subaru WRX - 1:35.708
Unlimited AWD:
1 Tarzan Yamada - Crawford Performance Subaru STI - 1:26.735
2 Mark Daddio - AMS Performance/NOS Energy Mitsubishi Evo X - 1:27.659
3 Alex Grabau - Dent Sport Garage Mitsubishi Evo - 1:36.362
Unlimited RWD:
1 Scott Bush - BC Racing/Relentless Autosports/JWT Nissan 350Z - 1:32.382
2 Jeff Ricca - 240SX Motoring Nissan 240SX - 1:35.664
Unlimited FWD:
1 Chris Rado - World Racing Scion tC - 1:30.717
2 Aaron Byram - PURE Tuning Honda Civic - 1:34.063
3 Charles Rhyu - Top Setup Honda CRX - 1:36.061
Modified AWD:
1 Ryan Gates - Gates311.com/AMS Performance Mitsubishi Evo X - 1:30.781
2 Sharif Abdelbaset - Forged Performance Nissan R35 GTR - 1:33.095
3 James Elterman - Takata Time Attack Subaru STI - 1:34.221
Modifed RWD:
1 Matt Andrews - Nitto/Robispec Mazda Miata - 1:36.429
2 Scott Bush - BC Racing/Relentless Autosports/JWT Nissan 350Z - 1:36.709
3 Ross Miller - PTuning Chevrolet Corvette - 1:37.345
Modified FWD:
1 Ross Miller - PTuning/Lustine Scion tC - 1:35.771
2 Benjy Jay - GTMotoring Honda Civic - 1:37.135
3 Allen Liang - ProFunction Automotive Honda Civic - 1:41.428
Street AWD:
1 Tony Weisenhahn - Turn In Concepts Subaru WRX - 1:35.708
2 Nathan Pitcher - AMS Performance Mitsubishi Evo IX - 1:40.389
3 Dylan Peterson - DS1 Motorsports Subaru STI - 1:40.796
Street RWD:
1 Aaron Leichty - Injected Performance Honda S2000 - 1:39.746
2 Jeff Nguyen - Honda S2000 - 1:42.103
3 Jeff Bender - Tri-State Racing Nissan 350Z - 1:43.048
Street FWD:
1 Doug Wind - Forced Performance/Continental Tire Dodge Neon SRT-4 - 1:39.321
2 Michael Ostby - GTMotoring/Challenge/Bridgestone Acura RSX - 1:40.494
3 Nik Bender - Tri-State Racing Honda Civic Si - 1:42.504
Stock AWD:
1 Mitch Blyumin - Robispec Mitsubishi Evo - 1:40.474
Stock RWD:
1 Patrick Reyes - Mashimoto Tires Honda S2000 CR - 1:41.503
2 Brandon Anandan - Tri-State Racing Nissan 350Z - 1:45.740
3 Eric Eismueller - Nissan 350Z - 1:51.008
Stock FWD:
1 Shane Simmin - Honda Civic Si - 1:50.494
Super Session:
1 Tarzan Yamada - Crawford Performance Subaru STI
2 James Elterman - Takata Time Attack Subaru STI
3 Matt Andrews - Nitto/Robispec Mazda Miata
We don't have the sponsorship funding for the two west coast events, but we are still going.
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