Sampson Racing Radios Sposored SM takes 2nd Place at NASA event!

Jun 25-26, 2011 - NASA @ Buttonwillow Raceway - Sampson Racing Radios Warehouse Wins Podium Again!

Steamy hot summer weather did not deter 16 Spec Miata drivers from taking part in NASA's summer sizzler at Buttonwillow.  Together with BMWs and Porsche 944s, the SM contingent formed a 30 car large run group.  Running counter clockwise in Configuration #1, which included Star Mazda and the Bus Stop, the wide gap between Spec Miata lap times and those of the other class made for a challenging grouping.  For the event, Clement brought along the #9 Rush Motorsport prepared Sampson Racing Communications (SRC) sponsored silver bullet.

Saturday:
Not in his usual ride, Clement was not entirely comfortable with the driving position, but still qualified for Saturday's race up front in the 2nd row in 4th.  With a large downtime between qualifying and race, Clement took the opportunity to disassemble the fixed race seat mount and reassembled to a seating position more to his liking.

There were 3 race class in the race group with Spec Miata (SM) taking the 2nd split green flag after the BMWs.  Just before SM was going to get the green flag, the 2 SMs in the front row touched and hooked wheels on the pit straight, bringing both of them to the pit wall.  Amazingly, despite the incident, the starter still gave the green flag and the race began.  But halfway into the 1st lap, the double red-yellow flag came out, signaling a complete regroup / restart.  It took them a while but the 2 original front row cars eventually made their way back to the front of the pack for a restart.  This time around it was a clean start.  The top 3 cars including my Rush Motorsport Sampson Racing silver bullet ran nose to tail and quickly broke away from the rest of the pack making it a 3 car race.

It didn't take long for the top 3 to catch up to the BMW race group, and the SM race became a yo-yo race as the 3 SMs tried to get around the BMWs as quickly as they could.  Eventually, after getting around the BMWs, the top 3 SMs ended up split up more or less evenly amongst themselves.   The top 3 continued to circulate that way with Clement brining the Rush Motorsport prepared Sampson Racing Communications sponsored home to a comfortable 2nd place.

Sunday:
For Sunday, the race group embarked on a qualifying race to set the grid for Sunday's main event, with the qualifying race grid set based on Saturday's finishing order.  Without much fan fare, the top 3 circulated more or less status quo to the end, with Clement ending his qualifying race in 2nd position, exactly where he started.

Just like Saturday, SM had the 2nd green flag for the split start, this time starting without any drama!  Once again, the 3 lead cars, including Clement's, quickly broke away from the pack and opened up a gap.  But that was all for naught as a BMW soon spun itself into the pit wall, requiring a full course yellow which lasted several laps to clear the wreck.  Upon the restart, we saw a train of BMW followed by SMs and 944s now all battling for position.

Unfortunately with the vastly different driving dynamics of the makes, it was difficult getting around the other class of cars.  Eventually the lead SMs got through the train of BMWs albeit breaking up the nose to tail SM race in the process.  Once again for the 2nd time in the weekend, Clement's Rush Motorsport prepared Sampson Racing Communications sponsored silver bullet cruised home with another 2nd place finish.