For a moment last week, we crossed paths with Redline Time Attack's Nikolas Malechikos on Facebook and chatted about the upcoming Round 7 at Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch in Pahrump, a little town about an hour north of Las Vegas. Even through FB's messenger, you could sense his excitement; he enthused about the teams that had confirmed their participation and hyped up the historical connection, namely that Spring Mountain was the site of the championship's first officially sanctioned event in 2005.
Back then, only a couple dozen cars registered to compete, but the overall victory for Tarzan Yamada couldn't have come in more dramatic fashion. On the last lap of the final session of the event, the Japanese pilot laid down a 2:32 in the Sun Auto HRS Garage Cyber EVO - a mark that stood until this year.
The 2009 battle around SMMR's 3.1-mile, 10-turn circuit was held over September 26-27 and the penultimate race of season. As promised, some of the series' heaviest hitters were on the roster - tuners like FX Motorsports Development, AMS, RobiSpec and Crawford.
On the driver side of things, hot shoes like Billy Johnson, JC Meynet, Chris Rado, Tim Kuo and Ryan Gates accepted the Spring Mountain challenge. Even the on-again-off-again Drift Class featured two of the sports best, 2005 Formula D series champion Rhys Millen in the RMR Red Bull Toyo Hyundai Genesis and current FD points leader Chris Forsberg in his NOS Energy Drink Maxxis SR-powered 350Z. Elsewhere in Modified RWD, slider Conrad Grunewald ran another Genesis Coupe.
Notable absentees consisted primarily of Tyler McQuarrie in the Unlimited RWD C-West BC Design Craft Honda S2000 and the Unlimited AWD Mitsubishi EVO VIII from Sierra Sierra Enterprises. Also missing on Sunday was Yamada, who had turned up for Saturday in the U-AWD Crawford Subaru Impreza WRX STI but was unable to continue after the car suffered a mechanical failure that could not be fixed at the track.
Also turning up for the event was an unseasonable heat wave that pushed temps into triple digits by Sunday. This made engine reliability and traction two elements teams had to monitor vigilantly.
As has been the story at a few other RTAs this year, Johnson and the FXMD Acura NSX were the ones to catch at Spring Mountain this year. In what is essentially the team's home race (FXMD is based in Vegas), Johnson came out in the first session and put down an amazing 2:13.447 - some 19 seconds faster than Yamada's longstanding record.
Then Johnson came out in the second and final session of the day and shaved another .4 for a reset record of 2:13.057. The lap was good enough to garner first place in U-RWD and nab the overall class and event victories.
On the heels of two overall event victories and three divisional wins out of the four eastern events, AMS Performance came out with its NOS Energy Drink EVO X and grabbed the second fastest time of Round 7. Paul Gerard clocked a 2:18.055 in the U-AWD entry, five seconds off of Johnson's pace but still sufficiently fast to win the division.
Gary Sheehan and the GST Motorsports Hankook Impreza had the third-best time of the event, a 2:21.675, and finished in U-AWD under the AMS EVO. The Subaru had just come off of a comprehensive rebuild, losing a couple hundred pounds and receiving more engine work, a new ECU and a host of other enhancements.
Mike Cronin Jr. in the Fontana Nissan 350Z was second in U-RWD and fourth fastest overall with a 2:22.982. The Z has undergone engine upgrades, a new transmission, rear suspension re-work and a slew of other upgrades since May, and the crew switched to Yokohama slicks for Round 7.
In the Modified AWD battle between Ryan Gates in his AMS Nitto EVO X and JC Meynet in the Harman Motive STi, chalk up another victory for Gates. He carried the division and the entire Modified Class with a 2:24.883, the fifth quickest time around Spring Mountain and the fastest Modified car of the day. The M-AWD win is Gates' fifth in a row.
A half second behind him, Meynet lapped a 2:25.371, equal to sixth fastest overall and second in M-AWD.
Chris Rado and the WORLD Racing Scion tC, arguably the fastest FWD road racing car in North America, came out to Pahrump and locked up Unlimited FWD again after a tumultuous weekend. Throwing a connecting rod in Sunday morning practice, the team had to swap engines during the first time attack session and had only the second and final session to lay down the winning lap. Rado's 2:27.506 was also the seventh fastest orbit around SMMR.
M-AWD had more cars than any other division in the list of 10 fastest times, and joining Gates and Meynet from the division was Russ Warr in the Crawford LIC Motorsports STi. He recorded the eighth best time of Sunday, a 2:30.215.
Jeremy Renshaw in the AFI Turbo S2000 was the only Modified RWD competitor in the top 10, securing the ninth best lap of 2:31.647. The time was good enough to clinch the division.
Round 7's tenth best orbit went to Andrew Gillis in the Gillis Motorsports Ford Focus, who laid down a 2:32.541. The time qualified Gillis for second in U-FWD's final standings.
An honorable mention goes out to Tim Kuo in the Sportcar Motion Integra Type R. The K-swapped DC2 replaced Sportcar Motion's Civic in Modified FWD (the hatchback is moving up to Unlimited next season), and in its debut performance won the division with a commanding 2:34.114.
Jeremy Toye and his Reese Tuning EVO IX took top honors in Street AWD with a 2:33.485, good enough for Toye to claim the Buddy Club Street Class Championship. He faced a fierce challenge from Stephen Ruiz in the AMS StopTech EVO X, who wound up second in the division with a 2:34.868.
Also in that ballpark was Street RWD leader Manly Kao in the Track HQ Buddy Club APR Lotus with a 2:34.866. Another nine seconds behind him was the winner of Street FWD, Clint Boisdeau in his FSWerks Focus, lapping in 2:43.284. Boisdeau is currently the points leader in the Western Region Buddy Club Street Class and likely secured the season championship with this podium finish.
Finally, in the always entertaining Drift Class, Millen, who has years of motorsports experience, has taken his car up Pike's Peak, and has already been to at least one other RTA event, put in a tidy 2:30.819 to win the division. Forsberg meanwhile, in his first time attack as far as we know, clocked a respectable 2:41.849.
The 2009 Redline Time Attack season now heads to conclusion, finishing out with Round 8, set for November 14-15 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif.
www.redlinetimeattack.com
Redline Time Attack Series Round 7
Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch, Pahrump, NV
UNLIMITED CLASS
*Unlimited AWD*
Name Best Lap Car
Paul Gerard 2:18.055 AMS Performance NOS Mitsubishi EVO X
Gary Sheehan 2:21.675 GST Motorsports Hankook Subaru Impreza
Dez Ballard 2:35.995 Hankook Brian Crower Subaru Impreza WRX
*Unlimited FWD*
Chris Rado 2:27.506 WORLD Racing Scion tC
Andrew Gillis 2:32.541 Gillis Motorsports Ford Focus
*Unlimited RWD*
Billy Johnson 2:13.057 FX Motorsports Development Cricket Acura NSX
Mike Cronin Jr. 2:22.982 Fontana Nissan Nissan 350Z
MODIFIED CLASS
*Modified AWD*
Ryan Gates 2:24.883 AMS Performance Gates 311 Mitsubishi EVO X
JC Meynet 2:25.371 Harman Motive Subaru Impreza WRX STi
Russ Warr 2:30.215 Crawford LIC Motorsports Subaru Impreza WRX STi
Trent Choi 2:34.195 Stance Strictly Modified Mitsubishi Lancer EVO VIII
Mike Cronin Jr. 2:34.263 Fontana Nissan Nissan R35 GT-R
Whitney Edmister 2:35.710 Nissan R35 GT-R
*Modified FWD*
Tim Kuo 2:34.114 Sportcar Motion Acura DC2 Integra Type R
Tom Liang 2:42.824 Race Like Bunnies Honda EF Civic Si
Chris Stout 2:47.367 Barber Driving Experience Ford Focus
Scott Laird 2:48.939 World's Largest Scottish Highland Games Focus
Eladio Rodriguez 2:50.864 Honda Civic
*Modified RWD*
Jeremy Renshaw 2:31.647 AFI Turbo Honda S2000
Brent Bauman 2:32.680 Lotus Exige S
JC Meynet 2:34.543 JHP USA Honda S2000
Matt Andrews 2:34.836 Flyin' Miata Mazda Miata
Richard Taylor 2:35.598 AE Performance Porsche GT2
Steve Butscher 2:36.466 Ford Mustang
Alex Latteri 2:37.234 Lotus Exige
Mat Mueller 2:38.648 Honda S2000
Conrad Grunewald 2:40.445 Hyundai Genesis Coupe
Johnathan Greenleaf 2:43.860 Porsche GT3RS
Billy Brooks 2:48.309 MODERacing Hyundai Genesis Coupe
James King 2:50.071 RSLRA ixiz concept Subaru Impreza 2.5RS
STREET
*Street AWD*
Jeremy Toye 2:33.485 Mitsubishi Lancer EVO
Stephen Ruiz 2:34.868 AMS StopTech Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X
Erik Islas 2:35.367 Tuning Technologies Mitsubishi Evo
*Street FWD*
Clint Boisdeau 2:43.284 Ford Focus
Jason Nathan 2:48.753 Dodge Neon SRT4
Brian Alvarez 2:50.826 Mazda3
*Street RWD*
Manly Kao 2:34.866 Buddy Club TrackHQ.com Lotus
Robert Choo 2:39.891 Honda S2000
Tim Kuo 2:41.223 Evasive Honda S2000
STOCK
*Stock AWD*
Robert Fuller 2.39.259 Whiteline Subaru Impreza WRX STI
Thomas Smith 2:40.639 Zenkai Motorsports Subaru Impreza WRX STi
Matt Dennison 2:41.078 Milspec Mishimoto Mitsubishi Lancer EVO
*Stock FWD*
Eric Emerson 2:47.969 Acura Integra
Kristopher Derentz 2:50.931 Mini Cooper
Adrian Torres 2:52.881 Race Like Bunnies Toyota Celica
*Stock RWD*
Paul Dentice 2:43.830 AE Performance Nissan 370Z
Jairo Jaramillo 2:44.763 Honda S2000
Kam Urqhart 2:44.985 Brakehorn Productions Honda S2000
DRIFT
Rhys Millen 2:30.819 RMR Red Bull Toyo Hyundai Genesis Coupe
Chris Forsberg 2:41.849 NOS Energy Drink Maxxis Nissan 350Z
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