944 Spec had a solid 14-car field and Norman Hamden qualified on pole on Saturday only to lose it at the start to Charles Buzzetti. Buzzetti went on to win the race by more than 10 seconds and set a blistering 1:46.864 lap time. The race was not all smooth for Buzzetti though. He said after the race that he came close to spinning in Turn 5.
It was Hamden’s first time racing at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, and he was happy with a second-place finish. A full 25 seconds behind Hamden was Steven Lewis. Lewis was under pressure from James Foxx, but Foxx had technical problems and finished last, nine laps behind the leaders. Before Foxx had his problems he was knocking on the door of a podium finish and had the third quickest lap time of the race.
On Sunday Hamden qualified on pole again with Buzzetti, Lewis, and Foxx behind. Foxx had a poor start but after a disappointing Saturday race, he put his head down and charged toward the front to win the race by five seconds.
Hamden again could not turn pole into a victory, but he did have the fast lap of the race at a 1:48.310, .2 seconds faster than his qualifying time. Buzzetti, Hamden, and Dale helped each other charge through the field to take second, third, and fourth, respectively.
