It was the kind of weekend where your car was on jack stands till the very last minute before reporting to grid. Conditions were changing so frequently and rapidly that tire choice had to wait till the drivers were putting their gloves on, and even then conditions might change and render your tire choice incorrect.
Saturday practice at the NASA SoCal April event was wet. Qualifying had mixed conditions and the race started out dry, calm and warm and then turned cold and windy. Really windy.
Teen Mazda Challenge driver Joey Andrews nabbed pole position and dominated the competition to take the win in yet another session on track where conditions were wildly different at the end of the session than they were at the beginning.
“Yeah, my first career grand slam. Started out with pole position, got a really good start, ended up leading every lap of the race, but toward the end of it, conditions really started to change with the wind picking up, massive amounts of dust blowing across the track. At one point, I couldn’t even see where I was going, there was so much dust,” said TMC driver Joey Andrews. “But luckily I was able to still keep the car together and just hold a nice consistent lead. Ended up getting the fastest lap in the process too.”
Another TMC driver William Rasmussen started from second and stayed there for roughly half the race until he made a critical error in the Sunset turn, which exits onto the long front straightaway.
“I was looking in my mirrors and then I realized I missed my braking spot. I was just like, ‘Uh-oh,’ and kind of saved it, but not really,” said Rasmussen, who finished third.
Once TMC driver Christian Hoagland was able to capitalize on Rasmussen’s error, he slowly began to pull away, but Andrews was too far ahead for Hoagland to vy for contention for the win.
“Yeah, I was able to inch away, thankfully,” Hoagland said. “I really put the pressure on him for about like five laps doing the exact same mirror trick, and then I kind of just took advantage when he did finally miss his braking point and not quite hold his line. So it happens, but it unfortunately worked for me.”
The TMC podium was identical to that of Spec Miata.
Sunday was even messier. The group was scheduled for a qualifying session when it normally has a qualifying race. The Spec Miatas formed up two-by-two without the benefit of a pace car and took the green flag as though they were racing. The session was still scored by lap time, which put Rasmussen on pole, followed by Andrews, Mike Haddad and Nick Stewart.
For Sunday’s main, Hoagland gridded but did not start due to electrical gremlins. Conditions were wet enough to require rain tires, but drivers could have been better served by mounting mud tires. There were enough offs during the race — with 944 Spec and Honda Challenge contributing to the mess — to bring lots of mud back onto the racing surface to the point it became a matter of survival. Andrews went off and got stuck and Rasmussen suffered enough damage in an incident that he was black flagged. Another competitor was DQ’d and yet another got stuck in the mud.
That put Mike Haddad up front where he would remain to take the win in his first race back after “paternity leave.” After getting forced off the front straight before the green flag, TMC driver Spencer Douglass finished second, with Nicholas Stewart taking third place.
In TMC, Douglass finished first, with Andrews in second and Rasmussen in third.
