NASA’s Turn 7 Girl, Flatten the Curve race weekend started with 22 Spec Miatas registered and on Saturday. Keith Williamson won pole position with a 1:45.654 with Aiden Crouse P2, Grant West P3, Yan Dia P4 and Broderick Bauguess P5.
As the green flag dropped, Williamson got a good run through Turn 1, followed by West, with Crouse, Bauguess and Dia falling in line as they headed up the hill. At Turn 7, Dia tried to carry too much speed and went four off, losing his position to Ernie Cole. The lead pack of four Spec Miatas then started bump-drafting to gap the field. On lap three, West, with a push from Crouse, got beside Williamson on the outside as they neared the braking zone for Turn 10a. Williamson and West went through 10a side by side, but Williamson washed out, going two off exiting T10b and dropped back to P4.
Crouse kept his momentum to get to the right side of West going under the bridge and the two went side by side through Turn 12 followed by Bauguess with Williamson trying to hang on. West and Crouse stayed side by side until Turn 1 where Crouse completed the pass on the inside for P1 and Bauguess picked up P2, with West and Williamson following. By lap six, Williamson finally caught up to West and gave him a bump just as they headed down the hill toward Turn 10a. In 10b, West got loose and gave P3 to Williamson.
On lap eight, Bauguess got a run on Crouse and got inside him at Turn 1 and the passed for the lead. Crouse returned the favor at Turn 10a, passing on the inside to retake the lead. On the white flag lap, Crouse protected the inside going into Turn 10a and took the win with Bauguess a close second, with Williamson P3, West P4 and Dia P5.
On Sunday, NASA Southeast Spec Miata had a good qualifying session, with the top five all within .3 seconds of one another, with Aiden Crouse leading the pack at 1:45.506, West P2, Williamson P3, Dia P4 and Bauguess P5.
At the start, West got a run up the hill from Turn 1 to take P1 with Crouse P2, Dia P3 and Bauguess picking off Williamson for P4. On the back straight, Crouse was able to get to West’s bumper and start pushing to gap the pack by about three car lengths.
On the next lap, West gapped Crouse by about two car lengths but Bauguess was able to push Dia and close up on Crouse. Bauguess then got inside Dia at T1 to grab P3. On lap five, Crouse tried a pass on the inside of T10a but West held him off, and as Crouse scrubbed off momentum with the attempted pass, Bauguess picked him off going under the bridge. Now West, Bauguess and Crouse are in a tight pack of three, with Dia and Williamson hanging on about five car lengths back. West felt the heat and pushed too hard in Turn 3, dropped two off tracking out and Bauguess pounced with a pass on the outside of Turn 4 and Crouse followed up with an inside pass at the top of the Esses.
On lap eight, as the leaders were catching traffic, West got to the inside of Crouse entering Turn 3 for the pass on the inside to take P2. Continuing his charge back to the front, West bump-drafted Bauguess on the back straight, then pulled to the inside as they entered Turn 10a for the pass on the inside. Grant West brought home the win with Broderick Bauguess P2, Aiden Crouse P3, Williamson P4 and Dia P5.
