This is part of what I submitted for the Torco web site and figured id share it here for you guys.
Round 2 of the Spec E30 season brings us to Buttonwillow Raceway Park. The cool weather and bright sunshine were a good combination for sticky tires, making power and maintaining our Tans! The teams arrived at the track and the Midnight Oil Semi took center stage in the E30 village where all the teams all pitted close together. We were to share the race group with the BMW Club and the German Touring Series which meant a lot of very fast German iron on the track!
7 drivers showed up to battle it out on Saturday. Qualifying would reveal that team Road Runner, driven by Jeff Lepper in the white #5 would take Pole position for the standing start with a lap time of 2:11.368. All the way from Las Vegas, Vogel Boys Racing in the #59 car would claim outside pole turning with a 2:11.762 lap time. David Reed piloting his gold #343 took the third spot posting 2:11.808. All 3 teams are making their presence known in their first race in SE30 this year! Frank Reed’s red #11 was close behind his brothers lap time with 2:12.019. Chris Donnelly qualified 5th in car #25 and Victor Beraja was in the 6th spot in his beautiful blue and white #007. Finishing up the pack is Kieran Gobey with his blue dream machine minus 40+hp, was quoted to say, “I love a good challenge” as he came off the track!
For the race, the guys would line up perfectly for the start. The flag dropped, the crowd cheered and the drivers roared off into turn one. Jeff Lepper span the tires of the Team Road Runners #5 which would allow the Vogel boys racing #59, who launched the car like a top fuel dragster, to jump into the lead. David Reed’s #343 stayed in the third spot while the field followed.
Still on the first lap and the leaders made it thru the bus stop without incident and maintained their positions. Frank Reed overcooked the corner slightly on the exit of the Bus-Stop which began a slide to the left where he fought to regain control which then shot him across the track sideways to the right and spin off the track across the front of the field. Chris Donnelly would get caught up in trying to avoid Frank Reed as he went off and both cars would be seen emerging from the dust cloud. Luckily, both were able to avoid contact and rejoin the race. Meanwhile, Lepper in the #5 would get around the Vogel boys racing #59 for the lead. Another back and forth battle was brewing with Kieran Gobey and Victor Beraja while Frank Reed and Chris Donnelly battle it out behind.
Mid-way thru the race going into turn one, Lepper who was still leading the race finds his braking zone, Vogel Boys #59 found his braking zone right behind Lepper and David Reed seemed to miss his braking zone and pull to the inside of Vogel. The crowd let out a gasp as he continued to not brake as he passes the #59 and continue up to the Team Road Runner #5 before he finally got on the brakes side by side with the leader. The crowd, myself, Staff, officials and the other drivers fully expected to see the gold #343 to go straight off the outside of turn 1. Instead, he somehow made it stick and went from 3rd to first in one corner! The crowd cheered!
Meanwhile, the battle between Kieran Gobey and Victor Beraja would end on lap 8 as Victor Beraja’s 007 would retire with a mechanical issue. Victor would make repairs and race again Sunday. Frank Reed and Chris Donnelly would continue to battle while they slowly reeled in and threatened Kieran Gobey’s 4th place position.
The fight up front would continue to play out in a 3 way nose to tail dogfight to the finish. Dave Reed claimed his first ever wheel to wheel race win! Team road Runner defended their 2nd place position followed closely by the Vogel Boys racing team. In an odd twist of timing and scoring, the overall race leader would pass Frank Reed and Chris Donnelly and they in turn would pass Kieran Gobey, but because of how and when the passes would happen, Kieran Gobey would retain the 4th place spot completing 12 laps and Chris Donnelly and Frank Reed would finish 5th and 6th respectively completing 11 laps. Victor Beraja would retain the 7th place points for the season. The crowd got to watch some great racing all over the track!
As the drivers were leaving pre-grid, I had one of the timing and scoring girls draw a number out of my sweaty hat. She drew, #7. That means that the7th place finisher would win a Shock Rebuild from WeekendRacer.com! (a $315.88 value!) The lucky winner this time was Victor Beraja! Congrats Victor!
The Midnight Oil $100 cash prize went to Mike Vogel for his 3rd place finish! Congrats Vogel Boys Racing!
Team Road Runner’s Kevin Nichols gave out a bottle of wine to the 5th place finisher, Chris Donnelly, who promptly didnt share with anyone. 
Post-race activities with a Mexican Fiesta provided by Midnight Oil and a late night BBQ was enjoyed by all at the track! I can’t wait for Sunday’s race!
Saturdays official results
- 343 David Reed
- 5 Team Road Runner (Jeff Lepper)
- 59 Vogel Boys Racing (Mike Vogel)
- 56 Kieran Gobey
- 25 Chris Donnelly
- 11 Frank Reed
- 007 Victor Beraja
Sunday morning welcomed the Spec E30 drivers with warmer temps and a beautiful clear blue sky.
Rius Billing would rejoin us today for an 8 car field and let everyone know what he can do with his pole position lap time that was only 2 tenths off the track record and almost 2 seconds faster than the closest qualifying driver. Kevin Nichols would take over the driving duties in the #5 Team Road Runner who, was still suffering from some “new car” mechanical issues that wouldn’t allow them the performance that they needed, but still laid down a lap time good enough for the Outside-Pole spot. 3rd on the grid would be the Vogel boys racing #59 driven by Mike’s co-driver Patrick Vogel. Frank Reed would school his brother David Reed on how to qualify by 2 tenths for the 4th spot with Dave relegated to 5th. Frank was also overheard taunting his brother after the qualifying session saying, “Neener-neener” and was also reported to have also made several faces at his brother. Chris Donnelly claimed the 6th spot. Kieran Gobey hustled his underpowered blue steed to a 6th spot qualifier and Victor Beraja only took a few laps to post up on the board to finish out the 8 car field.
Another fantastic standing start by the group and we would find Rius Billing’s #22 in the lead for lap one, #5 Team Road Runner pulled into 2nd, closely followed by the Vogel Boys #59 and David Reed got past his brother (and was reported to have made several faces back at his brother on the way by but I cannot confirm the reports) to take the 4th spot. These 4 cars would pull away and race closely nose to tail. The 5th position was taken over by Chris Donnelly who also got by Frank Reed’s #11 who held onto the 6th spot. Kieran Gobey remained in 7th and Victor Beraja followed the field in the 8th place position.
Rius Billing took a large lead in the first laps but it didn’t last long. The 3 cars behind him reeled him back in within a few laps of the start. David Reed began to slowly work his way past the 3rd place car and eventually claimed 2nd place as he used his newly found favorite passing zone going into turn one where he was able to out-brake anyone he came across.
The other battles on the track were once again Frank Reed and Chris Donnelly battling back and forth until lap 8. On lap 8 while exiting Cotton Corners, Chris got a little loose and tried to correct, which got away from him and he spun in the middle of the track. Frank Reed slowed to avoid Donnelly but calculated wrong and committed to passing Donnelly on the left, where Donnelly wound up and collected Frank Reed. Damage to Frank Reeds car was not bad enough to retire even though he was dragging a front bumper. Donnelly’s car was bad enough that he was forced to retire with a severe rear tire rub that left him trailing smoke around the track. Fortunately damage was minor to both cars and will both be fixed for their next races. Kieran Gobey and Victor Beraja once again had a great back and forth battle on their own.
With about 3 laps to go David Reed finally got a late-braking pass on Rius Billings #22 going into Turn 1 to take the lead for a second time this weekend! It was yet another great nose to tail, 4 car train battle for the first 4 spots. If anyone had made a mistake it would have cost them, but instead another well driven race complete! There was some minor damage to a couple of cars, but overall a great race weekend was in the books. David Reed claimed his 2nd career race win in a row, Rius Billings #22 took 2nd, 3rd went to #5 Team Road Runner with Kevin Nichols behind the wheel. Patrick Vogel completed his first race with NASA with a clean 4th place finish in his Vogel Boys Racing #59. Making a good show with a damaged car was Frank Reed working his way back up after his on track incident on lap 8. Victor Beraja stayed in front of Kieran Gobey at the checkered flag and with his early retirement was Chris Donnelly’s #25.
Team Road Runner’s Kevin Nichols gave out a bottle of wine to the 5th place finisher, Frank Reed, who took his cue from Chris Donnelly and promptly didnt share it with anyone.
Another great racing weekend and the driver’s camaraderie in the Spec E30 Village made for a spectacular weekend for all. Next up on the NASA SoCal Spec E30 Series calendar is going to be at Willow Springs May 21-22. This will be our one and only visit there this season where the boys might learn how to bump draft!
Dont forget to send your pics and video my way for the web site and Torco Sponsors!
Shawn Meze
SoCal Spec E30 Director
