My first Top 16 run was to follow Ryan Tuerck. On the first lap, I followed too close and I hit the side of his car, damaging suspension components on my Scion that put it way out of alignment. It was toed out so bad that I went off course on my lead lap, which gave the advance to Ryan. I feel that my luck keeps washing away! With only one race left in the series, I hope to prove different.
Scion Racing
www.scionracing.com
RS-R
www.rs-r.com
XM Radio
www.xmradio.com
Ryuji Miki
The former D1GP champ spun out his RX-7 in the last event's Top 8 round against Sam Hubinette in the Seattle rain. Guess what? He get's a second crack at him in Sonoma. Can he win without the water?
At the end of Round 5 in Seattle, my total points for the season were 183.5, putting me in Eleventh overall. I want to at least finish within the Top 10 at the end of the season; therefore, I could not afford to lose at Sonoma. But conditions were not so good for us, beginning with practice on Friday. Every time I would try to enter the first corner with maximum angle, the car would spin out; grip was very low. We adjusted the rear shocks, switched to wider tread rear tires... the car responded better, but was not ideal for qualifying.
I ran a little too wide towards the outer edge of the course on my first qualifying run, which is why I believe the judges scored me only 86 points. What I did not understand, was that all of the other competitors were running a very similar line, but were scoring higher. I concentrated on a less aggressive line for my second run, and got 90.8 points... barely qualifying for Top 16 in 16th place. I could not understand why I wasn't able to get more points, but I was told that my line was a little different compared to the others. I was driving 'Japanese style' and I guess the judges could not understand. Either way, I switched to a more conservative style heading into competition.
My first round of Tsuiso was against Samuel Hubinette, the driver I lost to in Seattle. This time however, the course condition was dry, so I was looking forward to a better match up. He led the first run, and I kept up with him in the straightaway, into the turns, and across the finish line. I was on his tail - almost hitting his rear the entire time - so I could not believe that he scored eight points to my seven! I ran an equally clean lead run, which resulted in a One More Time run. I ran my second following run exactly the same as my first run; no mistakes and I stayed on his tail so close that his rear tire actually rubbed against my front bumper... but I still ended up losing by 1 point! I cannot understand the judging! One good thing: many fans called out to me when I lost, saying that it was a great run - I think they were disappointed in the judging, too.
I finished in Sixteenth Place for the event, but am still in Eleventh for the season. In order for me to finish within the Top 10, I must stand on the podium in the final round.
A'Pexi
www.apexi-usa.com
Nitto
www.nittotire.com
Mazda
www.mazda.com
Chris Forsberg
A solid season has left Chris and his 350Z solidly in Fifth Place--a decent ranking for most, but not for a driver who finished Second last season. After misfiring issues knocked Chris out in the Top 16 against Miki in the last event, it's up to his crew to try and get the problem fixed for Sonoma.