Ed Nazarian @ Buttonwillow Raceway April17-18 2010 – NASA Super Touring 2

Ed Nazarian racing his RRE Super Touring  EVO 9 at Buttonwillow #13CW, on Saturday April 17, 2010.  At this weekend event Super Touring was mixed with a bunch of lower classed cars.  Typically ST2 is mixed with SU, ST1, ASC, GTS, AIX and AI.  This time around GTS was in a separate group with BMWCCA, so a bunch of lower classed cars were mixed with them instead.  Ed’s group consisted of Super Unlimited, Super Touring, Honda Challenge, Performance Touring, and Spec E30.  Basically, most of the cars in his group were significantly slower.  On top of that they had a really big group, nearly 50 racecars.  So maneuvering through traffic played a significant role that weekend, which resulted in slow lap times.  Ed was also held up quite a bit by a Super Unlimited FFR GTM-R prototype when he was battling one of the Mazda GTs.  By the time Ed got around that SU racecar he ran out of time.  Ed got 6th place on Saturday out of 10 ST2 racecars.

Unfortunately we couldn’t get the camera to record on Sunday so this race from Saturday is all we have to show.  It’s really unfortunate because this Saturday race fails in comparison to how intense Sunday’s race was.  On Sunday Ed and one of the Mazda GTs were battling intensely.  They exchanged positions many times throughout that race, while maneuvering through traffic.  Ed was able to pass that Mazda GT towards the end, and ended up passing another Mazda GT in the meantime.  He caught up to the leaders and had them in sight, but ran out of time.  He ended up getting 5th place on Sunday out of 10 ST2 racecars.

Ed’s Full War Story:

 We were racing at BRP last weekend, April 17-18, on configuration #13CW.  The last time we were racing at BRP was this same event in 2009, so it’s been a year since the last time I raced there.  I felt rusty at BRP and never really got into a groove, but at least I wasn’t busy this time fixing/wrenching on my racecar like I was at ACS because my front end didn’t get coned this time.  Even though I’ve driven ACS significantly less than BRP, things seemed to click better at ACS.  We rolled with the punches and finished 2 more 35min races totaling 6 that we have finished this season, with a total of 14 races since our last years debut.

Before I proceed with the results, I want to say thank you to a few people.  Thanks to Mike Welch and his guys at RRE for helping fix the damage my car sustained from ACS.  New Griffin IC, lip, undertray, fixed my side skirt and front bumper.  A few months ago Mike also sourced some Carbontrix CF replacement headlights.  Mike installed those also.  Yes, Mike actually works on my racecar.  Want to thank Martin Meade from Girodisc for shipping me some ST43 brake pads.  Also want to thank Robert Fuller, aka Robi from RobiSpec for providing me trackside suspension tuning for both races.

This weekend I set some blisteringly fast lap times in my ST2 races, and qualifying sessions…not.  The BMWCCA was racing with us this weekend, so the groups were changed up a bit.  Typically, the group we race in consists of SU, ST, ASC, GTS, AIX, and AI racecars.  This time GTS was in a separate group with BMWCCA, and the AIX/AI drivers skipped this event because they have their own West Coast schedule.  Therefore, our group this time consisted of SU, ST, and they added HC, PT, and Spec E30 with us.  Basically, most of the racecars in our group were significantly slower.  On top of that, we had a really big group, nearly 50 racecars.  So maneuvering through traffic played a significant role that weekend.  Other than that you just needed to get lucky.  The weather was a little on the warm side also, but we managed.

Saturday Qualifying

I couldn’t set a fast lap in qualifying if my life depended on it.  Just way too many lower classed cars out there.  Drivers usually cooperate in a race, for the most part, but the Qualifying sessions seem to always be every driver to himself.  Everyone is trying to set a fast lap, and since there were nearly 50 racecars out there you’re basically hitting traffic pretty much every other corner.  And sometimes one corner to the next.

Saturday Race

Out of the 10 ST2 racecars, I qualified P8 and finished the race in P6 for ST2.  I thought since we had 10 ST2 racecars, we would get our own rolling start.  But we didn’t.  Instead, we were mixed together with SU, ST1, and a solo Orange AIX Mustang.  So given our mixed rolling start, I was in P15.  Mixing us with those other classes ruined the ST2 race.  Because instead of having the opportunity to battle with other ST2 drivers as a whole from start to finish, we ended up getting scattered all over the track because we had SU and ST1 drivers in between us.  And on top of that, we had to deal with traffic, which scattered us even more.  I was pretty upset with that because as a higher class series, ST2 had the biggest field that weekend.  And we had the potential to have a really close and exciting race from start to finish.  I think it was such a big time waste to have not given us our own rolling start.

As for the race, I’m not sure what happened at the start, but something appeared to get mixed up because I was supposed to be on the left side when we were in formation, but I ended up on the right side.  Beyond that, since we got scattered I only had the opportunity to battle one of the Mazda GTs, Mark Montoya.  Unfortunately, a Super Unlimited driver in a FFR GTM-R prototype held us up quite a bit.  At one point Mark passed him, but I got stuck behind that SU prototype.  Not sure why he wouldn’t just let me by because he was by himself.  I finally got close enough to him at the buttonhook and made a move on him.  I took the inside line and was around his RR.  I was gradually pulling on him and at one point he for whatever reason turned into me a bit and almost drove me off track to the right.  I decided it was now or never so I kept my foot in it and maintained my position.  I passed him at the entry to cotton corners.  You can watch my in-car from Saturdays race to see it all unfold.  Mark then had an off after the bus-stop and I passed him.  If he didn’t have that off I may have never caught him again because that SU prototype had held me up too much.

Sunday Qualifying

It was the same deal as Saturday.  I was a bit more lucky with traffic, but still couldn’t set a fast lap.

Sunday Race

For Sundays race, out of 10 ST2 racecars, I qualified P6 in ST2, and was P12 for our rolling start.  I finished the race in P5 for ST2.  Sundays race is probably my most exciting race thus far because I was having a major battle with one of the Mazda GTs, Thorpe logemann.  We exchanged positions I don’t know how many times.  But what kills me is that I couldn’t get my GoPro camera to start recording.  Pretty ironic when I think about it.  It’s really upsetting to not have that footage.  And unfortunately, Thorpe doesn’t have any in-car either.  There were many incidents in the race, so on top of trying to deal with traffic, we were also trying to deal with yellows, and double yellows.  At one point I thought the race was going to end under double yellow, but it finally restarted.  At one point I passed Thorpe around the buttonhook and I got lucky with traffic while he got left behind.  In the meantime we passed another Mazda GT.  I caught up to the leaders towards the end, and had them in sight, but I ran out of time.  My in-car from Saturdays race fails in comparison to how exciting this race was.  In fact, if I had in-car from this race, it would have been at the top of my list.

Saturday Qualifying times:

1. 1:54.474 – John Gordon #30 Porsche 996
2. 1:55.123 – Jon Van Caneghem #00 Mazda GT
3. 1:55.557 – Josh Carroll #35 Mazda GT
4. 1:57.001 – James Wagaman #98 Mazda GT
5. 2:00.879 – Thorpe Logemann #3 Mazda GT
6. 2:01.225 – David Beatie #6 Mazda GT
7. 2:02.970 – Team Howard Racing #70 Mazda Rx7
8. 2:03.781 – Ed Nazarian #415 Mitsubishi Evo 9
9. 2:05.787 – Dan Miller #34 Mazda GT

Saturday Race results:

1. 1:57.059 – Josh Carroll #35 Mazda GT
2. 1:56.183 – John Gordon #30 Porsche 996
3. 1:57.122 – Jon Van Caneghem #00 Mazda GT
4. 1:59.024 – James Wagaman #98 Mazda GT
5. 2:01.333 – Thorpe Logemann #3 Mazda GT
6. 2:02.241 – Ed Nazarian #415 Mitsubishi Evo 9
7. 2:03.594 – Dan Miller #34 Mazda GT
8. 2:02.180 – Mark Montoya #50 Mazda GT
9. 2:04.318 – Team Howard Racing #70 Mazda Rx7
10. 2:08.885 – David Beatie #6 Mazda GT

Sunday Qualifying times:

1. 1:54.575 – John Gordon #30 Porsche 996
2. 1:56.350 – Josh Carroll #35 Mazda GT
3. 1:56.596 – Jon Van Caneghem #00 Mazda GT
4. 1:57.349 – James Wagaman #98 Mazda GT
5. 2:00.739 – David Beatie #6 Mazda GT
6. 2:01.596 – Ed Nazarian #415 Mitsubishi Evo 9
7. 2:08.111 – Dan Miller #34 Mazda GT
8. DQ – 2:01.724 – Mark Montoya #50 Mazda GT
9. DQ – 2:02.603 – Thorpe Logemann #3 Mazda GT

Sunday Race results:

1. 1:56.538 – Josh Carroll #35 Mazda GT
2. 1:55.877 – John Gordon #30 Porsche 996
3. 1:57.852 – Jon Van Caneghem #00 Mazda GT
4. 1:59.194 – James Wagaman #98 Mazda GT
5. 2:00.536 – Ed Nazarian #415 Mitsubishi Evo 9
6. 2:01.518 – Thorpe Logemann #3 Mazda GT
7. 2:00.800 – Mark Montoya #50 Mazda GT
8. 2:08.655 – Dan Miller #34 Mazda GT
9. 2:02.502 – David Beatie #6 Mazda GT
10. 2:04.062 – Team Howard Racing #70 Mazda Rx7