Infineon Season Ender Race Report November 2009
Story by Scott Neville

Sunday's PreGrid
photo by Jasper Trout - www.TroutFarmPhotoDesign.com

Twelve NorCal SpecE30 racers showed up for the 2009 season ender held at Infineon Raceway in beautiful Sonoma, California.  The competition for top season points winner was very tight going into this race with a mere 75 points separating  the top five drivers/teams. Brad McClure (Team BTM Motorwerks) came into this race the leader in season points with a total of 989 followed closely by Donny Edwards and Elliott Taylor (Team Brimstone Dynasty) with 987 points. In third spot was Scott Clough with 955 points followed by Greg Peterson (916 points) and Scott Neville (914 points). So the championship was entirely up for grabs for these five driver/teams and as everyone in racing knows...anything can happen and things are never a "sure thing"! The other racers in attendance included: Tony Zwain, Sean Trapp, Mike Sekhon, "Shoe" Nichols, Doug Johnson, Tony D'Alessandro, and rookie Dan Gorman. The weather for this weekend proved to be picture perfect for November in the Wine Country...sunny with temperatures ranging from the mid 40s at night to mid 60s during the day.

Saturday's qual was a bit crazy with a total of 80 cars in the session as NASA crowded the track with Race Groups A, B, C and E. The top three SE30s saw Donny Edwards taking pole with a 1:58.480 followed by Brad McClure with a 2:00.994 and Scott Clough with a 2:01.146. Times were generally slower (except for Donny of course!) than usual due to the increased track traffic. The SE30's gridded up for a standing start and at the green flag start saw Donny and Brad break away early from the pack leaving Scott Clough, "Shoe" Nichols and Scott Neville to battle for 3rd. Kevin overshot Turn 7 letting Scott Neville slide in past for forth spot. Donny lead flag to flag with Brad in hot pursuit. Brad finished 2nd and with Scott and Scott having a battlefest for 3rd. Scott Clough finished a bumper or so (0.103 seconds) in front of Scott Neville to take the 3rd podium spot. Greg Peterson finished forth. After Saturday's race the point battle was as follows: Donny 1087, Brad 1079, Scott C 1040, Scott N 994 and Greg 991, a slightly larger spread of 96 points between 1st and 5th.

Sunday's qual was a bit more tame with only Race Groups B & E on the track, a much more sane amount of cars...only 30 cars instead of 80! The top five qualifiers were as follows: Donny 1:58.417, Brad 1:58..960. Scott N 1:59.322, Greg 1:59.911 and Tony Z 1:59.931. The standing start saw Donny take the lead with Scott N in 2nd followed closely by Brad. Scott C and Tony Z were in the 4th and 5th spots. Scott N and Brad chased Donny and the three cars began to gap the rest of the field slightly. On lap 5 in the Carousel, Brad nosed his car on the inside left of Scott's car and touched...Scott spun and quickly went from 2nd place to 9th. Brad would later be DQ'd for this incident. Tony Z was hard-charging and towards the end of the race passed Brad for 2nd spot. Scott N also was turning on the coals and by the end of the race had worked his way four positions from 9th to 5th. In the end Donny finished 1st, Tony Z 2nd, Brad was DQ's which bumped up Scott C to 3rd, Scott N to 4th and Greg P 5th. Check out BTM Motorwerks video from Turn 2!

The final 2009 season points tally ended as follows: Donny 1187, Scott C 1125 Brad 1079, Scott N 1074 and Greg 1066, a final gap of only 121 points between 1st and 5th. Great close NorCal SpecE30 racing!

Congratulations to Team Brimstone Dynasty (Donny Edwards and Elliott Taylor), Scott Clough and Team BTM Motorwerks (Brad McClure and Andy Chittium). Donny won the Evil Genius Racing Hard Charger award for finishing first in season points. "Shoe" Nichols won the AIM Tire $100 gift certificate. Scott Neville and Doug Johnson both won $150 from AutoAnalyst II in a random draw on finishing position.

Race results can be found here: Mylaps.com

NorCal SE30 Racers Sunday before the last race. L to R: Greg Peterson, Tony Zwain, "Shoe" Nichols,
Sean Trapp, Carl Chiu, Scott Neville, Scott Clough and Brad McClure
Sean Trapp Photo

2009 NorCal SE30 Champion Team Brimstone Dynasty with Donny Edwards at the wheel takes Sunday's
Checkered Flag
photo by Jasper Trout - www.TroutFarmPhotoDesign.com

2009 NorCal Regional SpecE30 Champion Donny Edwards (Team Brimstone Dynasty) (center) flanked by 2nd place Scott Clough (R) and 3rd place Brad McClure (Team BTM Motorwerks) (L)
photo by Jasper Trout - www.TroutFarmPhotoDesign.com

2009 NorCal SE30 Champion Donny Edwards accepts a bottle of fine Central Coast wine
from fellow racer and NorCal SpecE30 sponsor "The Shoe" Nichols (Nichols Wealth Management)
photo by Jasper Trout - www.TroutFarmPhotoDesign.com