NNRCS Jamara Exibition Race Weekend

As you already know, this race is supposed to coincide with a video project I'm supposed to do for Spanish. With the 42 cars I still could find after my hard drive on my old computer gave up, I have enough to run this race. Unbeknownst to me beforehand, this race would wind up being a double header. Two races will be run, and in this case the Top 13 cars advance into the official race. The fields for both headers went like this: every other car in numerical order made it into Race 1, everybody else made it into Race 2.

The race was held at Circuito del Jarama, a 2.116 mile circuit near Madrid, Spain. The circuit has held fifteen Formula One events from 1967 to 1981. The track has since been retired from Formula One competition, but still holds occasional GT and motorcycle races.

Race 1

Because tire wear became a growing issue late into a run, the fastest laps were turned earlier on. Chris Akin was the fastest car in practice, while Blake Camphausen and Nick Dawson qualified on the front row for the race.

Camphausen and Akin ran away early from Dawson and Justin Neyman. As Akin had demonstrated in practice, he had one of the fastest cars on track, and was gaining bit by bit on Camphausen for the first few laps. A little later on, Akin could not keep up, and the interval between him and Camphausen started to deteriorate quickly.

Dawson, Don Phipps, Jr., and Matt Contey all pitted early, everybody else pitted a lap later, with the exception of Scott Jarnagin, AJ Stravato and Zack Ruddock, who stayed out extra laps. Shane Dowell, the 2009 champion, did not pit at all, which, given the poor quality of the car late into a run, led to some problems.

Dowell led by a full fourteen seconds after pit stops had cycled through, but Camphausen quickly made up that ground with a little more than three laps to go. Dowell proceeded to fall through the field like a rock, holding up William Meyers for half a lap, as well as almost wrecking himself twice off the left front of Michael Battistoli. Dowell fell far back enough that he would not transfer, leaving just enough of a hole for Bruce Wilkinson to transfer from the last transfer spot. Camphausen undoubtedly won the race by two seconds over Chris Akin, and another second back to Nick Dawson. After running out of fuel on the cool down lap, Shane Dowell was called to the hauler.

Race 2

Nick Flaitz turned the fastest lap in practice, with a lap of 1:35.973. Last year's runner up, Sami Joubert as well as Jerred Mason would align the front row at the start of the race. Robby Bannister, last year's champion and a fan favorite, started near the back, and quickly tried to make that ground up on the first lap. He dive-bombed the Ascari curve and touched fenders with Zach Stultz, and was subsequently spun by Aaron Fisher as a result of another dive-bomb maneuver. This would no doubt lead to the first caution flag of the day.

Jerred Mason had overtaken Sami Joubert before the yellow came out, therefore he would lead the field around under yellow. The only one to pit under yellow was JJ Phipps, son of Don Phipps, Jr., to repair damaged sustained to the nose of his car when he was sandwiched between Jacob Craigo and Enrique Madrona, the only Spanish native in the field, and another fan favorite.

On the restart, Jeremy Stanley, who restrated third, quickly dispersed of Joubert before getting a nose under Mason in the Nuvolari turn. He had to wrestle Mason for the lead, but he finally cleared him out of the Le Mans bend up the hill, and he never looked back. Soon enough, he turned the fastest lap of the race: a 1:35.882.

On Lap 5 in the Ascari curve, Zach Stultz got a bit over-agressive with Ryan Zidek, touched fenders, and ran himself way off the road. He recovered, but I can't imagine he's very happy about it.

Matt Constant pitted for fuel on Lap 10, but he was the only one to do so. Very little had changed in the running order after the restart, and Jeremy Stanley won by a full four seconds over Jerred Mason, and another second back to Steve Rada. Robby Bannister failed to make up the ground he needed to make the race, and he finished eighteenth.

Ironically, after the checkered flag had fallen, everybody ran out of fuel on the cool down lap because nobody had pitted.

Results:

Race 1:

Pos, #, Driver, Diff.

1. #1, Blake Camphausen
2. #87, Chris Akin, -2.718 sec.
3. #39, Nick Dawson, -3.426 sec.
4. #7, Justin Neyman, -7.614 sec.
5. #3, Shane Lennox, -7.854 sec.
6. #00, Don Phipps, Jr., -10.583 sec.
7. #22, Dan Busch, -11.142 sec.
8. #73, William Meyers, -11.816 sec.
9. #65, Barry Juveno, -12.281 sec.
10. #19, Kiara Kilgore, -12.713 sec.
11. #26, Daniel Dennis, -13.206 sec.
12. #8, Scott Jarnagin, -13.838 sec.
13. #32, Bruce Wilkinson, -14.221 sec.
14. #51, Albert Harmon, -15.587 sec.
15. #35, Michael Battistoli, -16.363 sec.
16. #79, Landon Underwood, -16.930 sec.
17. #17, Zack Ruddock, -17.149 sec.
18. #85, Matt Contey, -18.203 sec.
19. #98, Shawn Duffy, -19.435 sec.
20. #14, Shane Dowell, -20.428 sec.
21. #59, AJ Stravato, -20.487 sec.

Race 2:

Pos, #, Driver, Diff.

1. #99, Jeremy Stanley
2. #07, Jerred Mason, -4.024 sec.
3. #4, Steve Rada, -4.932 sec.
4. #72, Sami Joubert, -5.395 sec.
5. #56, Fred Laier, -7.009 sec.
6. #62, Jacob Craigo, -7.354 sec.
7. #27, Enrique Madrona, -8.134 sec.
8. #23, Amanda Genther, -8.676 sec.
9. #9, Nick Flaitz, -9.026 sec.
10. #2, Greg Adams, -12.709 sec.
11. #80, Josh Lambeth, -12.962 sec.
12. #18, Mike Yamada, -13.498 sec.
13. #86, Jhon Jhonson III, -13.823 sec.
14. #33, Kris Floth, -14.342 sec.
15. #36, Ryan Zidek, -14.962 sec.
16. #21, Aaron Fisher, -15.436 sec.
17. #44, Zach Stultz, -16.012 sec.
18. #15, Robby Bannister, -16.254 sec.
19. #01, JJ Phipps, -17.477 sec.
20. #77, Matt McFiend, -17.729 sec.
21. #91, Matt Constant, -28.694 sec.

If you do not see your driver(s) in these results, it means I either lost your carfile as a result of my hard drive giving up, or it has not yet been painted. Feel free to post your own driver's reports.

Practice Results

The qualifying field will be set by the order in which the cars finished in the headers, Race 1 on the left lane, Race 2 on the right.