For immediate release—22 March, 2016
by: Kent Owens
It was a great opening weekend for the 2016 NASA Great Lakes season at NCM Motorsports Park in Bowling Green Kentucky. Many of the race groups had full fields, including the CMC gang, and everyone was anxious to get the first laps of the season under their belts. The #30 CMC Trans Am managed to squeak out two wins, and I mean squeak, as in CMC the top three were bumper to door for the entire weekend with the winning margin less than 1 second in both races. Bob Denton in the #67 CMC Camaro absolutely demolished the class track record on Saturday, and I believe a NASA Great Lakes driver now holds the overall lap record at NCM with a TT driver running in the 2:02’s on Saturday…Saturday was a very fast day! Sunday….not so much. A steady rain made conditions “interesting” for everyone, although I will say that NCM is a very “racy” and drivable track in the rain. The only real ‘pucker zone’ was the little kink right before the break zone at turn 15. Doing 3-4 tank slappers at something north of 100mph with a blind turn-in and Armco on both sides gets your attention, and unfortunately also collected several cars in the opening lap of the Lightning race. The weekend also wasn’t without drama for the #30, as there was a question about a pass under yellow when passing for the lead in turn #6. It was a clean pass, but reviewing the situation did reinforce that one of our main jobs on track is to take care of each other, and respecting yellow (or any flag for that matter) is one of the many ways we do just that. NCM is a great track with 68 turns (OK. Fine. It’s only 23 turns, but it FELT like 68), and my recent upgrade to NEO Motorsport calipers really made a difference. With so many turns my left foot spent way more time on the middle pedal than the clutch, and the feel and authority of the NEO Motorsport brakes, especially when paired with #HawkPerformance pads, are a marked improvement over my last set-up. Next up for us is a regional cross-over race with NASA Central Region at Gateway Motorsports Park just outside of St. Louis April 9, 10. Bring your friends. Bring your family. Better yet….bring a car and join in the fun!
Day 1 Results of NASA Pro Racing Thunder Series
Day 2 Results of NASA Pro Racing Thunder Series