Usually, November at Buttonwillow is the time to bring out the full treads in SoCal, but this weekend was different. While the weather was much cooler than what the guys are used to at this track, the usual rain spared the group its normal guest appearance. However, the season finale at Buttonwillow was nothing short of the knock-down, drag out fight to the finish that everyone anticipated. All of the top position drivers would show up ready to battle it out for their final season points.
After an uneventful practice and qualifying session, the grid was set for the first of the final two races of the season.
2. #320 Allan Hauser 2:14.242
3. #22 Rius Billing 2:16.131
4. #28 Steve Stepanian 2:16.604
5. #11 Frank Reed 2:16.847
6. #33 Sean Aron 2:17.027
7. #111 Erick Strong 2:17.303
8. #67 Steffen Thompson 2:17.737
9. #343 Dave Reed 2:17.902
10. #99 Mitchell Pepper 2:18.344
11. #88 Steve Nagel 2:21.351
Matt Thiemann and Allan Hauser gapped the field early with Rius Billing behind them, just out of striking distance. The real battle was for positions 4 thru 8. Off the start, Aron immediately shot up from 6th to 4th with Steve Stepanian, Frank Reed, Steffen Thompson and Erick Strong right on his bumper. For the next 4 laps, 1 position changes would be traded. As the tires started to get hot, most all of the drivers were both charging and defending at the same time. Nobody was giving up or giving in on this day as the battles would intensify.
As the race began to unfold, Aron’s early charge caused him to prematurely over heat his tires. In doing so, he opened the door for Stepanian to pass him. However he would recover and only fall back one position. With all the close quarters racing ahead of them, Steve Nagel and Mitch Pepper and Dave Reed would begin to close in on the middle pack of racers and begin to close in on the tail end of their train when disaster struck.
Aron, who was having one of his best races to date, was leading a pack of cars onto the front straight. As Aron was almost through the turn, he ended up dropping his left rear wheel in the dirt on the outside of the turn and kept his foot in the gas hoping the car would straighten itself out. Unfortunately, his car spun and shot across the front straight violently with the pit wall. Aron was only shaken up in the collision as the NASA required safety equipment all did what it was supposed to do and allowed him to walk away from the impact. Due to the crash, the remainder of the race was finished under a full course yellow.
The final results would be posted and the results showed Allan Hauser would re-establish a new track record with a blistering time of 2:14:177. Interestingly, both Hauser and Thiemann had times that eclipsed Hauser’s previous track record for Spec E30 of 2:15:501 by over a full second! Nicely done gentleman! Here is how they finished:
1. #21 Matt Thiemann 2:14:323
2. #320 Allan Hauser 2:14:177
3. #22 Rius Billing 2:16:631
4. #28 Steve Stepanian 2:17:430
5. #11 Frank Reed 2:17:473
6. #67 Steffen Thompson 2:17:946
7. #111 Erick Strong 2:17:197
8. #99 Mitchell Pepper 2:18:202
9. #77 Steve Nagel 2:18:800
10. #343 David Reed 2:17:564
11. #33 Sean Aron 2:17:604
Based on the way day one turned out, the season’s final race would prove even more critical for those who were within reach of the season ending podium. Theimann’s win and Hauser’s 2nd place finish all but assured 3 things; If Hauser finished more than half of Sunday’s race, he would retain the SoCal Spec E30 Regional title, Thiemann had a shot at a top 3 finish for the season and both Stepanian & Billing, who were going to be fighting it out for 2nd and 3rd now had to look over their shoulders for Thiemann, who was in the middle of a late season hot streak.
That evening, the “Spec E30 compound” was in full effect as the guys all did some bench racing with each other and enjoyed the evening’s BBQ fare; well, all but Sean Aron, who was busy sourcing parts. Sean was determined to make the final race, so he called all the local parts houses and found what he needed to get the #33 back on track. As with so many times before, Seth and Dan showed how they got their name as they burned the “midnight oil” to help Aron get his car repaired and ready to get back out on grid for Sunday. Bravo to the crew from Midnight Oil for doing an outstanding job with what was thought to be a finished race car.
As the sun broke Sunday morning, the end of the 2012 Spec E30 season was merely hours away. The group prepared for what would be their last race of the year. Everyone was more determined than ever to do whatever they could to get the last available season points. Qualifying was run and the grid was set for the main event…or so they thought. Qualifying times looked like this:
1. #21 Matt Thiemann 2:13:765
2. #320 Allan Hauser 2:14.192
3. #22 Rius Billing 2:14:429
4. #11 Frank Reed 2:15.391
5. #67 Steffen Thompson 2:15.522
6. #343 David Reed 2:15.633
7. #28 Steve Stepanian 2:16.261
8. #99 Mitchell Pepper 2:16:579
9. #111 Erick Strong 2:16:853
10. #88 Steve Nagel 2:17:136
11. #33 Sean Aron 2:23.098
After changing the starting method for the guys yesterday, NASA decided to have a bit more fun with all the racers and changed up the field. The top half of the cars would be placed in their same order, but in the back half of the grid. Then they took the bottom half of the grid and inverted their positions. So the guy who wasn’t sure how he was going to get what was left of his race car on the trailer to take it home was now sitting on the pole!
The Grid would now look like this for the start of Sunday’s race
• #33 Sean Aron
• #88 Steve Nagel
• #111 Erick Strong
• #99 Mitchell Pepper
• #28 Steve Stepanian
• #21 Matt Thiemann
• #320 Allan Hauser
• #22 Rius Billing
• #11 Frank Reed
• #67 Steffen Thompson
• #343 David Reed
The Finale
There was a palpable tension on grid as the boys were prepared to let it all hang out for the season finale. Aron brought the field to a stop and all of a sudden, Erick Strong’s trunk lid flew wide open. Not having anyone close enough to quickly go close it, the starter did the only logical thing to do and just started the race. The green flag dropped for the standing start and the trunk lid slammed shut as Strong took off; so the black flag was avoided. However, other trouble was waiting just ahead in turn 1. Knowing they had a great deal of spots to make up, the cars in the back of the field did everything they could to make up positions early. Dave Reed had a great run up the inside of the front straight, but unfortunately for Matt Thiemann, Reed was a bit too late on the binders and would get airborne over the turn 1 curbing and hit Thiemann square in the passenger side door and fender. With #21 car crippled, Thiemann was basically a spectator for the remainder of the race.
As the cars roared through their first lap, Aron was leading a pack of 8 cars that were basically nose to tail around the entire track. The pack included Erick Strong, Steve Nagel, Steve Stepanian, Mitch Pepper, Allan Hauser, Steffen Thompson and Frank Reed. Everyone was trying to look for an opening to pass while still keeping their eyes in their mirrors trying to defend their position. By the end of the second lap, only Pepper had lost a couple of positions. Slowly, the cars in front were showing signs of their tires getting a bit too hot as they fell to faster traffic. After passing Erick Strong out of Star Mazda, Stepanian would settle in behind Nagel with Hauser right behind him. Stepanian and Hauser would find their way past Nagel and Aron with both Thompson and Billing making a charge to catch up. Hauser and Stepanian would trade positions briefly, and then back again down the front straight while Thompson was trying his best to fend off Billing and both of the Reed brothers. These guys were hounding each other at every corner.
As the closing laps approached, Billing passed Thompson and gave chase to the leaders. Billing would catch up to Stepanian and two would have a drag race down the front straight with Billing having a slightly better exit our of Sunrise. Unfortunately, the two would touch entering Sunset causing them both to spin giving Hauser a commanding lead and allowing Thompson to make up a huge amount of ground on them. For the final three laps, Thompson would do everything he could to real in Stepanian and almost did as the checkered flag flew bringing end to what NASA’s technical inspector T.C. McNett called “one of the most exciting races of the year.”When the dust settled, here is how they finished:
1. #320 Allan Hauser 2:15.706
2. #28 Steve Stepanian 2:16:291
3. #67 Steffen Thompson 2:16:072
4. #22 Rius Billing 2:16:219
5. #111 Erick Strong 2:16:501
6. #99 Mitchell Pepper 2:17:495
7. #33 Sean Aron 2:18:306
8. #21 Matt Thiemann 2:15:933
9. #77 Steve Nagel 2:17:377
10. #11 Frank Reed 2:16:458
11. #343 David Reed 2:17:351
With night fall came the end of yet another outstanding season for the SoCal Spec E30 race group. Congratulations go out to all the SoCal Spec E30 racers on a terrific season! The points will be totaled and the top season finishers will be announced at NASA’s year end banquet January 12th in the city of Orange.
Before Saturday’s race, the SoCal Spec E30 racers held their own year-end awards ceremony. The drivers all casted votes on these awards recognizing specific accomplishments that had nothing to do with where the driver’s finished in the points. Most importantly, these awards were only voted on by their peers.
And the winners are:
• Matt Thiemann – Most Spectacular off Track Experience Award
• Sean Aron – The “I can fix anything” Award
• Allan Hauser – Mr. Octane Boost Award
• Seth Scally – Spec E30 MVP Award
• Erick Strong – Never Say Die Racer Award
• Mitch Pepper – Most Improved Driver Award
• Frank Reed – Gentleman Racer Award
• Steven Stepanian – Racer of the Year Award
SoCal wishes to thank NASA for doing such an excellent job and putting on professional level events. The racers would also like to thank their sponsors for making this season possible:
• Midnight Oil Motors
• Toyo Tires
• Hawk Performance
• Sampson Racing Communications
• Royal Purple
• Ireland Engineering
• Bimmerworld
• Dr. Injector
So Cal Spec e30 