Saturday, September 18, 2010

Miller Motorsports Park, Tooele, UT

National Auto Sport Association (NASA) 2010 National Championships presented by Toyo Tires.

Sponsored by: Toyo Tires, Hawk Brakes, Mothers Polishes, OG Racing, Sampson Racing Communications, Mazda, Honda Performance Development

Group E National Championship Race, 12:55 p.m. (45 minute race)

944 Spec

Spec E30

944 Spec

One of the largest fields at the 2010 NASA National Championships presented by Toyo tires was 944 Spec with 28 Porsches rolling toward the start/finish line waiting for the green flag to drop.  Into corner 1 out in front was David Dirks in his red number 76 Porsche 944 sponsored by 944 Motorwerks.  Dirks pulled away and never looked back.  But behind him was Tyler Palmer in his lime green Porsche in an epic battle with Todd Bellwood, Charles Buzzetti and Scott Bove.  Palmer eventually pulled away and left the rest of the mob of 944s to battle it out for third place.  As the race continued on Palmer began to reel Dirks in.  On the last lap, final corner, Palmer went for an inside pass on Dirks to go for the win but couldn’t get it done.  David Dirks became the 2010 944 Spec National Champion with Tyler Palmer finishing second.  Buzzetti, sponsored by John Milledge Engineering, finished third.

Spec E30

Eleven closely matched BMWs lined up for a standing start for the Spec E30 class race at the 2010 NASA National Championships presented by Toyo Tires at Miller Motorsports Park.  Previous National Champion, Chris Cobetto, sat on the front row with Frans Hansen to his left.  When the green flag dropped Hansen got the jump on Cobetto by a mere fraction of a second but Cobetto didn’t give up and they headed into turn one side by side.  The black number 69 BMW of Hansen, sponsored by Cruisweb.com, pulled out and began to put some space in between his lead and a tight pack of E30s battling for second place.  In that battle was Gary Rieger in his number 291 BMW, sponsored by Berkeley Motor Works, and Chris Cobetto, sponsored by Delta V Motorsports.  Because of the spec nature of this class the racing was tight for entire race and the drivers in Spec E30 from second place to seventh mixed it up and had a chance to finish on the podium.  But in the end it was Hanson who became the 2010 Spec E30 National Champion.  Rieger finished second and Cobetto third.