AUTOBAHN COUNTRY CLUB WITH NASA GREAT LAKES/CENTRAL REGION

HAD A GREAT TIME LAST WEEKEND AT AUTOBAHN COUNTRY CLUB WITH NASA GREAT LAKES!

Friday was practice day and it started off rocky with my times being very off. After some coaching from Nathan Nicholson I was able to drop my times by 2 seconds.

Friday night was my first TREC race where Tyler Wettengel and I ran over 100 laps and finished out the endurance race till dark, where we finished 2nd place in our class and 4th overall.

Saturday morning it was a little chilly out, but that didn't delay our qualifying and racing. I qualified 10th. Race 1 started in 10th but fell down to 15th with my lap times falling off, my car just didn't feel right on the new tires, so I wasn't real comfy with it.

Sunday morning was another cold morning, but I was ready to go. I started Race #2 in 15th place, passed a few cars but then a double yellow was thrown due to a car in the guardrail. We were on yellow for most of the session. By the time the green flag was flown, it was the last lap of the race, since it was a timed race. I finished out the race in 11th after 3 cars got dqed. Race #3 we all had a great start, I went from 11th to 9th , but due to one of the Thunder roadsters that knocked into me, I went back to 11th place and that is where I finished.

RESULTS:

TREC RACE: 2ND PLACE

RACE #1: 15TH AND MY FASTEST TIME WAS 1:43.0-WHICH I AVERAGED ABOUT 1:44 1:45.

RACE #2: 11TH AND MY FASTEST TIME WAS 1:45- CAUTION RACE ONLY GOT IN 1 1/2 FULL RACING LAPS.

RACE #3: 10TH AND MY FASTEST TIME WAS 1:41.785- WHICH WAS MY FASTEST TIME OF THE WEEKEND, BUT AVERAGED ABOUT 1:42 1:43 LAP TIMES.

BIG THANKS TO Nathan Nicholson FOR ALL THE HELP THIS WEEKEND. YOU HELPED ME IMPROVE SO MUCH FROM THE START OF THE WEEKEND TO THE END, WISH I COULD HAVE HAD BETTER RESULTS, BUT THIS IS HELPING ME PREPARE FOR NEXT SEASON.

BIG THANKS TO TYLER WETTENGEL FOR PARTNERING UP WITH ME FOR THE TREC RACE. WITHOUT YOUR HELP IT WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE TO PLACE 2ND!

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE AT NASA GREAT LAKES AND NASA Central Region FOR PUTTING ON AN AWESOME EVENT. THANKS TO ALL OF NASA AND CREW FOR ALLOWING ME TO BE A PART OF YOUR CLUB AND TEEN MAZDA CHALLENGE. I AM LEARNING A LOT AND HAVING A LOT OF FUN PREPARING FOR THE 2023 SEASON. THANK YOU FOR BELIEVING THAT I COULD BE OUT THERE JUST AS MUCH AS ANYONE ELSE!

LOOKING FORWARD TO THE NATIONAL CORVETTE MUSUEM IN A FEW WEEKS IN BOWLING GREEN KENTUCKY!

Thank you to my sponsors and the people that help support me in my Miata!

Mazda Motorsports

Teen Mazda Challenge

Hawk Performance

CRP Racing

Nitro Motorsports

Carvantage

Wright Graphic Design & Printing

Motul

OGIO

WELD Racing

Trackdaytire.com

Mazda USA

Tarter Realty Auction & Appraisal Co.

My First race at the famous Mid Ohio Sports Car Course in my Miata!

I have always dreamed about racing at Mid Ohio since I was a little boy and watched my dad crew for a race car driver there with SCCA. This weekend was the weekend that it was my turn, to live my dream and get on the track in my Miata for the first time ever.

Friday was practice day and I was able to find speed each and every time I was out there. By the end of the day I improved my time by 3 seconds.

Saturday was the day to get on track to race! We were running the club course.

I qualified 14th out of 19, and was ready for race time. Race time came, I got in my car and I was so excited to be racing at the Mid Ohio track for the first time. If I remember right I told my dad on my radio

"This is so exciting! I am actually racing at Mid Ohio. This is so awesome!"

Green flag flew, got a great start but got bunched up with a lot of cars, try to hang on but finished out my race in 14th, and had some great battles. My biggest accomplishment was I dropped a total of 3 seconds since Friday and I was only 2 seconds off the leaders, which is much better than I have been doing. Always room for improvement on my racecraft in the car, but I will get it figured out.

Sunday was not the best day for me, but not the worst.

I came home in 14th, but I did keep dropping my time again each time I was out on the track, just couldn’t keep up with the leaders because I still didn't have the speed. We were on the Pro Course today, and I just couldn’t get up to speed, which was partially my fault with me not pushing harder and over slowing the corners. Getting used to a car vs. a go kart can be a bit complicated, but I will never give up and will keep pushing as hard as I can at every race. I did have some great battles on track and avoided someone spinning out in front of me, which made the race fun and interesting.

I am overall proud of myself for improving all weekend long, but I know I must learn to trust my car and its handling, not over slow the car into the corners, more steadier hands and overall just my race craft in the Miata vs. karting.

Big thanks to my dad for everything you do for me, John Allen and Nathan Nicholson for the help and great advice, I really appreciate it.

Thank you to my sponsors and the people that help support me in my Miata! Mazda Motorsports Teen Mazda Challenge CRP Racing Nitro-Kart Carvantage Wright Graphic Design & Printing Motul Rock's Trailer Sales OGIO WELD Racing Trackdaytire.com Mazdausa Tarter Realty Auction & Appraisal Co. National Auto Sport Association

MIATA RACING AT VIR WITH NASA MID-ATLANTIC WAS A DOOZY!

Thursday we drove the long 9-10 hours in our new car hauler from Ohio TO Virginia for the Nasa Event at Virginia International Raceway. Thursday was load in day, tech and setup so nothing too exciting.

Friday was practice day and that is where all the fun began. We took the white Miata out, made it around 3 laps and the transmission went out. So we luckily had the blue car as a backup car, so I used that one the rest of the day while my dad fixed the white Miata. Big thanks to the Scott/ Spencer Conrad for allowing me to use their spare transmission, without them I wouldn't have made it back out on track.

Saturday had qualifying and 1 race. The weather was perfect, the white car was fixed after we put a new transmission in it. I didn't qualify the greatest so I was in the back of the pack and about 4-5 seconds off. By the end of the race I was only about 3-4 seconds off the pack, so I knew I had a lot of work to do. The car just didn't feel right the entire time, but I couldn't really explain it to where my dad could understand what was wrong. It just didn't seem to handle properly and go where I needed it to go. We got the car dynoed and it was fine, so I knew it had to be me or the car itself.

Sunday we wake up and it starts storming like crazy for a good 2-3 hours in the morning. Racing got delayed and we didn't get a qualifying, so we lined up per our lap times, which again mine were not the greatest. We went out on the track for our race, rain dried up and we were on slicks. I started 13th place and fell a little behind but with a caution for a few laps I was able to catch back up. After the caution flag and we went green I still noticed something wasn't right. The car just wasn't again handling like it should, but I stayed on track and finished out the race in 9th.

My dad and I looked over the car when we got back and found out the sway bar was broken which was causing my car to behave the way it was. We will get it fixed and move on to our next race.

I learned a lot, got some great advice from my karting buddy Nathan Nicholson, got to see some other karting friends Ben Maier and Spencer Conrad and look forward to more Miata racing, so that I can improve more.

Thank you to my mom and dad for supporting me and never giving up on me. Also big thanks to my Car sponsors who continue to believe in me; CRP Racing, Mazda Motorsports, Rock's Trailer Sales, Carvantage, Wright Graphic Design & Printing, New sponsor Trackdaytire.com, OGIO, WELD Racing, GoPro, AND Motul!

NEXT UP IS MID OHIO WITH NASA GREAT LAKES WITH 2 FULL DAYS OF RACING!