John Urist (NMRA)
John has started off 2012 in dominating fashion in his Steeda and Nitto sponsored Mustang. Having won the first two events of the year he looks to be on his way to another SSO championship. The 7 time world champ started off in Bradenton, FL at the NMRA Spring Break shootout where he qualified 2nd and advanced to the final never running slower than a 7.09, a 7.16 in the final was enough to hold off runner up Andrew DeMarco and give John his first win of 2012. The series then went to Atlanta, GA for the NMRA All-Star Nationals. John qualified number one with a 7.09 and once again ran all the way to the final where a red light by Kenjo Kelly handed him the victory.
Robin Burnett & Anders (Erik) Sjoblom (NASA)
The Steeda road racing duo of Robin Burnett & Anders (Erik) Sjoblom had a tremendous start to the 2012 NASA Great Lakes season. On April 14-15 The Mid Ohio Sportscar Course was home to the season opening double header that offered a mixture of wet and dry racing.
Saturday was a typical rainy spring day in Ohio that saw Robin and Erik take wins in the "American Iron" (AI) and "Camaro Mustang Challenge" (CMC) classes respectively. The lap times were slow but the rain racing was hot as just staying on track was difficult.
Sunday turned out to be a beautiful day giving everyone a chance to get back onto the dry line for more close racing. Robin missed Sunday's qualifying session with a faulty ground wire that caused him to start the race last in class. Robin had a great start and at the end of lap 2 had the lead and never looked back making it 2 for 2 on the weekend. Erik was not as lucky on Sunday even though he was able to jump to the lead, from his 3rd starting position, and lead a handful of laps. He ultimately finished 3rd after losing 2nd with just 2 laps to go.
Jim Edwards (NASA)
The Steeda-prepped Mustang known as Thor competed in NASA Time Trials at Roebling Road April 14-15. Roebling would be the 5th and 6th race for Time Trials for the year and we anticipated serious competition and we had it. Thor had taken home two 1st places at Carolina Motorsports Park and a 2nd and 3rd at Road Atlanta in March so "he" was itching for a fight.
With a 1:23:325 time, Thor took 2nd places in both the Saturday and Sunday races and this was despite a pesky clutch that eventually gave way on Sunday afternoon. However, the morning times were sufficient to hang onto 2nd place in both events. Carolina Motorsports Park awaits the arrival of the Mighty Thor next month.