MSR Houston: The weekend started off with great weather on Friday. It was clear and 60 degrees at 9:00am. High for the day was 76. The Test and Tune day had very light track use until late in the day, leaving plenty of time for those that did show up early. The track was running CCW and conditions were great. Friday was uneventful with the exception of one of our DSR/CSR entries having an engine failure late in the afternoon taking them out of the race for the weekend.

NASA ran their normal run groups throughout the day on Saturday. The weather was a carbon copy of Friday. The afternoon practice and qualifying for the NAMEC group was uneventful with the Norma qualifying first, followed by the Radical of David Ducote and the Radical of Scott Monroe and the SRFs.

Sunday started on a questionable note with thick fog and a chilly 47 degrees. After the driver's meeting the fog quickly lifted at around 9:00. The track dried quickly and it warmed rapidly as the sun made it through.  The scheduled activities got under way with about a 20 minute delay.
The NAMEC race started off with the cars leaving the grid at right around 10:00. After one wave off, the green flag was out on the second lap. David Ducote made a quick jump past the Norma and took the lead into Turn 1. After a few laps the Radical developed some fuel system problems and retired after lap 7.  The Norma driven by Robert Garcia Jr. ran a very consistent race with a best lap of 1:30.98. The yellow  Radical SR3 of Scott Monroe ran an smooth and consistent pace and seemed like he never missed a mark for the entire race with a best time of 1:36.38. Scott took home the C3 class trophy and prize money.

The two SRFs piloted by Eric Galerne/ Jason Sralla  and JP Karpowicz/Rege Brunner had a great battle during the entire race. They were seconds apart when Galerne came in for the mandatory 5 minute timed fuel stop.  At the checkered flag Jason Sralla was 23 seconds ahead of Brunner after 1 hour and 24 minutes of racing.

NASA ran a very organized, low stress event and were very supportive of the new effort to add the NAMEC endurance race into their weekend race schedule. The participants all seemed to have a great time and liked the format, teamwork and strategy afforded by the enduro format. To make this even better, we need to see more participation in the future events. The next race is Motorsport Ranch Cresson March 15/16.

Thanks to the race sponsor www.motorsportcoverage.com,  a provider of cost effective insurance for Storage, Transport and Paddock (STP) and on-track coverage for Driver's Education events. NAMEC was happy to present trophies and checks to Robert Garcia Jr. (Norma), Scott Monroe (Radical SR3), Eric Galerne/Jason Sralla (SRF) and JP Karpowicz/Rege Brunner (SRF).

Please feel free to contact motorsportcoverage.com, and let them know NAMEC sent you!

Dean Turnbaugh
Regional Director