NASA Western States Championships at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca result in four Mazda winners.
The National Auto Sport Association crowned National Champions Sunday at the second annual NASA Western States Championships presented by Toyo Tires at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Among them were four Mazda winners – three in open classes and one in Spec Miata.
Drennan Wins Spec Miata
The Spec Miata National Championship race got off to an inauspicious start when four cars, of the 33-car field, were involved in a crash just beyond the start stand shortly after the green flag dropped. This put the race under caution for the first four laps.
When the race went green, Mason Filippi in the No. 21 Mazda Miata, led the field down into Turn 1 and then the first six laps. But, while Filippi was leading the now-29-car field, Mark Drennan was making his move towards the front from his fourth-place starting spot in the No. 10 Mazda Miata.
Drennan only needed three green flag laps to take the Spec Miata lead. He passed Filippi heading in to Turn 5. From there, he opened up a gap and never looked back winning by 5.060sec over Filippi. Matthew Cresci finished third in the No. 51 Miata.
This was Drennan’s third attempt at winning a NASA championship. The first two efforts resulted in a pair of thirds.
Super Unlimited Goes to Caneghem Again
Brian Frisselle, driving the No. 17 Norma M20F BMW, was on the pole for the SU class National Championship race. He had been fast all weekend and looked to dominate the class until brake issues forced Frisselle out of contention halfway through the 45-minute race.
Frisselle’s brake issue give Jon Van Caneghem in No. 17 Mazda Elan DP02 the SU class lead and he would not relinquish it. While he, too, experienced brake issues, he went on to win in dominating fashion – winning by nearly a minute-and-a-half over Brandon Kraus in the No. 16 DR Eagle. This was Van Canegehem’s third-consecutive NASA National Championship in the SU class.
Joshua Allan takes victory in PTD
Driving the No. 27 Mazda MX-5, Joshua Allan became a two-time NASA National Champion with his 37.433-second PTD class win over David Vodden in the No. 1 Mazda Miata. Ali Naimi finished third in the No. 14 Mazda MX-5.
Defending champion Eric Powell had to overcome some tuning issues in previous sessions, so he started well behind Allan. Powell caught him mid-race and moved to the front, but had a misstep in the Corkscrew that allowed Allan past.
Ben Anderson, PTE East and West champ
Last year’s Eastern States Champion in Performance Touring E, Ben Anderson, started from the PTE class pole in the No. 38 Mazda RX-7 and drove flag-to-flag to capture his second career NASA National Championship. He won the PTE class going away with a 38.200-second win over Tommy Lo in the No. 77 Mazda Miata. Gian Bowles finished third in the No. 147 Mazda RX-7.
Anderson won the 2014 Eastern States Championship race at Road Atlanta in the same RX-7.