The field headed to Japan for the first real racing after the holiday break.  With the top 5 within 2 points of each other and others like Romack and Lucas coming into form this course will be the stage for some fantastic racing.

A commotion in the pits with R&H Racing found team owners sharing some stern words with Rookie driver Sanghavi.  Contractual disputes had Mihir refusing to race this week, but was eventually persuaded to get behind the wheel.  Good thing he did given his 2^nd place finish after leading the majority of the race.  Unfortunately, after a less than impressive 8^th lap Sanghavi’s lead was taken away by Dutton’s Toyota and stayed that way for the remainder of the race.  Finally feeling vindicated, Frank Adam’s 3^rd place finish showed that the earlier handling issues are slowly being taken care of.  Adams and Dutton were neck and neck for most of the race before Dutton overtook Sanghavi leaving Nismo’s podium hope hanging in the balance as Adams tangled with Sanghavi.

The Pros had the crowd cheering as they witnessed some incredible racing from the qualifying heats to the main.  Clean heat races gave the fans some tight competition with Hester beating out RedLine Racing’s virtually unbeatable car driven Stephenson, while Nismo star, Santamarina, couldn’t hold on to his early lead to qualify for the finals and conceded his domination to RedLine’s Reggie Barnes.  With the current points landscape and Santamarina’s’ absence some fans predicted the final with Hester, Stephenson, Barnes and Morrison and were given a great show.  Hester took the lead from the green flag and held on to it for more than half of the race but overshot a turn in the Ss and watched as Stephenson’s car strolled by.  As Hester was still finding reverse Morrison came by and challenged Hester for rest of the race, eventually finishing 3^rd with one lap on RedLine’s other contender Reggie Barnes.

Toyota’s ability to hold onto top spot in the manufacturers points was a welcomed relief.  “I am happy with the results of this week’s race.  Tim came from behind to win, I raced solidly and Bill’s car seems to love this track.”  Said team leader Ken Morrison.  With Stephenson only holding onto 1^st place by 4 points the crown is still up for grabs, but will have to be pried out of the hands of RedLine who refuse to waste any waking moment that doesn’t involve tuning the cars or running practice laps.

Vengeance will be ours…

There is still hope yet.  Even though Santamarina is still shaking his head at the pure speed of Gary’s “slot car” Stephenson’s new 02 chassis, Hester proved to others that if you set up your car right and run a clean race that the Mini-Zs can be beaten.  However, with that said new chassis are on there way from the builder for both Hester and Santamarina.  The bar was raised but the best is yet to come.

Results: