The first two race weekends of the USTCC 2014 season were very good for Life’s Good Racing!TM
Buttonwillow Recap(April 5): This was the first race of the 2014 USTCC Season and Team Life’s Good Racing!TM started the race with a record four cars in the field. Dave Brown was the Team’s solo pilot in the GT Class, running the #96 2012 Camaro. “The Mario” Lento drove the #10 Mitsubishi; Karl Chicca wheeled the #12 BMW M3, and Beau Borders took the driver’s seat of the #21 Lexus. This race was not only packed with Team cars but was a day/night 2 Hour Enduro run coincident with a WERC endurance race, which meant for a huge field! Dave qualified in P2 in GT, and in Touring Car: Mario – P2, Karl – P4, and Beau – P6.
Needless to say, the combination of a huge field with total darkness (Buttonwillow does not have any lights except along the hot pits) meant for a more-than-exciting race. After it was all said and done, Dave finished in P2 in GT and Karl took his first podium in Touring Car with a P3!… great results with 50% of the cars finishing on the podium with Mario taking 7th and Beau taking 8th. Unfortunately, Mario sustained some damage-induced mechanicals, as did Beau, who collected a side view mirror from two BMWs banging it out if front of him. All in all, it was a great weekend for the Team. Next stop:
Spring Mountain Recap (May 4): This was the first time the Team had been to this track, and in fact, the first time that USTCC had run the track. For this race weekend, we took the #10 Mitsubishi for “The Mario” and the #12 M3 for Karl. The weekend was hot, dry and windy, just what you’d expect from the desert. The track was in amazing shape, and the fear of taking an off-track excursion was in everyone’s minds as the desert was peppered with large rocks.
The qualifying order for Sunday’s race was the faster of the times from both Saturday’s and Sunday’s Qual sessions. The Mario scored a starting position of 5th on grid with Karl right next to him in 6th. The race was run with the Honda Challenge cars taking a separate starting flag behind the USTCC field.
It was a hard fought battle in the desert, both literally and figuratively as The Mario sustained a significant shunt from a car early in the race, the force of which not only did significant damage to body work, rocker panel, and a wheel, it also upset the steering angle and broke the video camera! In spite of this Mario was able to hold onto a P3 for his first podium in the 2014 USTCC season!
Karl found himself battling Mario for P3 on the white flag lap and unfortunately was the recipient of a punt by a Honda Challenge car that sent Karl bounding through the desert attempting to avoid all the boulders. He was able to limp the car across the finish line, however it was badly damaged with what was left of the rear bumper dragging on the track, two damaged wheels, a cut tire and broken exhaust. He held on for an overall 4th.
Subsequent race review by the officials resulted in both Mario and Karl being moved up in the order to P2 and P3, respectively, which meant that 100% of the Team Life’s Good Racing!TM cars were on the podium! This meant that the Team also won the “Team Award” for the highest placing team of the race!
After these first two Rounds the Season Points for Touring Car shows Karl in 2nd with Mario just behind in 3rd and also currently the highest Rookie!
As always, we cannot talk about our race results without recognizing the significant role our partners play in these results, including HAWK Performance, which gives us the best brake pads and rotors in the business; Competition Clutch (CCI), providing us with the ability to put that brutish power to the pavement; Konig Wheels, which produced the rock-solid wheels that finished the Spring Mountain race on the #10 car in spite of missing big chunks from the hit; Dublin Big O Tires, who handle all of our tire needs with exacting perfection; WORKS Motorsports, masters of dyno-tuning and so much more when it comes to squeezing every ounce of performance out of your ride; Supertech, manufactures of high quality engine components; and Red Line fluids, producers of nothing but the best in the business.
What’s Next? Round #3 of USTCC has the Team in Willows, CA on the weekend of May 24 & 25. Stay tuned to our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter feeds for live, from-the-track updates.
Come to the track and hang out with us if you can and score a team hat or Tshirt!
See You at the Races!