Motorsport News International

NASPORT: Sonoma report

  • tomh@motorsport.com (Tom Haapanen)
  • MNI -- Motorsport News International
  • Tue Oct 10 12:31:29 EDT 1995

    Both John Goddard of Oakland, CA and John Olsen of Monterey, CA had their respective class pole for the Mezzetta Pepper Power NASPORT Challenge Race at Sears Point Raceway in Sonoma, CA. The similarity doesn't end there. They both won their races and were crowned the Driver's Champion in their class, Goddard for GT-3 and Olsen for GT-4.

    Nissan clinched the Manufacturer's Championship in both the GT-3 and the GT-4 classes, for the second year in a row.

    The half-hour race 1995 season's finale was one of the most exciting races of the nine-year old series, with the race leaders (Goddard and Colin Jackson of British Columbia, Canada) fighting for position lap after lap. Although Goddard is credited with leading every lap, that only meant he was ahead when they passed through the T&S beam at Start-Finish. Goddard and Jackson battled for most of the sixteen laps around the 2.253-mile course in California's wine country. It came down to the last corner on the final lap. Both drivers went deep into Turn Eleven, both spinning. Goddard recovered and somehow was missed by the oncoming traffic. Jackson stalled and Goddard went on to the victory and the NASPORT-West GT-3 Driver's Championship. Jackson turned the race's fastest lap with a time of 1:43.957. Goddard had broken Jackson's existing NASPORT-West qualifying record to take the pole for the Mezzetta Pepper Power NASPORT Challenge Race.

    The outcome of the GT-3 Driver's Championship came down to the wire with three drivers within four points of each other for the title. Frank Honsowetz of El Segundo, CA led the points chase going into the race with 82 points by virtue of consistent top three finishes all year. Jeff Scoville of Corvallis, OR, leader for most of the season, had 80 points, and Goddard had 78 points going into the weekend. He gained one point for his record-breaking pole position, giving him 79 - making it a crucial race for all. Honsowetz and Scoville ended in a tie for second place, with Scoville taking the honors by virtue of his three wins.

    Honsowetz experienced mechanical problems during qualifying which led to a fifth place on the grid. Scoville gridded fourth, and Jackson third.

    Considering Honsowetz's busy weekend spent commuting back and forth between Sears and the IMSA race at New Orleans, where he was overseeing the Nissan factory efforts, it was a wonder he could race at all, but race he did. Honsowetz, Motorsports Manager for Nissan-North America, had a good battle with Sal Versaggi of Sonoma, who had turned only a few qualifying laps with his brand new car before the race, as well as with Larry Hansen of Eureka, CA and Scoville. The GT-4 race was less crucial as the winner, Olsen, had already won with his five wins out of seven races. He was never challenged during the race, with the battle going on behind him for the podium positions. Roger Lee of Stockton, CA beat out Rick Bernocco of Thousand Oaks, CA when the latter broke a half shaft on the last lap.

    Nissan clinched the Manufacturer's Championship in both the GT-3 and the GT-4 Class, for the second year in a row.

    The race was the first of six races in a marathon one-day/all-day Subway Saturday SuperTruck Saturday before a record crowd of 30,000 fans in near-perfect Hunter's Moon Indian Summer weather.

    NASPORT-West

    PROVISIONAL RESULTS

    7 OCTOBER 1995 - SEARS POINT RACEWAY, SONOMA, CALIFORNIA

    POS # NAME SPONSOR LAP Hometown Car SPEED LAPS

    1 6 N3 JOHN GODDARD Vallejo Nissan **1:44.090 16 Oakland CA Nissan 240SX 87.259 2 7 N3 SAL VERSAGGI Mezzetta Peppers/Napa Nsn 1:44.416 16 Sonoma CA Nissan 240SX 86.986 3 81 N3 JEFF SCOVILLE Jack Scoville Ltd 1:44.841 16 Corvallis OR Nissan 240SX 86.634 4 8 N4 FRANK HONSOWETZ Creative Endeavors 1:44.474 16 El Segundo CA Nissan 240SX 85.938 5 89 N3 DAVID RUGH Rugh Engr/Jack Scovlle 1:44.710 16 Portland OR VW Golf GT1 86.742 6 99 N3 LARRY HANSEN 6 River Bank/EHS AC 1:44.840 16 Eureka CA Nissan 240SX 86.635 7 73 N3 DAVE HUMPHREY BM&M Partnership 1:44.935 16 Langly BC Nissan 240SX 86.556 8 58 N3 JON NORMAN SF Auto Center 1:45.728 16 Oakland CA Alfa GTV 86.907 9 9 N3 DOUG BARNHOLD Genesis Engr 1:45.854 16 Fontana CA Nissan 240SX 85.804 10 53 N3 COLIN JACKSON Specialty Engr **1:43.957 15 Surrey BC Nissan 240SX 86.637 11 3 N4 JOHN OLSEN Classic Chwrks/Tarpys 1:51.724 15 Monterey CA Nissan PL510 81.296 12 46 N4 ROGER LEE R & J Lee 1:54.299 15 Stockton CA Opel GT 49.465 13 97 N4 RICK BERNOCCO Drake Engineering 1:54.912 15 Thousand Oaks CA VW Golf 79.041 14 79 N4 GREG MAHAN Mahan Motorsports 2:01.326 15 San Jose CA Nissan B210 74.862 15 54 N4 RICH GOODRICH Goodrich Distributing 2:01.262 9 Fresno CA Alfa GTV 74,902 16 91 N3 MIKE GUIVER L.C.N./Alliance Lumber 1:45.995 7 Phoenix AZ Nissan 240SX 85.690 17 11 N4 DEREK ISRAEL Conversion Techniques No Time 1 Oakland CA Nissan PL510

    Margin Of Victory 7.205 SECONDS 79.943 MPH Average Lap Speed Fastest Race Lap 1:;43.957 by COLIN JACKSON in car #53 Time of Race 30 minutes 17.851 seconds Length of Race 40.368 miles

    GT-3 Margin of Victory 7:205 seconds Average race speed 79.94 MPH GT-4 Margin of Victory 41.94 seconds Average race speed 74.76 MPH

    LAP LEADERS #6 1-16

    UNOFFICIAL NASPORT-West POINTS STANDINGS - Year End Total

    GT-3

    1 JOHN GODDARD 78 21 = 109 2 JEFF SCOVILLE 80 15 = 95 2 FRANK HONSOWETZ 82 13 = 95

    4 DAVID RUGH 66 11 = 77 5 LARRY HANSEN 60 10 = 70 6 DOUG BARNHOLD 61 7 = 68 7 DAVE HUMPHREY 34 9 = 43 8 MIKE GUIVER 30 5 -- 35 9 GARY BOCKMAN 25 -- 25 10 COLLIN JACKSON 23 6 = 29 11 JON NORMAN 21 8 = 29 12 DUANE ABLAMIS 20 -- = 20 13 MICHAEL LEWIS 12 -- = 12 14 MAC RUSSELL 10 -- = 10 15 ERNIE DE JACOMO 9 -- = 9

    GT-4

    1 JOHN OLSEN 102 21 = 123 2 ROGER LEE 46 17 = 63 3 RICK BERNOCCO 32 15 = 47 5 GREG MAHAN 25 13 = 38 4 STEVE EPPERLY 26 -- = 26 6 DON NIMI 21 -- = 21 7 DERRICK ISRAEL 17 -- = 17

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