Willow Springs Raceway May 24 & 25^th, 2008

American Iron West – Round 4

The 4^th round of the American Iron West and American Iron Extreme West Series took place at Willow Springs Raceway in Rosamond, Ca on May 24 & 25^th, 2008. The weekend weather was mild, in the low 70’s with a cold wind blowing most of each day.

For this weekend’s event, we welcomed the return of three seasoned American Iron competitors-Dean Jones in his #85 Mustang GT, Ross Murray in his new, #74, S197 Mustang GT, and Corey Webber of Agent 47 in his #47 S197 Mustang GT.  Adding to the field of competitors, season regulars included #17 Team JMC drivers John Da Luz and Keith Parker, Agent 47 drivers, #54 Ryan Walton and #99 Andy Bowman, Griggs Racing #46 Hal Massey, #81 Rookie John Wheeler, #9 Rookie Andy Steyn, and for his 1^st official AI race of the season, James Griffith Jr. in his #11 Ford Mustang. Also making an appearance, however not competing this weekend, we enjoyed the company of 3 veteran American Iron racers-Chaka Milby who has informed us his car is nearly complete and we can look forward to his joining us at Buttonwillow Raceway in a couple of months, Ernesto Roco, who was shaking down his car for upcoming events, and Paul Brown of Tiger racing who was running a Morgan in the Super Unlimited class for the weekend. The AI team also hosted a guest from Race Technologies / Brembo N.A for Saturday’s race. AI racers may look forward to “racer only” deals and possible contingencies in the upcoming season.

Qualifying on Saturday saw some heavy competition in American Iron for the pole between Agent 47 drivers # 54 Walton and #99 Bowman. Close as he was, Bowman just couldn’t get around Walton who was finally awarded pole position following a smoking fast 1:29:03 lap time. In American Iron Extreme, Corey Webber in the #47 car claimed victory and sealed his position on grid in front of his competitors.

The races in both AI and AIX were flying starts with the leaders claiming as much real estate as possible in the first few laps. In American Iron, # 54 Ryan Walton defended his 1^st place position for the entire race, while competitors #99 Bowman and #17 Parker of Team JMC traded 2^nd and 3^rd place positions in the 3^rd lap. Rookie driver #81 Wheeler defended his 4^th place position first against #46 Massey, and then #11 Griffith who overtook Massey in the 3^rd lap. #54 Ryan Walton took the checker for his 5th consecutive win in the West Coast AI series, and driver Keith Parker of Team JMC took the fastest lap time in the race with a 1:31:02. In AIX, veteran AIX competitor Corey Webber took the checker followed by #85 Dean Jones and #9 Andy Steyn of Las Vegas.

In Sunday’s qualifying session Ross Murray brought out his new #74 S197 Mustang for it’s first ever track appearance. Despite the fact he was still shaking the car down for next season; he qualified for pole position in AIX against Rookie #9 Andy Steyn. In American Iron, Agent 47 driver #54 Ryan Walton qualified for Pole followed by Agent 47 driver, #99 Andy Bowman.

The AI race was a flying start with #54 Ryan Walton once again determined to defend his first place position. In the 2^nd lap the #17 Team JMC car piloted by John Da Luz overtook #99 Bowman’s hold on 2^nd place and then lost it only after they suffered mechanical issues and #99 Bowman passed them in the 5^th lap. #81 John Wheeler’s car had some issues with a prototype front splitter and although still attached to the car it was quite the site while moving violently up and down as he flew down the front straight. The checkered flag came out and the #54 Agent 47 car driven by Ryan Walton won his now 6^th consecutive race for the series, followed by #99 Bowman, #81 “The Rookie to Watch” Wheeler, #46 Massey and #17 Team JMC.

In AIX, also with a flying start, Ross Murray made it evident early on he will be a driver to watch next season. Ross played with #81 Wheeler and 2 Super Unlimited cars what seemed like the entire race with several passes occurring and some very exciting door to door challenges coming into the corners. #85 Dean Jones came off course early due to mechanical issues as did #9 Rookie Andy Steyn after we saw his car smoking heavily coming out of the corners.  Finishing in 1^st place, #74 Ross Murray, 2^nd place #99 Andy Steyn and 3^rd place #85 Dean Jones.

We look forward to another great race in the American Iron Series at Infineon Raceway in June!