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Saturday's Time Attack offered two things. First, the drivers and teams had the standard format to run and set their times. These proved to be the fastest runs of the weekend. This also provided the layout to line up the cars for The Speed Ring Touge Bracket Shootout. This head to head Touge-style race pitted team against team and really put race strategy into play. In the Touge Bracket Shootout, the drivers had a warm-up lap, a hot lap, a cool down lap where the lead car slowed and became the follower while the initial following car moved into the lead position. Then there was a second hot lap and either the session was over as one team had won both times or they continued the process for a third session to break the tie. This Bracket Shootout that The Speed Ring offers is simply great fun and awesome for the spectators who, in addition to the action on the track, had access to a giant screen to view close ups of the ontrack action. The competition was fierce and intensified as the competition is now against both the clock and a competitor who is within tenths of a second of your own time. Tactics, mind games, and sheer horsepower make this very entertaining to the crowds. This article is going to focus upon the cars that battled their way to the top spots in the Touge.
Daniel O'Donnell was running in the Fortune Auto Mitsubishi Evo. On Saturday's event, he finished third in the time standings with a 1:05.103. As the track crowd thinned out due to attrition and his comfort level on the track improved, Daniel won the Unlimited Touge Bracket Race! Photo Credit: Motovicity.
Nothing like a photo shoot to get a close-up action shot of the Touge Unlimited Champion! This Evo is all business! Consistency all weekend long is what took them to the top of the Touge Bracket Racing Podium! Photo Credit: Motovicity.Undoubtedly, this is where you are asking about Boake and Powelson. Well … attrition. Boake was flying on the Touge Bracket race against Powelson when he went 4 wheels off and was disqualified. Powelson won the session and moved on to run against Canadian James Houghton. During this battle, Powelson lost a seal on a brake sensor causing a complete loss of braking at about 135 mph. This harsh crash took him out of the event. Fortunately, Cole was okay, but the GTR was not. We are all looking forward to seeing him back out on track again soon.
James Houghton not only captured the FWD time attack competition for unlimited competitors this weekend (1:06.369) in his Acura Integra Type R, he finished off the weekend with a second place in the Unlimited Touge competition. Always a determined competitor, James and the K-Tuned team overcame the challenges created by a low speed bump into a wall, which unfortunately caused more damage than was first appraised, to pull off a second overall. The trackside repairs worked and James pulled off an even faster time on Day 2! The weekend proved that reliability and ingenuity were as key as horsepower and speed to pull off victories. Photo Credit: Ken Cox, M1 Concourse.
Andy Smedegard and his Mitsubishi Evo are always a force to contend with at any track. He finished second on Saturday in Unlimited AWD with a time of 1:05.103 and, if I'm reading the standings properly, third in the Touge event on Sunday. He was beaten in the head to head Touge Bracket Race with Daniel O'Donnell. Photo Credit: Ken Cox, M1 Concourse.
Running a 1:08.856 in his Acura RSX, William Au-Yeung captured second place in Unlimited FWD on the first day. In a recent article, a reader politely pointed out that MotoIQ was incorrect when we announced William Au-Yeung had been racing his RSX because, the reader pointed out, Will was now running a Honda Civic. Will indeed has an incredible Civic – but MotoIQ was correct. You see, earlier this year Will pulled the cover off of the RSX and put it back into competition – minus the one of a kind shark fin – as he knew that the Civic would be tied up for months while being shipped to Australia and back. Photo Credit: Ken Cox, M1 Concourse.
There is nothing like watching competitors challenging each other in a Touge style bracket race. William Au-Yeung (lead car) and James Houghton (following car), both Canadians, have been battling for the title of the fastest FWD Time Attack competitor for a while. As you can see, James' filled Will's rear view mirror and won this weekend's challenge, but like you, I'm looking forward to Will's Civic being back in North America so these two can wage another battle! The background in this photo is awesome! Photo Credit: Motovicity.Two significant facts about Will and James … and congratulations to both of them.
Will and his Civic placed an amazing second in Pro-Am at WTAC in Sydney, Australia.
James and his wife, Kaitlyn, are proud to announce the birth of their son, Jack, on October 16th.
