,
 |
| Brian Locke switched to the MPTCC after running in the Pro Time Attack earlier in the day. With no official qualifying time, he started the 350Z at the back of the pack and aggressively charged to the front after getting a tremendous start to challenge the overall leader and TO pole sitter Mike Bonanni in the Berk Technology BMW 135i for the lead. Locke finished in the runner up position to Bonanni. Locke’s Z car has a potent engine that uses the bottom end of the 370Z VHR37 engine with the heads from a VQ35HR with JWT cams. This simple motor was nearly a match for the Berk BMW’s powerful turbocharged engine. Technical diversity makes the MPTCC interesting. |
 |
| Mike Kojima fought mechanical problems such as a power steering system failure and oil fire which plagued the Dog II all day Saturday. The car showed a lot of speed but didn’t make the show as a DNS. |
 |
| Chris Marion works to diagnose Kojima’s wounded SR20VE before declaring it dead. Despite having some of his elite Falken Motorsports teammates on hand to help, they could not repair the car in time for qualifying. |
 |
| The Mustang pace car leads the MPTCC pack on a pace lap. The field had shrunk drasticaly due to mechnical failures. |
 |
| At the green flag, Robert Ramirez jinked to the left before the flag fell which is illegal in MPTCC resulting in a black flag and a stop and go penalty. Unfortunately while leaving the pits, Charles Boyles crashed his S2000 leading to a long full course yellow behind the pace car. Trapped behind the pace car, Ramirez ended up 2 laps down on the field. |
 |
| Into turn one, Bonanni rockets away with a commanding lead he held from flag to flag. Locke charges from last to second with Annie Sam drafting him attempting to pass Dai Yoshihara’s Spoon Sport Civic. |
 |
| Bonanni holds a commanding lead. It was rumored that the Berk car might run out of fuel before the end of the race which might have been true as Bonanni seemed to have plenty of power but only pulled away from Locke enough to hold a firm lead. Locke was able to close to within striking distance but not seal the deal, despite a long full course yellow that brought out the pace car and rebunched the pack for a restart. For a while it looked like Dai Yoshihara in the Spoon Sport Civic could hold onto the faster TO cars but he eventually faded back although he commanded the TU class. |
 |
| Brain Locke’s Nissan 350Z showed that it had speed and consistency up against the fully sorted and developed Berk BMW 135i that won RTA’s RWD Street class championship in 2010. Hopefully the Z will continue to evolve and get faster as the season progresses. |
 |
| Like Bonanni in TO, Dai Yoshihara commanded the TU class lead from flag to flag. Annie Sam drove a fast and clean race but her SR20DE’s, 140 hp were no match for the nearly 200 K20A hp of the Spoon Civic. |
 |
| Robert Ramirez drove fast and clean but could not make up for the stop and go penalty and ended up two laps down from Annie Sam. |
