The Off Camber Racing / Northern California Racing Club Team of Justin Hall (#12), Dave McAnaney (#45), and Peter Hsu (#55) had mixed though competitive results at this weekend's SCCA Miata Challenge held at Laguna Seca in conjunction with the Grand Prix of Monterey. The Miata Challenge field featured 51 cars from as far away as Arizona, Colorado, and Washington state driven by a competitive mix of drivers including several Speed World Challenge and SCCA-Pro drivers hoping to share in the $15,000 3-race purse.

The Off Camber Racing Team arrived at Laguna Seca on Thursday to find the paddock full with Champ Car haulers, Toyota Atlantic and Barber Dodge Pro teams, and Star Mazda competitors. Each of the Miata Challenge cars was each assigned a space under one of two large tents near the entrance to the paddock. Accommodations were cozy as each competitor had to fit his car, extra wheels, extra parts, tools, and other support equipment into an area the size of a handicap parking space .

After much anticipation, the Miatas got out on track for their 30-minute Friday practice session at 4pm with nice sunny weather, ~70 degree temperatures and a slight breeze. The drivers used the session to break-in tires, adjust tire pressures, and re-orient themselves with the track. Friday's lap times showed that the other drivers were also coming up to speed as no one broke into the 1:49s and Ken Dobson set the best practice time with a 1:50.624. The Off Camber Racing Team were hopeful as their practice times were competitive with Dave turning a 1:51.091 (9th best), Peter with a 1:51.360 (12th best), and Justin with a 1:51.442 (14th best).

Saturday's 30-minute qualifying session was held during prime time (11:30am) ensuring a warm track and lots of spectators. The session stayed green for the entire 30 minutes which allowed the Off Camber Racing team to put down some quick first laps then push for one good flyer before the end of the session. Poor tire choice by Peter caused him to spin, forcing him to come into the paddock early in the session to assess damage to his car. Dave and Justin ran several hot laps in the low and mid 1:50 range and with half the qualifying session in the books, drove through the hot pits to allow the tires to cool and get track spacing for a run at pole. Late in the session Justin was not able to improve on his earlier times, but Dave clicked-off a personal best 1:49.691 to place him third on the grid behind the Hartzel Automotive car of Barry Hartzel and the Larry Oka Racing entry of Ken Dobson. The front of the grid was really tight as Justin qualified 6th with a 1:50.159 and Peter salvaged a 22nd grid position with a 1:51.101.

Sunday was exciting as the Miatas took to the track at 4pm for a 45-minute race. Many spectators hung around after watching the Barber Dodge Pro race, the uneventful (read: boring) Champ Car race and the Star Mazda race. On the start, Dave bobbled and mis-shifted allowing the 4th place car of Tommy Olivier to get by before turn 1. Justin got a great start and bumped Tommy down the straight and past Dave into 4th position. Contact in turn 2 between Tommy and Ken Dobson sheered-off one of Ken's valve stems immediately deflating his left rear tire and ending Ken's pursuit of a repeat win. Justin hounded Tommy up the hill through turn 7 and made an aggressive outside pass attempt as they entered the corkscrew dropping 2 wheels off at the apex of 8a. Dave maintained 4th position as he enjoyed watching Justin battle for 2nd. Starting 22nd and now with the proper tires, Peter worked his way up through the field to 12th position and battled with the San Dimas Auto Racing entry of Andrew Fernandez. After trying to get by Peter for several laps, Andrew resorted to punting Peter in turn 10 sending him spinning off track and back to 20th position. The first of two yellows came after several cars got stuck in the sand traps outside turn 2 and turn 6. On the restart, Justin saw an opportunity to get a run on Tommy O as they came through turn 6 and decided to take turn 6 flat. Unfortunately, his tires had cooled during the yellow flag laps and his car pushed through 6 and off at the exit causing him to lose several positions. Getting by Justin, Dave maintained 5th and was making up ground on the 3rd and 4th place cars. Through the remainder of the race, Dave traded positions several times with the York Motorwerkes car of Mike Tolman and the American Tire Company car of Jack Arluck before finishing a season best 4th. About 30 minutes into the race, Justin lost oil pressure and after convincing several competitors to bump him along, limped home in 10th place. After his unfortunate off-course excursion, Peter continued to make up positions ultimately finishing in 16th place. Barry Hartzel finished first with Tommy Olivier in second and Randy Evans following closely in third.

Written By: Dave McAnaney