Qualified on Pole, Finished P2 in Epic Battle!
Apr 11, 2011
Hello Family, Friends and Fans!
Sorry for the late update, but I had too much fun yesterday at Summit Point Raceway for the second day of on-track activities at NASA-MA’s race weekend.
We only had two sessions for the day. A 15 minute qualifying session at 8:30 AM and an almost 40 minute sprint race at 1:40 that afternoon.
For qualifying, it was a bit chilly in the air but track conditions were ideal. Found a nice gap within the race group and set some clean and consistent lap times throughout the whole session. In the end, I clinched the pole position with a 1:28.2 with Robert Grace only .25 seconds behind. This was going to make for an epic battle on the track...as long as I didn’t fall asleep at the start!
After a 4 hour break and some minor preventative maintenance to my Drive-Gear.com SpecE30 BMW, it was time to take our standing start on the front straight. I clarified with officials what the proper procedures were supposed to be. All three race classes were going to take off when the green flag drops. I was ready and it was on.
Unfurled green flag goes up, engines rev up, green flag waves, and we were off! Total chaos at the start with other competitors in front starting in the wrong gear or bogging down completely. Being on the inside, I had the advantage of the extra pavement at pit-out and used it all to get by a bunch of slower cars from the classes starting ahead of us. In the process, I also ran over a cone but we all made it through turn 1 smoothly.
Robert Grace got held up a bit from slower cars ahead of him but was still within sight and would definitely be a threat. Once things settled down from the chaotic first couple of laps, Robert was right on my back bumper. Throughout the rest of the race, we would battle back and forth, lap after lap! We put on an awesome show for the spectators on hand. When the white flag signaled the last lap, I was willing to try some wild moves to make a last lap pass for the win. I seemed to really gain on Robert through the very fast turn 3 left hander. He bobbled a bit and we were side by side entering the extremely fast turn 4 right hander. As we entered the brake zone at the turn 5 carousel, Robert had the upper hand and the lead. I wasn’t done yet. I had one last move up my sleeve. If I could get a smokin’ run on him exiting turn 10 leading onto the straight, I might just be able to slingshot by. I could tell the handling of Robert’s BMW was falling off and was hoping to take advantage of it one last time. Again, I was able to get a great run on him exiting 10 and I thought I may of had enough momentum to possibly get along side of him. But just as the car settled on the straight, the car bogged down from fuel starvation! It killed my momentum and Robert clinched the well deserved win with me in a very close second.
It was a battle of epic proportions and was glad I could give Robert a run for his money over the weekend. I want so bad to come back again this season to race with this group and can’t thank Andrew Zimmerman and Jonny Allen at Drive-Gear.com and Chris Cobetto from NASA-MA for this awesome opportunity to race with them over the weekend!
If you didn’t get a chance to watch the race live on AJ Nealey Racing Live, you can check out the grainy recording by clicking here or watching the embedded video below!
Also, Robert Grace had some really good footage with his flip cam that are now on YouTube for your enjoyment!
Part 1:
Part 2:
Again, it was just a lot of fun to get back to my roots. This is where I came from it’s where the true fun of the sport actually is. I’m looking forward to the future and hope to get back on track sometime soon.
Thank you all for your relentless support!
AJ Nealey
About Drive-Gear, LLC
Formed in 2008 by brothers in speed, Jonny Allen and Andrew Zimmerman, Drive-gear maintains a four-car team of professionally prepared Spec E30 BMW racecars. www.drive-gear.com
About NASA-MA
NASA-MA is dedicated to providing motorsports fans with a safe, fun, educational and competitive outlet for performance driving and competitive racing. They provide on track Autocrossing, High Performance Drivers Experience, Time Trials and Road Racing. www.nasaracing.net
About Spec E30
Spec E30 is a racing series devoted to non-M E30 models with the goal of creating high level competition among similarly prepared E30s at a reasonable cost. www.spece30.com
About AJ Nealey
Nealey started his racing career in 2002 when he began competing in autocross events and progressed through karting and sports car club racing events accumulating over 40 wins, setting track records and clinching championships. Nealey competed in the 2009 and 2010 VW Jetta TDI Cup Series where he finished 12th and 11th respectively in the Championship on the strength of three podium appearances and ten top-ten finishes. Nealey was also the recipient of the Driver’s Coach award in 2010. Nealey’s racing career goal is to compete in the American Le Mans Series. For sponsorship inquiries and opportunities, please contact AJ Nealey Racing at 443-220-4019 or aj@ajnealeyracing.com and visit www.ajnealeyracing.com
443-220-4019
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