2013 TM Lights @ California

I did it just so Cooper didn't have to!

Spoiler:

Daniel Melrose: "We had fantastic pace today and after qualifying on row 4, we were on track for a really good result. Our bad first pitstop during the first yellow put us well in the pack though, and put us right in the danger zone when it comes to on-track incidents. Having both cars outside the top 30 is a disappointment but, at the same time, the 73 has been on the pace all weekend which is a promising sign. Darren in the other car had handling issues which masked his true pace but once we sort those out, we'll be well in contention for some very good results by the end of this year."

Holiday Jr has a great debut.... ti'll the end

The Oklahoma native finished 18th after a great race, which saw him running in the top-10, even was in the top-5. After the Red Flag on lap 57, Holiday Jr couldn't keep up his his momentum, and also got bumped by Ike Durban, which collected Mark Blackwall.

Holiday Jr's Comments : Great debut for me, Ernest Lewis (Team Owner), we ran a awesome race ti'll the Red Flag, then i got stuck on the outside.
Sorry to Mark Blackwall for ending his chances, that was just people racing at the end, and besides, Ike hopefully didn't bump on purpose, he's a great racer & person & that was just a accident.

Kosta Theodorakos Fails to Complete a Single Lap at Fontana

"I'm so ashamed that we weren't able to turn a lap in our #3 car...", a glum Theodorakos said after climbing out of his Tremwell. "I just want to make a good impression... I'll never get to Master Cup now..."

Lane Cranston: "To finish in 12th after we qualified in the back is a good start to the season. The car had kind of lost some of its performance towards the end, and that's why we weren't able to get all the way to the front in the last two laps, and we were able to avoid some of the messes that happened in front of us on our way up. A good night all around."

Marc Caldwell (Fred's brother, who assumes ownership duties at races Fred can't attend): "Lane did really well. He's more of a short track driver, unlike Brian [Morris, who drove the 14 car last year, and won two races at superspeedways, including California], who did so well at the superspeedways last year. But Lane did really well navigating from the back to the front, and avoiding all the boneheadedness around him. I think he's really excited about Carbondale, because that's more his speed, and he knows things can only get better from here."

Brinson 29th after late race pileup

For a moment, it seemed that TM Lights rookie Matt Brinson was on track for a decent top 15 finish. That was until 3 to go.

"We got ****in' wrecked by Auxier" he said outside of the infield care center. "Clair absolutely had her head up her ass; she slammed into us coming into Turn 4 as I had to check-up and then started the pileup that red-flagged the race. It was a real shame too as the car really came alive on that last set of tires"

After an impressive 5th in practice, the 32 year old owner-driver then struggled slightly in qualifying. His lap placed 18th fastest but Brinson still felt confident about his chances.

"We spent more time on our race setup than we did on the qualifying side, so I wasn't too surprised. I felt we had a strong car but we failed to change with the weather on raceday."

In happy hour, the #25 Pharb Hangover Relief Tremwell was a mid pack car and remained that throughout the initial stages of the race. Brinson complained of exit push and the Brinson Engineering team never gave up on the car. On the final restart, those changes seemed to pay off. The #25 stormed from 28th to 15th until a four car incident ended Brinson's day with three to go.

"All and all, it was a decent learning experience for me and the team. This is the first time running these large ovals and although I wasn't as strong as I had liked, I'm still satisfied with our efforts this weekend. Just got unlucky, it happens."

Taylor Crashes Out at California

Cameron Taylor was involved in a mid race pileup that brought the No. 68 team's night to an end. "I was hanging pack early and planned on making a run late in the race...but that didn't work out. I know we have the speed and I had a lot of fun out there; it was a good race."

Olenick Just Misses TM Lights Victory

Team CTR and driver Joe Olenick nearly pulled off a stunning upset on debut, coming from the back of the grid to finish third in the season-opening race at Auto Club Speedway in California.

"We were terrible during practice and qualifying, but we got it done," Olenick said during post-race interviews. "Car was great, team did a great job."

Crew chief Randall Heon stated that the team "was focusing on long runs all weekend, so our single-lap speed wasn't there. We were looking for consistency. Obviously we did miss the qualifying set up, but that's a lesson learned."

Davison pleased with 5th place finish

Interdrain Motorsports driver James Davison took his No.29 TAG Heuer/Kyran Engineering Bolden to a very solid 5th place finish in the opening round of the 2013 TM Lights Season at the California Speedway, after starting back around in the Top-15.

"This is certainly a clean start to our 2013 campaign. Certainly since we won at Michigan last year which I've proven to be a winner in Auto Racing. We had no concerns on our car when we started around the Top-15, and the race was quite sketchy and we weren't too good earlier but the crew made adjustments and my car right so I could drive the hell out of it. Hopefully with a bunch of short tracks coming up soon we can keep our heads up high and grab more positive results and maybe a win or more to boost our title contention."

"We had a great starting position and a great car capable of a possible top 5. Honestly I can't ssem to run these larger ovals as good as I used to anymore unless the cars are restricted. I'm still hopeful for a good season dispite the bad start. I'm sure TIMmy will continue to provide really fast cars. About the swerve on the back straight during that one wreck, I was making an evasive move to avoid contact but the car kind of took off on me and I had to back it down. Still a fun race though." -Jinx Rodriguez

Buffy Slays Rookie's Hopes of Debut Win!

Auto Club Speedway, California

Gravity Racing driver, Korean Han Yong-Sung, was poised to win his first race in his debut in the TM Lights series. Han Yong-Sung grabbed the lead on the restart following the red flag with just 2 laps remaining. Han Yong-Sung shot away from the pack with the help of 2 other cars, leaving Buffy Boreanaz in the dust. Or so he thought.

The #24 Vampire Steaks car led when coming to take the final green flag of the day, but she was shuffled back to fourth as the #71 of Han Yong-Sung, the #23 of Joe Olenick and the #4 of Axel Andersson swept by her single file on the inside groove. Boreanaz, alone and with no help, then displayed her car's stunning strength by powering by Olenick and Andersson on the outside! She then dropped directly in behind the back bumper of the #71 of Yong-Sung.

"You don't just sneak up on people in a graveyard. You make noise when you walk. You... stomp. Or yodel," Boreanaz stated. "I just let him know I was there and that I meant business."

Entering the final turn before heading into the tri-oval, Boreanaz executed a perfect bump and run. Yong-Sung slid up ever so slightly but held on tight to his position. But that mildest of bobbles was all the opening Boreanaz needed. The two dragged raced towards the finish line with Boreanaz edging out the Korean by the slimmest of margins-- 0.04 seconds!

"He did the same thing to me earlier in the race, so I thought I'd give him a little American payback," stated a brimming Boreanaz.

"I was pulling away from the field and if not for that creepy red flag, would have won convincingly. But I wasn't about to be denied-- not today-- not after last season. The longer the runs went, the further ahead we got. I was a little worried that with just 2 laps I wouldn't be able to get up to speed, but my Lenard proved it has it when it counts most," said Boreanaz.

It is unknown at press time if this exciting finish was the closest in TM Lights history or not. One thing was certain though, and that was that Han Yong-Sung was fast.

"I learned a lot about him when I observed him earlier in the race. I even pushed him to the front a little bit too. His car was, like, a missile thingy! But like all Korean missile thingys, it fell short of it's target," Boeranaz commented.

2011 TM Lights champion Thurston Blood didn't fare was well when he was taken into the wall by the #46 car of Nick Azure before being put out of the race when the #68 car of Cameron Taylor was inadvertently collected.

"Bloody wanker!" was all a frustrated Blood could muster concerning Azure following the race.

Buffy then added, "Takumi Nagata means no worries, right?!"