Photos by www.headonphotos.net, Reza Arsham
Sheehan/Arsham Win Back to Back in Touring Car at Thunderhill. Akhromstev does the same in GT
The Sheehan/Arsham partnership resulted in another win in the Touring Car class with Daniel Akhromstev pulling out a dominant victory in the GT class at Thunderhill Raceway. The Nitto Tires United States Touring Car Championship (USTCC) racers visited one of their favorite tracks with the National Auto Sport Association (NASA) playing host to the championship.
Gary Sheehan drove three of the four GoGoGear.com/UTI/Konig Wheels race cars during the weekend to score the victory. He started out with the Hyundai Genesis Coupe and Sheehan managed to qualify on pole position but the car developed an intermittent electrical problem so the team was not confident that the car would be a good option for the race. Compounding the problem was that this weekend, there would be a Saturday race which would count for 25% of the points. The team elected to toss out their pole position and start out from the back of the field in their #35 BMW M3 which was to be driven by Larry Bani. Sheehan managed to finish in fifth place after starting out in the back of the field. The team spent the rest of Saturday night driving back to their base and brought back their #34 BMW M3. The car needed some work to be ready and legal and the team got the car ready for qualifying with minutes to spare on Sunday where Sheehan managed to qualify in fourth place. From there it was a matter of tuning the car to get it ready for the race. One of the crew members on the GoGoGear.com team said, “We wanted to provide the best car for Gary and we spent every minute we had to tune the car to make sure we did not have any issues in the race.”
At the start of the main race, Sheehan had a heart dropping moment as Jason Alexandridis stalled the Performance Technic BMW M3 and was almost rear ended by the BMW of Sheehan. Sheehan avoided the collision but that dropped Sheehan down a few positions and Alexandridis, who had qualified in second place, dropped down to last place. Alexandridis did not have a good race at round two at Las Vegas as he battled with a blown head gasket and was fully focused to win the round three race at Thunderhill. He would now have to regroup and start clicking some quick lap times to catch up to the front pack.
Taking full advantage of everything was Larry Bani in the GoGoGear.com/ UTI/ Konig Wheels BMW M3 who jumped from fifth place to second place by turn one. Bani has become quite the drag racer with his launching technique and has had some superb starts in his racing career. He was followed by Curt Simmons who was substituting for the second race in a row for the injured Pete Bovenberg in the MBO Motorsport Honda Civic. Bani was in second right behind the pole sitter Mike Sekhon driving the BTM Motorwerks BMW M3. Sekhon, starting from pole position for the first time in his short USTCC career, made no errors and did a great start to lead the first lap with Bani behind.
On lap two, Bani went wide at the exit of turn five and that allowed Simmons to sneak by and take over second place. A few minutes later team orders came into play as Bani moved over to allow his teammate Sheehan who was in first place in the driver’s championship to take over third place. Sheehan passed Simmons a few laps later going into turn one and was now in second position. For the next twenty minutes Sheehan was just focused on turning some quick laps to catch Mike Sekhon who was still leading. With one lap to go the gap was down to less than a car length and Sheehan was pressuring Sekhon but Sekhon was not giving up. Finally on the last lap Sekhon missed a shift allowing Sheehan to get through at turn 11 and take the win. Sheehan was overjoyed after a very difficult weekend and said, “We were in close formation for several laps and I tried a couple of moves that didn't stick. On the last lap I got a really strong run out of 5 & 6, and was able to stay close through 8 & 9. I kept the pressure on in the braking zone in 10 and attempted to get an overlap into 11. Mike missed his downshift to 3rd entering 10 and had a brief moment of no drive at the apex, which was enough for me to get the overlap I needed. I drove deep into 11 and Mike gave me room and I was through.” “Second means work harder and get first next race,” said a very disappointed Sekhon after the race. Simmons was running in third place during most of the race but ended up running out of fuel with one lap to go which put Bani on the podium in third place in the Touring class.
In the GT class, Brad McClure started on pole position in the BTM Motorwerks Porsche 911 but was passed by Daniel Akhromstev in his Red Star Racing BMW M3. The two were bumper to bumper for several laps but McClure went off at the slippery exit of turn five which allowed Akhromstev to build a huge lead that he held to the end. McClure ended up finishing in second place with Andrie Hartanto’s Wicked Tuning/Supertech Honda S2000 finishing in third position. After the race Brad McClure said, “The BTM crew did an excellent job preparing the Porsche but we definitely have our homework to do to get a little bit more power to give the BMW M3 a fight for the long run. So we have our work cut out for us but we are definitely going to continue to try.
At the press conference after the race, Sheehas summed things up by saying, “This was a race that we won based strictly on teamwork with Larry being generous enough to let me use both of his cars. It kept the team in contention and put us in a position to win the race when it could have been the worst of all results”
The team of Larry Bani and Becky Arsham managed to win the Orange Electronics Sportsman class in the GoGoGear.com/UTI/Powerbuilt Tools BMW M3.
Mike Sekhon almost won the race in his BTM Motorwerks BMW M3 but his second place finish earned him the Plastex Top Rookie award.
With a third place and first place finish in the Touring Car class, the GoGoGear.com/UTI /Konig Wheels teammates of Sheehan and Bani won the Cobra Electronics Top Team award for the GoGoGear.com team and won a cool Cobra radar detector for their hard work.
The USTCC teams next head out to Monterey’s Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for around four on June 28-29.
For more USTCC event info and dates, go to www.ustcc.com.
Special Awards
Wine Country Motorsports
Doug Makishima won the Wine Country Motor Sports gift certificate by finishing in sixth place in his Mazdaspeed 3.
Go Pro
The winner in each class wins a new GoPro action camera. The lucky winners were the team of Sheehan/Arsham, the winner of the Touring class, and Daniel Akhromstev, the winner of the GT class.
Advanced Clutch Technology
Advanced Clutch Technology (ACT) makes some of the best clutches in the business and the ACT award went to Brad McClure who was fighting for first place in the GT class when he went a little wide but still managed to finish in second place.
Airaid
Mario Lento won the Airaid award winning a free Airaid air intake system of his choice for coming back to finish in fifth place on Sunday after almost destroying his car on Saturday.
CRC
CRC products are the official chemicals of USTCC and Gary Sheehan received a huge assortment pack of CRC products by winning the CRC Award.
Disc Brake Australia
DBA brake rotors are legendary with their kangaroo paw vents. Winning the DBA award was newcomer Michael Whelden who along with the award received a set of the DBA high performance rotors.
Iron X
The winner of the Sportsman class wins a free Iron X action camera at every USTCC race. Larry Bani was the winner of the Sportsman class and took home a beautiful Iron X action camera.
Rescue Tape
Rescue Tape is a revolutionary silicone repair tape that can save your race by fixing small leaks. Everyone needs to have one in their toolbox and the award this time went to Karl Chicca.
Ironclad Performance Crew
The Ironclad Performance Crew award went to the Life’s Good Racing team for their hard work to get the broken Mitsubishi to start the race and collect valuable points after a big crash on Saturday bent most of the suspension on the Mitsubishi. Chris Hovey earned a box full of Ironclad’s gloves for the team.
Le Mans Karting Seat Time Award
The Le Mans Karting Seat Time award went to Becky Arsham who finished in ninth place in her Honda Civic. Arsham now has a $100 certificate to go to the best indoor go kart facility in California.
Mothers Clean Car
The Mothers Clean Car award went to Michael Sekhon’s BMW M3 with a beautiful graphics and shiny paint job. He earned a complete car cleaning kit full of Mothers products.
Ooma Technology
The Ooma Technology communications award went to Gary Sheehan who managed to win the TC class with great teamwork and communications and used a record three different cars during the weekend leading up to the main race. Sheehan won the Ooma Telo unit giving him unlimited free lifetime phone calls anywhere in the US and Canada.
Optima Battery Ultimate Power Source
The top three in Touring Car were Arsham/Sheehan in first place, Mike Sekhon in second place and Larry Bani in third place. The top three in GT were Daniel Akhromstev in first place, Brad McClure in second place and Andrie Hartanto in third place. Each driver won a free Optima Battery for his hard work.
Perma-Cool Cool Move of the Race
The Perma-Cool Cool Move of the Race was won by Andrie Hartanto who stormed to the front with a fantastic drive with zero mistakes to finish third in a tough environment. Hartanto won a $200 gift certificate for his actions.
PIAA
PIAA’s LED lights are amazingly bright and they draw much less power than conventional lights. A very bright performance by Karl Chicca during the race means that he now sits in second place in the season championship. Chicca earned a set of PIAA’s LED lights for his hard work.
Powerbuilt Tools
The Powerbuilt Tools award went to Jason Alexandridis who was disqualified during the Saturday race and still managed to put the car on the front row for the Sunday race. Unfortunately, his race did not go as planned as he stalled the car at the start but now he has a new Powerbuilt professional torque wrench to use at the next race and he managed to finish in fourth place after all that.
Race Ramps
The Race Ramps award is certainly one of the most popular awards that the drivers shoot for. Larry Bani offered his primary car to his teammate to race when his teammate’s car suffered electrical problems. Bani knew that his teammate was in the points lead and needed the best equipment to maintain the points lead. That is great sportsmanship and team work. He won a $300 certificate towards the purchase of a set of Race Ramps.
Sampson Racing Award
Sampson Radio Communications award went to Curt Simmons who was running in second place in the TC class for most of the race but ended up running out of fuel on the last lap. He won a $100 gift certificate that the team can use for team communications equipment.
Specialty Products Company
Daniel Akhromstev has a fast car and he proved it as he lapped most of the field. He now has a Fastrax camber and caster gauge to help them set up the chassis on their car and go even quicker.
Swift Spring Award
Andrie Hartanto’s team is still working on their Honda S2000 to get more power. But it was a braking issue that caused them problems during the race. Swift decision making during the race gave them a third place finish in the GT class and he earned a free pair of Swift springs.
Whiteline Performance Suspension
Whiteline Performance makes some terrific suspension components and Mike Sekhon earned a $300 gift certificate for Whiteline Suspension products to improve his chances at the next race.
Hawk Performance Brakes - GT Award
Daniel Akhromstev came back to win from behind and won himself a new set of Hawk Performance brake pads.
Hawk Performance Brakes - TC Award
Larry Bani got off to a great start after missing a session and worked out some technical issues. He finished third and looked rock solid. He won a set of Hawk Performance brake pads for his efforts.
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