The  "Tornado"   season has started early this year in Colorado.   Shane "The Tornado" Ballard opened the 2010 season swinging for the fence and he was rewarded with not one but TWO 944-spec wins in the season opener at Pikes Peak International raceway.  

The 2010 season seemed to be starting out a little odd for the Rocky Mountain Region of NASA with no event in March and a few cars changing hands in the off season.  Throughout this unrest "The Tornado" stayed focused using this extra time off to do a valve job on his LOW COMPRESSION ENGINE and change tires on his 944-spec racer.  He would not be distracted.

Ashley Burt assumed the role of "Chuck Taylor" bringing home two second place finishes. His off season had him extra busy fixing a small oil leak.  His brand of overkill was to complete an entire engine swap to ensure years of reliable service. 

Sean Thul was quite busy as well in the off season he toured three different NASA regions and warmed up his racing feet.  Sean ran a close third on Saturday but dropped to fourth on Sunday unable to hold off  our newest "out of state" racer Dave "oh yea" Wright. 

Saturdays warm up session brought confirmation that the cars changing hands would affect the weekend's outcome.  Most notable was the absence of the #76 car driven by Dave "Der Kommissar" Dirks. He was instead driving Michelle's #77 car.  In the past we would not expect this to change the outcome of events (DD won 2 crossover races back in 2008 driving the #77 car) but with the growth of the RMR of 944-spec it would take a GREAT driver and a built car to keep up this weekend.  First round of qualifying had Dirks starting 6th after the #11 car nearly bested the track record.  First , Second and Third all qualed just as they would finish.  Shane, Ashley and Sean!  Weston Pawlowski was the only other driver to break into the 1:08's and seemed to be a favorite early on due to his cunning race skills.

The Main race start for Saturday was a wild one .  Nearly every race start is tight at PPIR due to the constriction at turn 5 but with The #96 of Dave "I am" Wright and #913 driven by Chuck Taylor starting at the back of the pack this was sure to be ... interesting...

The top 3 cars jumped into line and tried to run away from the field while the 913 managed to start a 35 minute attack on the back bumper of the 77 car.  The #22 dove hard into 5 with no room in front and 2 cars banging on his back bumper the traction was just not quite up to Weston's confidence and he spun into the inside allowing 3 cars to get by. Dale Tuety driving his gorgeous #02 car was able to hold off the 96 for most of the race.  Dale remarked that the size of the field and competition was second to none and how he enjoyed all of the close battles. 

Chris Venturini driving his new #466 took 5 laps to work passed The #90 of Mike Thul.  Mike was starting to show just what he can do and carried this over quite well into Sunday's qualifying, besting last year's championship second and third place drivers !  Way to go Mike.  Chris would not give Mike the race he wanted due to a wheel bearing nut coming loose.

Further back Tim Yungeburg the new owner of the #67 car was having a great time in his first day racing 944-spec.  He was confronted with a huge problem ("everyone thinks I'm Chuck Taylor , even his wife" !) and figured out how to fix it by simply putting on the car "Not Chuck".  Oliver Nunnenmacher and also new racer Kevin Gosselin made quite the threesome with the 67 car leaving none to go it alone. 

The end of Saturday's main race saw the podium filled with the top three qualifiers Shane "Tornado", Ashley "dude"  and Sean "NPBC, NCBC".   Great Job guys.
 

Sunday Race

Sunday had last year's champions making big changes to reclaim the top spots destined to prove Saturdays fluke of a victory.  Qualifying would be the first chance to prove this .  TEN cars qualified just about ONE second apart but leading this horde was again the Tornado #11.  By how much ...  nearly a full second !  The big surprise outside of Shane was the number 67 of Tim Yungeberg who was just learning the day before now qualified center pack in the 6th position.

Sunday's qual race gave some poor qualifiers a chance to move up. The 96 and 913 had a photo finish for 4th place.  The Main for Sunday previously thought of as a chance to reclaim dominance was now in doubt.  Could the 11 of Tornado Ballard hold on to sweep the weekend ... yep. 

Dirks made a huge jump to the inside on the start of Sunday's race. Ashley "the dude" held a gear for a few strokes too long and was getting passed like a wounded AI car.  At the front the 11 assumed his place at the front while the 96 started chasing.  Ashley feeling the pressure from Dirks tried to cover the inside too late, his moved forced Dirks to tap his brakes and that was enough for the 913 to skip on by coming out of 2.  When asked later Chuck only said "Hell no I was not gonna lift, Hold it to the wood and let the rough side drag BABY"

Venturini starting from the back made numerous sly moves rushing through 5 cars on his way to 5th.  In only his second race Tim broke into the top 10 fighting for numerous laps with Big Mike, Dale and Oliver. 

In the end the 11 and 43 were too much for Dave "not so" Wright and with a sweep of 1st and 2nd places those drivers seem in firm control of the season points .  With great racing and no damaged cars 944-spec racing in the Rocky Mountain region of NASA will continue to be the largest single class. Pueblo just 3 weeks away will bring the big dogs out of retirement and the Tornado is sure to be tamed ...  or will it storm ...

Stay tuned Storm chasers this season is going to be AWESOME!

Picture credits go to Mitchell Taylor and www.ironhorseracing.com.