Sonoma report

Both John Goddard of Oakland, CA and John Olsen of Monterey, CA had their respective class pole for the Mezzetta Pepper Power NASPORT Challenge Race at Sears Point Raceway in Sonoma, CA. The similarity doesn't end there. They both won their races and were crowned the Driver's Champion in their class, Goddard for GT-3 and Olsen for GT-4.

Nissan clinched the Manufacturer's Championship in both the GT-3 and the GT-4 classes, for the second year in a row.

The half-hour race 1995 season's finale was one of the most exciting races of the nine-year old series, with the race leaders (Goddard and Colin Jackson of British Columbia, Canada) fighting for position lap after lap. Although Goddard is credited with leading every lap, that only meant he was ahead when they passed through the T&S beam at Start-Finish. Goddard and Jackson battled for most of the sixteen laps around the 2.253-mile course in California's wine country. It came down to the last corner on the final lap. Both drivers went deep into Turn Eleven, both spinning. Goddard recovered and somehow was missed by the oncoming traffic. Jackson stalled and Goddard went on to the victory and the NASPORT-West GT-3 Driver's Championship. Jackson turned the race's fastest lap with a time of 1:43.957. Goddard had broken Jackson's existing NASPORT-West qualifying record to take the pole for the Mezzetta Pepper Power NASPORT Challenge Race.

The outcome of the GT-3 Driver's Championship came down to the wire with three drivers within four points of each other for the title. Frank Honsowetz of El Segundo, CA led the points chase going into the race with 82 points by virtue of consistent top three finishes all year. Jeff Scoville of Corvallis, OR, leader for most of the season, had 80 points, and Goddard had 78 points going into the weekend. He gained one point for his record-breaking pole position, giving him 79 - making it a crucial race for all. Honsowetz and Scoville ended in a tie for second place, with Scoville taking the honors by virtue of his three wins.

Honsowetz experienced mechanical problems during qualifying which led to a fifth place on the grid. Scoville gridded fourth, and Jackson third.

Considering Honsowetz's busy weekend spent commuting back and forth between Sears and the IMSA race at New Orleans, where he was overseeing the Nissan factory efforts, it was a wonder he could race at all, but race he did. Honsowetz, Motorsports Manager for Nissan-North America, had a good battle with Sal Versaggi of Sonoma, who had turned only a few qualifying laps with his brand new car before the race, as well as with Larry Hansen of Eureka, CA and Scoville. The GT-4 race was less crucial as the winner, Olsen, had already won with his five wins out of seven races. He was never challenged during the race, with the battle going on behind him for the podium positions. Roger Lee of Stockton, CA beat out Rick Bernocco of Thousand Oaks, CA when the latter broke a half shaft on the last lap.

Nissan clinched the Manufacturer's Championship in both the GT-3 and the GT-4 Class, for the second year in a row.

The race was the first of six races in a marathon one-day/all-day Subway Saturday SuperTruck Saturday before a record crowd of 30,000 fans in near-perfect Hunter's Moon Indian Summer weather.

NASPORT-West

PROVISIONAL RESULTS

7 OCTOBER 1995 - SEARS POINT RACEWAY, SONOMA, CALIFORNIA

POS # NAME SPONSOR LAP Hometown Car SPEED LAPS

  1   6 N3 JOHN GODDARD   Vallejo Nissan          **1:44.090   16 
   Oakland CA   Nissan 240SX     87.259   
  2  7 N3 SAL VERSAGGI   Mezzetta Peppers/Napa Nsn 1:44.416   16
   Sonoma CA   Nissan 240SX     86.986   
  3   81 N3 JEFF SCOVILLE  Jack Scoville Ltd    1:44.841   16   Corvallis
OR   Nissan 240SX        86.634   
  4   8 N4 FRANK HONSOWETZ  Creative Endeavors    1:44.474   16
   El Segundo CA  Nissan 240SX        85.938   
  5 89 N3 DAVID RUGH   Rugh Engr/Jack Scovlle   1:44.710   16
                Portland OR           VW Golf GT1            86.742            
                          
  6 99 N3 LARRY HANSEN   6 River Bank/EHS AC    1:44.840   16
   Eureka CA   Nissan 240SX        86.635
  7 73 N3 DAVE HUMPHREY  BM&M Partnership    1:44.935   16
       Langly BC   Nissan 240SX        86.556
  8 58 N3 JON NORMAN   SF Auto Center  1:45.728   16
   Oakland CA   Alfa GTV     86.907
  9  9 N3 DOUG BARNHOLD  Genesis Engr     1:45.854   16
   Fontana CA   Nissan 240SX        85.804
 10  53  N3 COLIN JACKSON  Specialty Engr      **1:43.957  15
   Surrey BC   Nissan 240SX     86.637
 11  3 N4 JOHN OLSEN   Classic Chwrks/Tarpys 1:51.724   15   Monterey
CA   Nissan PL510        81.296
 12 46 N4 ROGER LEE   R & J Lee   1:54.299   15
   Stockton CA   Opel GT     49.465
 13 97 N4 RICK BERNOCCO  Drake Engineering  1:54.912   15   Thousand Oaks
CA  VW Golf     79.041
 14 79 N4 GREG MAHAN   Mahan Motorsports  2:01.326   15
   San Jose CA   Nissan B210     74.862
 15 54 N4 RICH GOODRICH  Goodrich Distributing 2:01.262    9   Fresno CA   Alfa
GTV     74,902
 16 91 N3 MIKE GUIVER   L.C.N./Alliance Lumber 1:45.995    7
   Phoenix AZ   Nissan 240SX     85.690
 17 11 N4 DEREK ISRAEL   Conversion Techniques No Time     1
   Oakland CA   Nissan PL510     
 

Margin Of Victory  7.205 SECONDS 79.943 MPH Average Lap Speed
Fastest Race Lap   1:;43.957 by COLIN JACKSON in car #53
Time of Race       30 minutes  17.851 seconds
Length of Race     40.368 miles

GT-3 Margin of Victory 7:205 seconds Average race speed  79.94 MPH
GT-4 Margin of Victory 41.94 seconds Average race speed  74.76 MPH

LAP LEADERS #6 1-16

UNOFFICIAL NASPORT-West POINTS STANDINGS - Year End Total

GT-3

  1 JOHN GODDARD  78 21 =   109
  2 JEFF SCOVILLE  80 15 = 95
  2 FRANK HONSOWETZ  82 13 = 95

  4 DAVID RUGH   66 11 = 77
  5 LARRY HANSEN  60 10 = 70
  6 DOUG BARNHOLD  61  7 = 68
  7 DAVE HUMPHREY  34  9 = 43
  8 MIKE GUIVER   30  5 -- 35
  9 GARY BOCKMAN  25 --  25
 10 COLLIN JACKSON  23  6 = 29
 11 JON NORMAN   21  8 = 29
 12 DUANE ABLAMIS  20 -- = 20
 13 MICHAEL LEWIS  12 -- = 12
 14 MAC RUSSELL   10 -- = 10
 15 ERNIE DE JACOMO   9 -- =  9
 

GT-4

  1 JOHN OLSEN      102 21 =    123
  2 ROGER LEE   46 17 =  63
  3 RICK BERNOCCO  32 15 =  47
  5 GREG MAHAN   25 13 =  38
  4 STEVE EPPERLY  26 -- =  26
  6 DON NIMI   21 -- =  21
  7 DERRICK ISRAEL  17 -- =  17
  
 

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