Spring is in the air, signaling the start of a new racing season. Near-perfect weather welcomed drivers from around the country to

Buttonwillow Raceway for the start of the 2009 season of Redline Time Attack. After off-season preparations, the drivers came ready for battle on Buttonwillow's course configuration 13. This is a technical and challenging course that pushes both racers and racecars to the limit.

Raising The Bar

In the quest for championship points and event victories, contenders stepped up their game for the season. The 2008 Street Class AWD Champion JC Meynet gave his Subaru STI a complete makeover and moved himself up to the Modified class. Unlimited contenders from GST and Crawford Performance also made numerous improvements during the off-season in hopes of gaining an edge on the competition as well. A noteworthy newcomer to Redline Time Attack was the 350Z of Fontana Nissan. This Z was born of a Grand-Am heritage and it will compete at Redline events across the country.

Practice Day Pains

Saturday's practice sessions offered nearly-ideal track conditions. With every racer pushing hard, breakdowns were rampant. Meynet intially posted the quickest Modified class times durign practice, but later his Subaru encountered cooling issues. These gremlins followed Meynet into competition, preventing a clean run during competition. The Design Craft/Brian Crower/C-West S2000 broke a clutch during practice, leaving Gary Castillo with his hands full swapping a new clutch before Sunday's competition. GST's Impreza battled with suspension issues while Fontana Nissan's Z suffered from a blown motor late in the day. This put the 350Z out of competition for the weekend.

The Grid Is Hot

Sunday morning was a stark contrast to the light-hearted practice session held the day before. From the time the sun rose, every team had on their game face. To add to the challenge, the winds picked up early on, making fast laps more difficult to attain. Evasive Motorsport's EVO IX spun off the track just before "Lost Hill" when the wind broke the wing stay and the spoiler became a rudder. Despite the adversity, some teams were able to make headway. DSPORT's Editor-in-Chief, Robert Choo piloted his S2000 in the Street class. N1Concepts, J's Racing, Hankook Tire, and Robispec all contributed to make this S2000 track ready. Robert finished mid-pack in his first-ever time-attack competition and managed to take third place in the Rookie class.

Top honors for the day went to Billy Johnson in the FX Motorsports Development turbocharged NSX. He won the DSPORT Unlimited class RWD victory with a 1:45.516 lap, which is a new RWD record. He was followed by Tyler McQuarrie in the C-West S2000. Crawford Performance STI captured the top spot in the Unlimited AWD class with Tarzan Yamada at the wheel, followed by class runner up Sheehan in the GST Impreza.

The Modified class bar was set by Ryan Gates, who traveled as a one-man race team all the way from Minnesota. Gates drove his EVO X to a class winning 1:55.221, capturing the AWD title as well as the overall Modified title. The next closest time was set by FWD winner Tim Kuo in the Sportcar Motion Honda Civic with a 1:55.809. Doug Tabbutt piloted the switchcars.com/Synapse GT-R into the AWD runner-up position with a 1:58.418.

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