Redline: Time Attack! Series
Round 7, September 26-27
Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch, Pahrump, Nevada

Billy Johnson and the FX Motorsports Acura NSX again set the bar impossibly high at a Redline Time Attack, this time clobbering the competition on Sunday in Round 7 of the 2009 championship with a remarkable 2:13.057 around Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch's 2.2-mile, 10-turn circuit located in Pahrump, Nevada. The record lap was good enough to garner first place in Unlimited-RWD and nab the overall event victory.

Second-fastest Paul Gerard in the AMS Performance NOS Energy Drink EVO X was some five seconds adrift in U-AWD at 2:18.055, still solid enough to take the category. In U-FWD, Chris Rado continued his winning ways in the biplaned WORLD Racing Scion tC and a 2:27.506 lap.

Ryan Gates in his own AMS Mitsubishi won in Modified-AWD and led the entire Modified group with a 2:24.883. Jeremy Renshaw took M-RWD in the AFI Turbo Competition Clutch S2000, clocking a category-best 2:31.657, while in M-FWD Tim Kuo and the Sportcar Motion Integra Type R had a spectacular debut for the car, winning the division with a 2:34.114.

Jeremy Toye and his EVO took top honors in Street-AWD with a 2:33.485, the high mark in Street Class. Not far off was S-RWD's Manly Kao in the Track HQ Buddy Club APR Lotus with a 2:34.866, and another nine seconds behind him was the winner of S-FWD, Clint Boisdeau in his Focus, lapping in 2:43.284.

The on-again-off-again Drift Class featured two of the sports best, 2005 Formula D series champion Rhys Millen in the RMR Red Bull Toyo Hyundai Genesis, and current FD points leader Chris Forsberg in his NOS Energy Drink Maxxis SR-powered 350Z. Millen, who has years of motorsports experience, has taken his car up Pike's Peak, and has already been to at least one other RTA event, put in a tidy 2:30.819 to win the division, while Forsberg, in his first time attack as far as we know, clocked a respectable 2:41.849.

Look for our coverage of Redline Time Attack Round 7 tomorrow, with complete results and a gallery from the event.

Redline Time Attack finishes out 2009 at Round 8, set for November 14-15 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif.

www.redlinetimeattack.com

Formula One
SingTel Singapore Grand Prix, September 25-27
Singapore Street Circuit, Marina Bay, Singapore

Lewis Hamilton grabbed his second win of the season Sunday for McLaren, dominating the Singapore Grand Prix night street race from start to finish. The 2008 world champion was joined on the podium by Timo Glock, who drove on a great pit stop strategy from Toyota, and Fernando Alonso, who was trying to help his Renault squad save a little face after a rough week.

Hamilton started from pole position and quickly established a slim lead over third-starting Nico Rosberg's Williams, who dogged him from lights out. Despite looking set to establish a bigger lead over his pursuers by pitting later, his lead was eradicated by a Safety Car period after Force India's Adrian Sutil collided with Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari and then collected BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld after spinning. The full-course caution coincided with Hamilton's first stop on Lap 21.

Nonetheless, he remained at the head of the field and withstood sustained pressure from Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, who was running significantly lighter than Hamilton and was pushing hard for the lead. Vettel refueled for the second time on the 39th lap, whereas Hamilton had sufficient fuel to run through to the 46th, and thereafter all he had to do was conserve his brakes in a race that finished just before the two-hour time limit.

Vettel had his chance, but had to take a drive-through penalty after speeding in the pit lane during his second refueling call.

After making his final stop and switching from prime to option tires, and then dropping to second behind Alonso, Hamilton resumed the lead once the Spaniard had made his final stop and maintained his advantage over the chasing Glock.

The man who was kicking himself most afterwards was Rosberg, a lowly 11th in a race in which he jumped ahead of Vettel at the start, and might just have challenged Hamilton later on. Rosberg was a comfortable second when he pitted on Lap 18, but inexplicably he crossed the white line exiting the pits and fell down the order after the safety car period when he too had to serve a drive-through penalty.

Glock's charge to the front started on the opening lap when, on soft compound Bridgestone Potenzas, he fought his way up to fifth place. Glock made his first stop, for more soft tires, on Lap 19 and had already moved into the podium places, but the Safety Car period erased that.

After the caution, Glock battled hard to defend his fourth position. Soon after that became third and he made his final pit stop from second place, switching to the super soft options. He continued to push hard and closed in on the race lead, ultimately landing as runner up.

As far as the points race, Brawn GP extended the team's lead in the Constructors' Championship with both Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello bringing their Brawn-Mercedes cars home in fifth and sixth positions respectively. Both drivers had good first laps to set up the points-scoring opportunity, with Barrichello gaining two places to be running in seventh position and Button making up one place to tenth position. Barrichello pitted first on Lap 19, gaining a place over Red Bull's Mark Webber, while Button was held up behind McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen before pitting earlier than planned when the Safety Car came out.

A problem with engaging neutral at his second stop on Lap 46 cost Barrichello valuable time, allowing Button, who was fueled five laps longer, to gain fifth place when he stopped on Lap 51. After a below-par qualifying performance on Saturday, the team recovered well to add a further seven points to its Championship tally with three races of the season remaining.

In the driver's stakes, Button has 84 points to Barrichello's 69 with three races to go, while Vettel remains third with 59 and Webber fourth on 51.5.

F1 heads next to Suzuka International Racing Course in Japan for our favorite round on one of our favorite tracks, the Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix on October 4 (MFL photography provided by Brawn GP, Panasonic Toyota Racing, ING Renault F1, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, BMW Sauber F1 and Red Bull Racing).

SingTel Singapore Grand Prix
Singapore Street Circuit, Marina Bay, Singapore

www.formula1.com

NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series
O'Reilly Super Start Batteries NHRA Fall Nationals, September 24-27
Texas Motorplex, Ennis, Texas

Tony Schumacher, Robert Hight, Greg Anderson, and Hector Arana scored huge playoffs victories at the 24th annual O'Reilly Super Start Batteries NHRA Fall Nationals presented by Castrol Syntec at Texas Motorplex, wins with huge points implications for all.

Schumacher and Hight used their wins at Texas Motorplex in Top Fuel and Funny Car, respectively, to springboard into the Full Throttle Drag Racing Series points lead as the Countdown to 1 playoffs hit the one-third mark with race two of six. Arana's win in Pro Stock Motorcycle kept him ahead of the two-wheeled pack, while former world champ Anderson moved from sixth up to third with his victory in Pro Stock.

The Top Fuel final was a continuation of the ongoing power struggle between the decade's only two world champs and a rematch of their Mac Tools U.S. Nationals final. The result turned out the same, with Schumacher leading Larry Dixon across the stripe, which was most unexpected here as no Top Fuel driver before Schumacher had won in the right lane all day. Schumacher got the win, the 60th of his career, 3.944, 312.86 to 4.23, 225.18.

Schumacher, who won his first Top Fuel race here 10 years ago, marched the U.S. Army dragster to his 94th career final and past T.J. Zizzo, points rival Antron Brown, and rookie of the year hopeful Spencer Massey, the latter with a 3.960 that left him .003-second shy of lane choice against Dixon.

Dixon, who qualified No. 1 for the sixth time this year, powered his Jason McCulloch-tuned maroon marauder past first-time starter Mike Bowers and longtime beer rival Brandon Bernstein with runs of 3.88 and 3.93. The two-time event winner (2001, 2007) then dispatched last week's runner-up, Shawn Langdon, with a 3.95 to reach career final round number 91.

The Funny Car final also had points-leading implications as Hight's victory, his second straight of the playoffs, moved him past teammate Ashley Force Hood and to the head of the pack, not a bad turnaround for a guy who barely made it into the Countdown to 1. Hight's close 4.21, 296.44 to 4.27, 292.58 decision over Jack Beckman gives Hight a 17-point edge on Force Hood.

Subaru Road Racing Team co-drivers Kristian Skavnes and Andrew Aquilante dropped to third in points with a seventh-place finish in the No. 111 Subaru Hight reached his third straight final round by powering his Jimmy Prock-tuned Automobile Club of Texas Mustang from the No. 1 qualifying spot past Leif Helander, Tim Wilkerson, and teammate and then-points leader Force Hood in the semifinals. Hight's 4.27 in the final four earned him the all-important lane choice against Beckman.

Beckman reached his fourth final round of the year and his first since Norwalk in June with his Johnny West-wrenched Valvoline machine and reached third place in the points. Beckman defeated teammate Matt Hagan, John Force, and upset-minded Jerry Toliver in the semifinals in a close 4.54 to 4.55 count.

Anderson's considerable early-season woes must be a distant memory now as the former world champ now finds himself right in the thick of the playoff hunt, just 80 points behind leader Mike Edwards and just 15 markers behind second-place Jeg Coughlin. Anderson earned the win, the 58th of his career, by a narrow .002-second margin after tracking down Johnny Gray's .034 to .061 holeshot to win, 6.684, 207.11 to 6.713, 206.64.

Anderson, now a three-time winner here, reached his 86th career Pro Stock final with a surprising victory over Edwards, who had dominated every qualifying round and the first two rounds of eliminations. In a weird semifinal, Edwards was caught staring at the Tree after flickering his own stage bulb several times while pulling in. Anderson was long gone before Edwards, whose run was doubly affected when his Young Life/ART Pontiac broke traction. Prior to Edwards, Anderson had beaten Warren Johnson with a 6.68, then scored a super-narrow .0004-second victory over Allen Johnson's Dodge.

Reading runner-up Gray returned to the final round with his Dodge by upsetting regular season points frontrunner Coughlin in the semifinals after the Jegs.com Cobalt got loose on the launch. Prior to that Gray has gotten past fellow Mopar man Larry Morgan and Matt Hartford, who had upset No. 2 qualifier Jason Line in the opening stanza.

The Pro Stock Motorcycle final featured the class' top two points earners and the event's top two qualifiers and was a battle for the points lead between Arana and reigning season champ Eddie Krawiec. Krawiec got away first, .017 to .033, but Arana chased him down in the lights for his third straight win, 6.97, 190.67 to 7.00, 190.43. Arana, who entered the event in the points lead just nine points in front of Krawiec, leaves it with a 27-point edge.

Arana reached his third straight final round and fifth of the season aboard his Lucas Oil Buell from the No. 2 spot with a dominating early effort, including passes of 6.94 and 6.95 to trailer Joe DeSantis and David Hope, but he slowed a little in the semifinals to a 7.03 after Andrew Hines red-lighted to him.

Krawiec, the No. 1 qualifier aboard his Screamin' Eagle/Vance & Hines Harley Davidson, reached his ninth final of the season but his first in three races by riding his V-Rod past Redell Harris, Angie McBride, and last year's runner-up, Matt Smith, with passes of 7.02, 6.99, and a 7.00 that earned him final-round lane choice.

Next for the Full Throttle Drag Racing Series is the O'Reilly NHRA Mid-South Nationals on October 2-4 at Memphis Motorsports Park (MFL photography provided by NHRA.com).

O'Reilly Super Start Batteries NHRA Fall Nationals
Texas Motorplex, Ennis, TX

www.nhra.com

American Le Mans Series
12th Annual Petit Le Mans powered by MAZDA6, September 23-26
Road Atlanta, Braselton, Georgia

Franck Montagny and Stephane Sarrazin gave Peugeot its first American Le Mans Series victory on Friday, winning a weather-shortened 12th annual Petit Le Mans powered by MAZDA6. Race officials, citing hazardous conditions due to torrential rains that fell at Road Atlanta just past the four-hour mark, called the race at eight hours, 44 minutes running.

Peugeot's two diesel-powered factory prototype coupes finished 1-2 with the pole-sitting 908 HDi of Pedro Lamy and Nic Minassian in second. The first of Audi Sport Team Joest's Audi R15 TDIs placed third, the car driven by Allan McNish and Dindo Capello. The Peugeot-Peugeot-Audi finish mirrored the end result at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June, and it ended Audi's nine-year unbeaten streak at Road Atlanta.

McNish and Capello dominated the race before the rains fell and led all but five of the first 168 laps. The two Peugeots got past McNish under yellow when the Scot looped the Audi under wet conditions barely past the two-hour mark. A few minutes later, the skies opened and officials parked the cars in pitlane.

The highly anticipated battle between the Peugeots and the Audis lived up to expectations in qualifying and the early part of the race. Both Montagny and Sarrazin had to fight back from a lap down on more than one occasion after the Peugeots' early race setup struggles.

It was sweet redemption for a team that lost out in last year's race by a little more than four seconds to McNish and Capello in an Audi R10 TDI.

Dyson Racing took its first Petit Le Mans victory with a victory in LMP2 for Marino Franchitti, Butch Leitzinger and Ben Devlin. Their Mazda-powered Lola B09/86 coupe had problems with gear selection early, but the Acura ARX-01b of Lowe's Fernandez Racing's Adrian Fernandez and Luis Diaz experienced steering issues throughout.

Nevertheless, the duo completed enough laps to clinch the team championship for Lowe's Fernandez and the manufacturer championships for Acura.

Franchitti and Leitzinger were class winners at Lime Rock in July, the first victory for the Dyson-Lola/Mazda partnership. The team also won for the first time at Road Atlanta in American Le Mans Series competition.

Things didn't look promising early as the Lola-Mazda dropped as far back as 27th overall before attrition started to take a toll on the class. There were the problems with the Lowe's Fernandez car, and the Team Cytosport Porsche RS Spyder of Klaus Graf, Sascha Maassen and Greg Pickett led 30 laps before a spin and loss of power sent it tumbling down the order.

Risi Competizione's Jaime Melo, Pierre Kaffer and Mika Salo won in GT2 in their Ferrari F430 GT, the fifth straight endurance victory for the team. A brilliant call by Salo to take wet tires before the rest of the GT2 field proved to be the difference, and it took him six laps to move the Ferrari past the five cars in front of him to take the lead for good.

BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team's Dirk Müller, Jörg Müller and Tommy Milner placed second in their BMW M3. Dirk Werner and Wolf Henzler were third in their Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, clinching the manufacturer championship for Porsche.

The Ferrari began 10th on the GT2 grid after a tire puncture limited Melo to one flying lap in qualifying. The Ferrari never cracked the top three until the rain fell. The opening portion saw the top six cars in class on the lead lap, another testament to the level of competition in the class.

The victory enabled the Risi team to stay alive in the class championship. Melo and Kaffer are 19 points behind the Flying Lizard Motorsports' duo of Patrick Long and Jörg Bergmeister with a maximum of 25 points remaining.

The Audi R15 TDI of McNish and Capello was the prototype winner in the MICHELIN GREEN X Challenge, a revolutionary award that goes to the cars that go the farthest the fastest and with the least environmental impact. The second Flying Lizard Porsche of Seth Neiman, Johannes van Overbeek and Darren Law was the GT winner. Porsche captured the manufacturer season championship in the environmentally based efficiency competition.

The final race in the 2009 American Le Mans Series is the four-hour Monterey Sports Car Championships at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, Calif., scheduled for Saturday, October 10 (MFL photography provided by ALMS and Audi).

12th Annual Petit Le Mans powered by MAZDA6
Road Atlanta, Braselton, GA

www.americanlemans.com

SCCA SPEED World Challenge Touring Car Championship
Toyo Tires Road Atlanta Grand Prix Presented by Dish Network, September 23-25
Road Atlanta, Braselton, Georgia

Seth Thomas earned a long overdue win Friday in Round Nine of the SPEED World Challenge Touring Car Championships at Road Atlanta, part of the Road Atlanta Grand Prix. Thomas' BimmerWorld teammates James Clay and Nick Esayian swept the podium, respectively.

In front family and friends, Thomas got a great launch from his third starting spot in the No. 38 BimmerWorld/GearWrench BMW 328i. At the start, he easily slipped in behind teammate Esayian, who started from the pole, and drafted behind him for the first 14 laps before passing Esayian for the lead. From there, Thomas cruised to his third SPEED Touring Car win of the season. He won by 1.692-seconds over Clay.

Clay, who started fifth in the No. 36 BimmerWorld/GearWrench BMW 328i, had to really battle throughout the race to find his way to the podium. Early on, Clay swapped paint with fourth-finishing Kuno Wittmer and fifth-place finisher Eric Foss.

On lap six, Clay finally cleared both Wittmer and Foss and set his sights on catching his teammate, Thomas, who was running second at the time. Running in a BimmerWorld nose-to-tail train, Clay, Thomas and Esayian, began to pull away from the rest of the field.

After Thomas passed Esayian for the top spot, Clay was right behind Esayian. Clay was pushing hard, but was content to let his teammate lead the way as long as all three cars could finish on the podium. Unfortunately for Esayian, on lap 20, he made a little bobble and it allowed Clay to pass him for second - which is where Clay finished.

Esayian finished third in the No. 34 BimmerWorld/GearWrench BMW 328i. He was under pressure by his teammates all race long, but, in the end, put together a solid drive to earn his first-career SPEED Touring Car podium.

Jason Saini leads the World Challenge Touring Car Drivers' Championship, with 892 to Pierre Kleinubing's 838 points. Peter Cunningham is third, with 812, followed by Thomas (806) and Charles Espenlaub, with 771. Mazda has a one point lead over Acura in the Manufacturers' Championship Presented by RACER Magazine. Mazda has 63 points and Acura has 62, followed by BMW, with 37.

SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge Touring Car next heads west to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for the season finale, Oct. 9-11.

Toyo Tires Road Atlanta Grand Prix Presented by Dish Network
Road Atlanta, Braselton, GA

www.world-challenge.com

Coming up:
Formula One
Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix, October 2-4
Suzuka International Racing Course, Suzuka City, Mie Prefecture, Japan
www.formula1.com

Grand-Am KONI Sports Car Challenge
Bosch Engineering Octoberfest, October 2-4
Virginia International Raceway, Alton, VA
www.grand-am.com

NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series
O'Reilly NHRA Mid-South Nationals, October 2-4
Memphis Motorsports Park, Memphis, TN
www.nhra.com

World Rally Championship
Rally Catalunya, October 2-4
Salou, Catalonia, Spain
www.wrc.com

American Le Mans Series
Monterey Sports Car Championships, October 8-11
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, CA
www.americanlemans.com

Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series
Grand Prix of Miami, October 8-10
Homestead Miami Speedway, Homestead, FL
www.grand-am.com

IndyCar Series
Firestone Indy 300, October 9-10
Homestead Miami Speedway, Homestead, FL
www.indycar.com

SCCA SPEED World Challenge Touring Car Championship
Monterey Sports Car Championships, October 9-11
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, CA
www.world-challenge.com

Formula DRIFT
Round 7: Judgment Day, October 16-17
Toyota Speedway at Irwindale, Irwindale, CA
www.formulad.com

National Guard American Drag Racing League
LenMar Motorsports ADRL World Finals V, October 23-24
Texas Motorplex, Ennis, TX
www.adrl.us

Super Lap Battle Time Attack
Finals, November 11
Buttonwillow Raceway Park, Buttonwillow, CA
superlapbattle.com

National Guard American Drag Racing League
LenMar Motorsports ADRL World Finals V, October 23-24
Texas Motorplex, Ennis, TX
www.adrl.us

Super Lap Battle Time Attack
Finals, November 11
Buttonwillow Raceway Park, Buttonwillow, CA
superlapbattle.com

Redline: Time Attack! Series
Round 8, November 14-15
Auto Club Speedway, Fontana, CA
www.redlinetimeattack.com

Battle of the Imports
Round 6: BOTI Southern California, November 22
Auto Club Dragway, Fontana, CA
www.battleoftheimports.com