September 15, 2008 – ATLANTA, GA – Todd Lamb earned his second straight Spec Miata National Championship this past weekend at the NASA Championships at Mid Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, OH. Driving his #84 1999 Mazda Miata, Lamb became the first two time NASA Spec Miata Champion while beating a strong field of 65 drivers from across the country.

Lamb started the weekend by winning the first qualifying race in the rain on Friday after starting tenth, making the pass for the lead on the final lap and beating Mark Bennett to the checkered flag. Saturday’s qualifying race included a large mid-pack wreck that happened right in front of Lamb, who started 21st. Lamb avoided the melee and was up to ninth on the opening lap. On the restart Lamb jumped up to fifth and eventually finished second to winner Bennett.

Todd Lamb: “This was a deep field as evidenced by the practice and qualifying times in both the wet and the dry. Generally I can get a good feel for the grip in the wet really quickly, so I was happy to see the rain falling on Friday for the first race. I didn’t get a very good qualifying run either day, but I was lucky to make up for that in the qualifying races Friday and Saturday and avoid any incidents that would have put me deep in the field for the championship race on Sunday.”

Lamb and Bennett split the qualifying race wins, but by virtue of fastest race lap Lamb started on pole for the championship race on Sunday. Bennett, Shawn Slattery, Sammy Valafar, and Mat Pombo rounded out the top five on the grid. Lamb got the jump at the drop of the green and led every lap, holding off Bennett in the early laps and Valafar in the closing laps to take the win. The final order was Lamb, Valafar, Mark Drennan, Bennett, and Slattery.

Todd Lamb: “It is unbelievable to be on the top step of the podium for the second year in a row. I have a lot of people to thank – the entire crew at OPM worked late at night and were up early each morning to make sure the car was prepared exactly how I wanted it. Kinetic-Sunbelt Engines have made amazing horsepower all year, and my motor was one of the strongest on track all weekend. Traqmate data acquisition and video allowed me to make instant comparisons on setup and find the last few critical tenths I needed to stay up front. Jim Drago built me a fast car, and Toyo, Mazda, Hawk, and SafeRacer rounded out the perfect winning combination.”

In-car video is available here:

Fri/Sat Qualifying Races
Sunday Championship Race

Lamb returns to driving duties next weekend in the Koni Challenge race at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah.

Posted by Todd Lamb on 09/15 at 11:29 AM


Kinetic Motorsports Up Front in New Jersey

September 2, 2008 – BUFORD, GA – With their recent win in Canada, Kinetic Motorsports carried a lot of momentum into last weekend’s Koni Challenge event at New Jersey Motorsports Park. The weekend was a success despite the final outcome, with Kinetic drivers Todd Lamb and Nic Jonsson qualifying their GS BMW M3’s second and third.

Kevin Molloy, driving with Kinetic co-owner Nic Jonsson,  returned to Koni Challenge action for the first time since his recovery from cancer.  Jonsson, doing double duty in the Krohn Racing Daytona Prototype, spent very little time in the GS #79 Molloy Interiors/Kinetic BMW M3 prior to qualifying, yet managed to put the car third on the grid. Jonsson led many laps prior to turning the car over to Molloy, who kept it out of trouble in the caution-filled race and finished 13th.

Todd Lamb, co-driving with Andy Lally for the second time this year, qualified the GS #80 Kinetic-Sunbelt BMW M3 second, missing pole position by a mere .008 seconds. Lamb led many laps in the opening stint before handing the car over to Lally at the halfway point. Lally was on a charge and up to fourth after the pit stop, when contact from another competitor caused a slow tire leak. The subsequent tire change was costly, but Lally fought his way back to 12th before the race ended. Lally also did double duty over the weekend, winning in the GT class.

Andy Lally: “This was a tough one to swallow. We had such a great car from the moment we rolled off the trailer and if we didn’t get hit we would have had a very good shot at winning another race for Kinetic. Todd did an awesome job in both qualifying and the race. He picked up the new track really fast and the car looked great leading the field.”

Todd Lamb: “This is the third Kinetic-Sunbelt car I’ve driven, and they have all been front-runners. Kinetic has these BMW’s figured out and I’m sure they will be the first to sort out the new M3’s for next year.  As usual, Andy was amazing with his advice and spotting. Thanks to Nic and Russell for putting me in a winning combination – I hope we can finish out the season together.”

Lee Davis and Kinetic co-owner Russell Smith came up to speed quickly in their ST #33 Luna-C/Kinetic BMW 330i. They qualified 26th and finished 20th in a very competitive ST field, navigating through the many on-track incidents untouched.

Ed Hall, Team Manager: “I am excited and encouraged by the continued improvement the team is making. The cars are reliable and fast,  the pit stops are better each week, and everyone is having fun while working hard! Everyone on the team is looking forward to our next race at Miller. Last year we had one of the fastest cars, but unfortunately we experienced a race ending crash early in the event.”

The race will air on SPEED Sunday, Sept 7th at 2pm EDT. Kinetic Motorsports returns to racing action Sept. 19-21 at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah.

Posted by Todd Lamb on 09/02 at 11:27 AM