Buttonwillow, CA – Round 3 at Buttonwillow Raceway created new energy for Gary Sheehan and Michael McColligan as both scored their first victories of the season. They both hope that the win translates into a championship.

In the Touring Car class, it was a three way fight for first place after Sean Milburn put his Bay Area Drafting BMW M3 in pole position. Gordon Pun qualified the Konig Wheels Honda Civic Type R in second place and Sheehan was third in the Konig Wheels Hyundai Genesis. Milburn has been very good at standing starts and he jumped out to a big lead at the start but Pun and Sheehan went after him and started to catch up. The Civic of Pun just did not seem to have enough but the Genesis of Sheehan had plenty of speed and actually managed to pass Milburn. The duo went on to have a great battle and actually had a small collision but Sheehan showed his experience in getting the most speed from his car and managed to win. Milburn finished second and Pun was third.

The Sportsman Class looked like it could belong to McColligan as he qualified well ahead of everyone else in the class and looked like the fastest car. However, he had a poor start and opened the door at Turn 1 for Marion Engelke’s Gary’s Air Bag Service BMW 328i. Engelke tried to take the position away but ran wide and was off the track. McColligan took the opportunity to open up as big of a gap as possible in the MC Racing Honda Civic. Behind him was Becky Arsham in the Konig Wheels Honda Civic who also saw the opportunity to build a gap over Engelke. Meanwhile Engelke who was furious with herself was determined to get back to the front. She started putting in quick laps in succession and passed some cars and set the fastest lap of the race in the process. At the end, she ran out of time and ended up with a very satisfactory second place behind McColligan. Arsham finished third.