Gates311 / AMS Sponsored Evo X – Spring Mountain Race Report

Ryan was excited to head back out West after four consecutive rounds of the Redline Time Attack! series on the East coast. With more competition, faster cars and larger tracks, the remaining West coast events looked to be very interesting.

The team over at AMS Performance prepped the car to perfection as always, ensuring plenty of track time at the event to focus on car setup. The car headed West with only a few slight changes to the well proven setup. Anticipating a smooth track, the team went with higher spring rates on the JRZ shocks, adjusted the ride height and re-installed the front splitter that was taken off for Round 6 at E-Town. With these minor changes, Ryan was confident that he would be competitive out West against some of the fastest Time Attack cars in the US.

Once at the track for Saturday practice, Ryan along with Bryan from JRZ and the AMS Performance Race team, began to work on the new setup. This was the first time Ryan had ever driven at Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch, so the first practice session was also a learning experience. The track flowed fairly well so learning the track was straight forward. The initial practice went fairly well, but Ryan wanted one more practice session before making any changes to the car. After the second practice session, a few slight changes were made to the car. The springs were changed out for a set with less rate, Bryan made a few damping changes and slight alignment adjustments were made. The car felt much better with the changes, so Ryan focused on the track for the rest of the practice sessions.

With only one Practice session on Sunday morning, the car went out unchanged. Things went fine, and Ryan set the fastest practice laptime with a smooth and conservative lap to get things in order for the first Time Attack session.

During the first Time Attack session, Ryan pushed the car much harder than in the practice sessions and posted a 1:25.5 laptime, which was the fastest laptime for Modified Class by 1.5 seconds. Coming off the track, Ryan was unhappy with his performance and how the car had reacted during the Time Attack session. Ride height was adjusted on the car and Ryan took some time to focus and evaluate the session. With only one Time Attack session left, Ryan knew it was important to improve his time.

Ryan went out in the second Time Attack session with a clear head and focused on being smooth to improve his time. On the last lap of the session, Ryan posted a 1:24. 8 laptime which was fast enough to win the Modified AWD class and the Overall Modified Class Championship at Round 7. With the elevated level of competition at this event, Ryan was happy to come away with his 6th straight Overall Modified Class win.

With this win, Ryan also clinched the Modified AWD Class Championship for 2009, solidifying Ryan as the dominant force in the Modified Class for 2009. With only a few events left, a few slight changes will be made to the car. Expect Ryan to be faster than ever for the Super Lap Battle Finale at Buttonwillow Raceway and the Season Finale of the Redline Time Attack! series at Auto Club Speedway in November.

Ryan Gates would like to thank his sponsors for their incredible support in 2009:

AMS Performance
Nitto Tires
K&N Filters
JRZ Suspension
etnies
Carbonetic
Girodisc
Seibon Carbon
Forced Performance
Double Down Motorsports
Evasive Motorsports

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