- 13 Year Old Jimmy Moon Wins Back to Back at Laguna Seca!
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Group 1 Race 1 Saturday (Championship)
The Moon Bros. (Justin & Jimmy) had the front row, with Jessica Brunelli and Tim Traver in row two. Everybody made it through the first few corners cleanly, even as we saw some terrific side-by-side through Four, with Jimmy M. leading Justin M., Traver in P3, followed by Tim George, Jr., and Dom Bastien. (On that first lap frontrunners Brunelli, Tom Roberts and Alan Baia had a short ‘‘meeting,’’ if you will, and all came in for their stops instantly.) By lap three things had stabilized a bit, but on lap four Bastien went four-off, which gave P5 to Max Hyatt. At the front, Jimmy had bro Justin all over his gearbox – but Justin was under attack from Traver bigtime. On lap seven Traver was able to make his move on Justin work, but the duelling and dicing had let Jimmy extend his lead a bit. The last five laps were essentially uneventful, with the exception of Hyatt who on the last lap fell from fifth to seventh as Dr. Mike Edwards and Brunelli went by (and crossed the line fifth and sixth within 3/10s of each other). Traver had closed on winner Jimmy, less than a second behind at the checker, while Justin was a distant third and George, Jr., seven seconds further back in fourth. For Jimmy Moon, it was his first Race Series win, after moving up from Sportsman to Championship. Well done!
Group 1 Race 2 Sunday (Championship)
This one was an even more thrilling Battle of the Moons & Traver. They went side-by-side-by-side into Two… but by the exit they were single file, a small blanket sufficient to cover them, Jimmy the leader, Traver P2 Justin in third. The next time ‘round, Justin took a good look at taking over second from Traver, but no dice! Not the case on lap three, though, as Justin made his move on Traver in T3 stick. Laps four through nine saw the order stay the same –-Jimmy, Justin and Traver, juking and jiving -- with Brunelli a lurking fourth. Behind them was more hot and heavy action between Hyatt, Baia and Roberts. On lap 10 Justin snatched P1 from his brother in Turn Four but with these three still nose-to-tail rocketing into Five, Jimmy took the lead back by the exit. With four laps to go, Jimmy made a brave move in Turn Six work and now he had the lead back, Traver still right there in third. The next to last lap proved to be the day-ender for Justin, however: After grabbing first place from Jimmy with his own Turn Six pass, at the top of the hill a half-shaft let go and he skated off into the dirt in the Corkscrew. Jimmy won again, with Traver just a half-second back, Brunelli getting a fine third, followed by Roberts and Baia crossing the line within a couple car lengths of each other. Hyatt was sixth, Bastien seventh, with Edwards and Gary Manheimer the last of the runners.
 Jimmy Micro-Mini Moon moved up to Championship from Sportsman -- then won not once, but twice. Very cool.
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