Cobra vs. Viper Classic in Ohio-Indiana Region Opener
April 22, 2007 - NASA's Super Touring Class was created this season to put different makes / models of cars on the track together with similar HP/Weight ratios to facilitate close competition. Four months into the young season...mission accomplished. When TeamBRE showed up at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on April 20th, it represented the third different NASA region that Tony Buffomante and the #34 Factory Five Cobra have competed in to-date. This event would prove to be the most competitive of Buffomante's season thus far, as David Pintaric's Dodge Viper and James Forbis' Z06 Corvette turned fast times in Saturday qualifying that toped the #34 by 4 tenths of a second.
Saturday's race was won by Buffomante after an intense battle with David Pintaric in lapped traffic. On Sunday, TeamBRE pulled the double, and gathered their 5th-straight ST-2 win, after another side-by-side affair with Pintaric. "We know where our deficiencies are now compared to the other makes at this track and we've got some work to do before the NASA Nationals in September", Buffomante said. "Once again the Hoosier Tires were great and I'm confident that we'll come back in a couple months with some new modifications that will upgrade our program even more by the end of the year."
Buffomante, leading ST-2 in the Cobra, is caught and passed by David Pintaric in the Viper (in-car video). Later in the same lap, Pintaric is collected by a spinning car in another class and Buffomante goes on the win.
Pintaric (in-car video), passes Buffomante for the ST-2 lead early in the race. The two cars go side-by-side from turn 5 through turn 8 before the Viper finally clears the Cobra.
While leading late in the race, Pintaric (in-car video) gets slowed by lapped traffic. Buffomante attempts a pass on the outside of the carousel, the two touch, and the Cobra goes on to win, while Pintaric has a tire go down as a result of the contact.
