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S P E C M I A T A Three Races, Three Winners in Texas Spec Miata Opener The NASA Texas Spec Miata season opener at Motorspor ts Ranch Houston kicked off with three races and three different winners. This class is dominated by the some of the most talented and consistent drivers in the region. Our drivers range in age from 13 to mid 60s, from rookies to veterans and students to doctors, boys to men and girls to women. For qualif ying Saturday, the skies were gray, the temperatures in the 50s with the wind blowing so hard you were glad you had a steering wheel to hold onto. Gale Corley ran the fastest lap on his four th lap, setting the pole at 1:48.362. P2 through P5 were Hernan Palermo, Alex Bachoura, John Babot and Michael Ross. Race one had all 33 entries finishing on the lead lap, however separated by as much as 1:31. Gale Corley and Alex Bachoura went back and for th several times for the lead, breaking away from the rest of the pack. The race for P3-P7 was heated, with numerous passes for position. Michael Ross was up to P3 and said, "I went into the bus stop and didn't slow the car enough, and it put me in P7 where I finished." Alex Bachoura was the winner of race one, followed by Gale Corley in second and John Babot. Third. Winner Alex Bachoura put down the fastest lap with a 1:49.059 on lap seven. The hard charger award went to Stephen Jeu, who moved up seven spor ts to finish P13. In race two, all drivers star ted where they finished in race one. Bachoura and Palermo had other commitments, so drivers moved up to fill in those star ting spots. Babot took the lead for the first three laps from Corley. Mike Ross took the second spot for a moment until Corley promptly got him back. With approximately one lap remaining, Babot went into Turn 2 with the lead when his engine let go and caught fire. Officials immediately threw the red flag so corner workers could get to the scene. The crews made quick work of the situation and the race ended shor t. The top five were Corley in first, Michael Ross in second and Vaughn Duar te No. 11 Gale Corley leads the field into Turn 1 in January and on take the win in the NASA Texas season opener at Motorsports Ranch Houston. No. 73 Michael Ross also had one win at the Texas opener. PAUL FLORES/MOHFLO PHOTOGR APHY 72