Spring Memory broken?

Running an Early Access maxed out 05 Fairlady Z. No points spent on anything else except buying all the tuning perks and car unlocks back (I felt it's unfair towards the progression). I beat Spring Memory instantly on the 1st phase, and when his buddies come and I overtake all three, he randomly rockets out from the back and overtakes me. Is this normal? This feels like fighting Shuwa Shuwa Strong again only you get baited into thinking you can actually win. I'm on my 6th try and I can already sense he'll be a doozy.

EDIT WHILE WRITING: wow so I only managed to beat him just now because he hit me from behind trying to overtake me with a car to my left, and then he slowed down while curbing and also luckily hit a car seconds later. And of course he disappears from the parking lot leaving me with a negative W/L ratio and without the chance for a fair win on a rematch.