Thanks to everyone that participated in our first event on the season. We where greeted with sporadic rain showers on Saturday with some dry sessions to make it a neat day. It is not often racers get to experience the wet and the dry on the same day. Sunday was beautiful with pure track record type conditions. Points have been updated at the "results" link
Reports from SM and HC:
SoCal Spec Miata racing from Willow Springs
The SoCal SM field was back out in great form for the season opener at Willow Springs. Saturday's rainy qualifying session saw Tyler Vance earning his first well-deserved pole by over half a second. By the start of the race, the clouds had broken, bringing great track conditions for an eventful T1. A fast start ended with a shuffle at the end of the straight, leaving Vance back several spots, and knocking Grant Westmorland and Clement Lee to the back of the field. While William Christian built up a significant lead, Chuck Mathews and Tyler Vance engaged in a close battle, and Westmorland and Lee put their heads down and drove back up through the field. At the line, Westmorland edged Christian out by just nine hundreths of a second, with Lee coming in third, followed by Mathews and Vance.
William Christian took the pole in Sunday's dry conditions and also the lead at the start, which was a great example of the close but clean racing SM is known for. Christian took the lead, chased closely by Lee and Mathews. Westmorland remained the man to beat, pulling off his second win of the weekend, followed by Christian, Mathews, Lee, and Vance. Spec Miata will be back March 13-14 at Auto Club Speedway with a great turnout anticipated and some exciting racing guaranteed. See you there.
HC at Willow Springs
The Socal Honda Challenge season started off well with competitors challenging for wins in the H2 and H4 classes. In H2, the class saw two first time winners over the weekend with Greg Neuwirth taking the victory on Saturday in a rain soaked race over new comer to the series Kirk Miller and Manny Coats. Sunday turned out to be a beautiful dry race day which provided the added grip needed for some much faster laps times. In practice and qualifying, it looked like Manny Coats would have the speed to take the win, but a mechanical issue in the 3rd lap made it impossible for him to finish the race. Stephan Papadakis and Greg Neuwirth put on a great spectacle battling throughout the race passing, and then re-passing each other multiple times. In the end, Papadakis was able to pull off his first victory in H2 followed closely by Neuwirth in second with Junior Miller making up the podium spots. In the H4 class, Loren Fancy was able to pull off the win in the Saturday and Sunday races followed in second by series new comer Mark Homer whole also secured second place in the Saturday and Sunday races. John McNulty was able to bring it home in 3rd on Saturday, but another series new comer Michel Stern was able to snag the 3rd podium spot for the Sunday race.
With the February races in the books, everyone in the Socal Honda Challenge series is looking forward to Cal Speedway next month. See you there.
Reports from SM and HC:
SoCal Spec Miata racing from Willow Springs
The SoCal SM field was back out in great form for the season opener at Willow Springs. Saturday's rainy qualifying session saw Tyler Vance earning his first well-deserved pole by over half a second. By the start of the race, the clouds had broken, bringing great track conditions for an eventful T1. A fast start ended with a shuffle at the end of the straight, leaving Vance back several spots, and knocking Grant Westmorland and Clement Lee to the back of the field. While William Christian built up a significant lead, Chuck Mathews and Tyler Vance engaged in a close battle, and Westmorland and Lee put their heads down and drove back up through the field. At the line, Westmorland edged Christian out by just nine hundreths of a second, with Lee coming in third, followed by Mathews and Vance.
William Christian took the pole in Sunday's dry conditions and also the lead at the start, which was a great example of the close but clean racing SM is known for. Christian took the lead, chased closely by Lee and Mathews. Westmorland remained the man to beat, pulling off his second win of the weekend, followed by Christian, Mathews, Lee, and Vance. Spec Miata will be back March 13-14 at Auto Club Speedway with a great turnout anticipated and some exciting racing guaranteed. See you there.
HC at Willow Springs
The Socal Honda Challenge season started off well with competitors challenging for wins in the H2 and H4 classes. In H2, the class saw two first time winners over the weekend with Greg Neuwirth taking the victory on Saturday in a rain soaked race over new comer to the series Kirk Miller and Manny Coats. Sunday turned out to be a beautiful dry race day which provided the added grip needed for some much faster laps times. In practice and qualifying, it looked like Manny Coats would have the speed to take the win, but a mechanical issue in the 3rd lap made it impossible for him to finish the race. Stephan Papadakis and Greg Neuwirth put on a great spectacle battling throughout the race passing, and then re-passing each other multiple times. In the end, Papadakis was able to pull off his first victory in H2 followed closely by Neuwirth in second with Junior Miller making up the podium spots. In the H4 class, Loren Fancy was able to pull off the win in the Saturday and Sunday races followed in second by series new comer Mark Homer whole also secured second place in the Saturday and Sunday races. John McNulty was able to bring it home in 3rd on Saturday, but another series new comer Michel Stern was able to snag the 3rd podium spot for the Sunday race.
With the February races in the books, everyone in the Socal Honda Challenge series is looking forward to Cal Speedway next month. See you there.
