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2023 50/50 Xtreme Series: Round 4 Series Finale

The final race of the 50/50 Xtreme Series was decided by just one point and three laps. Our newest Sportsman driver in the mix, Aaron Castro, not only closed the deal on the series win today but also finished 2nd overall in Round 4, against two Expert drivers.

Short Story
Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart* 558 236 4327.801
2 Aaron Castro 544 182 4347.334
3 George Peters* 541 181 4459.477
4 Kevin Webster 507 149 4426.83
5 Jerry Pearson 273 98 2311.258

*Expert Driver

Race 1: Jag Hobbies NC-2  70′ Boss Mustang Hardbodies
Home Cook’n, George Peters, Aaron Castro

The Jag NC-2 chassis is a very serious racing platform. However,  with these stock AutoWorld Super III bodies installed, they can be a bit unpredictable.

George Peters was on fire in Race 1 with three 2nd-place segment finishes and completing the race just eight seconds behind the race winner and on the same lap!  Detailed Results

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 140 64 1352.88
2 George Peters 140 50 1423.44
3 Aaron Castro 136 47 1291.1
4 Jerry Pearson 134 46 1365.84
5 Kevin Webster 114 28 1384.37
Race 2: MegaG+ 1.7 “Modified”
Home Cook’n, Jerry Pearson, Kevin Webster

This car is the most competitive platform out there, by far. This race had three different segment winners, Jerry Pearson won two of the five segments!

In the end, Jerry Pearson finished on the same lap as the race winner and less than a fraction of a second behind. Way, way competitive racing!  Detailed Results

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 139 53 945.131
2 Jerry Pearson 139 52 945.422
3 Kevin Webster 135 45 982.405
4 Aaron Castro 138 44 999.324
5 George Peters 134 41 976.465
Race 3: MegaG 1.7 Whelen/SK Modifieds (IROC)
Home Cook’n, Aaron Castro, George Peters

We just couldn’t get enough of the MG+ platform. This set was Box Stock 1.7 chassis’ with the new “paper” bodies. Again, very competitive. George Peters drove the wheels off his cars, winning two of the four segments and holding on to a 5-point lead over Aaron Castro going into the final segment. George was sitting in a very nice position going into the final segment, just one lap and one point behind the leader. In the end, George struggled with the Blue lane. At the same time, Kevin Webster came alive, besting George by only one lap but bagging the final podium spot and dropping George to a 4th-place finish, handing Aaron the points he needed to bag the 2nd-place podium spot. Again, way close racing with the MG+ platform. Detailed Results

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 139 55 1036.9
2 Aaron Castro 135 47 1042.257
3 George Peters 134 46 1039.166
4 Kevin Webster 128 40 1042.051
Race 4: Viper V-SPEC “SPEC STOCK” Lexan

The final race of the series,  a very fast and very competitive class that is extremely competitive. This one was mostly a battle between Aaron Castro and George Peters, both bagging two 2nd-place segment finishes. In the end, George, after a couple of bad heats was five points behind Aaron going into the final segment. George needed a great segment and some luck. Aaron would finish fourth in the segment and George would finish in 2nd-place, three laps up on Aaron but tied in points. Aaron would take the 2nd-place podium spot with a 6-second better total run time. Detailed Results

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart 140 64 992.894
2 Aaron Castro 135 44 1014.65
3 George Peters 133 44 1020.408
4 Kevin Webster 130 36 1018.002

So, there you have it. The 2023 50/50 Xtreme Series is in the books. Sportsman driver, Aaron Castro wins it over hard-charging Kevin Webster in the final round. Great driving by our newest member and congrats on the series win!

2023 50/50 Xtreme Series Final Overall Standings
Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Aaron Castro 1559 583 13187.46
2 Kevin Webster 1532 491 15719.91
3 Jerry Pearson 634 244 8530.101
4 Eric Lane 339 112 6219.998
5 Shaylin Maddox 214 76 1574.672
6 Grace Maddox 82 45 716.313
7 Abe Maddox 81 42 789.937
1 Steve Stewart* 1782 820 15347.45
2 George Peters* 1337 469 9458.514
3 Jordan Walker* 141 75 2213.675

*Expert

Okay, that’s it for now. Stay tuned for details on next Saturday’s Kid’s Race and 2023 Season Awards Presentations.  We may do some team racing with qualifying and combining the fastest with the slowest on each team, we’ll see. Just a fun day at the track regardless.

Awards to be presented:
      • 2023 50/50 Xtreme Series Winner – Sportsman
      • 2023 Season Champ – Sportsman
      • 2023 Season Champ – Junior
      • 2023 Most Improved Driver
      • 2023 Rookie of the Year
      • 2023 Team of the Year

Okay, shut up and drive!

2023 50/50 Xtreme Series: Round 4 Series Finale

2023 50/50 Xtreme Series Round 4 Postponed

Yeah, we thought we had enough to make it official but a couple of teams didn’t make the start. Nevertheless, four of us (and later three) made the best of the ready-to-go SR3 “Fast Esses” road course and clicked off seven “unofficial” races on the day!

I won’t bore you with the details but we stuck to magnet cars and had a blast racing until just after 7:00 PM.

Jag NC-2’s with AW Mustang bodies – Home Cook’n, Jerry Pearson, Aaron Castro  (IROC) 

MG+ 1.7 Modifieds – Home Cook’n, Aaron Castro, Jerry Pearson 

Home Cook’n, Aaron Castro, Jerry Pearson – Viper V-SPEC “SPEC STOCK” Lexan

Wizzard Storm P3’s – Home Cook’n, Aaron Castro, Kevin Webster

Late Model Dirt Cars (440X2 wide-pans) – Home Cook’n, Aaron Castro, Kevin Webster

The venerable MG 1.5 with GT-40 hardbodies – Home Cook’n, Aaron Castro, Kevin Webster

Webster Motorsports MG+ 1.7 1970 Camaros – Home Cook’n, Aaron Castro, Kevin Webster

All of these cars were awesome to race and only Kevin had a bad heat because of car/controller issues.  Racing was very close in all events and the two Sportsman drivers certainly gave Home Cook’n a run for his money all day.

Looking forward to the series and season finale!

Okay, shut up and drive!

 

Open Track Day on the SR3 “Fast Esses” Road Course

The one race of the day podium: Jared Johnson, Abe Maddox, Madeline Johnson

For a holiday weekend, there sure wasn’t a shortage of racers available. Team Johnson showed up first and got in a bunch of laps before Team Maddox arrived to heat things even more.

Mostly hotlapping and practice with Madeline Johnson having the most laps in practice. As expected, the practice and hotlapping got a little boring and many wanted to do some actual racing. So we setup a race with all six drivers, full rotation, no fueling, and 20-lap heats.  

With juniors and adults in this one, it was going to be a team race between Team Johnson and Team Maddox. Racing with juniors is always interesting, especially with this bunch. Team Johnson had two junior drivers, Team Maddox had two junior drivers. So, one adult driver and two junior drivers for each team.

To make it fairer, we set the max lane voltage to 12v instead of 15v. The juniors could decide what voltage they wanted to run. The younger juniors settled on 9 or 10v. It was an IROC race using Jag Hobbies Augoran TR-3 cars, only slightly modified cars but fast and stuck.

With only one marshal to support the whole track, we had quite a few yellow flag situations but it worked out pretty well and everybody finished!

Superstar Junior driver, Abe Maddox bursted into the lead early on, leading the race for the first two heats with Jared Johnson a very close second. In the third of six heats, Jared took over the lead in the race and kept it from then on. In the fifth heat, Abe seemed to have trouble and would lose six laps to Jared. After the first two heats it looked like the boys were going to dominate things with Abe, Jared, and Mathew Johnson comfortably in the top three spots.

Shaylin Maddox was having none of that and fought hard to get into third place through heats 3 and 5 and looked like she was certain to hang on to the final podium spot. In an amazing performance, Madeline Johnson would win the fifth and the final sixth heat, catapulting her ahead of Shaylin and bagging the final podium spot in a very hard-fought and chaotic race.

Wow! A very impressive performance by everyone. Very cool to see the junior drivers focus so well and take advantage of opportunities to improve their results. 

In the end, even though he would finish the race with the hardest car and one of the hardest lanes (red), Jared remained focused on the task at hand and held onto his solid lead, taking the checkered flag ahead of hard-charging junior, Abe Maddox. Shaylin Maddox narrowly missed the podium by just one lap and one point.

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Jared Johnson 115 85 1038.928
2 Abe Maddox 110 72 1049.459
3 Madeline Johnson 93 60 1055.91
4 Shaylin Maddox 92 59 1060.096
5 Matthew Johnson 61 38 1144.309
6 Grace Maddox 69 34 1073.986

Awesome track day! Thank you all for supporting Stewart Raceway, especially on a holiday weekend! 

Next Saturday is round 4 of the 2023 50/50 Xtreme Series. Right now I don’t have enough confirmed RSVPs for round 5, so round 4 could be the finale, we’ll see what happens.

Okay, shut up and drive!

 

2023 50/50 Xtreme Series: Round 3, A Fine Day on the SR3 Oval

Abe Maddox pointing out his 1161 laps in practice before round 3.

Race 1: Johnny Lightning “Shaunadega” Vintage NASCAR (IROC) 18v
JL “Shaunadega” NASCAR podium: Home Cook’n, Aaron Castro, George Peters

George Peter’s dragged these cool cars out of his archives to run on the SR3 oval. They did not disappoint anybody. These cars are a hoot to drive, fast, and loose, but very predictable. The venerable pancake motor with vintage NASCAR bodies is a blast to race on an oval. The main battle in this one was between Home Cook’n, Aaron Castro, and George Peters, with Aaron finishing a close second and on the same lap as the winner. A secondary battle was going on between Sportsman drivers, Kevin Webster and Shaylin Maddox. Shaylin had never driven the SR3 oval course nor had she ever driven a Johnny Lightning “Shaunadega” car. In the end, Shaylin managed to take third in the final two segments, besting Kevin by four laps and just four points. Great driving!  Detailed Results

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart* 156 59 702.416
2 Aaron Castro 156 55 681.966
3 George Peters* 152 53 697.333
4 Shaylin Maddox 126 36 704.308
5 Kevin Webster 122 32 714.1
Race 2: MegaG+ 1.7 “Modified” 18v
MG+ Modified podium: Hone Cook’n, Aaron Castro, George Peters

This relatively new class has been very interesting and competitive. The “paper” bodies transform the MG+ chassis into a real speedster by virtue of less weight and overall mass, making the MG+ 1.7 platform much more exciting to drive. Unfortunately, Team Maddox had to abandon racing after the first event due to their younger drivers favoring other interests. That would leave just four of us to complete round 3 but it was still hot and heavy racing from then on. Race was yet another barn burner with Aaron Castro putting in a fierce effort to win Race 2. In the end, each segment of the race was identical in terms of finishing order with Aaron finishing on the same lap as the leader again!  Detailed Results

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart* 158 56 405.562
2 Aaron Castro 158 55 405.935
3 George Peters* 154 49 405.545
4 Kevin Webster 141 28 406.317
Race 3: OS3 TFX “Box Stock” 1968 and 70 Camaro Hard Bodies (IROC) 18v
TFX Podium: Aaron Castro, Home Cook’n, George Peters

In the spirit of the Aurora ThunderJet, these cars are completely stock TFX chassis’. Very challenging to drive, even on an oval. Sportsman driver, Aaron Castro, dominated Race 3 winning three of the four segments and clearly demonstrating his diverse driving skills with these fast but loose cars. Expert driver and veteran T-Jet driver, George Peters, fought hard for the win in this one but Aaron clicked off four perfect 40-lap segments and sealed the deal with a convincing win in the final segment.  Detailed Results

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Aaron Castro 160 61 1029.151
2 Steve Stewart* 155 55 1028.422
3 George Peters* 146 44 1037.697
4 Kevin Webster 120 28 1042.492
Race 4: Viper V-SPEC “SPEC STOCK” Lexan GTP 15v
Viper V-SPEC Podium: Home Cook’n, Aaron Castro, George Peters

One of our faster classes, these cars are essentially “box stock” Viper V-SPEC chassis’ with a Lexan body. No other mods are allowed. The fastest cars we ran in Round 3 and probably the most adrenaline-producing of the bunch. The final “official” race of the day was probably the most competitive of all with four very fast V-SPEC cars duking it out on the oval.  The big story of the day was the Sportsman points battle between Kevin Webster and Aaron Castro. Kevin was leading the points chase by 21 over Aaron going into Round 3. Kevin knew he wasn’t having his best day going into the final race and was clearly on a mission to salvage the day with a win.  Kevin came out of the gate with guns blazing and very fast laps, clinging onto second place until segment 3, when he had a disastrous run in the Blue lane only completing 34 laps.  George Peters was in a solid third position until segment 3 when Aaron Castro came out of nowhere and won the segment with a perfect 40 laps completed. That would set the stage for an epic battle in the final segment. In the end, Home Cook’n managed to hold onto a slim 2-lap lead to take the win. The final segment was very close with Aaron and George putting in a perfect 40-laps and Kevin only losing one lap but with the best median lap time of the segment.  That’s some very competitive racing, folks.  Detailed Results

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart* 158 61 501.295
2 Aaron Castro 156 47 503.668
3 George Peters* 154 40 505.022
4 Kevin Webster 151 40 505.363
Overall Results for Round 3
Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart* 627 231 2637.695
2 Aaron Castro 630 218 2620.72
3 George Peters* 606 186 2645.597
4 Kevin Webster 534 128 2668.272
5 Shaylin Maddox 126 36 704.308

So cool to have Shaylin in the mix. She’s getting better and better each race and adapts amazingly well to every car, layout, and race format we throw at her. Way to go, Shaylin!

2023 50/50 Xtreme Series Points Standings after Round 3
Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart* 1477 686 15573.7
2 Aaron Castro 1456 604 15715.95
3 Kevin Webster 1256 398 16165.68
4 Jerry Pearson 541 190 8600.651
5 George Peters* 606 186 2645.597
6 Eric Lane 339 112 6219.998
7 Martha Elderon 180 60 2304.775
8 Shaylin Maddox 126 36 704.308

By winning one race and coming in a close second in the other three events, Aaron Castro has rocketed into the lead in the Sportsman standings. With two more rounds to go, Kevin Webster is going to need a lot of luck and some very good driving to get back into a series-win position.

Vintage Fray T-Jets podium: Home Cook’n, Aaron Castro, George Peters

We actually didn’t stop racing after the four “official” races. The four of us clicked off four more fuel races, ending with a Fray T-Jet “slip-on” IROC race! Surprisingly, Aaron finished just two laps down on the leader having never raced a Fray car before.

Stay tuned for details on our next events at Stewart Raceway. Next weekend will be an open track and, hopefully, some junior racing. Round 4 of the series will return to the SR3 “Fast Esses” road course.

Okay, shut up and drive!

Open Track Day Report, November 4, 2023

Home’s Cookn’s “Paper” Modified body.

Well, for just being a track day, we sure did a lot of racing Saturday. Team Pearson, Webster Motorsports, and Castro Racing all showed up to test the new MegaG+ 1.7 “paper” Modified bodies, which by all indications, seem to have been very successful.

The paper bodies make the platform handle much better and most drivers agreed, as did their lap times. Martha Elderon had a fantastic day with the MG+ Modified platform (Jerry’s car), putting in the fastest, best average, and best median lap of the first-ever race for this class. Martha was on fire and finished the race on the podium in third place!

Check out Martha’s lap times with the MegaG+ 1.7 “paper” Modified platform.

While we had enough drivers early on, Team Pearson would exit the paddock shortly after the MG+ Modified race, which left us with just three drivers.

Box Stock TFX 68 & 71 camaros. 16ohm arms, 15T crowns.

The remaining three of us decided to keep on racing and clicked off four IROC races: TFX “Box Stock” Camaros; Jag TR-3 “Modified” Augorans; Jag “NC-2 “Lites” with George’s old Buick hardbodies; and ended the night with Kevin’s cool Wizzard Storm Extreme set.

Jag Hobbies TR-3 “Modified” with Jag Augoran bodies.

Way fun day and night! Thank you all for supporting the program and making it a very enjoyable event!

We’ll try again next week to complete Round 3 of the 50/50 Xtreme Series, which is expected to be ran on the SR3 oval course.

Okay, shut up and drive!