Yeah, we were in the throws of the 2024 Summer 50/50 Series, but we couldn’t seem to get to round 2. Summer is challenging, with school out, then back in, vacations, and many other things to do.
We’ll combine the points from Round 1 of the 50/50 series with this new “Extreme” Series, Round 2. The new series differs greatly from what we’ve been doing regarding race day formats.
The Extreme Series focuses a race day on just one platform and a series of events that start with time-trial qualifying, a series of main event qualifier races (winner advances to the main event), a last-chance main qualifier (top 2 finishers advance to the main event), and a consolation race (for all drivers who did not transfer to the main (Feature) event. This format ensures that all drivers who start the event can race at least three of the five races in the days official schedule.
We completed Round 2 today with just five drivers, which worked well despite the low turnout, but some felt that the qualifier races were not full enough, and the Consolation race only had one driver in it (easy podium if you don’t DNF). On the brighter side, the format provided more marshals for each race except the Main (Feature) event, which made the racing more intense. We’ll play around with this new format for a few races and see how it goes.
Round 2 Short Story
The final feature event of the day was a dogfight between Home Cook’n and GP Designs, George Peters. The two tied on laps and total points, but Home Cook’n managed to squeak out the win by just 1/10th of a second over 120 laps of racing–amazingly close racing!
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Steve Stewart | 120 | 56 | 669.066 |
| 2 | George Peters | 120 | 56 | 669.166 |
| 3 | Jerry Pearson | 118 | 40 | 667.837 |
| 4 | Aaron Castro | 116 | 36 | 683.473 |
Qualifying
The chosen platform for this Round was the venerable AFX/Racemasters MegaG+ 1.7 chassis with a taped-on paper body instead of a traditional plastic hardbody.
Track: SR3 Road Course Fast Esses (Chicane) Date: Sep-07-2024 11:35 Class: MegaG+ 1.7 Modified Descr: Qualifying 5-lap Average Name Lap Time Speed (Mph) Place Steve Stewart 5.333 617 1 Jerry Pearson 5.942 554 2 George Peters 5.977 551 3 Aaron Castro 6.206 530 4 Kevin Webster 8.033 410 5
“B” Qualifier Race
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Jerry Pearson | 100 | 61 | 592.079 |
| 2 | Aaron Castro | 97 | 55 | 599.125 |
Sportsman driver, Jerry Pearson was on fire Saturday, second fastest in qualifying and transferring to the Main Event in his first qualifying race. Jerry bested Expert driver, Aaron Castro by 3 laps, setting up expectation that he just might win the Feature event. Detailed Results
“A” Qualifier Race
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Steve Stewart | 98 | 61 | 587.319 |
| 2 | George Peters | 98 | 55 | 599.857 |
| 3 | Kevin Webster | 81 | 44 | 595.232 |
After car issues before and during his qualifying session, George seemed to get the car dialed in and nearly forced Home Cook’n to have to get into the Main Event via the Last Chance Qualifier. Detailed Results
Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ) Race
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | George Peters | 100 | 61 | 563.909 |
| 2 | Aaron Castro | 96 | 55 | 570.063 |
| 3 | Kevin Webster | 83 | 44 | 571.076 |
With only two drivers transferring to the Main Event, George put in a perfect run in the LCQ race, besting Aaron by a whopping 4 laps.
Detailed Results
Consolation Race
Webster Motosports, Kevin Webster. Didn’t have to run this one. Kevin didn’t have a great day, but he runs his own bodies and fought hard all day.
Main (Feature) Event
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Steve Stewart | 120 | 56 | 669.066 |
| 2 | George Peters | 120 | 56 | 669.166 |
| 3 | Jerry Pearson | 118 | 40 | 667.837 |
| 4 | Aaron Castro | 116 | 36 | 683.473 |
In what just might be the closest race ever recorded on any Stewart Raceway course, the dogfight between Home Cook’n and George Peters continued in the Main Event. After a whole lot of sweat, adrenaline, and superb driving by all, Home Cook’n squeaked out the win by just 1/10 of a second over the GP Designs Expert driver, George Peters. It really doesn’t get closer than this, race fans. George won two segments, Home Cook’n won two segments. They tied on laps, tied in points, and just one-tenth of a second in total runtime separating the two drivers at the end—simply amazingly close racing!
Many of us expected Jerry Pearson to take the win in this one. He drove the wheels of the car, but the three battling Expert drivers pushed the pace just a bit too fast for Jerry to bag a segment win or two. Jerry took close 2nd place finishes in two segments but 4th in the other two segments, indicating extreme pressure from the three Expert drivers he was up against in the Main Event.
Detailed Results
Stay tuned for a possible Round 3 next weekend.
Comment nicely or shut up and drive!
We couldn’t attract enough teams to pull off Round 2 of the Summer 50/50 Series, but we did a lot of racing anyway.
Last but not least, we ran Aaron’s latest IROC set, Viper-built Super 7 GT40 cars. Team Forza also prepared these cars very well. They are crazy fast and extremely smooth. Aaron put down the fastest lap times in the race, but it was still very competitive. Aaron won the first segment by a lap, Webster Motorsports bagged a second and two third-place segments, and Aaron took first, second, and third place.
As always, it was a great day of racing. It is so cool that many teams and drivers are building new IROC sets for us to drive.