Series/Season Standings – Page 6

2023 50/50 Xtreme Series: Round 1 – Short but sweet!

Well, we didn’t have all of the usual suspects in the paddock but we clicked off three action packed races, all with the MegaG+ 1.7 platform.

George Peters, Abe Maddox, Jordan Walker

The first event was qualifying. We had hoped to do a new style/format for qualifying but it didn’t work so we just did an Indy-style format but with 10-laps to get the best average lap time.

Young gun, Abe Maddox, of Team Maddox fame knocked first-up qualifier, Kevin Webster, of Webster Motorsport fame off the leaderboard with a blistering 10-lap average of 6.072 putting Abe on the pole until the last qualifier, George Peters, put in another blistering 10-lap performance with an average lap time of 6.026 and an average speed of 546-mph. Neither driver appeared to have suffered a crash during their 10-lap pole setting efforts.

Qualifying

Track: SR3 Road Course Fast Esses (Chicane)
Date: Oct-21-2023 12:33
Class: Mega-G+ 1.7 Support Class “Lites”
Descr: 10-Lap Qualifying Session
Name	Lap Time	Speed (Mph)	Place
George Peters	6.026	546	1
Abe Maddox	6.072	542	2
Kevin Webster	6.433	512	3
Jordan Walker	6.56	502	4
Shaylin Maddox	6.742	488	5
Steve Stewart	7.489	440	6
Grace Maddox	8.269	398	7

Race #1: MegaG+ “Lites” IROC (Paper Whelen Modifieds)

George Peters, Home Cook’n, Kevin Webster

These cars are fun but when you fit a super-light paper body on them, they get even more fun. The paper bodies are so light, the car handles like it doesn’t have a body at all.

George Peters pretty much dominated this event, but Team Maddox had one heat win and several second-place finishes with Shaylin Maddox winning the final segment handily while filling in for teammate, Grace Maddox. Shaylin completed all laps of the final segment and clicked of the best lap of the segment (5.954).

Sportsman driver, Kevin Webster, quietly bagged the final podium spot with one solid segment win and solid placings in his other segments. Detailed Results

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	George Peters	98	56	889.721
2	Steve Stewart	97	52	816.236
3	Kevin Webster	89	47	898.078
4	Jordan Walker	83	47	740.99
5	Grace Maddox	82	45	716.313
6	Abe Maddox	81	42	789.937
7	Shaylin Maddox	88	40	870.364

Race #2: MegaG+ 1.7 “Lites”

Home Cook’n, Kevin Webster, George Peters

These are our pretty much box-stock MegaG+ cars with very slight mods and hardbodies, typically F1/Indy or NASCAR stock car livery.

Kevin Webster very nearly won this event with outstanding driving, Kevin and Home Cook’n were neck and neck the whole event going into the final segment. Kevin would end up one lap down after a hard crash with just a few laps left in the final segment. The crash gave Home Cook’n a good gap and Kevin was unable to close it before the race ended.

The past, present, and future of slot car racing. Team Maddox rocks!

George Peters came on very strong in the final segment placing second and on the same lap as the leader but struggled during the other heats due to distraction from erratic driving by teammate, Jordan Walker. Jordan put in some amazing laps during the race but lost his focus and would abandon after the third segment. Detailed Results

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Steve Stewart	100	64	1446.079
2	Kevin Webster	99	50	1461.834
3	George Peters	92	46	1463.719
4	Jordan Walker	58	28	1472.685

Series Standings after Round 1

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Steve Stewart	197	116	2262.315
2	George Peters	190	102	2353.44
3	Kevin Webster	188	97	2359.912
4	Jordan Walker	141	75	2213.675
5	Grace Maddox	82	45	716.313
6	Abe Maddox	81	42	789.937
7	Shaylin Maddox	88	40	870.364

So, there you have it. Round 1 of the 2023 50/50 Xtreme Series is in the books. As always, you can miss one race in any series and still be in the hunt for a series win.

The MegaG+ platform has been an amazingly competitive platform and appears to be a keeper at Stewart Raceway. With the addition of the new “paper” bodies, we’re considering adding a “Modified” version of this car using the superlight paper body and maybe an independent front-end, and possibly N42 or even N52 traction magnets. Personally, I think just the paper body addition is quite the performance improvement, but some folks like to go even faster.

Stay tuned for details on Round 2 and our next track day.

Okay, shut up and drive!

Race Report: 2023 50/50 Series Finale!

Wow, what a barn-burner day. This was the final round of this long-running series and it sure wasn’t short on drama.

Going into final round, Jordan Walker and Kevin Webster were separated by just 11 points in the Sportsman classification. Some big hardware was up for grabs by either driver for winning the series points chase so we all knew it was going to be a dogfight between those two drivers. The winner would not only take home a huge trophy but they would also advance from the Sportsman class to the Expert class ranks going forward.

Junior driver, Abe Maddox, had asked just prior to the first of the four races on the day whether he could win the series prize by winning the first race. No surprise there, since Abe had won many races leading up to the series finale. Sadly, I was the one that had to break the news that he could not secure enough points to take home the Mondo series trophy.

Abe took that bit of information in stride and clipped in for the first segment of the first race in the Yellow Lane, the very fast Viper SPEC RACER class.

Round 5 Short Story:

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
*	Steve Stewart	478	64	2056.569
1	George Peters	466	50	2181.169
2	Jordan Walker	452	40	2059.462
3	Kevin Webster	426	23	2101.951
4	Eric Lane	414	20	2087.702
5	Jerry Pearson	228	18	1107.964
6	Abe Maddox	214	13	1091.765
7	Shaylin Maddox	208	8	1190.751

Race 1: Viper V-SPEC Lexan (SPEC RACER) (15v)

Home Cook’n, George Peters, Jerry Pearson

Abe didn’t seem to care that he couldn’t win the series. When the first segment went green, Abe quickly took the lead and would swap it with Expert driver, George Peters several times before winning segment 1. Abe also clicked off the fastest lap of the first segment. In fact, Team Maddox set the fastest laps of the race in both the Blue and Yellow lanes, with Mom, Shaylin, clicking off a blistering 3.178 in the Blue lane.

In the end, it was Home Cook’n just 2 laps ahead of George Peters with steadily improving Sportsman driver, Jerry Pearson, just behind and bagging the final podium spot in third. Abe amazingly finished in fourth overall. Kevin Webster bagged two 2nd place finishes but lost five laps in the red lane and would have to settle for fifth and just one point over Jordan Walker in sixth. Detailed Results

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Steve Stewart	120	16	501.24
2	George Peters	118	13	504.73
3	Jerry Pearson	115	11	500.258
4	Abe Maddox	107	7	493.01
5	Kevin Webster	107	6	506.64
6	Jordan Walker	103	5	499.299
7	Eric Lane	103	4	502.194
8	Shaylin Maddox	102	3	574.754

Race 2: Viper V-SPEC 1.7 Indy Lexan (IROC) (15v)

Home Cook’n, George Peters, Jordan Walker

Since Abe and Shaylin had to bail out early on the day, we decided to stack the Viper races to give Abe a shot at a race win before he and his Mom had to leave. This IROC set of way fast cars is courtesy of Sportsman driver, Eric Lane, who donated this 6-car set of V-SPEC Vipers to Stewart Raceway earlier in the year. These are full-on Viper V-SPEC, Level 4 cars with 1.7 Lexan Indy bodies instead of the very fragile plastic Indy bodies that they usually ship with.

Abe Maddox came out swinging again in the second race of the day. He loves Vipers and these cars were very close to what he’s used to. Abe would end up with two 2nd-place finishes and a 3rd place–very impressive! Abe’s Mom, Shaylin finished just one lap behind Abe with one 2nd place finish and two 3rd place finishes plus the fastest lap of the race T 3.277 in the white lane–amazing!

Jordan Walker knew what he had to do and would finish Race #2 just behind 2nd place finisher and expert driver, George Peters, bagging 11 points and padding his lead over Kevin Webster who would only collect 3 much-needed points. Mr Consistent, Jerry Pearson, would collect the 4th place points just missing the last podium spot by 2 laps. Shaylin and Jordan both hold the current track records for this new class on SR2, Shaylin at 3.277 in white and Jordan at 3.346 in yellow. Detailed Results

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Steve Stewart	120	16	475.604
2	George Peters	116	13	573.481
3	Jordan Walker	115	11	464.487
4	Jerry Pearson	113	7	607.706
5	Abe Maddox	107	6	598.755
6	Shaylin Maddox	106	5	615.997
7	Eric Lane	105	4	472.813
8	Kevin Webster	104	3	510.164

Race 3: MegaG+ 1.7 Indy/F1 Support Class (18v)

As usual, this class is amazingly competitive. Even Home Cook’n couldn’t bag a perfect score and would lose one lap by overshooting the pits. Kevin Webster bounced back and gave Jordan a lot of pressure but did not come up with the points needed to thwart Jordan’s march to the series win. With Jerry Pearson and Team Maddox exiting the field halfway through the event, points would get a bit easier to collect. Jordan sealed the deal in in this one with a very nice 3rd place finish, just one position ahead of Kevin but secured four more points that would make it impossible for Kevin to overcome. The top three spots were very hotly contested with just 2 laps separating each driver in the end.

With Jordan and Kevin chasing each other and both on the verge of being Expert drivers, the effectively lone Sportsman driver in the field, Eric Lane, would find it more difficult than usual to work his way through the field. Eric did manage a 3rd-place segment finish with a best lap of 4.188 in blue, which showed he could put the hammer down. Jordan clicked off the fastest lap of the race at 3.899 also in the blue lane. Detailed Results

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Steve Stewart	119	16	580.522
2	George Peters	117	13	591.233
3	Jordan Walker	115	11	583.594
4	Kevin Webster	110	7	571.422
5	Eric Lane	104	6	608.389

Race 4: Wizzard Storms (IROC) (18v)

Home Cook’n, Jordan Walker, George Peters

This very cool IROC set was provided by Webster Motorsports and, while noisy, they are very fast and stick like glue to the rails. Even at 18v they are very nearly drone cars but not quite, as many of us found out the hard way.

This final race was a dog fight between Jordan Walker and Home Cook’n. Not sure why Jordan fought so hard but I think he was on a mission to solidify the fact that he was now an Expert class driver. I think George spent much of this last race cheering and coaching Jordan on.

In the end, the battle ended on the same lap with Jordan coming up just a few feet short of the win–close! George finished a few laps down but was very pleased with Jordan’s results on the day. When this kid focuses on the task at hand, he’s unstoppable—congrats to Jordan on winning the Sportsman points chase and advancing to the Expert ranks!

While Kevin Webster didn’t come out on top in the final race, he did manage to set a new lap record for this car in the blue lane with a 3.755—nice!
Detailed Results

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Steve Stewart	119	16	499.203
2	Jordan Walker	119	13	512.082
3	George Peters	115	11	511.725
4	Kevin Webster	105	7	513.725
5	Eric Lane	102	6	504.306

2023 50/50 Racing Series Overall Results

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
*	Steve Stewart	1999	489	13436.37
1	George Peters	1957	417	13210.23
2	Jordan Walker	1839	310	13702.08
3	Kevin Webster	1592	282	12982.72
4	Jerry Pearson	1075	164	7470.777
5	Abe Maddox	388	90	2739.394
6	Fred Ebert	189	79	1658.412
7	Shaylin Maddox	376	74	2705.481
8	Eric Lane	1101	71	6481.973
9	Shaun Lee	466	51	1629.418
10	Martha Elderon	411	29	4115.863
11	Tim Bisson	126	6	1366.187
12	Jake Bisson	89	4	1250.72

That’s a wrap for this year’s 50/50 racing series. Jordan Walker advances to the Expert ranks for the next series, which means both classes should experience an increase in competition. I don’t think we ever determined who the 2022 season Rookie of the Year was but this season’s ROTY is still up for grabs while Abe Maddox pretty much has the Junior of the Year award all but in the bag.

Thank you all for supporting the racing program so far this season! Kathy and I really appreciate your support and interest!

Stay tuned for details on our next series and open track days coming up soon.

Okay, shut up and drive!

Race Report: 2023 50/50 Racing Series, Round 4 — Finally!

We finally managed to get Round 4 of this delayed series in the books. We completed Round 3 way back on March 18, 2003!

Yea, We’ve done some “distraction” events since then but that’s quite the gap between rounds, for sure. Throughout the layoff in official racing, we’ve had a number of open track days and quite a few junior/parents team races. Those races have been very successful in generating interest and skills in the hobby from both the parents and the kids.

One of our stand-out junior drivers, Abe Maddox, who has been winning a whole lot of Dash and Team races lately was invited to race Round 4 of the series. Not only has Abe been winning, but his Mom, Shaylin, has also had some very impressive results. Shaylin has steadfastly supported Abe’s slot car racing interest since he cut his first laps on SR3 and often does practice races with us. So, it was no stretch to invite both of them to “officially” race with us in Round 4 of the 50/50 Series.

Our 50/50 Series is always a split between individually-prepared cars and house-prepared IROC-style cars so we started the day with an IROC race.

Race 1: Jag Hobbies NC-2 Mercs (i)

Home Cook’n, Jordan Walker, Jerry Pearson

Team Maddox also brought along Shaylin’s Dad, Fred Ebert, from Chicago. Fred raced 1/24’s back in the day and quickly got back into his groove. Fred won his first segment in green, a second in orange, and then finished up his rotation with a third place in white. Fred also led the race through the first two segments–very nice driving!

Sportsman driver, Jordan Walker, started slow but ended up bagging two segment wins and took over the lead after segment 2 and held on to it until segment 7. In the end, Jordan Walker hung on to second place and Jerry Pearson edged out Expert driver, George Peters, for the final podium spot. Detailed Results

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Steve Stewart	120	64	919.592
2	Jordan Walker	114	52	1036.892
3	Jerry Pearson	111	51	1035.574
4	George Peters	111	50	955.726
5	Fred Ebert	106	47	1044.919
6	Kevin Webster	105	42	979.928
7	Shaylin Maddox	95	38	956.091
8	Abe Maddox	93	32	1052.479

Race 2: Viper V-SPEC “SPEC RACER” Lexan GTP

Because Team Maddox had to depart early, we decided to run the Viper “SPEC RACER” class early. Eric Lane had graciously provided a brand-new RaceMasters MegaG+ 454 Chevelle car to the winner of the MegaG+ support class, which was slated for the second race of the day. However, we decided to run the super-fast Viper V-SPEC race instead of the scheduled MegaG+ Support Class. The intent was to give Abe a shot at winning the prize MegaG+ car.

Abe didn’t waste any time getting down to business and took the checkers in the first segment of Race 2. Abe was on fire, setting the fastest lap of the segment, well over a second faster than his grandpa, Fred Ebert, with the second fastest lap. Abe would remain in the top three through the fastest race of the day until the end of the fifth segment. While Abe fought hard and stayed focused–even while sitting out for several rotations–he came up short in Segment 7 with only 14 laps. He fought hard in his final segment and was able to complete 22 of a possible 25 laps but came up short in terms of points and finished the race sixth overall, just 10 points shy of a podium spot.

To just report on this guy is inspiring. At 6 years old, he’s racing with some serious slot heads and does amazingly well! Not just winning heats or segments, he wins races!

Yes, on this day the veteran drivers managed to fill the podium in a very hotly contested race. Jordan Walker drove superbly besting his Dad, Expert driver, George Peters, by just one point. Abe didn’t outright win the race but the podium finishers all agreed that the ‘Eric “Fast” Lane’ prize belonged to Abe Maddox. Detailed Results

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Steve Stewart	100	64	522.7
2	Jordan Walker	97	56	609.21
3	George Peters	100	55	522.464
4	Kevin Webster	97	50	599.636
5	Jerry Pearson	91	46	556.491
6	Abe Maddox	81	45	595.15
7	Fred Ebert	83	32	613.493
8	Shaylin Maddox	73	28	558.639

Race 3: Mega-G+ 1.7 Support Class

Hoe Cook’n, Kevin Webster, George Peters

With Team Maddox and Jerry Pearson vacating the premises after Race 2, we lost some serious competition and also corner marshals. The last two races were run with track call buttons, no marshals.

The MegaG+ 1.7 class has been an amazing addition to our program. The rules are HOPRA “BOX STOCK,” which is basically an out-of-the-package car with just tire changes allowed. This makes for some very close and competitive racing. This one did not disappoint.

The detailed results show an utter dogfight between Sportsman driver, Kevin Webster and Expert driver, George Peters. Both drivers split the four segments with two 2nd-place finishes each. In the end, they tied in total points but Kevin edged George out by just one lap. Detailed Results

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Steve Stewart	100	64	1150.184
2	Kevin Webster	98	48	1166.924
3	George Peters	97	48	1162.137
4	Jordan Walker	90	28	1168.967

Race 4: Viper V-SPEC F1/Indy 1.7 (i) Lexan

The final race was all “Eric Lane” Viper V-SPEC F1/Indy cars with Harden Creek Lexan bodies. We tried to run these cars, which originally had Viper F1/Indy hard bodies, which were simply just too fragile and broke like cheap glass at the slightest wall or Lexan barrier hit.

The Lexan tape-attached bodies had some adhesion issues but, for the most part, worked far better than the plastic bodies.

This final race of the day was actually one of the closest races. As always, George Peters, was way focused on besting Home Cook’n and Sportsman drivers, Kevin Webster and Jordan Walker were in a heated points battle for the Sportsman series win.

While George was putting massive pressure on Home Cook’n, Jordan and Kevin were duking it out for the remaining points. It was a fuel race, which adds an element of strategy and luck to the mix. George is a very clever driver when it comes to timing pit stops and calculating how to utilize the variable to his advantage.

None of that seemed to matter to Kevin and Jordan as they swapped 3rd and 4th place points every segment. In the end, Jordan would end up with the 3rd spot on the podium but did not increase his points lead over Kevin, both ending the race with 36 points. Detailed Results

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Steve Stewart	100	64	1284.906
2	George Peters	97	52	1294.554
3	Jordan Walker	91	36	1299.672
4	Kevin Webster	90	36	1301.433

The points gap between Sportsman drivers, Jordan and Kevin, is now only 11 points. Round 5 is going to be a barn burner between the two drivers. The winner gets a mondo trophy and advances to the Expert class.

Points Standings after Round 4:

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Steve Stewart*	1521	425	11379.8
2	George Peters*	1491	367	11029.06
3	Jordan Walker	1387	270	11642.62
4	Kevin Webster	1166	259	10880.77
5	Jerry Pearson	847	146	6362.813
6	Fred Ebert	189	79	1658.412
7	Abe Maddox	174	77	1647.629
8	Shaylin Maddox	168	66	1514.73
9	Eric Lane	687	51	4394.271
10	Shaun Lee*	466	51	1629.418
11	Martha Elderon	411	29	4115.863
12	Tim Bisson	126	6	1366.187
13	Jake Bisson	89	4	1250.72

It’s all about points. The last race is really between Jordan Walker and Kevin Webster. That is going to be an epic battle, for sure.

Team Maddox driver, Fred Ebert, is sitting in 6th place after only one visit to Stewart Raceway, which is very impressive. Not sure he’ll hang around town for the final round but he’s definitely a formidable slot head, no doubt.

Okay, next weekend is an open track day on Saturday. Kids and parents are welcome. Stay tuned for more details. Looks like the following weekend will work for the final round of the series.

Okay, shut up and drive!

Race Report: 2023 50/50 Racing Series, Round 3 – A Day On The Oval

The SR3 Oval Round 3 was another fast and furious race day with a pretty well-rounded (no pun intended) group of slot heads, as well as several guest appearances, including veteran slot car racer, Shaun Lee, all the way from Roseville, CA.

Speaking of well-rounded. Between Eric’s delicious donuts, all the snacks, and Kathy’s awesome lunch spread of lasagne, salad, and garlic bread, some of us are definitely getting more round. And, don’t get used to the “free lunch” action. We usually do a sandwich run to the local deli but Kathy had a hectic day going on and decided she couldn’t be bothered to support a sandwich run for us. And, no, it wasn’t because Slot Car Star, Shaun, made the long trek down from Sac. Though maybe we should offer him some sort of appearance incentive going forward.

During practice, neighbors Cameron and his son, Ely, dropped by to see what Stewart Raceway was all about. Both Cameron and Ely cut a bunch of laps with the rest of us during practice and then hung out and watched the first race while helping with marshaling. Both Cameron and Ely seemed to have enjoyed the visit and actually took to driving the cars very quickly. Of course, we hope they return again and again, we can always use more drivers.

With the veteran driver, Shaun Lee, in the house, it was going to be a bit rougher for everybody involved. Shaun has been racing slot cars as long, if not longer, than any of the other veteran Expert drivers in attendance and is well-versed in oval track racing. In fact, Shaun owned and operated a 50ft lap length, 6-lane, tri-oval aptly named “Shaunadega Raceway” right here in the Bay Area before Shaun relocated to Roseville. As you can see in the results, Shaun did not disappoint, finishing on the podium, second overall in the Expert ranks.

Speedster Expert driver, George Peters, continues to dominate the series with very impressive results in all classes and in spite of Home Cookn’s “home-field” advantage.

In the Sportsman ranks, Jordan Walker has a very commanding lead in points over second place, Kevin Webster, while Eric Lane holds a slim lead over Jerry Pearson for third in the Sportsman points chase.

Round 3 Overall Results

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	George Peters	463	53	1413.081
2	Shaun Lee	466	51	1629.418
3	Steve Stewart	466	50	1550.843
4	Jordan Walker	414	29	1665.419
5	Eric Lane	408	25	1553.913
6	Jerry Pearson	213	12	790.741
7	Kevin Webster	192	12	799.48

Race 1: Retro Vipers “Maximum Leeway” Lexan (IROC) (12v)

Starting off a little wild with a loose but fast platform. Of course, we allowed everyone warm-up time to adjust to these very different cars. While the Experts duked it out, Eric “Fastlane” Lane, drove to victory in Segment 3, in the Blue lane! Eric followed that feat up with a second-place finish in Segment 4, in the Yellow lane! Very nice driving! (Details)

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	George Peters	118	16	464.645
2	Steve Stewart	116	13	543.294
3	Shaun Lee	113	11	554.904
4	Eric Lane	104	7	558.158
5	Jerry Pearson	102	6	474.532
6	Jordan Walker	100	5	548.069

Race 2: MegaG+ 1.7 BOX STOCK “Indy/F1 Bodies” (18v)

Special guest, Shaun Lee, didn’t waste much time establishing himself with a nice win in the new MegaG+ support class. This class provides some amazingly competitive racing. Expert, Shaun Lee, put on a show as he managed to best Hone Cook’n by a lap in the end. Not to be outdone by the Experts, Sportsman driver, Jordan Walker, put in a very impressive effort and very nearly overtook Expert, Home Cook’n, for the second spot on the podium. Nice close racing, for sure. Jordan showed why he’s the current Sportsman-class points leader with some very nice driving. (Details)

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Shaun Lee	120	16	313.83
2	Steve Stewart	119	13	305.733
3	Jordan Walker	119	11	329.762
4	Eric Lane	114	7	319.5
5	Jerry Pearson	111	6	316.209
6	George Peters	109	5	311.353

Race 3: Jag Hobbies NC-2 BOX STOCK “Merc Jalopy Bodies” (IROC) (15v)

The third race was yet another hotly contested battle between both the Experts and the Sportsman drivers. This IROC set was comprised of four brand new “box stock” Jag Hobbies NC-2 platforms with Georgie’s classic Mercury sedan hard bodies. The NC-2 is a magnet car but with these bodies installed and utilizing only the four inside lanes of the oval course, they can be really challenging to drive. George Peters proved he’s the real deal with a convincing win, besting Home Cook’n yet again by two laps while Shaun Lee pressured for the second podium spot the whole race. The Sportsman class was also very close with Jordan Walker besting Eric Lane by only two laps with Kevin Webster only one lap down. That’s competitive racing, folks! (Details)

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	George Peters	116	16	387.879
2	Steve Stewart	114	13	386.638
3	Shaun Lee	114	11	397.977
4	Jordan Walker	97	7	397.009
5	Eric Lane	95	6	366.854
6	Kevin Webster	94	5	431.149

Race 4: Viper V-SPEC “SPEC RACER” Lexan GTP

The final race of the day and the feature event was the venerable Viper V-SPEC class. Shaun Lee clearly had a well-prepared car and seemed to have a slight top-speed edge. In fact, Shaun set a new V-SPEC lap record on the day with a 1.658-second lap in the tight Yellow lane. In spite of Shaun’s speed advantage, George Peters took advantage of his fuel management skills and bagged the win by just one lap over the hard-charging Shaun Lee in second.

Once again, the Sportsman racing was exceptionally close with Kevin Webster and Jordan Walker finishing on the same lap and Eric Lane just three laps down. (Details)

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	George Peters	120	16	249.204
2	Shaun Lee	119	13	362.707
3	Steve Stewart	117	11	315.178
4	Kevin Webster	98	7	368.331
5	Jordan Walker	98	6	390.579
6	Eric Lane	95	5	309.401

Sportsman Points Standings After Round 3

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Jordan Walker	995	98	7527.875
2	Kevin Webster	776	83	6832.854
3	Eric Lane	687	51	4394.271
4	Jerry Pearson	645	49	4770.748
5	Martha Elderon	411	29	4115.863
6	Tim Bisson	126	6	1366.187
7	Jake Bisson	89	4	1250.72

Expert Standings After Round 3

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	George Peters	1086	162	7094.179
2	Shaun Lee	466	51	1629.418
3	Steve Stewart	1101	169	7502.416

“Unofficial” IROC Race 5

After all the official racing had concluded, another neighbor, Michael Hutchinson, popped in with his 12-year old daughter to show her what slot car racing was all about. Michael, being a former elite road cyclist and skier, is no stranger to competitive activities and neither is his daughter, Harper. Both of them did some hot lapping and didn’t hesitate for a second to join us in another race. We decided to introduce them to slot car racing with a magnet car and chose a house set of 1.7 MegaG+ cars with winged 3D-printed Super Modified bodies running at 18v.

Shaun Lee hadn’t gotten his fill of oval racing yet and managed to win two segments and the overall with a huge four-lap gap ahead of George Peters in second. Kevin Webster bagged his first heat win of the day in Segment 5 in the Green lane.

Michael and Harper naturally didn’t have much of a chance against this bunch. However, they had a serious battle going on between father and daughter with Michael besting Harper by just two laps in the end. I’d say that’s pretty close competition between two first-time slot car racers. Hope both drivers join us again soon. (Details)

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Shaun Lee	120	16	406.881
2	George Peters	116	13	405.09
3	Steve Stewart	110	11	411.49
4	Kevin Webster	109	7	430.352
5	Jordan Walker	105	6	410.886
6	Michael Hutchinson	81	5	419.616
7	Harper Hutchinson	79	4	431.199

Hutchinson Challenge

Harper was not pleased with losing to her Dad in her first-ever slot car race. So she challenged Dad to a race-off, winner takes all the marbles; two drivers, two lanes, and 60 total laps. We decided to use another magnet car for this epic challenge race. Two cars were selected from the house Jag Hobbies TR-3 “Augoran” fleet for this match-up.

Short, sweet, and with plenty of carnage and arbitrage, Michael came out on top—again—by just two laps. Harper wasn’t happy but she seemed to really enjoy the race-off and pressuring Dad the whole time. Way fun stuff! (Details)

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Michael Hutchinson	60	16	243.092
2	Harper Hutchinson	58	13	254.293

Okay, shut up and drive!

Race Report: 2023 50/50 Racing Series, Round 2

Cool napkins to go with the donuts, courtesy of Eric Lane in Round 1.

Round 2 was another fast and furious day of racing on the SR3 “Squeeze Lane” road course. The short stories were Jordan Walker topping the Sportsman points and George Peters collecting the majority of Expert points. The weather was sunny but fairly cool so we had the heater blasting most of the day.

Race 1: Viper-Jet “Maximum Leeway” Lexan

The first race was pretty tight in the Expert ranks with only one lap separating Home Cook’n and George Peters.

In the Sportsman ranks, Jordan Walker and Jerry Pearson battled it out with only one lap separating 4th and 5th. Kevin Webster bagged the final podium spot. As is often the case with Viper-Jets, no driver achieved the coveted perfect score of 80 total laps. (Details)

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Steve Stewart	78	16	798.835
2	George Peters	77	13	734.617
3	Kevin Webster	74	11	830.573
4	Jordan Walker	70	7	887.619
5	Jerry Pearson	69	6	754.823
6	Martha Elderon	66	5	870.534

Race 2: MegaG+ 1.7 Support Class

Speaking of blasting, the second race was hot and heavy with very close racing in both the Expert and Sportsman ranks. George Peters held off for the overall win against Home Cook’n by just one lap and Kevin Webster and Jerry Pearson tied on total laps with Kevin taking the final podium spot on run time. (Details)

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	George Peters	80	16	845.583
2	Steve Stewart	79	13	866.609
3	Kevin Webster	75	11	794.451
4	Jerry Pearson	75	7	865.445
5	Martha Elderon	71	6	748.839
6	Jordan Walker	66	5	675.186

Race 3: Viper V-SPEC Lexan

Race 3 was as always blistering fast with everybody running V-SPEC Vipers with either GTP or NASCAR-style bodies. Sportsman driver, Jordan Walker, impressed us all with a standout performance in this one. The battle initially was hot and heavy between Home Cook’n and George Peters. However, George would have a couple of offs in his second segment costing him a couple of laps. Jordan started his rotation in the third segment and would finish first or second in the first three and third in his final segment, which put him just one lap ahead of George in second overall. Nice driving by Jordan!

Meanwhile, Kevin Webster and Jerry Pearson had a battle of their own going for the remaining Sportsman points. Kevin finished as “Mr. Consistent” with three 3rd places and one 2nd place finish and two laps up on Jerry Pearson going into the last two segments. (Details)

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Steve Stewart	80	16	427.848
2	Jordan Walker	79	13	505.84
3	George Peters	78	11	461.878
4	Kevin Webster	72	7	512.001
5	Jerry Pearson	70	6	481.817
6	Martha Elderon	61	5	492.444

Race 4: Jag Hobbies TR-3 “Augoran” Hardbodies

The final race of Round 2 was back to the “Honor System” of marshaling since we only had four drivers participating. Once again, Jordan Walker proved he’s the real deal with a very good run of 75 laps, two 2nds a 3rd, and winning the final segment. It may look like a Home Cook’n show on paper but it was a lot more than that as fuel strategies came into play for almost all drivers in the final segment. (Details)

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Steve Stewart	79	16	1123.52
2	Jordan Walker	75	13	1159.132
3	George Peters	73	11	1135.72
4	Kevin Webster	67	7	1182.673

All in all, another great day of racing in the 2023 50/50 Racing Series. The MegaG+ 1.7 class seems to be the most competitive for both Expert and Sportsman drivers.

Sportsman Point Standings after Round 2:

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Kevin Webster	584	71	6033.374
2	Jordan Walker	581	69	5862.457
3	Jerry Pearson	432	37	3980.007
4	Martha Elderon	411	29	4115.863
5	Eric Lane	279	26	2840.358
6	Tim Bisson	126	6	1366.187
7	Jake Bisson	89	4	1250.72

Looks like it might be a dogfight between Kevin and Jordan for the Sportsman series trophy, we’ll see.

Expert Point Standings after Round 2:

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	George Peters	623	109	5681.098
2	Steve Stewart	635	119	5951.572

In the Expert ranks, George is well positioned to take the overall against Home Cook’n, with or without the Home Cook’n handicap stuff. Great driving and car prep, George!

Okay, we’ll likely have an open track day this coming Saturday and hold Round 3 the following Saturday, March 4, 2023.

Okay, shut up and drive!