Category: Series/Season Standings

Round 2 of the series started with another qualifying session that would not only seed the subsequent races but also decide the selection order for the latest MegaG+ 1.7 “paper” bodies from Hammerschlagen Fabrications. The fastest Sportsman driver, Jerry Pearson, clicked off a very nice 5-lap average time and got the first pick of the newly minted “paper” bodies for our new MG+ Modified class.

Grace Maddox qualified first and, of course, had the pole for a brief time before getting knocked off. She had a very nice run with no offs!

Shaylin Maddox and Eric Lane had the closest rivalry in qualifying with only a 4-mph difference in top speed.

Team Maddox was without Junior ace, Abe Maddox, this round due to a “contract” dispute forcing team management to suspend him for at least one event.

Qualifying (5-lap average, 2-lap warm-up)

Track: SR3 Road Course Fast Esses (Chicane)
Date: Oct-28-2023 12:29
Class: Mega-G+ 1.7 Support Class
Descr: F1/Indy bodies on “Lite: rules chassis
Name	Lap Time	Speed (Mph)	Place
Steve Stewart	5.998	549	1
Jerry Pearson	6.427	512	2
Aaron Castro	6.928	475	3
Kevin Webster	7.157	460	4
Shaylin Maddox	8.04	409	5
Eric Lane	8.132	405	6
Grace Maddox	8.488	388	7

Team Maddox had to exit Round 2 just after qualifying and would not participate in the day’s points racing. Details

Race 1: MG+ 1.7 Vans c/o Eric “Fast” Lane’s stable

Wow, these cars were interesting. MegaG+ speed and power but with a very high and top-heavy van hardbody. This race was pretty much a battle between Home Cook’n and our newest club driver, Aaron Castro. Though Jerry Pearson was knocking on Aaron’s door quite a bit throughout the race. In the end, Aaron would win the Sportsman class and Jerry Pearson would bag second with just two points over Eric Lane. Very close racing and way fun cars!  Details

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Steve Stewart	125	80	2192.957
2	Aaron Castro	121	61	2235.927
3	Jerry Pearson	113	43	2231.131
4	Eric Lane	113	41	2238.855
5	Kevin Webster	112	40	2243.482

Race 2: Retro-Vipers with Maximum Leeway Lexan Bodies

This one was probably a poor choice by the Race Director. Lots of crashes and mayhem as all drivers struggled with the incredible power of the V-SPEC motor box and almost zero downforce. These cars are loose but very fast. This one was a battle between Home Cook’n and Aaron Castro most of the way. But that didn’t deter Jerry Pearson, who fought hard all the way to the end, finishing third overall with outstanding driving performance with this very difficult-to-driver cars. Webster Motorsports would abandon the race in frustration after just 5-laps into the third segment. Some guys just don’t like loose cars.  Details

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Steve Stewart	125	77	2331.13
2	Aaron Castro	121	63	2365.839
3	Jerry Pearson	111	55	2360.755
4	Eric Lane	105	39	2351.244
5	Kevin Webster	47	31	2393.731

Race 3: Viper V-SPEC “SPEC STOCK” Lexan Bodies

This is our newest class, which is a slightly different spin on HOPRA’s SPEC STOCK rules, which allows a Lexan body instead of the hard OEM plastic or resin bodies using a body clip.

This final race was very competitive with Aaron Castro putting in an amazing run against Home Cook’n, leading several segments for long periods and generally driving extremely well. Aaron would end up second in every segment but led much of each segment. Meanwhile, Jerry Pearson and Kevin Webster would have the battle royale fighting for the final spot on the podium.

End the end, Jerry would best Kevin by just two points even though Kevin had seven more total laps. This is a very competitive class, all drivers had some very good lap times and strong stints in the lead.  Great racing by all!  Details

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Steve Stewart	150	80	1595.555
2	Aaron Castro	143	59	1617.635
3	Jerry Pearson	137	48	1626.956
4	Kevin Webster	144	46	1627.687
5	Eric Lane	121	32	1629.899

Round 2 Overall Results:

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Steve Stewart	400	237	6119.642
1	Aaron Castro	385	183	6219.401
2	Jerry Pearson	361	146	6218.842
3	Kevin Webster	303	117	6264.9
4	Eric Lane	339	112	6219.998

Home Cook’n was the lone Expert driver in the field for Round 2 with experts, Brad Sandahl, George, Peters, and Jordan Walker all no-shows. New driver, Aaron Castro gets top honors in the Sportsman ranks with a very nice showing in his first official racing event at Stewart Raceway.

2023 50/50 Xtreme Series Standings as of Round 2:

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Steve Stewart*	597	353	8381.957
1	Kevin Webster	491	214	8624.812
2	Aaron Castro	385	183	6219.401
3	Jerry Pearson	361	146	6218.842
4	Eric Lane	339	112	6219.998
5	George Peters*	190	102	2353.44
6	Jordan Walker*	141	75	2213.675
7	Grace Maddox	82	45	716.313
8	Abe Maddox	81	42	789.937
9	Shaylin Maddox	88	40	870.364

* Expert

The standings are a bit distorted due to the attendance of the first two events. However, it looks like there will be a fierce points battle in the Sportsman division between leader, Kevin Webster and chasers, Aaron Castro and Jerry Pearson. Of course, all that can change quickly but I’m sure our newest driver on the scene, Aaron Castro, is looking for not only race wins but a series win also.

Stay tuned for details on Round 3. I hope to continue the series this coming weekend if we can get enough attendance.

Okay, shut up and drive!

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)

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

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!