In spite of a couple of expert drivers skipping the final round, we had a great turnout and were able to complete the series with some very competitive results in all categories. Round 5 was contested on the SR3 oval utilizing the MegaG+ 1.7 “Lites” platform, basically a box stock car with a F1/Indy hardbody.
Round 5 Finale Short Story
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Aaron Castro | 180 | 16 | 459.356 |
| 2 | Steve Stewart | 179 | 13 | 471.432 |
| 3 | Jerry Pearson | 170 | 11 | 469.339 |
| 4 | Jared Johnson | 157 | 7 | 487.252 |
| 5 | Eric Lane | 144 | 6 | 503.525 |
| 6 | Matthew Johnson | 133 | 5 | 469.217 |
Qualifying
| Track: SR3 Oval Super Speedway | |||
| Date: Oct-12-2024 12:09 | |||
| Class: MegaG+ 1.7 Lites (22V) | |||
| Descr: Progressive | |||
| Name | Lap Time | Speed (Mph) | Place |
| Steve Stewart | 2.146 | 762 | 1 |
| Aaron Castro | 2.181 | 750 | 2 |
| Jerry Pearson | 2.252 | 726 | 3 |
| Eric Lane | 2.511 | 652 | 4 |
| Shaylin Maddox | 2.912 | 550 | 5 |
| Jared Johnson | 3.708 | 441 | 6 |
| Matthew Johnson | 4.750 | 344 | 7 |
Team Maddox returned to racing in Round 5, but not in full force as young Junior driver, Abe Maddox elected not to race. Shaylin put in a nice qualifying session but did not start the days qualifier races.
B Qualifier Race (30-lap segments):
In this one, Jared Johnson was on a terror, pressuring the second-fastest qualifier, Aaron Castro, early in the race and finishing on the same lap for two of the four segments. Jared had a rough time in the Blue lane and lost significant laps in that segment but put up a great fight against Eric Lane and eventual race winner, Expert Aaron Castro. Details
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Aaron Castro | 120 | 16 | 296.118 |
| 2 | Jared Johnson | 111 | 13 | 304.939 |
| 3 | Eric Lane | 102 | 11 | 302.466 |
A Qualifier Race (30-lap segments):
Jerry Pearson was in the hunt in this race against the fastest qualifier, finishing second but losing four laps to Home Cook’n in the Orange lane. Matthew Johnson received excellent support from his team management and finished very well as a Junior driver against two of the fastest teams in the race. In the end, we didn’t have to do the Last Chance Qualifier due to no-shows and early departures , we just transferred all drivers to the Feature. Details
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Steve Stewart | 120 | 16 | 265.858 |
| 2 | Jerry Pearson | 112 | 13 | 272.122 |
| 3 | Matthew Johnson | 93 | 11 | 270.582 |
Feature Event (45 lap segments, 48 lap fuel allocation):
The feature was a pretty chaotic event. I’m not going to cover it here but let’s say it had a lot of misc chaos and self-inflicted damage. In the end, Aaron Castro emerged as the winner by a lap. You’ll have to view the video of this one, it was wild. Details
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Aaron Castro | 180 | 16 | 459.356 |
| 2 | Steve Stewart | 179 | 13 | 471.432 |
| 3 | Jerry Pearson | 170 | 11 | 469.339 |
| 4 | Jared Johnson | 157 | 7 | 487.252 |
| 5 | Eric Lane | 144 | 6 | 503.525 |
| 6 | Matthew Johnson | 133 | 5 | 469.217 |
Total Series Points From All Races, 50/50 Races, Qualifier Transfer Heats, and Feature Events:
This isn’t representative of actual points since some drivers garnered points by going through qualifier and Last-Chance Qualifier races. However, it does represent actual points totals for those who did not earn Feature Event points with our new race format.
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | George Peters | 1173 | 636 | 7491.16 |
| 2 | Steve Stewart | 1348 | 609 | 7297.468 |
| 3 | Aaron Castro | 1224 | 495 | 6352.578 |
| 4 | Jerry Pearson | 1172 | 491 | 6630.399 |
| 5 | Kevin Webster | 469 | 279 | 2967.587 |
| 6 | Eric Lane | 610 | 159 | 4266.355 |
| 7 | Jared Johnson | 440 | 136 | 2057.271 |
| 8 | Jordan Walker | 302 | 133 | 2894.16 |
| 9 | Matthew Johnson | 387 | 124 | 2051.404 |
| 10 | Madeline Johnson | 100 | 72 | 823.462 |
| 11 | Shaylin Maddox | 67 | 36 | 462.865 |
| 12 | Abe Maddox | 66 | 36 | 464.606 |
Total Series Points From All Feature Events:
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Steve Stewart | 972 | 416 | 5585.136 |
| 2 | George Peters | 764 | 349 | 5127.071 |
| 3 | Aaron Castro | 831 | 305 | 4434.096 |
| 4 | Jerry Pearson | 746 | 242 | 4532.463 |
| 5 | Jordan Walker | 302 | 133 | 2894.16 |
| 6 | Eric Lane | 440 | 110 | 3443.471 |
| 7 | Kevin Webster | 174 | 89 | 996.869 |
| 8 | Jared Johnson | 157 | 7 | 487.252 |
| 9 | Matthew Johnson | 133 | 5 | 469.217 |
It wasn’t necessary to slog through calculating the best four out of five in this case. Both George Peters and Aaron Castro missed one race, which eliminated the need to go through all that since it would not change the points positions indicated above. Nor would it change the points positions for anybody else.
The following are the series points standings for each racer category:
Junior Final Points Standings:
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Matthew Johnson | 387 | 124 | 2051.404 |
| 2 | Madeline Johnson | 100 | 72 | 823.462 |
| 3 | Abe Maddox | 66 | 36 | 464.606 |
Sportsman Final Points Standings:
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Jerry Pearson | 746 | 242 | 4532.463 |
| 2 | Eric Lane | 440 | 110 | 3443.471 |
| 3 | Jared Johnson | 157 | 7 | 487.252 |
| 4 | Shaylin Maddox | 67 | 36 | 462.865 |
Pearson Racing’s Jerry Pearson had a fantastic series. Jerry dominated the Sportsman ranks and often appeared on the podium, often higher than Expert drivers. After winning an official racing series as a Sportsman driver, Jerry now moves on to the Expert category ranks. Congratulations, Jerry!
Expert Final Points Standings:
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | George Peters | 764 | 349 | 5127.071 |
| 2 | Aaron Castro | 831 | 305 | 4434.096 |
| 3 | Jordan Walker | 302 | 133 | 2894.16 |
| 4 | Kevin Webster | 174 | 89 | 996.869 |
| 5 | Steve Stewart | 972 | 416 | 5585.136 |
Because both George and Aaron missed one race in this series, there was no need to calculate the best four of five points totals. It wasn’t necessary for any contest in the Sportsman or Expert ranks.
George and Aaron duked it out in this series, often besting Home Cook’n as they battled for series points. During this series, George set two new lap records in the MegaG+ Modified class. Aaron Castro now holds the fastest lap in the “Lites” class at 5.026 in the White lane. The fastest lap on the oval with the MegaG+ 1.7 “Lite” platform is 1.713 set by George Peters in the White lane. Aaron clicked off a 1.716 in the Blue lane in the Round 5 finale.
That’s a wrap for the 2024 Summer Extreme Series. It was highly competitive, and I think everyone likes the new race format.
Congrats to George, Jerry, and Matthew for winning their respective categories in the series. Great driving!
Stay tuned for video coverage of the Finale and plans for our next engagement. Okay, shut up and drive!
The final round will be on the SR3 oval course. We’ll run our latest race format but longer segments since we’re on the oval. We’ll also run fuel allocation for the Last Chance Qualifier race and the Feature event. I think the LCQ race will have 30-lap segments, and the feature race will have 45-lap segments. Fuel allocation will be announced on race day.
Round 4 Short Story
Race 1: Qualifier Race 2
Race 2: Qualifier Race 1
Race 3: Feature Event
Round 4 looked like it wouldn’t happen, with very few RSVPs and then a couple of RSVPs bailing out at the last minute.
Team Johnson’s Junior drivers were impressive in the first qualifier against two Expert drivers vying for the single transfer spot to the main event. George won all four of the segments, Madeline came in second in four. Matthew Johnson found his groove in the final segment and put some serious pressure on Madeline, finishing third but just one lap down and posting a slightly faster median lap time than Expert George Peters.
Continuing our new racing format in Round 3, we conducted a five-lap qualifying session that divided the field into two qualifying races. The winners of each qualifier race transferred directly to the main event. The rest of the field went on to the Last Chance Qualifier race, where two more drivers (1st and 2nd) transferred to the feature race. We had enough drivers to do a Consolation Race but opted not to.
This qualifier race pitted the 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th fastest qualifiers against one another, with only one driver transferring to the main event. The two Expert drivers, George Peters and Home Cook’n, looked to be the favorites to win, but Sportsman Jerry Pearson (Pearson Racing) was having none of that. Jerry took second in three of the four segments and second overall against a hard-charging George Peters. Team Johnson’s Jared Johnson was introduced harshly to our fastest class of cars, the Viper V-SPEC chassis. Jared did amazingly well against two experts, including a seasoned and highly motivated sportsman, Jerry Pearson. Jared also found his groove in the final segment, posting his fastest race lap. 
Sportsman driver, Jerry Pearson was on fire again in the Last Chance Qualifier. Only two drivers would transfer to the Main Event, and Jerry was determined to be one of them. Jerry won three of his four segments and bagged second in his final segment. Also vying for one of the two transfer spots, George Peters won three of his four segments and took a second in the other. In the end, George and Jerry tied in laps and total points, but Jerry took the top podium spot by just 1.18 seconds. This is competitive racing at its finest! This was Team Johnson’s first “official” race day with the more serious crowd, but they all finished every stage and segment of the event and recorded some impressive results. 
After experiencing a hiccup with SlotTrak’s latest version (scoring and fuel management feature failures), we abandoned the planned fuel stop component of the main event. We continued with a straight-up sprint race with 30 lap segments and no fuel stops. This race was an adrenaline party. Team Forza’s Aaron Castro put the heat on Home Cook’n and everybody else with three 2nd place segments and just missing a 1st in the first segment by 4/10’s of a second. Pearson Racing’s Jerry Pearson and GP Design’s George Peters would prove to be spoilers in the last two segments: Jerry put in a fabulous effort in the third segment, taking 2nd place to Home Cook’n by just 2/10’s of a second; George bagged the win in the final segment with the fastest runtime of the segment at 145.139. Both driver’s late-race performances robbed Aaron of valuable points that could have put him on the top of the main event podium had Home Cook’n not won three of the four segments. What a blisteringly fast race!