All four official races ran last Saturday and a clip of the closest finish yet recorded on video have been posted on Rumble.
The closest finish clip is a segment finish between Aaron Castro and George Peters in the MegaG+ 1.7 Modified race. The gap at the end of the 20-lap segment was just three-hundredths of a second. It was not the closest ever witnessed at Stewart Raceway, but it was pretty close nonetheless.
Enjoy!
Wow, what a turnout! Our first “official” race of the 2025 season opened with a bang. We had 14 drivers in the mix: four Experts, five Juniors, and five Sportsman drivers, including two new drivers visiting Stewart Raceway for the first time!
Sportsman driver Jared Johnson 3rd overall, and first-time Stewart Raceway driver Dave Rowland finishes 4th overall. Expert driver George Peters leads the Expert points chase by 58 points.
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | George Peters* | 238 | 232 | 1645.44 |
| 2 | Steve Stewart* | 159 | 174 | 1158.701 |
| 3 | Jared Johnson | 169 | 142 | 1292.315 |
| 4 | Dave Rowland | 144 | 142 | 1291.611 |
| 5 | Aaron Castro* | 139 | 120 | 868.844 |
| 6 | Coe Rowland | 136 | 110 | 1353.497 |
| 7 | Arlo Roland | 132 | 106 | 1255.253 |
| 8 | Abe Maddox | 112 | 101 | 908.988 |
| 9 | Shaylin Maddox | 102 | 83 | 846.329 |
| 10 | Jerry Pearson* | 79 | 58 | 496.859 |
| 11 | Matthew Johnson | 67 | 42 | 518.012 |
| 12 | Eric Lane | 66 | 40 | 498.861 |
| 13 | Cameron Bill | 50 | 32 | 411.714 |
| 14 | Madeline Johnson | 54 | 28 | 507.557 |
* Expert driver
After about an hour of open practice, racing got underway at 12:15. The first race of the 2025 50/50 Racing Series was the increasingly popular MegaG+ 1.7 Modified class, a speedy and straightforward racing platform that anybody can be competitive with.
This race should have had nine drivers. However, the Race Director mistakenly dropped two drivers from the lineup: Cameron Bill and himself. Jerry Pearson very nearly bagged his first race win as an Expert driver in this one. Jerry won the first two segments and never finished worse than 2nd through his rotations. In the end, Aaron Castro knocked Jerry off the top podium spot by winning all four of his rotations. Team Johnson’s leader, Jared Johnson, drove well and took the runner-up position against three Expert drivers! Details
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Aaron Castro | 80 | 64 | 476.54 |
| 2 | Jerry Pearson | 79 | 58 | 496.859 |
| 3 | George Peters | 79 | 55 | 488.663 |
| 4 | Jared Johnson | 71 | 42 | 491.625 |
| 5 | Matthew Johnson | 67 | 42 | 518.012 |
| 6 | Eric Lane | 66 | 40 | 498.861 |
| 7 | Madeline Johnson | 54 | 28 | 507.557 |
This one was a dogfight between all categories of drivers. Team Maddox Junior driver Abe Maddox led this one through the first three segments, winning his first two rotations and demonstrating he’s an incredibly talented driver capable of running with both Sportsman and Expert drivers. This race was highly competitive at every level, with wins by Junior, Sportsman, and Expert drivers. In the end, GP Design’s George Peters edged out Aaron Castro for the top podium spot by just two points and one lap. Junior phenom Abe Maddox bumped Home Cook’n off the final podium step with a win in the final segment. Aaron Castro set a new lap record on the Fast Esses road course in his first rotation with a 5.397 lap in the White lane. Details
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | George Peters* | 60 | 58 | 404.21 |
| 2 | Aaron Castro* | 59 | 56 | 392.304 |
| 3 | Abe Maddox | 56 | 55 | 412.669 |
| 4 | Steve Stewart* | 59 | 52 | 401.707 |
| 5 | Dave Rowland | 56 | 49 | 434.333 |
| 6 | Shaylin Maddox | 55 | 45 | 396.168 |
| 7 | Arlo Roland | 51 | 40 | 426.627 |
| 8 | Coe Rowland | 52 | 36 | 440.038 |
| 9 | Cameron Bill | 50 | 32 | 411.714 |
* Expert
This is a six-car set that Sportsman driver Eric Lane donated to our racing program. The big stories in this race were Jared Johnson making his first podium visit with 3rd place overall and one of our newest drivers, Dave Rowland, who pulled off a hard-fought 4th place overall. Actually, pretty impressive driving by everybody in this race. Jared Johnson won two segments, while Dave Rowland won one segment. While I didn’t feel like the cars were all that easy to drive, George and Home Cook’n set new lap records on each of the four active lanes. George clicked off a 5.505 lap record in the Green lane, and Home Cook’n managed a 5.486 lap record in the Blue lane. Details
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Steve Stewart* | 60 | 61 | 436.907 |
| 2 | George Peters* | 60 | 58 | 447.943 |
| 3 | Jared Johnson | 60 | 56 | 461.831 |
| 4 | Dave Rowland | 54 | 51 | 497.803 |
| 5 | Abe Maddox | 56 | 46 | 496.319 |
| 6 | Shaylin Maddox | 47 | 38 | 450.161 |
| 7 | Arlo Roland | 49 | 34 | 493.029 |
| 8 | Coe Rowland | 48 | 32 | 508.47 |
Another IROC six-car set donated by Eric “Fast” Lane. Until Eric arrived on the scene, I’d never driven a Viper V-SPEC IROC set. The cars cost $50 each! Not my first choice for a new IROC set. This final race of the day was quite competitive also, with the two Experts just three points apart going into the final segment, and Sportsman driver, Jared Johnson landing yet another podium finish on the day. Another new Junior driver from the Team Rowland, Coe Rowland jumped from last place going into the final segment to 4th overall with a well-timed 3rd place finish. Details
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Steve Stewart | 40 | 61 | 320.087 |
| 2 | George Peters | 39 | 61 | 304.624 |
| 3 | Jared Johnson | 38 | 44 | 338.859 |
| 4 | Coe Rowland | 36 | 42 | 404.989 |
| 5 | Dave Rowland | 34 | 42 | 359.475 |
| 6 | Arlo Roland | 32 | 32 | 335.597 |
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| Sportsman | ||||
| 1 | Jared Johnson | 169 | 142 | 1292.315 |
| 2 | Dave Rowland | 144 | 142 | 1291.611 |
| 3 | Shaylin Maddox | 102 | 83 | 846.329 |
| 4 | Eric Lane | 66 | 40 | 498.861 |
| 5 | Cameron Bill | 50 | 32 | 411.714 |
| Junior | ||||
| 1 | Coe Rowland | 136 | 110 | 1353.497 |
| 2 | Abe Maddox | 112 | 101 | 908.988 |
| 3 | Arlo Roland | 132 | 106 | 1255.253 |
| 4 | Matthew Johnson | 67 | 42 | 518.012 |
| 5 | Madeline Johnson | 54 | 28 | 507.557 |
| Expert | ||||
| 1 | George Peters | 238 | 232 | 1645.44 |
| 2 | Steve Stewart | 159 | 174 | 1158.701 |
| 3 | Aaron Castro | 139 | 120 | 868.844 |
| 4 | Jerry Pearson | 79 | 58 | 496.859 |
What a day of racing! I’ll try to get a video of a very close finish between George and Aaron in Race 2 (MG+ Modified IROC). Speaking of video, we have the whole day on video, so I’ll try to get the photo finish clip and the event video posted ASAP.
A big welcome to our newest racing team, Team Rowland! Hopefully, Dave, Arlo, and Coe will join us again soon. They jumped right in without practice and raced the last three races with great enthusiasm and sportsmanship–awesome! Thanks to everyone for showing up and making Round 1 a great event!
We’ll see what happens next weekend; it could be a track day or race day, depending on who’s available.
Okay, shut up and drive!
