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.

Round 3 Feature (Main) Event Short Story

Qualifying

We changed the qualifying format for this round. Instead of a 7-lap session, drivers had a 5-lap session, two warmup laps, and three laps on the clock. Of course, if you have a crash, spin, or other mishap in the last three laps, your average lap time will suffer greatly.

* Sportsman Driver

Qualifier Heat 2 (80 laps, winner transfers to Main)

Team Johnson’s Junior drivers didn’t stand much of a chance against two Expert drivers vying for that single transfer spot to the main event. Aaron won all four of the segments, Kevin came in second in four. Madeline Johnson found her groove in the final segment and put some serious pressure on Kevin Webster, finishing third but just one lap down and posting a slightly faster median lap time than Expert Kevin Webster. Details

Qualifier Heat 1 (80 laps, winner transfers to Main)

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. Details

Last Chance Qualifier (60 laps, 1st & 2nd transfer to Main)

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. Details

Feature “Main” Event (120 lap Sprint)

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! Details

Series Points Standings After Round 3

S = Sportsman drivers, J = Junior drivers
Note: Jerry Pearson is well on his way to the Expert ranks—two more events.

Stay tuned for Round 4 details, might be a day on one of the ovals. Okay, shut up and drive!

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!

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

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

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

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

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!