We weren’t sure we were racing until the last team and driver arrived in the paddock. We ended up with roughly 11 drivers, and three racing teams entered in Round 5.
Team Maddox fielded two drivers under their ace driver, Abe Maddox’s, name. Team Johnson fielded two drivers under their ace driver, Madeline Johnson’s name. Team Forza fielded two drivers racing individually, Olga Rossetta and Aaron Castro. GP Designs fielded two individual drivers, Jordan Walker and George Peters. Webster Motorsports and Stewart Raceway contested Round 5 with one driver each.
Round 1 was hectic and chaotic as four junior drivers competed against four experts and two Sportsman drivers. The numbers below don’t tell the whole story since the juniors only completed one race on the day. Madeline and Abe did exceptionally well, and Abe even won a Race 1 segment against three Expert drivers.
Short Story
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Steve Stewart* | 415 | 201 | 2717.036 |
| 2 | Aaron Castro* | 412 | 198 | 2755.511 |
| 3 | George Peters* | 391 | 169 | 2779.946 |
| 4 | Jordan Walker* | 356 | 134 | 2724.92 |
| 5 | Kevin Webster | 349 | 128 | 2799.694 |
| 6 | Olga Rossetta | 328 | 107 | 2805.608 |
| 7 | Abe Maddoxj | 141 | 50 | 1292.387 |
| 8 | Madeline Johnsonj | 133 | 41 | 1315.998 |
* Expert driver, J Junior Driver
Race 1: Super G+ F1/Indy Lexan (IROC)
The first race was a crash fest but also amazingly competitive. The compelling thing was that Team Johnson bagged 3rd and 4th segment wins, with Madeline constantly holding 3rd place during her segments. Abe Maddox would win a segment and follow that up with a 3rd-place segment finish. In Abe’s fantastic segment six win, he also posted the fastest and best average times for that segment. Abe and Madeline are amazing! Detailed Results
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Steve Stewart | 177 | 87 | 1250.797 |
| 2 | Aaron Castro | 175 | 78 | 1293.026 |
| 3 | George Peters | 161 | 68 | 1296.303 |
| 4 | Kevin Webster | 152 | 56 | 1302.96 |
| 5 | Abe Maddox | 141 | 50 | 1292.387 |
| 6 | Jordan Walker | 139 | 45 | 1262.127 |
| 7 | Madeline Johnson | 133 | 41 | 1315.998 |
| 8 | Olga Rossetta | 133 | 39 | 1306.807 |
Race 2: MegaG+ 1.7 Modifieds (Paper Bodies)
Team Maddox and Team Johnson decided to call it a day after their spectacular results in Race 1. It was a long race against some very stiff competition, but they persevered and represented very well.
Aaron Castro would dominate Race 2 with three segment wins, the fastest lap time, and the fastest median lap time. The lead changed a few times, and George Peters held the lead through segments 4 and 5. In the end, Aaron Castro won his final rotation in segment six and the race over Home Cook’n by one lap and three points. Jordan Walker bagged the final podium spot with one segment win and one second-place segment finish. Detailed Results
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Aaron Castro | 120 | 61 | 753.887 |
| 2 | Steve Stewart | 119 | 58 | 771.257 |
| 3 | Jordan Walker | 113 | 49 | 770.582 |
| 4 | George Peters | 114 | 46 | 748.634 |
| 5 | Olga Rossetta | 102 | 36 | 782.328 |
| 6 | Kevin Webster | 97 | 32 | 776.931 |
Race 3: Viper V-SPEC “SPEC STOCK” Lexan
As always, the V-SPEC class was a scorcher. So much so that Olga Rossetta handed over driving responsibility to teammate Aaron Castro for the final segment of this super-heated race. Aaron Castro dominated the race from beginning to end, leading the race from the gun to the checkered flag. Besides Jordan Walker and Kevin Webster bagging some top segment finishes through segments 2 and 3, the only real battle was between George Peters and Home Cook’n. George would hold onto the second podium spot through segments 4 and 5 with a 15-point lead over Home Cook’n. Yours truly needed a win in the final segment to garner enough points to bag the second podium spot. George was done with his rotation, but Home Cook’n had Jordan Walker, Kevin Webster, and Aaron Castro (driving for Olga Rossetta) to contend with. Not an easy feat to pull off, especially in the final segment. The good news was that he had a full tank of gas; the bad news was that he was up against three drivers who could easily relegate him to a second or third-place finish, robbing him of the 16 points he needed to knock George off the second podium spot.
In the end, Aaron Castro laid down some blistering lap times, both for the best lap and the best median lap. Crashes would be the deciding factor, and only Jordan Walker could pressure Home Cook’n to the end. Jordan would come up just short but in second place, just two laps down. Home Cook’n bagged the 16 points needed, besting George by just one point. It just doesn’t get more competitive! Detailed Results
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Aaron Castro | 117 | 59 | 708.598 |
| 2 | Steve Stewart | 119 | 56 | 694.982 |
| 3 | George Peters | 116 | 55 | 735.009 |
| 4 | Jordan Walker | 104 | 40 | 692.211 |
| 5 | Kevin Webster | 100 | 40 | 719.803 |
| 6 | Olga Rossetta | 93 | 32 | 716.473 |
Final Series Standings
Webster Motorsports proves again that persistence pays off. Kevin raced in all five Open Wheel Series events, amassing an unbeatable amount of points. Both Eric Lane and Jerry Pearson were always knocking on the door but missed too many races to mount a serious threat to Kevin’s points lead.
Abe Maddox also missed a race or two but managed an impressive fourth-place finish in the final standings and some very impressive wins throughout the series. Abe’s Mom, Shaylin, rounded out the top five with excellent driving throughout the series.
The big story is the number of female drivers competing in this crazy fast racing series. Thank you all for participating in the racing and making it all much more fun!
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| Sportsman | ||||
| 1 | Kevin Webster | 1983 | 685 | 15626.61 |
| 2 | Eric Lane | 1047 | 345 | 5316.846 |
| 3 | Jerry Pearson | 889 | 306 | 6106.648 |
| 4 | Abe Maddox* | 470 | 152 | 3146.146 |
| 5 | Shaylin Maddox | 369 | 123 | 1877.628 |
| 6 | Olga Rossetta | 328 | 107 | 2805.608 |
| 7 | Madeline Johnson* | 133 | 41 | 1315.998 |
| 8 | Martha Elderon | 102 | 36 | 775.14 |
| 9 | Pam Ebert | 77 | 32 | 695.404 |
| Expert | ||||
| 1 | Steve Stewart | 2466 | 1130 | 16194.72 |
| 2 | Aaron Castro | 2434 | 1055 | 16191.52 |
| 3 | George Peters | 2372 | 964 | 16384.04 |
| 4 | Jordan Walker | 940 | 282 | 5178.93 |
* Junior Driver
This is Kevin’s second or third Sportsman series win, which should be good news for Sportsman and Junior drivers since Kevin will now advance to the Expert ranks. Congratulations, Kevin!
Just what Home Cook’n needs: another hotdog Expert driver to contend with. This series was highly competitive at all skill levels. Home Cookn’s home-court advantage dwindled with each event. Aaron Castro missed taking the overall Expert win in this final round by just three points! And, of course, George Peters, with an average race placing of 2.3, makes Home Cookn’s race days pretty stressful.
Once again, yours truly spaced and didn’t get a video of Race 1, which is very disappointing since there were some very impressive crashes and wins in that race. Very sorry! I did capture the other two races and will post those soon.
Next weekend will be an open track day and some fun racing if there is enough interest. If anybody has any ideas on our next racing series format, please let me know. Since they are the most competitive, I’m big on sticking with the MegaG+ “Modified” and the Viper V-SPEC “Spec Stock” platforms. I’m also hoping to have SR2 retrofitted with independent power control at the driver stations so we can run a race or two on that track in the next series.
Okay, shut up and drive!
As usual, there were some lap records set in the final round of the 2024 Open Wheel Series.
In Race 1, George Peters set a new lap record on the Fast Esses course with a 5.595 in the Green lane running a stock AFX Super G+ F1/Indy Lexan IROC car.
In the MegaG+ “Modified” class (Race 2), Jordan Walker clicked off a new lap record of 5.195 in the Green lane during Race 2 of Round 5. Also in the MegaG+ “Modified” class, Aaron Castro clicked off another new lap record of 5.146 in the Orange lane in the same race. Aaron already holds the fastest lap for this car on the “Fast Esses” course at 5.026 in the White lane.
In the Viper V-SPEC “SPEC STOCK” class, Aaron Castro clicked off a new lap record in the White lane in the final race of the day. Aaron also holds the fastest lap with this car on this “Fast Esses” course at 4.251 in the Orange lane.
The speeds just keep increasing with each race around here. We may have to go back to stock T-Jets to slow things down a bit.