Race Report: 2024 Open Wheel Series, Round 5 Finale

Aaron Castro’s Viper V-SPEC with a Lola T800 Indy Body

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!

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Author: Race Director

Just an old slot car racer and Race Director at Stewart Raceway.

One thought on “Race Report: 2024 Open Wheel Series, Round 5 Finale”

  1. 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.

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