Ok. This is my first crack at writing a Honda Challenge article. Go easy. I am realizing that I can't remember or did not see what all happened on track. Does anyone have any insight/details to add? I remember mostly what happened in H1 on Sat and H3 on Sunday. I need to fill in some other areas. Critique is appreciated.
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The 2nd Honda Challenge race of the 2003 season was held at the BeaveRun Motorsports Complex located west of Pittsburgh, PA. This is the first time Honda Challenge has raced at this relatively new facility as well as the first HyperFest event of 2003. The combination of unseasonably cool temperatures, threatening clouds and a new track for most drivers promised an interesting weekend.

A healthy grid consisting of 23 drivers anxiously awaited Saturday’s standing start. For a change of pace, an inverted grid by class was used. Therefore, all H1 cars would grid together with the slowest qualifying car gridding first and so on for the rest of the classes. When the checkered flag dropped, 22 cars roared off without incident. Unfortunately, Lyonel Kent suffered a broken throttle cable on the start and had to be pushed off track. His would not be the last car to exit the track early.

The much anticipated title fight for the weekend was the battle between the H1 CRX of James Evans and the H1 Civic hatch of Chad Slagg. Slagg came from the back row of H1 to take a substantial early race lead and earn the King Rat Motorsports Hole Shot Award in the process. Slagg led the race for a number of laps but Evans slowly closed the gap. Evans finally managed to pass Slagg and put a healthy amount of track between him and Slagg. As the race wore on Slagg suffered braking problems and even went off course. Yet the axle problems that plagued Evans at CMP returned and his pace slowed substantially. Thus the Saturday finish was a bit unexpected with John Whitaker and Maciej Dudek passing the race weary cars of Slagg and Evans to finish 1st and 2nd respectively. Slagg managed to limp across for 3rd with Jim Lucas and Todd Reid rounding out the top 5 in H1. Evans' axle let go on the last lap and forced him to settle for a disappointing 6th. On Sunday the Evans and Slagg battle continued with Slagg managing to keep Evans at bay for the H1 win. Maciej Dudek edged out John Whitaker to take a hard fought 3rd in class.

The racing in H2 was intense with Corey, Jason and Warren each leading on various laps and battling fiercely. Warren finally grabbed the lead in H2 for good and was able to clinch the overall race win as well as the class win. Corey experienced mechanical problems late and was unable to complete the race. Corey’s poor luck continued on Sunday as he succumbed to transmission woes and was forced to retire very early in the race. Warren continued his weekend class domination with another hard fought win over Franza. However, Franza showed that consistency matters most and still leads the points despite not having won a race. H2 is shaping up as the tightest race as far as championship points.

H3 saw a more varied field than usual with a Prelude Si, Del Sol VTEC and an Integra on grid. With Chris Brinson out due to a broken clutch in qualifying, only 3 H3 cars started the Saturday race. Kevin Ruck experienced some rather dramatic rear tire lock under braking pretty early in the Saturday race. While 20 yards of tire smoke under braking at the end of the front straight looked impressive, a blown tire soon ended his race. The cool temps prevented rear brakes from getting up to temp and Ruck switched to stock brake compounds for the rear on Sunday. Phil Phillips’ Integra showed damage from an on track altercation with an H4 car. Meanwhile, William Roediger drove away from the two H3 cars with very little drama for the win in H3. On Sunday Chris Brinson managed to replace his clutch with help from a number of people, including competitor William Roediger, but started from the back of the grid since he missed qualifying. Brinson battled his way through the pack and passed Roediger for the win with only one lap to go.

Jon Marhefka turned some blistering fast times on his way to running away with the win in H4. Marhefka dominated the weekend with wins on both Saturday and Sunday.

The H5 car of Jedd Fahnestock blew an engine near the end of the Saturday race. However, Jedd still collected the win since he was a lap up when the checkered flag came out. Jedd was unable to start on Sunday, allowing Keith Edwards to cruise to the win unopposed.

 

Good write up, except the part where you mention I haven't won yet

Seriously, good stuff Chris!

Please tell me you'll be at Summit!!!

 

Feel free to exchange Matt Dudek for Maciej Dudek. I usually go by "Matt" even though my driver's license says "Maciej"

Matt

PS. My comp license says "Matt" so go figure

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by El Pollo Diablo v3.5 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Feel free to exchange Matt Dudek for Maciej Dudek. I usually go by "Matt" even though my driver's license says "Maciej"

Matt

PS. My comp license says "Matt" so go figure </TD></TR></TABLE>

or maybe we can start calling you the "Magic Dude"?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Todd Reid &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

or maybe we can start calling you the "Magic Dude"? </TD></TR></TABLE>

lol... I bet that sticks

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JeffS &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

lol... I bet that sticks </TD></TR></TABLE>

Dude, you'll seriously have to paint your helmet purple and put little yellow stars and moons on it if you get named that!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 1gTeg90 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Dude, you'll seriously have to paint your helmet purple and put little yellow stars and moons on it if you get named that!</TD></TR></TABLE>
LOL... that's great.