Just like spring, it came in as a lion and this year’s Springtime SpeedFest was no different. Kicking things off the festivities was the ever-popular Full Track Friday followed by two Chase Races. Last race Sportsman winner, Doug Warlick was back to defend his win, however with a late lap breakout, he was relegated to third. Roger Johnson, Dick Simon Award recipient, nabbed his first Sportsman win with Tim Milne coming in a close second. Mark Basso increased his points lead in the Pro Championship with his consistent driving landing him in the top spot.
After the checkered flag was thrown, the party started in the clubhouse where we hosted a 4 piece world touring Jazz band that had everyone nodding their heads and tapping their toes. The combination of smooth jazz and intimate setting felt like you were right on stage with the performers and the crowd ate it up. This was a concert members will be talking about for years!
Saturday is for the racers! Beautiful weather attracted the largest turnout of members and racers for our first of three Festival weekends. 18 GT Challenge cars lined up on grid to battle it out for round 2 of 10 races this season. Tony Diar-Bakerli woke up early to run in a 50K marathon AND THEN came to Autobahn and took home the GT1 win in his Porsche Cup car. He’s an absolute madman! GT2 had some great battles however the mighty K-powered Miata of David Calzada dominated the class as he brought home his first ever GT2 win. Valdas Gaurylius was a man on fire in GT3. He set a new track record in his BMW and took home the 1st place trophy. Jim Hamman in his newly wrapped Porsche muscled his way around full track in order to secure his top spot on the podium while the not so subtle neon green MX5 car piloted by Tony Kester stands on the podium in GT5.
Radical and Wings-n-Things had an impressive 8 car field with Brandon Schwarz set a blisteringly fast 2:14.398 race pace which locked up his overall win and Mike D’Ambrose held off Alon Kim and Kevin Laughridge to take the victory.
Spec Miata was in a league all its own. Another near record-breaking field lined up to battle it out and the racing didn’t disappoint. Early in the race saw multiple safety cars due to mechanical failures however by lap 3, there was plenty of racing to watch. The Ryan family had a mixed bag in terms of racing. Two cars went to the repair shop while the other 2 landed on the SM2 podium. Congratulations to Conor Ryan (1st) and Eamon Ryan (2nd) and Alan Zocher (3rd). The fight for Spec Miata was incredible to witness. The passes for the lead were reminiscent of Stockton to Malone of old, however Gavin Gleitsman managed to hold off the onslaught of Brandon Collins to take home his first-place prize while Brandon fought with Jake Malter who ended up in third place. The racing this season appears to be much more fierce than previous years and if you missed any of it, you can relive all the racing action on the Autobahn YouTube page!
