Chuckwalla Valley Raceway Recap

February 12, 2012 Travis

While walking around the paddock of a race event, it is not uncommon to hear drivers speaking of their favorite tracks. Conversations continue as drivers list reasons why certain tracks are more fun and challenging than others. Last weekend NASA-AZ made its first trip to Chuckwalla Valley Raceway. Is this the best track NASA-AZ has ever traveled to? Well that would be a conversation that would never end but the fact is Chuckwalla was loved by all the drivers that attended. With 2.7 miles of track, 17 turns, and 40 foot wide race surfaces, Chuckwalla has a corner for everyone to enjoy. Tucked away in the desert of California, Arizona drivers made the trek last weekend to enjoy a 3 day event hosted by NASA-AZ on a technical, fast, and just darn right fun raceway.

Photo by Robert Glaze of Caliphotography.com

Race Group

Qualifying was flooded with cars including a number of new faces. With a California race, a number of NASA So Cal members made the drive out to Chuckwalla to join our racers on this new track. These drivers would be sure to challenge our local drivers as they swept qualifying in Honda Challenge. With a full field small bore saw 24 drivers in qualifying with 23 in big bore. With such a large turnout, the race was sure to be exciting as a corner would never be bare.

Saturday Small Bore

Saturday the green flag dropped and the racers were off flying into turn 1 and 2 for early position. Within the first lap, both a 944 and HC drivers were off track and would have lots of ground to make up. Jim Richard was off to an early overall lead with Norm Hamden leading the 944 Spec class. The battles started early with Doug Evans and Terry Denton working hard in the HC class. With an early off Tony Szirka would have a lot of ground to make up. Once again Eric Dayton, Simon Pavlick, and Leland Forbes were having a great race in the middle of the Honda Challenge Pack. With Pavlick leading the three drivers, Forbes makes a pass on Dayton. A combination of Pavlick and Forbes dipping 2 off mixed up the group allowing Dayton to pass both drivers with Forbes just behind him and Pavlick now making up ground. The 944 and PT drivers were maintaining their positions with each driver gapping the next. Paul Seiferth in his PT-F RX7 continued to pressure Devon Dahn for position. About this time, the 25 car of Jeremy Croiset, and 72 car of Manny Coats, began their attack on the field. Within minutes Croiset had taken the HC lead. Manny Coats was not far behind, but Jason Noel commanding the 2^nd place position would make Coats work for the pass. In the end Croiset and Coats would take the 1^st and 2^nd overall positions with Norm Hamden taking 3^rd place overall and winning the 944 Spec class.

HC2

1^st – Jeremy Croiset

2^nd – Manny Coats

3^rd – Jason Neol

944 Spec

1^st – Norm Hamden

2^nd – Joe Paluch

3^rd – TeamArizonaPain.com

PT-D

1^st – Jim Richard

2^nd – Josh Allan

1^st – Michael Babcock

PT-F

1^st – Devon Dahn

2^nd – Paul Seiferth

3^rd – Steven Bodeman

Saturday Big Bore

Photo by Robert Glaze of Caliphotography.com

With one of the largest Big Bore races we have seen some time, the flag dropped and the racers went three wide into turn 1. Mark Alger was off in the first turn leaving him behind the entire field. Never one to quit, Alger wasted no time working his way up the field. Having not qualified due to radiator and alternator issues, the TeamArizonaPain.com radical started the race last. In no time the radical was making his way through the field almost as if playing a game with the other drivers. Within 2 laps, Mark Alger had regained position on half of the field. Bryan McCormick in the number 9 truck was making great laps following the 33 truck of Ed Charnock with Wayne McKeen following closely behind. Still coming through the other drivers, Team ArizonaPain.com makes the pass on John Gordon in his beautiful Porsche, and works on the leaders starting with Wayne McKeen. After some quick passes, TeamArizonaPain.com passes McKeen, McCormick, and Charnock leaving only Brent Crosser in the 206 Corvette between them and the lead. With only 4 minutes left, the leaders caught the back of the field and blue flags go waving all over the track. An off in the last laps by Crosser, leaves a gap for Charnock and Team ArizonaPain.com to make the pass for the 1 and 2 position.

1^st – TeamArizonaPain.com

2^nd – Ed Charnock

3^rd – Brent Crosser

ST-2

1^st – JR Smith

2^nd – John Gordon

PT-A

1^st – Jeremy Renshaw

2^nd – Matthew Seech

3^rd – Brian Turner

Sunday Small Bore

small-bore-race

Norm Hamden was off to a quick overall lead. Due to an incident, Croiset and Coats in the 25 and 72 HC cars started in the back. Within the first lap, Croiset was on the bumper of Honda Challenge leader Jason Noels. In PT-F Devon Dahn made Paul Seiferth work to hold his lead. By this time both Croiset and Coats were knocking on Noels door trying for the pass. Finally on lap 3, 25 and 72 make the pass for the 1 and 2 lead in Honda Challenge. Now with the HC field in their rear view, they quickly pick off the rest of the small bore field. Meanwhile 944 Spec drivers maintained large gaps between each car and PT-D Jim Richard was still leading the race with a huge gap. Always waiting to make his moves, Dayton takes the pass on Doug Evans and begins to close the gap on Simon Pavlick. Evans, Forbes, and Szirka are all following closely. New to NASA-AZ, Steve Stepanian and Josh Allan displayed some great driving in the Spec E30 class. After numerous attempts, Stepanian gets the pass on Allan into turn 1 for the class lead. With race ticking down, Croiset passes Jim Richard for the race lead with Coats now working on 2^nd. In the last lap Forbes passes Szirka and Evans and Coats passes Richard for 2^nd overall.

HC2

1^st – Jeremy Croiset

2^nd – Manny Coats

3^rd – Jason Noel

PT-D

1^st – Jim Richard

944 Spec

1^st – Norm Hamden

2^nd Steve Marlow

3^rd – Rob Giorgio

Spec E30

1^st – Steve Stepanian

2^nd – Josh Allan

PT-F

1^st – Paul Seiferth

2^nd – Devon Dahn

3^rd – Steven Bodeman

1^st – Michael Babcock

Sunday Big Bore

brian-turner

Having qualified first, TeamArizonaPain.com was off to a quick lead in the radical driven by Paul Lynch. Brent Crosser followed closely behind in the 206 fire breathing Corvette. Unfortunately at the end of lap 2, Team AZPain.com pulled into the hot pits with a charging system failure that would ultimately take them out of the race. With the radical down, Crosser and Alger put on a great show running nose to tail. Not one to be left out, Wayne McKeen slowly filled the gap from 3rd. Another great race was going on with Bryan McCormick in the number 9 truck, JR Smith and David MacMillan. As McCormick made the pass on MacMillan, a slight off while working to pass Smith puts McCormick right back where he started fighting for position. In turn 17, Alger gets the pass on Crosser with McKeen still close behind. McCormick and MacMillan finally get the pass on JR Smith. In PT-A large gaps slowly close as Brian Turner begins to catch up with leader Matthew Seech who goes on to win his class for the first time! Now in the lead Alger begins to gap the rest of the leaders and runs away with the race.

1^st – Mark Alger

2^nd – Brent Crosser

3^rd – Wayne McKeen

PT-A

1^st – Matthew Seech

2^nd – Brian Turner

3^rd – Marty Saltzman

ST-2

1^st – JR Smith

Saturday Time Trial

grid

With each Time Trial driver excited for a new track, 43 competitors made the trek to California for the first event at Chuckwalla Valley Raceway. A new track also meant for the second time this season, new records were up for grabs. TT-R was led by TeamArizonaPain.com running a blistering 1.39.888. TT-U was led by Mark Alger with a 1.51.262. The TT-U class 2^nd and 3^rd place positions were separated by only .2 seconds with Mark Klenin running a 1.55.157 and Gary Felton putting down a 1.55.311. Drew Regitz dominated TT-S with a 1.58.833. TT-A was led by Jeremy Renshaw running a 1.58.640 and the only TT-A driver to break the 2 minute mark. TT-B was led by the only in class 2 minute time breaker, Dave Schotz running a 1.59.785. Justin Markiewicz took TT-C with a 2.04.641. Emilio Cervantes was the TT-D leader with a 2.03.223. TT-E was led by once again TeamArizonaPain.com with a 2.10.910.

Saturday Time Trial Results

TT-R

1^st – TeamArizonaPain.com – 1.39.888 – New Track Record!

2^nd – David MacMillan – 1.58.775

3^rd – Kent Porter – 2.02.646

TT-U

1^st – Mark Alger – 1.51.262 – New Track Record!

2^nd – Mark Klenin – 1.55.157

3^rd – Gary Felton – 1.55.311

TT-S

1^st – Drew Regitz – 1.58.833 – New Track Record!

2^nd – Ronald Graham – 2.04.445

TT-A

1^st – Jeremy Renshaw – 1.58.640

2^nd – Robert Smithson – 2.01.282

3^rd – Brian Turner – 2.01.421

TT-B

1^st – Dave Schotz – 1.59.785

2^nd – Mervin Tan – 2.01.353

3^rd – Chris Wilson – 2.02.567

TT-C

1^st – Justin Markiewicz – 2.04.641

TT-D

1^st – Emilio Cervantes – 2.03.223

2^nd – Robert Rose – 2.05.208

3^rd – Jim Richard – 2.07.358

TT-E

1^st – TeamArizonaPain.com – 2.10.910

2^nd – Brad Lundahl – 2.12.140

3^rd – Jeff Abrams – 2.18.850

Sunday Time Trial

On Sunday TeamArizonaPain.com took TT-R once again but was unable to better their time from Saturday. Mark Alger led his class once again as well with a 1.51.692. Jeremy Renshaw led TT-A on Sunday improving his Saturday time with a 1.57.105. Each of the TT-B leaders improved their Sunday times with Dave Schotz running a 1.58.631, Mervin Tan running a 2.00.222, and Justin Markiewicz moving up a class running a 2.02.822. Emilio Cervantes shaved a second off his Saturday TT-D winning time with a 2.02.090 on Sunday. Brad Lundahl took TT-E on Sunday with a 2.10.544 beating the best Saturday time of TeamArizonaPain.com.

Sunday Time Trial Results

TT-R

1^st – TeamArizonaPain.com – 1.47.552

2^nd – Bryan McCormick – 1.57.330

3^rd – David MacMillan – 2.00.918

TT-U

1^st – Mark Alger – 1.51.692

2^nd – Gary Felton – 1.55.269

3^rd – Mark Klenin – 1.56.501

TT-S

1^st – Drew Regitz – 1.59.926

2^nd – Dale Naylor – 2.09.091

TT-A

1^st – Jeremy Renshaw – 1.57.105 – New Track Record!

2^nd – Robert Smithson – 1.59.263

3^rd – Brian Turner – 1.59.727

TT-B

1^st – Dave Schotz – 1.58.631 – New Track Record!

2^nd – Mervin Tan – 2.00.222

3^rd – Justin Markiewicz – 2.02.822

TT-D

1^st – Emilio Cervantes – 2.02.090 – New Track Record!

2^nd – Fulton Haight – 2.04.259

3^rd – Robert Rose – 2.05.140

TT-E

1^st – Brad Lundahl – 2.10.544 – New Track Record!

2^nd – TeamArizonaPain.com – 2.11.028

3^rd – Jeff Abrams – 2.15.736

UMS Tuning Time Attack Series

Time Attack saw 26 competitors for this event. Being a new track to NASA-AZ, a number of HPDE drivers were eager to see the times they had been running all weekend. With mostly return drivers, the field was well equipped for some fast times. Also because this was the first time the series visited this track, new Time Attack Records were up for grabs. Here are the results for the second event of the season.

TA-C

Russell Whelan :: 01:57.408 New Track Record!
Justin Bowie :: 02:02.601
Emilio Cervantes :: 02:02.738

TA-B

Robert Smithson :: 02:00.268 :: New Track Record!
Chris Willson :: 02:02.191
Justin Markiewicz :: 02:03.503

TA-A
Stenos Wijaya :: 02:08.753 :: New Track Record!
Aaron Hiar :: 02:11.693
Michael Esquer :: 02:13.246

HPDE

mustang-vet

HPDE drivers were in for a real treat at Chuckwalla Valley Raceway. With a 3 day event, drivers had lots of opportunities to advance their driving knowledge and skills on a track filled with fast technical turns paired with a new and smooth racing surface. Great job goes to each of the drivers for keeping it clean and incident free. Congratulations also go out to each of the drivers who advanced to the next level over the weekend. New to DE3 were Hunter Bennet in his Corvette Z06 and Beau Brown in his Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX. Also moving from DE3 to DE4 were David Stark, Jim Harris, Aaron Hiar, David Hume, Richard Wasson, and Fady Salama. On another note, one California visitor to NASA-AZ was very happy to be welcomed into the DE3 and Arizona group. He had this to say; “Just wanted to thank you guys for a really great weekend at Chuckwalla. You AZ guys run a nice operation and everyone I met was really friendly.”

Next Event Info

Arizona Motorsports Park

*No guests or pit crew
*Must meet sound requirements (Sound testing available both days)
*HPDE1-4
*Time Attack both days (Non points event, track records up for grabs)
*Time Trial (Non points event, track records up for grabs)
*Race Group (Test & Tune, non points event, no track records)

Feb 18-19 Registration is open click here to sign up!