HC 2015 Season Opener Recap
The NASA Arizona region wasted no time getting down to business in 2015 by kicking off the season on January 10th and 11th, at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park. The H2 class featured 5 cars for the opening weekend: Team Backwards Logic Racing, Team LBR, Team LateNite Motorsports, Jake Casto and Erik Woods.
Honda Challenge paddock – 2015 Season opener – Wild Horse Pass – East Track
This was arguably the most eclectic racer roster the H2 group has ever seen. Team Backwards Logic, was formed for 2015 by fusing Robert Rose’s lead foot and ability to coach with Steven Williams’ competitive spirit and desire to take his Integra coupe to the next level. Also new for 2015 is Team LateNite Motorsports; comprised of seasoned racers Eric Dayton and Jason Noel, in a brand new royal blue Integra coupe that was built in just 2 months. If the car races even half as good as it looks, the H2 field is in for some trouble this year. You can follow the entire build in this time lapse video: http://youtu.be/cokJQ3BBtDQ . Team LBR, returns in 2015 for their fourth season together. The 2 lone rangers for the weekend consisted of Erik Woods and Jake Casto. In one corner you have Erik Woods, the longest tenured Honda Challenge racer with roots going back to 2003 when Honda Challenge was first debuted by NASA in the Arizona Region. Woods took some time off from racing in the past few years, but has plenty of experience that he hoped to use against some of the greenhorn racers that he would be going door to door with him this season. In the other corner, we have Jake Casto. Casto is a fresh graduate from competition school, making his club racing debut.
The new ride for Team LateNight Motorsports
The weekend started off with an exciting qualifying session. 15 minutes and many position changes later, Team LBR would come out on top claiming P1, followed by Jake Casto, Team LateNite Motorsport, Erik Woods, and Team Backwards Logic. As the racers made any last minutes changes or modifications to the cars before the race, dark clouds quickly rolled in overhead casting a shadow on the track and clamor in the paddock.
Erik Woods brought his red Integra coupe out of retirement for the 2015 opener
With about 15 minutes before the race was scheduled to start, small rain drops began to fall. Small drops turned to big drops, and soon the track would be soaked as the racers were released from grid for the warmup and formation lap. As the group formed up for the green flag to drop all eyes were on the first braking zone for the kink at the end of the first straightaway, where the physics of friction on a wet surface coupled with physical constraints of the track width would make for quite the start to the race…throw in 15-20 racer’s egos for good measure and you’ve got one hell of a Saturday afternoon. When the green flag dropped, Robert Rose of Team Backwards Logic (starting in 5th) would rocket to the front of the pack and by the first corner have leap frogged 3 positions to 2nd place with eyes on the only thing standing between him and a 1st place finish: the blue Civic of Team LBR. The rest of the field cautiously negotiated the race traffic and inclement weather. Here’s a first hand view of just how exciting the first few laps were as viewed from Jake Casto’s perspective: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lz-Ek7PAkMI
By the halfway point in the race, Rose had run down Team LBR for the 1st place position and rest of the field had settled into a rhythm in their respective positions. With the rain stopped it was only a matter of time until the Small Bore group would dry out a narrow path of dry tarmac. Lap times started dropping as the racers began pushing the envelope in the sections that had traction, but the dry line would prove only wide enough for one car making passing extremely difficult. When the checker flag finally came out Team Backwards Logic Racing would emerge victorious, followed by Team LBR (2nd place), Jake Casto (3rd place), Team LateNite Motorsports (4th) and Erik Woods (5th). Congratulations to Jake Casto for a clean first race and podium finish on his debut to race group!
Saturday’s podium finishers: Jake Casto (3rd), Team LBR (Ortega, 2nd), Team Backwards Logic Racing (Rose, 1st)
After some Saturday afternoon bench racing and a good night’s sleep, the group would return for practice and qualifying on Sunday morning. The consensus in the paddock after practice was that the track and temperatures were prime for some fast qualifying times. The predictions would hold true with every driver or team going faster than the day before. Team Backwards Logic would snag P1 with the fastest lap time of the weekend (1:05.41), followed by Team LBR (P2), Team LateNite Motorsports (P3), Erik Woods (P4), and Jake Casto (P5).
Jake Casto making some last minute changes to the Integra on Sunday after qualifying
Sunday’s race would feature a standing start and have the group bunched up separately behind the rest of the Small Bore Group. As the cars took their marks, all eyes were on the starter as the furled green flag was displayed to the drivers for a moment….as the green flag dropped the cars roared towards the first corner and their respective rev limiters; anything to gain an advantage to establish position going into the first corner.
Team LBR would end up getting a slight advantage over Team Backwards Logic (with Steven Williams behind the wheel) and slot into the first position for the first turn. For the first half of the race, Williams and Team LateNite Motorsports driver Jason Noel would badger Team LBR for the lead position. Team LBR took advantage as the group approached some of the slower out of class cars and created some breathing room from the rest of the pack. Erik Woods wasted no time to pounce on the chance to get in the fight once they encountered the other race group traffic and Noel had to balance his offense against Williams with some defense of his own to keep Woods at bay. Eventually Noel found a way around Williams towards the end of the race and would succeed in holding the 2nd place position. Williams, now desperately trying to stay in podium contention, was tested numerous times by Woods but ultimately would prevail and keep his 3rd place spot. Woods would follow closely in 4th, followed by Jake Casto in 5th.
Sunday’s podium finishers: Team Backwards Logic (Williams, 3rd), Team LateNite Motorsports (Noel, 2nd), Team LBR (Ortega, 1st)
Lots of close, clean, racing in the 2015 Honda Challenge season opener. Some familiar faces….and some new ones all joining in to get their adrenaline fix for the weekend. With two more new cars (including the series’ first K-series powered entry!) that are near completion and projected to debut at next month’s race at Chuckwalla, the region is looking at the largest field of active cars since the series inception in 2003!! Will this be the year the Arizona region has a 10 car field race? See you next month at Chuckwalla Valley Raceway.
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