The Radical Cup series headed to Reno. What a great place to have fun on and off the track. Beautiful weather and another great turnout made this round one of the best yet. Most drivers had never seen the track before, and it proved to be one of the most challenging to date. Lots of elevation change, blind off camber corners, and some of the bumpiest asphalt on the circuit. We feared that with all the additional challenges we were going to be busy repairing damage from offs, but everyone did a great job and managed to get up to speed quickly with no mistakes.
We kicked things off with a one hour enduro on Saturday. It was every man for himself as everyone decided to do the entire race on their own. The mandatory five minute pit stop was the only chance to catch your breath as there was on track action the whole time.
On the start Don Simons got a jump and lead the field to turn one. John Morris was second and Matt Maddox third. It looked as if we scheduled a parade as everyone was nose to tail behind Don yet no one had the horsepower to pass. Matt Maddox used a classic F1 trick by pitting early to get out of the traffic. Once out on his own he was able to lap several seconds quicker than the rest of the field being bottled up behind Don. Good thinking Matt.
The crew did a great job getting everyone fueled and back in the race smoothly. Dave Tweedlie came from the back and managed to pass everyone but Matt for a well earned 2nd place finish. Cody Martin fell behind early racing with Ken Melgoza and Glenn Scott. Once he was past them he started reeling in the leaders but ran out of time. Bob Majorino finished well considering an engine misfire and overheating. He was able to coax the car to the finish and get a solid 5th place result.
1.
Matt Maddox
SR3
1400cc
2.
John Morris
Inv.
1548cc
3.
Dave Tweedlie
SR3
1400cc
4.
Tim Day
SR3
1400cc
5.
Bob Majorino
SR3
1500cc
6.
Craig Oka
SR3
1400cc
7.
Cody Martin
SR3
1400cc
8.
Don Simons
Inv.
1585cc
9.
Ken Melgoza
SR3
1400cc
10.
Glenn Scott
SR3
1500cc
11.
Rene Lohr
SR3
1300cc
12.
Steve Nicklin
SR3
1300cc
Sundays Race was meant to be held on the 4.0 mile configuration verses the 2.33 mile course run on Saturday. After the morning practice the drivers decided they wanted to run the 2.33 version because of some very large bumps. In 2 sessions on the long course we managed to break a drive axle and a clutch. That was enough convincing to change back to the previous configuration.
The race grid was set by the fastest times set in the enduro on Saturday. At the start Don Simons once again got a great start coming from 7th to 2nd place by turn one. John Morris led the whole race but had a very intense battle with Don. A couple of times it looked as if Don had the pass but thought better of it and back out.
Matt Maddox showed his speed is not a fluke by leading the SR3 class for the whole race. Several times he looked to take a position from the Invitational cars but never was able to pull it off. Tim Day ran second most of the race until a four off allowed Bob Majorino and Dave Tweedlie by. Nice save Tim!!!
What a great job from everyone to have such intense racing and so few incidents.
1.
John Morris
1:46.849
2.
Don Simons
1:47.165
1.
Matt Maddox
1:47.026
2.
Bob Majorino
1:46.871
3.
Dave Tweedlie
1:47.494
4.
Tim Day
1:47.247
5.
Craig Oka
1:48.306
6.
Cody Martin
1:50.286
7.
Ken Melgoza
1:51.126
8.
Glenn Scott
1:54.208
9.
Rene Lohr
2:00.366
10.
Steve Nicklin
1:59.937
We will be holding a raffle on Sunday at California Speedway. If anyone has items to donate to the raffle please let me know. Again, Thank you to the boys at Spring Mountain for the excellent prep on the cars, Luc and Dave at ARC, Crago Racing Engines, and especially Jolene and Yvette for providing all the great hospitality (even on Mothers Day).
Our next event:
Round #7
Date: June 22nd – 24th
Track:
California Speedway
Hosting Club: HSR West
Friday Test
4: 30 minutes sessions
Saturday:
11:30 practice
4:30 qualifying race
Sunday:
10:00 warm up
3:00 trophy race
Jeff Shafer
Radical Ventures, Inc.