Sports Racer Shootout with VARA
September 22nd, 2024
Orchestrated by our own Kevin Capone and VARA, we were very excited to host the first Sports Racer Shootout at this year’s Oktoberfest!
September 21-22, 2024 Buttonwillow Raceway
| Over 200 HP 1st in Class / Overall – Maurizio Brandhoff |
Sports 2000 1st in Class – James Capelle 2nd Place – Kevin Capone 3rd Place – Steve Valata |
WSR 1st in Class – Mike Anderson 2nd Place – Daniel Martinez 3rd Place – John Adams |
Under 200 HP 1st in Class – Steven Lang |
We were on pace to have 19 Sports Racers show up for the race weekend, which would have been incredible! However, due to some last minute problems some could not make the event, and a few others had problems during Friday practice. We still had a field of 12 entrants in the Shootout across various classes, primarily Sports 2000 and WSR, with one in each of the other classes of over and under 200 horsepower. It was a great field, well spread out giving everyone a chance to run with someone else.
It was a very tight and crowded first turn at the start with 3-4 wide on the entrance with 2×2 through the turn for many. Everyone was close, but respectful and made it through without incident. As hard as we all may try, Maurizio Brandhoff (Maui) #8 is in a class by himself, and is extremely fast in his Norma, setting a blistering lap of 1:50 seconds during the shootout and taking 1st overall.
The next battle on track was with James Capelle #27 in a beautiful Swift DB-2 Sports 2000, driving wheel to wheel with Mike Anderson #42 in his stealth WSR. Both cars are very competitive, with superb driving and racecraft, and just a whole lot of fun. Both finished 2nd and 3rd overall respectively, and 1st in each of their classes. Well done.
The rest of the cars were having their own dances throughout the field. Motorsports Market’s Kevin Capone, #427 in his Apache Sports 2000, maintained a just out of reach distance to the ever closing Steven Lang #38, in his motorcycle powered Mariah Sports 2000 chassis. Of course, Daniel Martinez #28 was right on the heels of Steven in his WSR, with Steve Villata #94 close behind in his Tiga Sports 2000. It was Steve’s second time out in his Tiga, and he did an amazing job, gaining faster lap times with every session through the race weekend. Steve Hoogs #26 was in the mix of this group but unfortunately had to retire on track due to a transaxle issue. John Adams #89 in his WSR brought home a solid 3rd place in class with Mark Francis #36 in his – new to him – Lola Sports 2000 coming in shortly after.
John Bennett #86 and David Dimond #25 rounded out the field of amazing Sports Racers in their WSRs. Matt Rose #70 had a transaxle problem in an earlier race with his Lola S2 and could not make the Shootout. We also missed Craig Barrett #92 and his beautiful Lola S2.
Overall, the feature race was a success! All of the drivers had a great time and had someone to play with on track. It was great to see all of the Sports Racers out there together and we cannot wait to do it again, bigger and better. We will work with VARA to see about getting the event back on the calendar for 2025, so stay tuned for information to come early next year as we plan on more promotion, a larger grid, and more awards and prizes!
A very special thank you to Jeanette Bourke, Ben Kuhl, Ron Hurst, Steve Staveley, VARA Timing and Scoring, the entire VARA Board, the incredible VARA Fire & Safety team, and the tireless volunteer Grid and Corner workers, this would not be possible without you. The amount of effort, logistics, schedule accommodations, time, and sacrifice you all invest does not go unnoticed. You are all incredible and all of us drivers are extremely thankful. Thank you!
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