ECHC Main > Archives > 2002 Features > Round 2 from Summit Point

Scott Giles

The Honda Challenge continued it's inaugural season success with a fantastic turn out of both racers and spectators at the Summit Point Hyperfest. The weekend saw 33 Honda pilots from all over the eastern U.S. take to the track in everything from a World Challenge Civic to first generation CRX's and Civics.

Both races featured standing starts, which are quickly becoming a fan and driver favorite. Saturday's start was relatively uneventful as everyone got away cleanly, but Sunday's start was quite dramatic as the back half of the large field bunched up and dove into the dirt to get around a stalled car. As has become the early trademark of the Honda Challenge, there was no vehicle contact in either start.

Jack Harris continued his domination of H1 recording 2 more victories and extending a massive points lead. But rookie Chad Slagg made his debut in his Hybrid Civic and performed well. Slagg reports that both the car and driver are still relatively "under construction," and that he plans to be challenging Harris before the season is over.

H2 saw fantastic racing throughout the weekend. Saturday saw Alex Ratcliffe and Corey Jacobs battle throughout the entire 20 lap race. In the end, Ratcliffe's Integra managed to edge Jacobs' Prelude for the victory, even though Jacobs had established the fastest race lap and track record. Ratcliffe could not make Sunday's race due to mechanical failure, but Adam Curpier stepped up in his beautiful Type R to challenge Jacobs. Once again, as in Saturday's race, the two fought fender to fender for the entire sprint. This time Curpier took the win as Jacobs broke a CV joint fighting off a last lap pass attempt by Curpier. While Jacobs did not manage a win during the weekend, his performance and clean driving earned him peer recognition with the Ratcliffe sponsored "King Rat Hard Charger" award. Ratcliffe commented after the race that "I have never been raced so hard and so clean in my life. Corey is both a fantastic driver and a true gentleman." Ratcliffe currently maintains the H2 points lead with Jacobs close behind.

Chris Brinson loudly re-affirmed his presence in H3, taking a second place finish on Saturday and the win on Sunday. Along with this performance came a much deserved one point lead in the championship over Scott Giles. After winning both races at CMP, Giles did not fare so well at Summit Point, never managing to mount a challenge to Brinson. "I think I might have underestimated Chris a little bit." Giles said after Sunday's race. "I had been focusing on (Karl) Shultz and Chris came along and blew us both away." Round 3 (CMP) already looks to be quite a battle as Brinson, Giles, and Shultz all turned fast laps within .8 seconds of each other in Sunday's race.

H4 was dominated by local racer James Evans in his nicely prepared CRX Si. Evans won both the Saturday and Sunday races followed closely by regular series competitor Lyonel "Right On" Kent. Kent was quite pleased with his performance given that he had never seen the track before, and left the event with a substantial points lead.

H5 was also dominated by a local club racer, Jedd Fahnestock. Fahnestock used his Summit experience to easily win both races and spend much of his time racing within the faster classes. John Whitaker finished in second place both days to assume the H5 points lead.

With another successful weekend in the books, the Honda Challenge now looks forward to Round 3 at Carolina Motorsports Park. There is very little doubt that it will be yet another thriller for both drivers and fans.