The first weekend in August found 23 Honda Challenge competitors rolling into Carolina Motorsports Park for Round 3 of the series. The event promised serious competition as three of the five classes came into the weekend with a championship lead of only 1 point.

As has become the norm, Jack Harris took the poll for Saturday's race and went on to the H1 and overall victory. Jack also won Sunday's race making him 6/6 for the year. His dominant performance earned him an early Schumacher-style clinch of the H1 championship. Congratulations to Jack on becoming the first ever Honda Challenge Class Champion!!!

H2 saw a little less of it's usual close competition as several of the top competitors experienced mechanical failures during the weekend. Corey Jacobs took full advantage on Saturday by posting a new track record on his way to the class win. Then Jacobs himself broke a CV joint while leading the class in the last lap of Sunday's race, leaving the door open for Alex Ratcliffe to take the win after an incredible drive to overcome a spectacular early race off course excursion in "The Kink." Thus, H2 leaves CMP as it arrived. With Ratcliffe and Jacobs both still on top for the championship. Also notable was rookie Jason Franza netting a well earned "Hard Charger" award on Saturday for a fantastic performance in his first ever race.

Chris Brinson maintained his H3 momentum from Round 2 with a class pole and easy win in Saturday's race. Brinson's performance was dominant as 2nd and 3rd place Karl Shultz and Scott Giles were not even able to get close to him, much less mount a threat. But Sunday's race unfolded differently as Giles was able to qualify next to Brinson on the grid and tuck in behind him on the start. The two fought nose to tail for the first half of the race with Giles applying constant pressure until he was finally able to make a late braking pass in turn 14. Brinson then returned the pressure for the remainder of the race before overcooking turn 11 and letting Giles escape. Giles took the victory and with it regained a 1 point lead for the championship.

H4 was a repeat of Summit Point as it was all James Evans all weekend long. Evans took the class pole and win in both races. He also took the points lead from Lyonel Kent in the process. Kent gave his usual entertaining and gutsy performance, dealing with a car that was incredibly loose throughout the event. Spending much of both races sideways and often in the dirt, Kent was unable to challenge Evans, but still managed to finish both races respectably to keep himself in the championship hunt.

As the only H5 entrant, John Whittaker became the first competitor of the year to take an uncontested win. The result was a comfortable points lead for Whittaker, but he was nevertheless disappointed at not having competition.

Finally, Round 3 concluded as yet another successful event for the Honda Challenge. The series displayed close, exciting racing throughout the weekend yet once again concluded with no substantial vehicle to vehicle contact. In the typically understated words of co-founder Karl Shultz... "The philosophy of the series appears to be working."

Remaining 2002 Events:
September 7/8 - Lowes Motor Speedway
October 12/13 - VIR (North Course)