Summit Point HyperFest

Round Three took the ECHC drivers to the two mile, ten turn track of Summit Point, WV. The Fourth of July weekend was the second Hyperfest event of the season, and despite the blisteringly hot weather, the turnout was excellent. The weather however, would prove to take its toll on the drivers, as track temperature stayed well above 100 degrees for the majority of the weekend. With a temperature of 119 degrees at the start stand late in the afternoon on Sunday, both the course workers and the drivers were suffering from the miserable heat.

Saturday's twenty lap race began with thirty-one drivers on grid for the traditional ECHC standing start. When the course went green, James Evans and Chad Slagg led the pack down the straight and into turn one side-by-side. However, coming out of turn one Slagg's car began to lose power, and before reaching turn five, a valve had dropped through the piston knocking him out of the race. As the leader James Evans emerged onto the front stretch he was followed by John Whitaker and Corey Jacobs.

On the second lap, a minor scuffle between Phil Phillips and Chris Brinson resulted in Brinson spinning off course. Brinson, who had been suffering from heat exhaustion all day, exited the track ill following the spin. Adam Curpier also suffered misfortune as his Acura Type R lost its engine down the front stretch on lap three.

Jason Franza's yellow Type R and Corey Jacob's red Prelude were dicing for the H2 lead for the entire race. Franza commented that this was the best race he has ever run, despite trading paint with Peter Curpier in turn five.

Jon Marhefka had created quite a lead between himself and the rest of the H4 pack. As Jason Meise's H4 CRX was out of the race due to engine problems, Gregg Ginsberg and Lyonel Kent were battling for second in class. Ginsberg would eventually pull away from Kent, leaving Kent's #13 Civic to spend the rest of the race dicing with H1's Jedd Fahnestock.

Lyonel Kent's Civic was pouring out a ``007 smoke screen'' on all the right hand turns, causing everyone to wonder if he would make it through the race. However it had cleared up by leap ten, when Warren Wang's white Type R retired. As he pulled onto the Jefferson Circuit, it was clear that he hadn't gone the wrong way this time; he was having problems- although according to his engine builder, ``Nothing broke. Warren just decided to stop.''

At the checkered flag, James Evans took the overall and H1 win (1:27:367), followed closely by John Whitaker (1:27:383). Other class winners were: Corey Jacobs H2 and third overall (1:28:509); Jon Marhefka H4 and sixth overall (1:29:391); Alex Ratcliff H3 and eighth overall (1:29:969). The H5 victory was especially sweet for David Harrison, as his first victory was also his first race.

Sunday's race which seemed hotter than the previous day's race, started with fewer cars on grid and even fewer finishers. The race began with twenty-seven cars and ended with twenty. Once again James Evan's H1 black CRX stood on pole with a fast lap of 1:25:008, followed by John Whitaker, Jason Franza, and Corey Jacobs. As the race took off, Evans, Whitaker, Franza, and Corey blasted full force. But coming out of turn one, Corey pushed into the grass causing him to lose about eight positions. By the second lap, Evans has created a good lead over Whitaker, and Jacobs had made up most of the positions, with a nice pass on Alex Ratcliff in turn three. Matt Bookler was forced to retire early, when his suspension broke on the second lap. As Peter Curpier and Jacobs were battling for position, the H4 battle between Lyonel Kent, Gregg Ginsberg, and Jedd Fahnestock was capturing the attention. Gregg, Jedd and Lyonel were drafting each other, and by the end of the straight they would enter turn one three wide. The battle between these three would continue until mid-race when Kent went off in turn five. Lyonel was having problems shifting, due to problems with broken parts- both a rear engine mount as well as his hand (which he had broken Thursday night). The off would end his day. Chris Brinson's H3 Acura was also out of the race early due to some bent valves.

Throughout the race, the ``hute'' would prove to be appropriately named, as it spit a number of the drivers out in turn five. Excess debris and sand in the turn, definitely made it a popular spot to take an off road excursion.

Just over the halfway through the race Jason Meise and Payton Wilson were both forced to retire with car problems. Keith Edwards would also be forced to retire shortly after, with a smoking engine on lap eight.

The race would end once again with James Evans as H1 and overall winner (1:26:855), followed by John Whitaker's second in class and overall (1:27:425). Jason Franza would take the H2 win and overall third place. Jon Marhefka would again take the H4 win, finishing ahead of the H3 winner Alex Ratcliff. H5 would once again be taken by newcomer David Harrison.

Thanks to the NASA-VA region and Chris Cobetto's crew for hosting such a great event. While the racers deserve praise for providing fans with two very intense and entertaining races, the biggest thanks goes to the corner workers who although short staffed did a great job putting up with the high heat without shade, long shifts, and hard work that often goes without praise.

Round Four will be August 2-3 at Virginia International Raceway. See you there!