HC 2014 Recap – Bondurant West

The Arizona Honda Challenge racers came back to Bondurant West for their 4th stop in the 2014 season. It’s been 2 years since the series raced here in the dry since the track was practically flooded with the monsoon rainstorm during last year’s race.

Saturday
During qualifying Team KIT, with Robert Rose at the wheel, claimed P1 going into the afternoon race with a blazing fast lap time of 1:06.44. Positions 2-5 were all separated by less than a half second! Leland Forbes ran a 1:07.20 to snag the second position, Team LBR followed closely with a 1:07.62 for third position, just barely edging out Team Snail’s 1:07.69. Eric Dayton qualified 5th with a 1:07.71. With such a tight grouping it looked like it would be anyone’s race to win.
Saturday’s race was run as a combined race with the big bore group. The short/tight track, coupled with the mixed group of cars, was sure to deliver an exciting race for the spectators. When the green flag dropped, Team KIT wasted no time trying to separate their car from the rest of the Honda Challenge cars. The quick start proved successful as the middle of the pack began fighting and scraping with each other, allowed Team KIT to cruise to an unchallenged victory. Leland Forbes looked like he might have to defend his second place position early on in the race from Team LBR but the 4th and 5th place positions forced LBR to take a defensive line, allowing Forbes to finish the rest of the race without having to worry about any real threats to his podium chances. The scrap of the weekend was definitely with the 3rd – 5th place cars which seemed to be changing positions like a game of 3 card monte! The blue Honda Civic of Team LBR and royal purple Civic of Team Snail ran the entire first lap of the race side by side with neither driver budging an inch until it was absolutely necessary.

Here is a short 3 minute compilation of all the position changes with Team Snail as viewed from the driver seat of Team LBR’s Civic: http://youtu.be/YZmg0w9m3Bk
Here is a link to the full race as viewed from Team Snail’s vantage point: http://youtu.be/yi1UKue3VaY
There’s a fun drag race to watch at the 20:00 mark. A true testament to exit speed trumping horsepower advantage!

In the end, Team LBR dropped to 5th place in the closing laps and Eric Dayton was able to pull a last lap pass on Team Snail to snag a podium finish.

Sunday
The drivers and teams started the morning off making some adjustments on the cars based on the previous day’s data and driver feedback. With the West track being relatively tight with lots of driver input needed to get the car pointed in the right direction to attack the next turn it really does require a specific setup in a front wheel drive car to get the car to perform at its peak potential.

Leland Forbes helps dial in the alignment settings on car #2, as car owner Kevin Gay looks on

One of the things that was evident in the paddock was the camaraderie with this group. This weekend was different than the usual teammates helping each other to tweak the car’s setup or get strapped in for a session on track. This event had veteran drivers helping rookie drivers…..sons helping fathers…girlfriends helping boyfriends, you name it!

Sally McNulty, an accomplished time trailer herself, helps Markos Mylonas strap in

Racing is a family affair for the Daytons, as Austin Dayton (passenger side) prepares for a communication system check with dad, Eric Dayton

Qualifying for Sunday was tight, much like Saturday’s session with positions 1-4 separated by only 8 tenths of a second. Another testament to the flexibility of the series rules which pit various chassis, engines, suspensions setups, etc. against each other, all while maintaining the level playing field of “spec” racing. Eric Dayton pulled an amazing turn around going from P5 on Saturday to P1 on Sunday! Team KIT, with Kevin Gay doing the driving for the day, finished P2 and Team LBR, once again took the third position going into the race. Team Ramrod also made a surprise appearance on Sunday looking to make some moves on Team Snail and Leland Forbes.
For the first time out of 8 races this year, the racers took the checker flag in the same positions that they started in. A few of the drivers seemed like they were in striking distance should the driver they were following make even the slightest error, but without any slipups the lead drivers seemed to keep the door closed for the trailing drivers. Sunday’s podium position looked like:
1) Eric Dayton
2) Team KIT
3) Team LBR

The conclusion of this event marks the end of the 1st half of the regional race season for the Arizona region. At the halfway mark, the season championship is still up for grabs with the season standings shaping up as follows:
1) Leland Forbes
2) Eric Dayton
3) Team LBR
4) Team KIT
5) Team Snail
6) Team Ramrod
7) Andy Hope
8) Doug Evans
9) Steven Williams
Toyo Tires offers a very handsome payout for the regional season points chase with $1000 in Toyo Bucks going to 1st place, $500 Toyo Bucks going to 2nd place, and $250 Toyo Bucks going to the 3rd place position. Honda Performance Development also offers $500 CASH to the regional points champion.
Locally there will also be a special trophy presented to the rookie of the year. With 3 drop scores available to all of the competitors there’s plenty of racing left in the season!!

Next Event – Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch
Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch is one of the nicest racing facilities in the southwestern part of the country. It’s a “bucket list track” that everyone should drive at least once in their life. This event is a crossover event with the Southern California region which is home to some of the fastest Honda Challenge racers in the country.

There are already 11 Honda Challenge racers (Arizona & California) registered as of the date this recap was written. 9 of those 11 are H2 race cars,  with 2 more weeks to register it’s very possible that H2 will have a 10+ car field!

Honda Challenge Summer Get Together
With a nice 2 month break after the Spring Mountain event, we’ll be planning a summer get together for active Honda Challenge racers and prospective racers alike. We’re still waiting to hear back from a few venues; right now the date is looking like it will be one of the last 3 weekends in June. Stay tuned for more information on the NASA forum and the Arizona Honda Challenge Facebook page.

/Arizona Honda Challenge
www.nasaaz.com