The first races of the 52nd season at Waterford Hills got under way this weekend, and the drivers experienced a little bit of everything.
The rain came down during the qualifying sessions on Saturday morning -- sometimes just a mist and sometimes much heavier, leaving the drivers scratching their heads to figure out which tires they should go on for qualifying, rains or slicks. Sunday was hot, with clear blue skies and muggy.
The rains stopped during lunch break on Saturday, but the track for the first race of the 2010 season was still wet. The Spec Miatas and Spec Neons had great racing throughout the field. #27 Ray Huffmaster won in STU and overall on Saturday, beating the competition and the conditions. #11 Jeff Grabowski beat #8 Seth Rowley to the line to win SM on Saturday. Jeff also picked up the overall win on Sunday morning but finished third in the feature to winner #4 Randy Shaw. #18 David Houser won in SN for both class races and #72 Eric Mozer picked up his first win in the feature. #75 David Campbell finished 2nd in all three races. Several rookies did a great job in their first weekend of competition in this group.
In Group 3 #7 Bruce "Ironman" Wentzel beat the competition by winning first overall in his EP RX-7 to begin his defense of the Top Driver at Waterford Hills. #31 John Bartholme in his FP Miata and #6 Mike Patterson in his GTL Mazda GLC were very close behind, only 0.3 seconds separating them at the finish line. Bruce also won the Sunday class race overall with both John and Mike experiencing mechanical problems with their cars. Wentzel spun during the feature race and finished 2nd in class, third overall. #4 Randy Shaw took advantage in his Mazda Miata and finished first in the EP class. #98 Alex Pegagani did the weekend sweep in ITA in his BMW 325 including the feature race overall win on Sunday. #14 Steve Ives in a Mazda Miata and #32 Rich Johnson in a Triumph Spifire each won one race in FP on Sunday.
In Group 4 the Big Bore racers put on a great show. #86 Tony Mac in his BMW set two class records in STO, first during the Saturday class race and then again in the Feature race on Sunday. In ITE James Bambard won in class for all three races and overall on Saturday. In GT1 #46 Bob Pierson won on Saturday but then broke on Sunday. #06 Bob Hoffman won both races on Sunday in class and overall. In AS, #15 Steve Heines won on Saturday, #17 Bob Robinson became a first time winner on Sunday morning, and #10 John Grembowski also became a first time winner on Sunday afternoon.
Group 5 saw the largest field of the weekend with 22 cars starting the Saturday class race. #27 Ray Huffmaster classed the field in his ITS RX-7 winning all three races. Saturday's class race had an incident with rookie Dale Mudd's #8 ITB Fiero ending up in the swamp outside of turn 5. He was ok but a little wet. #83 Kenny Leonard in his CRX won the ITB class finishing 8th overall after starting 18th. #55 Chris Marsh in his 924 Porsche swept ITB on Sunday. #39 Kris Smith won in ITC on Saturday and #90 Steve Steeb won both races on Sunday
In Group 6, #17 Jim Lamb swept the class races overall in his D Sports Racer. Jim finished third to #6 Bruce MacDonald in his CFC Reynard for the feature. In F500 #4 Tom Diehm swept the weekend, but #45 Joe Dunn and #33 William Harburn were pushing him hard all weekend.
The overall winner in the co-driver race was Bob Reid in the #13 ITE Ford Mustang.
Seth Rowley won the Southern Motors Hard Charger award for weekend #1, and Norb from Fire & Rescue won the Windsor Life Worker Award. We had a great showing of the F-Body car club on The Hill.
Join us in two weeks (June 5th & 6th) for race #2 at Waterford Hills. The Great Lakes Challenge Series will be joining us for their season opener.