Southern Eight

 

The Southern Regional Championship

April 24, 2010

Winston-Salem, North Carolina

 

 

 

 Two Races, Two Bull Rings, One Champion

  

     

     

 

Southern 8 Race Summary

Sportsman Feature One	Sportsman Feature Two
Racer Net Laps Track Calls Total Laps	Racer Net Laps Track Calls Total Laps
Chris Walker 365 4 361 Kevin Browning 366 6 360 Bill Kurtz 360 4 356 Tony Puzzello 344 9 335 Dwayne Hoyle 336 10 326 Andy Lancaster 333 8 325 Lewis Wuori 333 9 324 Skylar Spake 313 5 308 Gary Butner 294 11 283	Chris Walker 415 2 413 Kevin Browning 409 0 409 Bill Kurtz 405 3 402 Tony Puzzello 403 6 397 Gary Butner 379 7 372 Andy Lancaster 372 1 371 Lewis Wuori 371 8 363 Skylar Spake 360 10 350 Dwayne Hoyle 349 1 348

 The Southern Region closed out it's Sportsman season at North Carolina International Speedway on April 24^th on Bob Weichbrodt's Wizzard Oval and Lewis Wuori's TKO oval.

Chris Walker completed his “Tale of Two Seasons” by winning both features and putting an explanation point on his road back to the Championship in the 2010 – '11 season.

This year, however was all about South Carolinian Kevin Browning as he laid down a total of five victories and racked up a points lead that was a mountain to high to climb. Even with three victories in the last three races Chris would fall short of his quest for 3 straight Southern Sportsman Championships by 40 points. North Carolinian Bill Kurtz entered the Southern 8 event with a slim lead over West Virginia's Gary Butner and needed every position to edge Gary out for the final spot on the season's podium. Despite taking home the third place hardware for the second year in a row, Bill was a distant 135 points back from Kevin's awesome 1265 point championship total.

A season that started last Labor Day at Mopar Mountain kept it's intensity right up to the final checkered flag. Lap times at the NCIS Wiz Oval have dropped more than half a second from last year and the entire field was now running sub 3's during the morning practice session.

It was decided to run a European Rotation with a straight through Round Robin format since we only had nine racers in attendance, with the small turn-out we also would run the races back to back instead of consecutively. This allowed racers to make a entry switch if the car chosen for the first feature did not perform up to expectations and some needed to do just that.

Bill Kurtz started in on the yellow gutter and ran two lanes before rotating out and had a slim lead over the first five racers after the initial heats. His 2 lane total of 177 was not going to be enough to hold down the top runners in the series. Kevin Browning quickly passed those totals and as Chris Walker entered the race a rotation later he began to make his statement that NCIS was indeed the house that Walker built. Chris is virtually undefeated in the Sportsman class on this oval and today he would continue that uninterrupted string of wins.

Gary Butner was another driver to watch on this day as well, his #21 Ford ran 2.6 second laps through every lane and he had Bill Kurtz feeling the heat of yet another podium slip away, but Gary only drives one way, “Full Tilt”, and after getting into track call trouble he refused to slow it down. 1 minute, 30 seconds into his final heat he pulled his BRP Fusian behind the wall and could only watch as Bill Kurtz crossed the flag stand in third.

The first race of the day saw several movers in the series begin to show us what next season may bring. South Carolinian Andy Lancaster has got the #29 Chevy ready for business as does Tony Puzzello. The two came together in the front stretch in one of the hardest hits ever witnessed in the series. The wreck caused Tony to make a quick repair on his Jim Beam Toyota and when he pulled back on the track his car found new speed as he wheeled her to a fourth place finish. Andy drove the best race of his short Sportsman career bring the Pennzoil Monte Carlo home sixth one lap behind “Mr. Consistent” Dwayne Hoyle. Lewis Wuori stuttered on his opening segment with P/U shoe issues but his next three heats saw him quickly return to top runner form, unfortunately for Lewis, there are no do overs in the Southern Sportsman Series. 

Race Two was on the TKO, a four lane faster than hell Bull-Ring which made it's first appearance in the series last month at LUNACY. The track has become a instant favorite of the racers and Lewis had her set-up in Bob's living room with portable lighting giving the atmosphere of Phoenix at sunset. Very Cool.

The race was another chance for Chris Walker to show us the way although it was Kevin who showed us how to drive a short track … Kevin matched Chris' performance from last month, lap for lap and track call for track call. 409 laps and zero track calls was the exact total Chris put up the last time we ran this TKO and what would he do today? An amazing 415 laps with 2 track calls and at that point Kevin had to be asking himself what it would take to beat this guy?

Gary Butner rebounded from the first feature to rack up 372 laps, good enough for fifth and Tony Puzzello along with Bill Kurtz also repeated their 4^th and 3^rd place performances respectively.

A big 'ol shout out to Andy Lancaster who matched his earlier run and only had one track call, this is a racer we all better take notice of next year. Lewis again had some shoe trouble, then a plug-in issue and had to pull out all stops for a seventh place finish. Dwayne Hoyle was down on horsepower but with only one track call still scored a respectable lap total but was slightly topped by Skylar Spake who continued to see what was a stellar season slip away at NCIS this day. Skylar managed only two 8^th place finishes in Southern 8 but he is a hell of a driver. With a little refocusing and some added direction in his equipment he will again be up in the top of the pack next season. It's a hobby we all continue to learn about son, don't let the day get ya down.

We cannot Thank Bob Weichbrodt enough for opening his home to us again, he has been a long time supporter of HO Racing and an asset to the series and our hobby. Thanks again to Lewis for transporting the TKO in for the event and to all the racers who made the 2009 – '10 season such a success.

 

Everyone have a great and safe Summer and we'll see ya in the Fall. Be sure to stay tuned to the yahoo group for updates on next season's schedule and some exciting news about the National Championship.

 

 

Southern 7

LUNACY

New Hill, NC

March 20, 2010 

 A Race Report  

The trees and grass have begun to turn green and the slot car racing here in the south has begun its exodus from our daily lives as we turn to outdoor activities and yard work.

 But, we still have a few more fun filled Saturdays left in us and we always make the most of them as the reality of our series coming to an end way too soon begins to set in. We started this year with a new class, and The ECHORR based Southern Muscle Series took off better than anyone could have imagined and after just one season most all the racers have at least one VHORS and one Fray chassis in their pit box. The muscle class has not only served as a great partner to our sportsman cars but has taken on a life of it’s own.

 Adopting the 1:1 Formula One points scale proved to be a wise decision as we entered the final race of the inaugural season having three racers fighting it out for the final two spots on the years podium. Gary Butner and Bill Kurtz coming to the dance with 24 points a piece followed by South Carolina’s Todd Martin with 23 and all wanted to take home the hardware.

  

 

 However we would need to wait as the Sportsman Series would run first, an unusual twist on protocol that would allow the new TKO oval at Lewis Wuori’s fantastic slot loft to be converted to the new TKO road course.

  The sportsman class has its last hurrah next month and with only three races left all of us need to score those valuable points. The 2009-’10 season has seen Kevin Browning take charge from the green flag at Race One with only Gary Butner winning the EMS race to break his string of victories.

 Today would see a past champion make his mark in dramatic fashion as Chris Walker drove a perfect race, 409 laps and no track calls, despite a late charging from both Kevin and Bill Kurtz. Chris pulled his Dewalt Ford into the winner’s circle for his first win of the year and now has the only viable shot at Browning’s championship lead. Although the pack of top three scored in the 400’s, the racers in mid field were tightly grouped as finishing ahead of your closest rival takes on as much importance as winning the race.

 

  

 

 

 The box scored us we crossed under the flag stand as follows:

Chris Walker – 409 Laps

Kevin Browning – 407

Bill Kurtz – 403

Todd Martin – 399

Gary Butner – 389

Tommy Jakubowski – 389

Lewis Wuori – 384

Skylar Spake – 363

Andy Lancaster – 349

Dewayne Hoyle – 349

Don Berbel – 337

 

 A few side notes on the sportsman class, it was great to run with Pittsburgher Don Berbel again, who rarely gets any circle track racing in and if South Carolina's Andy Lancaster ever gets the #29 settled down he is going to be scary fast. 

 

 Now came lunch and this was a lunch, Lasagna followed by homemade ice cream gave the racers the choice of nap time or southern muscle time. Ms. Wuori’s lasagna is always worth the trip and the ice cream brought back memories long since filed as she has raised the bar on pit time buffets.

 Now it was time for what we all came for, who was going to get those fantastic John Bell trophies.

 We run these races for a reason, you don’t know what is going to happen as the heats transpire. What may have seemed a sure thing can easily change to “Now, this sucker is mine” and this March Saturday proved just that.

 

 Practice showed that all three of the previous mentioned racers were fast. Gary had a loaner from Lewis and even though he had never raced on or even seen the Lunacy, anyone who knows Gary knows he could put a tractor in victory lane. Todd Martin was fresh off a spectacular race in his backyard of South Carolina and has upped his game in the second half of the season and as for me, I was sporting my new Rick Jocham chassis and oozing confidence after seeing its performance. Gary was the first to enter the rotations and threw down some fast 26-27-24-24 heats. Todd and I were in the following group and I started strong with a 27 followed by another 27, Todd looked to be the odd man out until …..

…..until I added my failure to glue on my guide pin to the long list of “Old Man” characteristics I have acquired lately like walking around with my zipper down and driving with my turn signal on. It was a quick eight track calls for Billy Boy and behind the wall I went. Needless to say Mr. Martin went on to capture the final podium spot of the season and I went down to the garage to have a smoke, bang my head against the wall and scream out to the HO gods, “Oh-no, I suck again”

 Lewis Wuori on the other hand had been waiting two years to hand it to Kevin Browning and he did just that. Even though his GTO had no Gitty-Up and Go down the straight he wheeled that SS chassis through the corners and chicanes like he owned the place and topped the field in the finale of our year.

 

 

 

 

The tower scored us as follows:

Lewis Wuori – 110 laps

Kevin Browning – 105

Don Pope – 102

Gary Butner = 95

Todd Martin – 95

Don Berbel – 92

Chris Walker – 87

Dewayne Hoyle – 86

Tommy Jakubowski – 84

Skylar Spake – 82

Andy Lancaster – 77

Bill Kurtz – 60

Ron Brna – 39

Tim Layne – 36

 

 We now got to have a little well needed fun, Lewis had prepared four cool skinny tired Mako Sharks for the IROC event and with the TKO oval now a road circuit it was time to roll. Each of the cars were smooth and one had a ton of drift that once you got a handle on allowed for some fast laps. The IROC class has added some comic relief at the end of a racing day allowing everyone to leave the track with a smile on their face.

 

After some great laughs we saw total laps as:

Kevin Browning -124 laps

Bill Kurtz – 121

Lewis Wuori – 119 laps

Chris Walker – 115

Gary Butner 113

Dewayne Hoyle – 110

Andy Lancaster – 109

Tommy Jakubowski – 109

Skylar Spake –109

N Pope – 108

Ron Brna – 81

Todd Martin – 59

Tim Lane – 30

Don Berbel – 15

 

 The day was a blast, the Muscle Car series has proved to be a winner and well accepted by the southern racers and the friendships continue to grow, what more can you ask for from a hobby.

 Congratulations to Kevin Browning on his Muscle Championship, a title he deserves not only for his on-track performance but also for the leadership and tutoring he patiently undertook throughout the season.

 To the Wuori Family, again Thank You for all the vittles and opening your home to us, whatever you do Lewis, don’t fire the cook.

 We now head to NCIS for our Sportsman Championship on April 24^th and the official end to another HO season. I can’t believe how fast this time racing together goes bye but I guess it is again testimony to how much enjoyment we all get from it.

We’ll see ya in Winston-Salem and until then,

Keep on Racing

Bill Kurtz

Charlotte, NC

 

Southern 6

Martin Motorplex

Summerville, South Carolina

February 20, 2010

    

 

 

A Race Report

 

 They began to arrive early for the Southern Six event at Todd Martin’s new race venue located in the Spanish grass laden low country of South Carolina. The circuits at Martin’s Motorplex consist of a TOMY 16-foot roadcourse named the “Red Rocket” which was built by Fray racer Kevin Browning who used every trick in the book when placing trick “S” curves in places you would not suspect them. The course is extremely technical and has two lane splits, long sweeping “S” segments and quick chicanes mid straight. Few of travelers could get a grip on any sort of flow during practice and much like OHM’s roadcourse it will take several visits to master this track. The second track in Todd’s race room is a 18-foot black Maxx called Summerville Speedway and configured in a Tri-oval with three different radius corners with different banking. A few years back the racers in the Sportsman series may have had an easy time on any oval, but the speeds are now hitting absurd and several drivers took one too many trips into the outside walls delegating them to “Behind the Wall” status.

 After being welcomed by Todd and his beautiful young family we held practice from 8:00am until Tech Call at 11:30am. The Mrs. served up a great lunch of baked pasta and meatballs that we finished off with some of scrumptious Brownie cupcakes and it was time to line them up.

 

 

 

 

When running venues with two circuits the series attempts to get the classes running simultaneously so the 15 racers were split into 3 groups and the “Muscle” cars began to rumble onto the Red Rocket. There is one characteristic that all tough tracks have in common, they are fun to drive, but you got to drive. Heat One saw track owner Todd Martin take everyone to school as he wheeled his Dodge around the Rocket with ease putting up 18 and 17 lap totals that even the local boys knew would take a perfect race to beat. Case in point, Kevin Browning scored his second track call in the third heat and said there and then, “I just gave it to him”. Of course many of us did not make it to the third heat, I for one had 4 of my 9 allowed track calls in the first 2 minutes if racing, most likely the worst performance of the day but several racers ended up with their rides parked along side mine. Kevin and another SC racer, Ricky Fender completed the podium on our first trip to this track, but is certain that we all want to get back there for another go at this test, 2011 cannot get here fast enough.

When the cars went into the cool down lap we had the 15 racers posted as:

 

Todd Martin – 70 laps

Kevin Browning – 68

Ricky Fender – 58

Tony Puzzello – 58

Skylar Spake - 58

Gary Butner – 58

Dewayne Hoyle – 57

Ray Utz – 56

Chris Walker – 54

Lewis Wuori – 54

Alan Moss – 53

Damian Puzzello – 48

Bill Kurtz – 35

Andy Lancaster – 33

Mike Reed – 31

 

 

 

 With the Muscle cars in the garage we switched our attention to the Tri-oval side of the room which now took center stage as racers pushed themselves to grab every point available as the series is now entering it’s final months.

 Five minute heats on this track would put all to the test as it is fast, sub 3 second laps were the norm in practice by many of the top racers and a few pulled them off in the race as well. Chris Walker did what Chris Walker does, put up a total in his battle with Tony Puzzello that put the pressure on all the rest.

 With a 92-87-93-90 heat it would take a trouble free run to challenge and group 3 brought him just that. A final five with Lewis Wuori, Gary Butner, Kevin Browning, Bill Kurtz and Mike Reed took to the track and set a pace that would blast not only Bill Kurtz, 93-94-95-92 into second but point’s leader Kevin Browning with a 97-96-95-96 into the Winner’s Circle. Southern Six was in the books and Kevin had his 5^th win of the season, followed by:

 

   

 

Kevin Browning – 383 laps

Bill Kurtz – 369

Chris Walker – 356

Lewis Wuori – 354

Tony Puzzello – 351

Todd Martin – 350

Skylar Spake – 337

Ray Utz – 335

Gary Butner – 331

Dewayne Hoyle – 324

Alan Moss – 314

Andy Lancaster – 305

Damian Puzzello – 181

Mike Reed – 176

Ricky Fender – 130

 

 With the points racing finished for the day, it was time for just some good old HO racing fun and the IROC class introduced to the Southern Sportsman Series provided just that. We had four identically prepared Ford Torino Short Track cars prepared for this event and although all the same on drawing board, each had their own personality. All were fast, one was squirrelly with some coast, one a little short on top end but handled in the corners and two that were sweet to drive. The racers were relaxed and the joking, laughing and smiles were in abundance as we wheeled these JLs around the Maxx, learning what they could do while breaking in four new chassis for Todd’s Sportsman stable.

As the checkered flag dropped we had:

 

 

Gary Butner – 262 laps

Kevin Browning – 261

Chris Walker – 254

Bill Kurtz – 253

Todd Martin – 251

Dewayne Hoyle – 249

Lewis Wuori – 247

Tony Puzzello 247

Ray Utz – 243

Andy Lancaster – 241

Allen Moss – 237

Skylar Spake – 234

Mike Reed – 171

Damian Puzzello – 139

Ricky Fender – 72

 

 The fun of the IROC race put the cap on a great day, the Martin Family is now our favorite in Summerville, SC and we can’t thank them enough for opening their doors to us rowdy boys.

 We head to New Hill, NC for the Muscle Championship and the Sportsmans of Southern 7 on March 20^th. Only 3 to go so grab them points while ya can boys !