SPEEDSF CHALLENGE - NOVEMBER 29, 2019 - ROUND 13 @ BUTTONWILLOW RACEWAY
INTRODUCTION
Ah, Black Friday. There are those that get up early in the morning to blow away their money on frivolous retail deals while jumping over each other and causing general chaos, and then there are those who get up early in the morning to blow away their money on gas, consumables, try outdo each other on a race track, and cause controlled chaos. The latter sounds a bit more attractive.
What else is there to do after Thanksgiving other than to join the SpeedSF Challenge at Buttonwillow Raceway for the annual Black Friday event? 21 drivers certainly thought it was a good idea to join the party! With 3 new broken records, it made for an entertaining post-holiday event!
CLASS S1
A guy with a last name that barely anyone can pronounce piloted a German car that blew away the American cars that trailed behind who were, admittedly, only a few seconds behind on pace :D. Will Wattanawongkiri (Team WWR) took home 1st place with a blistering lap of 1:51.009, beating out Dan Avon’s previous lap record of 1:51.706 which was set back on 11/25/16! Pablo Marx took home 2nd place in his C6 Corvette with a lap time of 1:52:028 while Gordon Peng took home 3rd place in some 2-door Chevy thanks to a 1:54.210 lap time. Great job to everyone in this class!
CLASS S2
2 entrants, 2 winners! As usual, Gary Yeung in the Dirty Mango S2000 took home 1st place with his 1:54.572 lap time while Svilen Kanev took home 2nd place thanks to his 2:02.318 lap time settled while behind the wheel of a 2018 BMW 240i. Very good!
CLASS S3
S3’s 5 drivers were within striking distance of each other and the top three drivers were each around a second away from the next person up! 1st place driver Edwin Pham piloted his 2002 BMW M3 to greatness thanks to a 1:55.762, which was roughly 0.700 seconds away from the 1:55.093 S3 lap record set by Randy Chen in his 2004 Honda S2000 back earlier this year during our event towards the end of June. 2nd place was none other than Gary Wong in his Tay Tay S2000. Together they put down a 1:56.580 lap time while 3rd place Tony Rodriguez was just over a second behind in his own 2004 Honda S2000! Great driving put on display by these S3 drivers!
CLASS S4
You’d think the guy in the racing suit would take home 1st place, but it’s actually the grinning dude in the middle with a cheater-spec FR-S. Go figure. Not only did Joe and the FR-S take home 1st place, but he also broke the 1:59.104 S4 lap record once held by Sohan Kota in his 2000 Honda S2000 during the SpeedSF Challenge on 06/30/2019! Joe’s lap for this round was a 1:58.121, shattering the record by almost a full second! Good job big man!
2nd place went to David Fitz-Randolph with his built-not-bought 1995 Mazda Miata thanks to a 2:01.438 lap time while Joe Kuo put down a 2:03.720 lap time in his PTS Bright-AF-Blue 1999 Porsche Spec Boxster to round out the podium in 3rd place!
CLASS S5
The S5 “#YATALIFE” Class featured, would you believe it, all Miatas! 6 Miatas made it to the track, but only 3 made it on the podium. Seriously we should just have a Spec Miata class in addition to S5 for the “others”.
Featured on the podium were two regulars and some dude who only appears at SpeedSF events on Black Friday. The King, King Tang, took home 1st Place, beat his previous S5 lap record of 2:02.737 set back on 11/23/18 AND showed up for the podium ceremony for the first time in 2019. What a Thanksgiving treat! He put down a 2:01.430 lap time in his NA Miata, while 2nd place Scott Smith put down a “close, but no cigar” lap time of 2:01.551 in the “I eat motors for breakfast” Black Mamba Miata.
3rd place and relatively unknown, Zeeshan Khan, drove his 1994 Miata as if he hadn’t lost a step and earned himself a 2:07.293 lap time. Not bad driving for a guy who refuses to track his S2000.
CONCLUSION
An excellent job to our drivers who won their places and THANK YOU to everyone who participated in the SpeedSF Challenge! For those who are still chasing podium finishes, more seat time, coaching, and watching videos of the track will certainly get you there!
As we look forward to Round 14 (THE FINAL ROUND) of the SpeedSF Challenge at Thunderhill Raceway East on December 15, we want to say that we truly appreciate our sponsors and participants as it would not be possible without them!
We thank our sponsors Wine Country Motorsports, G-Loc brakes, Titan7 Wheels, Necksgen, and Charles Schwab for their continued and valued support. Please visit their respective websites to show your support and let them know SpeedSF sent you!
Again, our next SpeedSF Challenge will be held at Thunderhill Raceway East in Willows, CA. Again, please check out the event website by clicking here. We will see you at our next event!
