SPEEDSF CHALLENGE - MAY 25, 2019 - ROUND 4 @ SONOMA RACEWAY

Ah yes, Infin—Sonoma Raceway. Proclaimed by many drivers as the Best Track in the West, it’s hard to disagree especially when a bunch of high-powered Beetles are at front of the SpeedSF Challenge train eager to put down their best lap times. Whether it’s the various elevation changes, its challenging turns, or the track’s proximity to various vineyards, Sonoma Raceway seems always bring out the best participants during our SpeedSF Challenge.

As a result, 31 drivers joined the Challenge and, oh boy, was it a good one, especially in S4! Not only did the 1st place winner of S4 beat a 2-year S4 Sonoma lap time, 2nd place and 3rd place were within tenths of each other!

With that said, let’s go to the results!

Class S1

The High-Powered Beetle Group along with some four-bangers and a 2-door Chevy! Chris Bales and Jeff Han ruled this class with a 1-2 win, respectively. Chris Bales took his 2019 Porsche GT3 RS to a first place win by putting down a 1:45.826 lap time, just .600 away from beating Andrie Hartanto’s Ferrari F430 lap record here at Sonoma!

Jeff Han’s lap time of 1:47.128 in his 2016 Porsche 911 GT3 RS was great as well, placing him 1 full second ahead of some kind of silver 2002 C5Z06 Corvette driven by Gordon Peng.

Gordon’s lap time of 01:48.133 was just enough to keep him in 3rd place, as Bruce Lee’s 2018 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE was gnawing at the bit with his 1:48.555 lap time. Perhaps next time, Bruce. Until then, be like water, my friend.

Class S2

Maximum Effort was indeed displayed by the drivers above…and George Kibilov (not pictured), I guess. After Ostby’s S2000 time was deleted, the top 3 winners for this class was Gary Yeung, Anthony Calayas, and the aforementioned George Kibilov. The Dirty Mango S2000 took a commanding 1st place win after Gary drove a blistering 1:48.446 pace, which was only .047 seconds off his own S2 Sonoma July 2018 lap record. You’re losing it, Gary! Maybe a favorable gust of tailwind would have been helpful to get you over the line just a bit faster ;) .

Anthony took his Porsche Cayman GT4 to a great 2nd place win by putting down a 1:49.500 lap time, while George drove his 2002 BMW M3 to a 3rd place win with a 1:50.309 lap time. Great driving by all, including Ostby with his deleted lap time!

Class S3

Class S3’s top three drivers consisted of two guys who have one-syllable last names and some famous So-Cal driver with a multi-syllabic name. The fact that Sonny drove all the way up to NorCal goes to show how appealing Sonoma is to drivers!

Reigning class champion Gary Wong took his 2004 Honda S2000 to a 1st place victory showing that SoCal Sonny who’s boss by placing a 1:50.318 lap time. Sonny, for his efforts, drove his 2013 Scion FR-S to a secure 2nd place win by throwing down a 1:51.546 lap time. He was the probably fastest FR-S on the track for the whole day! Kenneth Yip and his 2011 BMW M3 took home 3rd place with a lap time of 1:52.495. Good job to everyone in this class.

Class S4

Oh here we go. 10 drivers on the track, only 3 could go home. As mentioned before, the 2-year old S4 Sonoma lap record (1.52.512) once held by Scott Smith and his crazy Miata fell as a result of Sohan Kota’s 1:51.330 lap time set in his 2000 Honda S2000. As a result of the new lap record, Sohan won a Wine Country Motorsports $50 Gift Certificate!

Joe McGuiGui took home 2nd place in his (and Rebecca’s) FR-S after adding on some ricer bits on the car to make it go just a bit faster. As a result, the car was able to cross the line with a 1:53.143, just .023 seconds ahead of the 3rd place winner, Daryl Chan who drove his DC2 Integra around Sonoma screaming “VTEC!!” and earned himself a 1:53.166 lap time. Wow, that is close! Hey Joe, looks like the rice came in handy!

Class S5

Fast Driver Party, Party of 1! Scott Smith ‘s Spec Skittles showed Sonoma sweet skills, supposedly setting swift speed. A 1:58.551, good consolation prize since he didn’t get on the podium in S1 with his GT3 :O.

Class X

Dedicated SCCA racer from the 80s vs a 2009 high-HP production turbo-charged vehicle. Hm. David Colbert took that Radwood racer to Class X victory thanks to his 1:48.814 lap time, putting him 0.357 seconds ahead of Lief Storer and his 2009 Nissan GT-R. Awesome driving from the dude with the big cat on his shirt and from a literal rocket scientist!

Conclusion

Overall, this was a successful day. A record fell, close lap times happened, class S5 is still around, somehow. It should just be re-named “Group-where-stockish-Miatas-can-play”, honestly. Adam Swan, I hope to see your beautiful 240SX on the podium again!

A great job to the drivers who won their places and THANK YOU to everyone who participated in the SpeedSF Challenge! 

As we look forward to Round 5 of the SpeedSF Challenge at Thunderhill Raceway on May 31 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!

Our next SpeedSF Challenge will be held at Thunderhill Raceway in Willows, CA. Again, please check out the event website by clicking here. We will see you at our next event!