INTRODUCTION

Party time at Sonoma once again! A technical track for those brave enough to take on the beast at speed, it truly separates the adults from the kids. The 25 SpeedSF Challenge drivers were obviously not deterred by the warm weekend, even with highs reaching 84 degrees F. Such brave, brave souls.

CLASS S5

Small cars on a big track yielding positive results are what we like to see! Hats off to Zoe Downing taking 1st place with her NA Miata and a 2:01.938 to boot! 2nd place driver Patryk Skowronski-Stec threw his hat in the ring and went home with a 2:03.099 lap time behind the wheel of his NA for his efforts! 3rd place driver Kristopher Hitchcock barely missed out on 2nd place with his 02:03.541 lap time - still a great time nevertheless while piloting a BMW Z3 coupe!

CLASS S4

Welcome back, Alex Shen! Not a bad way to mark your return - a 1:55.749 in a 2002 Honda S2000 to take 1st place! We are expecting great things from you throughout the season! Narrowly missing out on 1st place was Artem Rakhov, taking 2nd place in his 1998 BMW M3 while putting down a 1:55.781 lap time. Definitely a close battle between the top two. Alexander Malone took 3rd place with a 1:59.668 behind the wheel of his 1998 BMW 328is, a great time as well!

CLASS S3

Tony Rodriguez is taking the kids to school yet again and showing them how it’s done. His blazingly fast 1:49.902 lap time was nothing short of impressive. It takes pure skill and a lot of seat time to wring that kind of time out of a 2003 Toyota MR2 Spyder!

Seigo Ma took 2nd place with his 1:50.214 lap time while piloting his S2000 around Sonoma while a very close Ken Yip, driving a 2011 BMW M3, took 3rd place with his 1:50.929 lap time. Another round of close battles for the S3 class!

CLASS S2

Gary Yeung took everyone else to Gapplebees in his Dirty Mango S2000 thanks to a 1:46.957 lap time, earning him the top spot (per usual). Kevin Schweigert in all his 2021 Supra glory (1:49.438) narrowly kept the 2nd place spot away from 3rd place Steven Chiu whose one-off return to the track in his E46 M3 earned him a 1:50.657 lap time!

CLASS S1

Seeing Gary Wong on the top step in S1 is a great sight and might be a common occurrence if he keeps driving that Zupra the way he has been lately! A 1:45.791 was the fastest time of the Challenge. He sure is having fun out there!

Steve Melson took 2nd place in his Audi R8 and kept it just ahead of 3rd place driver Gordon Peng and boy were the times close! Steve’s lap time was a 1:47.076 while Gordon’s lap time was a 1:47.513! Very nice job!

CONCLUSION

Excellent work by the drivers who took their places on the podium! THANK YOU to everyone who participated on this beautiful Sunday in Wine Country! Let’s continue getting this bread! There will be many opportunities to chase podium finishes. This can be achieved with more seat time, coaching, and watching videos of how to attack the track!

Round 4 will be held at Sonoma Raceway on June 13. We look forward to more close finishes among the drivers! There’s still ample opportunity to shake off those cobwebs, so get to it! We truly appreciate our sponsors and participants and we are forever thankful as all of this would not be possible without them.

Thank you to our sponsors Maxxis Tires, Wine Country Motorsports, Titan7 Wheels, 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!