February 24th marked the return of the East Coast Honda Challenge for its 6th season.  There were many changes to be excited about at the start of the season.  Keith Edwards, local H5 legend, stepped in as the new director.  H1 and H2 debuted under the new rules. This was the first points race in history for Honda Challenge on VIR’s beautiful full course.  As a result of this, new East Coast Honda Challenge course records were set for H1, H2, H4, and H5.

For this event, NASA Mid Atlantic made two run groups for the sprint races, Fighter and Bomber, in order to allow enough time for the Enduro race on Sunday.  H1 and H2 were in the Bomber group, while H4 and H5 were in the Fighter group. 

Kevin Helms, in the Hondaworks Civic, took the H1 win despite having mechanical issues on the final lap.  Helms posted a fastest lap time of 2:12.425. 

In H2, J Allen Haggai looked sharp piloting his Integra to a class win, besting Northeast Honda Challenge driver, Brian Casella.  Haggai posted a fastest lap time of 2:16.138.

In the Fighter race, rookie Chris Perera, in his 2nd generation Acura Integra, took the H4 win in his first ever Honda Challenge race.  Perera’s fastest lap was a 2:20.914.  Andrew Zimmermann kept the pressure on in his Integra but could not catch Perara.  Zimmermann finished 2nd with Trevor Melville finishing 3rd in his Prelude.

H5 saw the return of two familiar racers.  Keith Edwards, in his CRX, and Beno Rubin, in his Civic, battled for the top spot.  In the end, Rubin prevailed in 1st with a fastest lap of 2:30.573.

Sunday’s weather turned wet and cold, creating some very slippery conditions for the racers.  For the sprint races, the cars were placed on grid for the race based on their fastest lap time from the Saturday race.

Kevin Helms ran consistent laps in the challenging conditions to secure his second H1 win of the weekend.

In H4, Chris Perera made his presence felt by taking his 2nd win.  Andrew Zimmermann took 2nd, with Trevor Melville taking 3rd.

H5 had a repeat of the previous day with Beno Rubin taking 1st place and Keith Edwards taking 2nd.

The East Coast Honda Challenge would like to extend its sincere appreciation to King RAT Motorsports , NASA Mid-Atlantic , the entire VIR staff, the fans, the competitors and their families for providing yet another memorable weekend.