All five classes of the NASA Mid-Atlantic Region's East Coast Honda Challenge rolled into Carolina Motorsports Park for the first races of the season April 30 to May 1. The weather was threatening to be wet on Saturday and it lived up to it, leaving teams scrambling to figure out which setup to use for qualifying and the race. Fortunately when it came time for the race, the sun had shown through and dried the track, setting up an exciting race with tight action from the very first turn.

All five classes of the NASA Mid-Atlantic Region's East Coast Honda Challenge rolled into Carolina Motorsports Park for the first races of the season April 30 to May 1. The weather was threatening to be wet on Saturday and it lived up to it, leaving teams scrambling to figure out which setup to use for qualifying and the race. Fortunately when it came time for the race, the sun had shown through and dried the track, setting up an exciting race with tight action from the very first turn.

Adam Curpier took the pole in H1 with his Integra Type R. His brother, Pete Curpier, who qualified second in class made an exciting pass in turn one in his Civic coupe to take the lead. He never looked back, which was a good thing as the action in turn one was incredibly tight. That left Chad Slagg and his K20 powered Civic Si battling with Scot Burner's S2000 for the remaining two podium spots, with Slagg finishing in second and Burner in third.

The H2 class was a one horse race with Allan Haggai's Integra Type R putting in consistent laps all weekend and taking an uncontested class win.

Zsolt Ferenczy set the pace for H3 in his Integra GS-R and taking the class win over Adam Spingler's Prelude and Robert Wilson's Integra GS-R.

H4 was host to one of the best sorted cars all weekend, Alex Muresan's Integra RS, who was cutting times comparable to H2! Michael Stoiber's Civic Si and Karl Kondor's Accord continued the H4 excitement with a great duel for the rest of the podium in H4, seeing Stoiber take second and Kondor finish third.

The Civic Si's of Beno Rubin and 2004 H5 champ David Harrison battled all race long, giving the spectators some great on track action to watch. Rubin was able to edge out Harrison at the end and Kim Ratcliffe and her Civic put in a consistent performance to lock in third place.

Sunday's weather conditions were a polar opposite from the previous day, with the sun shining through and zero chance of precipitation. Slagg used the new K20 motor's power to help clinch the pole for H1 and took the holeshot going into turn one of Sunday's race. Chad was able to hang on for the victory and Burner and his S2000 had held off the hard charging Civic of Kevin Helms, who was the only ECHC driver to dip into the 1:49's, for second and third place, respectively.

Allan Haggai again had an uncontested run with his Type R to first place in H2.

H3 saw Spingler and his Prelude run another consistent race and taking the class win on Sunday.

Muresan was at it again on Sunday, racking up blistering laps in his H4 Integra en route to another class win. Kondor and the Accord improved from the previous days results by finishing a strong second place. Jerry Birchmore and his CRX "Chikita" rounded out the H4 podium after a previous days tire failure.

H5 again was host to some of the tightest racing of the weekend, this time between the Civic Si's of Rubin and Ratcliffe. Kim was able to hold Beno, with Rubin trying to find any opening he could, making her the first female to win a Honda Challenge race. Zephyr Belski came in to finish third in H5 after blowing a motor Saturday and swapping in a fresh motor that night, holding off Sam Meyers and his Civic.

The East Coast Honda Challenge next heads off to Summit Point, WV for the next round, June 11-12, 2005. We can't wait to see you there!

The East Coast Honda-Challenge would like to thank NASA-Mid Atlantic, Carolina Motorsports Park, all corner workers, drivers, crew, and spectators for making Round One so enjoyable.