NASA- Mid Atlantic's East Coast Honda Challenge helped christen Summit Point's exciting new Shenandoah Circuit in mid-June. There was much speculation as to how the track would lend itself to racing with its snaking turns, elevation changes, and a replica of the banked "carrousel" turn from the famed Nurburgring Nordschliefe circuit in Germany. If this weekend's action was any indication of the tracks race worthiness, there is some great competition to look forward to.

NASA- Mid Atlantic's East Coast Honda Challenge helped christen Summit Point's exciting new Shenandoah Circuit in mid-June. There was much speculation as to how the track would lend itself to racing with its snaking turns, elevation changes, and a replica of the banked "carrousel" turn from the famed Nurburgring Nordschliefe circuit in Germany. If this weekend's action was any indication of the tracks race worthiness, there is some great competition to look forward to.

Pete Curpier started from the pole in H1 with his Civic Hybrid Coupe by one tenth of a second over Scott Burner's S2000. By the end of turn one however, Burner had taken the lead and contact had lead to Curpier retiring from the race. Kevin Helms and his Hybrid Hatchback was now on the attack trying to run down Burner's fast moving S2000. Kevin did his best but just couldn't get close enough at the end, finishing second behind Burner. Matt Bookler locked up third place in his black Hybrid Hatchback with a smooth solid performance. Adam Spingler ran an uncontested H3 class race in his Prelude, but had a great battle for overall position with Andrew Zimmermann's H4 Integra. Both ran nose to tail for most of the race, showing the fans some exciting racing. Following Zimmermann in H4 was Jerry Birchmore and his CRX and Leo Wong's Integra, both putting in good performances. H5 had the most entrants of the weekend and showcased the blistering pace of David Harrison's' CRX, which took the class win and a eighth place finish overall out of a 26 car combined field. The Civic Hatchbacks of Zephyr Belski and Robert Luke were left to battle for second place, with Zephyr being able to hold off Robert for the silver.

Sunday was another sunny and warm day that was to showcase some more great Honda racing. This time Burner was on pole with Helms hot on his heels. Burner was able to stretch his legs at the start, but was reeled in by Curpier who passed him halfway through the race. Pete went on to win H1 and Burner picked up second with Helms finishing third but retiring early. Spingler again went on to take an uncontested H3 victory and is working towards a class championship. Corey Jacobs made his return to the Honda Challenge in an H4 Accord. Though it was a much different car than his H1 Prelude, he was able to take the class win and finishing an impressive sixth overall out of 28 racers. Birchmore pulled in another second place finish and Wong narrowly edged out Zimmermann for third, with a margin of two tenths of a second after going bumper to bumper all race. The Civics of Beno Rubin and Belski duked it out for first in H5, with Rubin pulling out the win. Zephyr was able to hold onto second, finishing ahead of Darren Mingis who had just earned his competition license the day before.

The Honda Challenge returns to Summit Point , this time on the main course, on July 16 and 17 for the next round, as part of NASA's spectator oriented Hyper-Fest. For more information, please visit www.honda-challenge.com and www.hyper-fest.com.

The East Coast Honda-Challenge would like to thank NASA-Mid Atlantic, Summit Point Raceway, all corner workers, drivers, crew, and spectators for making Round Two so enjoyable.