The East Coast Honda Challenge returned to the rolling hills of Danville and Virginia International Raceway for the first time since the pre-season warm-up earlier this year.  All of the racers were excited at the chance to tackle the technical North Course and the tight racing was a sure sign they were up to the task.

The East Coast Honda Challenge returned to the rolling hills of Danville and Virginia International Raceway for the first time since the pre-season warm-up earlier this year.  All of the racers were excited at the chance to tackle the technical North Course and the tight racing was a sure sign they were up to the task.

H1 was a real slug fest with lead swaps, off course excursions and some hard driving.  Chad Slagg recovered from some early race slipups to carve through the field and capture the victory in his K-powered Civic coupe.  He was barely able to edge out the S2000 of Scot Burner at the finish line as the two fought closely at the end.  Kevin Helms corralled third place after a big slide through the grass between turns three and four.  In H2, there was to be a great battle between the Integra Type R’s of Allan Haggai and Parker Whitt.  Unfortunately, Whitt had to retire due to mechanical issues and Haggai cruised to an uncontested class win.  H4 was home to a good three way battle between the Integra’s of Jon Kofod and Andrew Zimmermann and the Accord coupe of Karl Kondor.  Day one saw Kofod take the win over Zimmermann and Karl rounding out the podium, but more close racing was on tap for this class on Sunday.  John Whitaker piloted his CRX to the H5 win and was also knocking on the door of the lead H4 group.  The CRX of David Harrison pulled in second place with Zephyr Belski and his Civic finishing in third.

Sunday seemed to take on one of the regular ECHC themes: what is the weather going to do.  Qualifying ended up being on a damp but drying track and the racers were left wondering what it would do for the rest of the day.  As always, the weather cooperated and granted the drivers a perfect track.   Kevin Helms was able to walk away with the H1 win in his B-series Hybrid Civic.  After leading for the first time in Saturday’s race, Chris Drabauski was able to secure his first podium finish when he came home in second after running and consistently quick race in his Civic, holding off Slagg who finished in third.  Allan Haggai was able to take another uncontested win in H2 since Whitt was unable to make repairs in time.  H4 was home to the closest racing of the weekend with Zimmermann, Kondor and Kofod running in formation for almost the whole race.  Kondor was able to split Kofod and Zimmermann this time, improving on his finishing place from the day before.  H5 also played host to a weekend sweep by Whitaker and his CRX, who put in two commanding performances.  Beno Rubin was able to take second place after not being able to compete in Saturday’s race while Belski put another third place finish under his belt.  

The Honda Challenge next travels to Beaver Run in Pennsylvania and will then finish out the season with 2 more weekends at Summit Point.  For more information, please visit www.honda-challenge.com and we look forward to seeing you at the track!