NASA Mid-Atlantic’s Honda Challenge returned to the Main Course at Summit Point in late September, carrying the momentum of tight racing from BeaveRun.  The season was winding down and the racers were looking to get as many points as possible as the room at the top of the leader boards was getting very tight, especially in H1 and H4.

NASA Mid-Atlantic’s Honda Challenge returned to the Main Course at Summit Point in late September, carrying the momentum of tight racing from BeaveRun.  The season was winding down and the racers were looking to get as many points as possible as the room at the top of the leader boards was getting very tight, especially in H1 and H4.

Corey Jacobs was back in the running but this time he was piloting his venerable H1 Prelude, much faster than the H4 Accord he ran earlier this year.  He wasted no time in finding his form and taking the H1 class win, but it wasn’t without constant pressure from the rest of the pack.  Kevin Helms was able to pull through with second place in his Hybrid Civic, just holding off the charging S2000 of Scott Burner.  Points were valuable for both Burner and Helms as they were part of a tight four-way points race.  Jon Kofod took a decisive victory in H4 with his Integra but there some great bumper to bumper action all race for second place, which Andrew Zimmermann and his Integra laid claim to at the end, just ahead of the Integra of Ian Carpenter.  H5 was home to the closest finish of the day as Zephyr Belski and his Civic barely eeked out the win over the CRX of Adam Mouradian, with one tenth of a second separating them at the line!  Beno Rubin brought his Civic home in third place, rounding out the podium.

Pete Curpier had a rocket start in Sunday’s race and never had to check the mirrors of his Civic Hybrid for the rest of the race, taking the class win.  Second place was left to Burner and Helms to fight over, both cognizant of the importance of a finish, with Burner taking second to Helms’ third.  Day two saw Zimmermann giving Kofod a real run for his money in H4, but Jon was again able to take the win.  Zimmermann held onto second with Carpenter finishing with another third.  David Harrison returned to the H5 fray on Sunday after suffering some mechanical issues on Saturday and drove his CRX to the class win.  Belski and Mouradian again had another incredibly tight fight, practically joined at the hip for the entire race.  This time Adam was able to edge out Zephyr in another close finish, this time taking the position by three tenths!

The Honda Challenge will finish it’s season at Summit Point with close points races in H1 (Slagg, Burner and Helms), H4 (Kofod and Zimmermann) and H5 (Belski, Rubin), with the potential for the championship to be decided in the final race of another double header weekend!   

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!