RESULTS: NERRC #7 – Championship Weekend

2023 NERRC Season Concludes

The 2023 New England Road Racing Championship series concluded last weekend at Thompson Speedway. The final points for the season are currently being tallied, so stay tuned for an update in the coming days announcing all of the class winners.

Racing kicked off the Friday/Saturday event with 187 cars trailering to the track for their last shot to hold on to the lead, or claim it in the final races. With 7 race groups, including an Historics group, there was lots of racing action. Friday had Qualifying and Race 1, and it was filled with quite a few incidents. Two Red Flags were ordered from Race Control on that day alone. Most of the shenanigans exited the driver systems on Friday, leaving Saturday to run fairly smoothly, with just one FCY during the day covering both Races 2 and 3.

A shout out needs to go to the Formula Vee drivers, who brought 29 cars to the track to compete. To put that in comparison, only 27 FV cars took to the track and received a green flag at the Runoffs. Regional FV racing in New England is some of the best in the country.

On a final note, none of this would be possible without the dedicated team of volunteer workers who give their time and talents to organize and facilitate all of the NERRC Club Racing weekends. For every driver, find a worker and thank them. For every member, consider volunteering yourself, or bringing a friend and showing all the ways to get involved.

Weekend Highlights

Group 1: This was our SM, B-Spec and IT7 drivers, with a packed field of 39. The opted for a split grid, letting the SMs taking the green first with the B-Spec and IT7 distancing themselves behind. Nick Leverone and Christian Sarnecki went toe-to-toe all weekend long.  Christian took races 1 and 3 over Nick, after a spin and lost wheel with 3 laps to go in Race 2 Saturday morning took him out of contention. Milos Milivojevic and Michael Lavigne swept B-Spec and IT7.

Group 2: The Historics Race Group brought their 5 classes to run as a separate group this weekend, giving spectators and competitors the fun of watching American muscle like Victor Corda’s Ford 1970 BOSS 302, Mark Gunsalus in his Shelby GT350, a couple Porsches, and a classic Corvette running alongside a slew of British Triumph TR4s and Spitfires.

Group 3: SRFs, Prods, and SE30s had a field of 31 and chose a full split start, with two pace cars, for each of their races. Steve Sammut led the pack and crossed the finish line first in all 3 races. Unfortunately, an incident during Race 3 resulted in a loss of positions as a penalty, giving Steve Owens the official win for the double points race. The SE30 class continues to grow, with 7 entries this weekend. Congratulations to Jeff Hutton in setting a new track record.

Group 4: Ground pounders came out in full force with a large group of 26. Evan Slater worked through his mechanical kinks on Saturday, after retiring early in the morning race, to come back and dominate the field in his GT2 Porsche 944 Turbo for the final race. A pack of BMW M3s in T1 and GT2, piloted by Murat Mark Ketenci, Thomas J. Kelly, Michal Kuna and Zachary Kelly, who set a new track record in T1, had everyone swapping positions throughout all 3 races for some great action.

Group 5: Puffs of smoke circled the track as 29 FVs raced side-by-side throughout the entire pack for each of the three races. At each of the checkered flags, however, a different car ended up taking a victory lap. Chase Johnson, Gerard Owen Callaghan and Michael Hinkle all ended up with wins.

Group 6: The T3, SM2 and IT cars made up the second to last group. Justin Brigandi was the overall winner for each race in his Mazda MX-5 T3. John Raudat swept SM2, Bridjet Duffy swept ITS, Peter Tonelli II swept ITEZ, Jason Benagh swept in T4, and Russell Zea in ITB. David Colbey missed sweeping ITA with Hiroshi Hatano taking Race 2 away from him.

Group 7: Our smallest group, with only 9 cars, the wings and things had a limited field to wrap up each session. Congratulations to Amber Stephenson who set the first track record for Club Ford in her Wonder Woman themed car.

What’s Coming in 2024?

The CRB is actively working on finalizing the schedule for the 2024 season. New England Region will also host our Annual Meeting in January, where each class winner will receive their trophy. Details will be coming soon, so watch the region Facebook page, and here on Pit Talk.

New Track Records

CF – #5 Amber Stephenson – 1:15.625

SE30 – #86 Scott Smith – 1:23.943

T1 – #0 Zachary Kelly – 1:13.929