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By Jeremy Croiset
Published: June 15, 2006
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Round 4 of the NASA Socal region Honda Challenge race took place at Buttonwillow Raceway on June 10th, and 11th. With sunny skies and 90 degree weather, it was a beautiful weekend for racing! Qualifying time came and went, and the grid was set. Michael Lee was able to set fast time with a 2:09.9 to take pole for H1 followed by Michael Garcia (rookie) and Bernardo Martinez. In H4, we saw Edik Stepanyan take pole with a 2:11.5 followed by Jeremy Croiset and Ryan Flaherty. The first race of the weekend began as the cars rounded the final turn formed for the start. As the green flag dropped all went screaming down into turn 1 hoping to gain positions. When the tire smoke cleared, Michael Lee was in first place followed by Edik Stepanyan and Jeremy Croiset. 
Lots of great racing happened throughout the field with Croiset pressuring Stepanyan and Rothschild and Flaherty running nose to tail. With 1 lap to go, Jeremy Croiset’s CRX caught fire. He was forced to pull off and get out quickly. Fortunately, a good fire system and quick response prevented any harm from coming to him. That left the results as follows. In H1, Michael Lee led from start to finish, with John Thawley(2nd) and Sam Higashi(3rd) making up the podium. H4 saw Edik Stepanyan take 1st, with Ryan Flaherty(2nd) and Sam Rothchild(3rd) taking the other 2 podium spots. The Saturday evening party was great with lots of fun had by all. The camaraderie at these races is second to none! Sunday morning came and brought along another beautiful day for racing. Attrition had taken a toll, and knocked quite a few cars out for the day. Bernardo Martinez had some mechanical issues the day before and had decided to retire for the weekend. Qualifying saw Michael Lee take pole yet again in H1 with a 2:09.5 but ended up with a busted oil line which forced him to sit out the race. John Thawley was able to out qualify Michael Garcia and started from the front of the H1 grid. In H4, Edik Stepanyan took another pole with a 2:10.9 followed by Ryan Flaherty and Sam Rothchild. Jeremy Croiset missed qualifying because he was still trying to fix the fire damage the car had sustained the day before. Race time came, and the cars rolled to grid. With a lot of work, a loaned wiring harness from Martinez, and support from the other Honda Challenge competitors, Jeremy Croiset was able to make the grid but had to start the race from the last row. As the green flag fell everyone battled to improve positions and Croiset did just that by moving up to 4th by the end of the first lap. The rest of the race was very exciting with John Thawley and Sam Rothchild having a good out of class battle. 
Jeremy Croiset was able to close in on leader Edik Stepanyan and pressure him for a couple laps. Edik Stepanyan was able to open a second lead until he made a small error on the last lap. Jeremy Croiset was able to take advantage of the small error and take the win with Edik Stepanyan following close behind. Ryan Flaherty took home the final podium spot in H4. In H1, we saw John Thawley take a well-deserved win with Sam Higashi taking 2nd. in a rented H4 car since his 5Zigen Civic is awaiting a new H1 engine. The points battle for the championship is heating up in H1 and H4 with a large number of drivers still in the chase for the win. Don’t miss the next exciting round of Honda Challenge racing at Willow Springs on July 8&9, 2006.
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