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By Jeremy Croiset
Published: July 17, 2006
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Round 5 of the NASA Socal region Honda Challenge race took place at Willow Springs International Raceway on July 8th, and 9th. It was a HOT weekend with temps over 100 degrees both Saturday and Sunday. One of the greatest challenges was staying cool and hydrated!
Saturday morning was another glorious Southern California day with blue skies and high temps. The practice session showed that most were up to speed and ready for qualifying.
The cars rolled out for qualifying and had an uneventful session. When the times were posted, the grid was set. Bernardo Martinez took pole in H1 with a 1:32.75 followed by John Thawley and new comer Sam Poznauovich. In H4, the times were close with Edik Stepanyan taking pole with a 1:35.60 followed by Jeremy Croiset (1:35.80) and Sam Rothchild (1:36.97).
Time for the race came, the cars rolled to grid, and the drivers tried to stay cool until they went out. Everyone saddled up, and rolled out for the warm up lap. As the cars rolled onto the front straight, the spectators got to see something that is unusual for the Honda Challenge series in Socal. The cars had formed up for a standing start. 
The green flag was raised, the rpm’s came up, the green flag fell, and the cars rocketed off. Bernardo Martinez got a good start and never looked back. He lead from flag to flag to take the win in H1 followed by Sam Poznauovich. John Thawley finished 3rd while watching from the side of the track when his H1 Civic was struck with an electrical gremlin. He had finished more than half the race before the gremlins and thus, picks up some valuable championship points.
H4 was another story. Jeremy Croiset was able to get a good start and go by Edik Stepanyan to take the lead. 
Stepanyan was able to re-pass Croiset on the back straight of the following lap. Going into T2, Stepanyan had an off course excursion dropping him back in the field. Croiset was able to avoid Stepanyan and continue on to victory for the first race of the weekend. Stepanyan was able to push hard and come back through the field to a 2nd place finish. Benny Pecqueur was able to take the final podium spot!
Sunday was the same as Saturday. HOT! Practice went without a hitch.
Qualifying set the grid for the race through the heat! When the times were posted, we saw Bernardo Martinez take pole once again in H1 with an impressive 1:31.66 followed by Sam Higashi and Michael Lee. 
In H4, the grid was not the usual. Ryan Flaherty had qualified on pole followed by Edik Stepanyan and Benny Pecqueur.
The call to grid for the race came, and the cars made their way to the track. Once again, the grid was set for a standing start! The cars formed up on the start finish and awaited the drop of the green flag. Again the cars went screaming off into T1. The H1 cars took off with Martinez getting another good start. This time he had Sam Higashi and Michael Lee nipping at his heels. Jeremy Croiset made a blistering start moving from 5th on grid to 2nd right behind Ryan Flaherty. Then Exiting T2 he was able to make the pass on Flaherty for the lead. Just after the pass, the black flag was displayed at T4. Apparently there was some contact on the start and someone’s bumper was left in the middle of the front straight. The cars rolled into hot pit and were directed right back onto track where racing resumed. 1.5 laps later the race is black flagged again. Sam Rothchild had hit the end of the pit wall sustaining significant damage to his race car. Luckily his safety equipment worked properly and protected him well. The safety crew was on scene very quickly and got him to safety!
About 10-15 minutes late, the track was cleaned up and racing resumed. On the restart, Jeremy Croiset had a high speed off course excursion into T1 which put him way back in the field. That left Flaherty and Stepanyan to battle it out for the remaining 5 laps. When it was all said and done, Martinez had scored the double win in H1, with Higashi and Thawley rounding out the top 3. Stepanyan was able to take the H4 victory with Flaherty right on his tail followed by Pecqueur. 
With 6 races remaining in the season, not counting the National Championship event at the Mid Ohio Sports complex, the regional championship is still up for grabs. Come join us at the next NASA Socal Honda Challenge event to see what exciting developments take place. The event will be held at Willow Springs International Raceway on August 5-6, 2006. Hope to see you there!
All photos by Casey Heerman
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