Fall Shenandoah Track Sprint was held September 2-3, 2023 at Summit Point Motorsports Park in Summit Point, WV. It was the seventh event in the eight event 2023 PHA Championship series.
We had a really low entry count at only 55 entries, so expect some changes for next year unless we can get the count up significantly. Despite the low entry count, 13 class records were broken. In addition, we had 7 entries in Time Trials National classes (something we only offer at the Summit Point events), which seems like a new record.
John Pitman was on the scene and had the following to report:
A great weekend but HOT! Low entry. Hey drivers, if we want to keep this event, show up. Lower entries mean higher prices means lower entries … event lost.
Melinda Axarlis, crew chief of Axarlis Racing, and driver told me the track was great and she really enjoyed it. But before she could try to catch Mike A. for 1st place on Sunday she had a post racing mishap Saturday evening: she tripped on the step to her trailer and broke her leg!! A trip to the hospital confirmed the break and released her in a cast. Surgery to follow. Get mobile quickly Melinda, your team needs you.
Meanwhile Dillon and Dustin Axarlis both driving the Womer FV swapped the lead a number of times, with Dustin finally winning by .24 seconds. Really fun to watch that competition.
It was reported that Novice training went very well. Mike Robinson and Jason Fraley used a pickup truck ride for Novices (ala hill climb procedure) and emphasized safety and pointing out some of the trickier parts of the course. On Sunday Mike gave a real life example of how the carousel can bite you: he slid over the top to the tire wall. Damage was minimal but he did scratch up the PHA decal on the right side. He is fine.
The above observations are from a member of the old PHA retirees society (aka “olPHART society”). Rules and regulation will follow in a subsequent post.
John Pitman
BTW, I’ve spoken to Melinda since then, and she did need to have surgery on her ankle, and is currently recovering. We all wish her a speedy recovery, and are looking forward to seeing her compete next season.
And now, without further ado, let’s talk about the record setters…
Ron Moreck had FTD and set a new Special 2 class record in his 2002 Norton. His fast time was 85.537.
As for the the other 12 class records… Geoff Craig set the American Sedan (AS) class record in his 1990 Ford Mustang with a 96.07. Max Valerio set the Improved Touring B (ITB) record in is 1997 VW Golf with a 102.5. Note that Emily Oswald also broke the ITB class record in her 1984 VW Rabbit with a 110.124, but Max ultimately prevailed.
Keith Kennedy took the Rally Forced Induction record from his father in their 1993 Subaru Impreza WRX with a 106.265. Matt Hoegg now has the F Production (FP) record in his 98 Plymouth Neon with a 101.338, and Eli Sharp beat her own GT-Lite (GTL) record in her 65 Mini Cooper S with a 106.14.
Bill Feist also beat his own Formula S (FS) record in his 08 Stohr F1000 with an 86.306. Michael Robinson took the Super Street Modified (SSM) record in his 04 Chevrolet Corvette with a 90.647. And James Cosner Jr set the FX record in his 78 Wheeler Super V with a 96.901.
Moving onto National Time Trials classes, Kurt Bartholomew set the TTN-S2 record in his 2023 Chevrolet Camaro SS with a 93.911. Wait a minute, where is Kurt’s infamous BMW?!
In TTN-S4, Tom Wuellette set the record in his 2019 VW GTI with a 103.95. Isaac Rodriguez took the TTN-S6 record in is 2014 Mazda 2 with a 109.14, and Dave Stoner set the TTN-U1 record in is 1999 Chevrolet Corvette with a 94.686.
Speaking of Bill Feist, he purchased Bob Gardner’s Stohr WF-1 at this event, and ran it in Special 1 (in addition to his FS Stohr). For his first time ever in the car, he came in second overall, .399 seconds behind Ron Moreck. He also has 3rd place in his FS Stohr (see records above for a picture) with a 86.306, just .769 seconds out of first. It will be really interesting to see what Bill can do once he gets used to his new car!
Don’t worry, Bob intends to continue running PHA events next year with his Elva.
As far as year end points go, I’m writing this post after Fall Weatherly, so the conclusion is known. However, there were a number of awards decided by Fall Weatherly, including year end, so let’s pretend we don’t know anything about the future yet!
The Lloyd Geib award is pretty close, with the top 3 positions held by cars in the Street Modified Rear (SMR) class. Eric Johnson is in first place with 310 points, Michele Aubele in second with 260 and Bryan McCrea with 240.
Overall seems to be wrapped up by Michael Robinson, with 640 points, but Michael Frohman is close behind at 631 points.
And the top 2 positions in Mileage are still separated by only .1 miles. Michael Frohman has the lead with 95.5 miles, and Adam Weaver is in second with 95.4 miles.
I’d like to thank Keith Kennedy and Don McLaughlin for most of the photos in this post. If you’d like to see more of their photos: