When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
The 9th event of 2009's S2k Challenge took place Saturday, Sept. 26 at Buttonwillow Raceway’s 13CW.
Speedventures hosted the dedicated Time Trial at the end of the day, with 2 clean hot laps for each competitor.
With Ed's absence, Emilio Cervantes and William Chen stepped in seemlessly to organize and keep everything going smoothly. Great job, guys!!
Temps popped the 100 deg mark and BW's new Canopy "misters" were a godsend.
With the cool AM air, most of the fastest laps were in the 1st or 2nd sessions.
Many offs during practice resulted in plenty of dust on track and consequently, randomly slippery conditions.
Only three events remain including this one so everyone was running harder and faster, looking for those last valuable points in their respective classes. The margin of victory was as tight as ever....
Participation in The Challenge looked to be quite big in the morning with many newbies wanting to sample the fun.
However, attrition was high and quite a few competitors pulled out due to the heat or off-track excursions (such as this new CR that went off big after the Esses - Driver & Pass. OK)...
...or mechanical problems - (Alex, a.k.a. momofoolio, wishing he had hardened bolts for those axle extenders!! )
Unfortunately, William Chen also had a mechanical when observers noticed a cracked rotor on the Time Trial starting grid. With no time to swap it out, William had to withdraw.
STREET CLASS
Eddie Hsu (susuki1220), in only his second S2k Challenge event, was able to claim 1st prize in STREET class running a 2:05.105. He was able to top his previous BW performance of 2:05.741. Nice driving, Eddie!
Nam Yoon (VitaRenovatio) ran a 2:05.944 in the Time Trial and was off by just .839 seconds, good for 2nd in STREET. Nam's times have improve dramatically since his 2:18 finish at the 1st BW Challenge event in January and he was able to take home a BAFFLED OIL PAN from R&D Factory.
Joel Perez was once again able pull into the money with a 3rd place finish in STREET at 2:07.994, bringing home a $40 SPEEDVENTURES gift certificate.
Benjamin Rigaud (Ben22) came in at fourth with a
2:08.678, a personal best, celebrated by all.
Check Ben's field mice excavation
STREET RESULTS
Now, you're thinking...where's that STREET class points leader, Mr. Emilio Cervantes? He's usually up top somewhere, right? Well, with a last minute tire change and trunk swap (which included a GTC-300 airfoil), Mr. Cervantes decided it was time to invade the Mod class...
MOD CLASS
Mark Tsai (colatkitty), Si Tang (Si), and yours truly (Dipstick) ran neck-in-neck all day, with our practice laps all within less than a 1/2 second of each other (2:01.478 to 2:01.884).
With the sun setting quickly, two of BW 13CW’s trickest corners, the BUS STOP and RIVERSIDE were now fully engulfed in head-on, solar-flare level radiation. Visibility in these sections was sketchy especially at the Bus Stop's turn in.
As usual, Mark was quick and consistent right out of the block.
Despite being on street tires, his S2000 was equipped with the Full Monty aero package : canards, airdam, splitter, brake ducts, Mugen hardtop, Voltex wing mounted chest high and, of course, no radio mast.
Mark threw down a 2:01.909, to claim another 1st place MOD finish - his 3rd (of 4) BW events this year. Mark took home a full set of F/R pads and rotors from BRAKE OPTIONS.
Congratulations Mark!
Emilio decided to go with race rubber for the TT and smoked out his Fast Time of the Day, a 2:02.234 for 2nd place in MOD.
I was following Mark but was not so fortunate, turning-in too late at the BUS STOP and losing time going sideways. My time was a 2:02.409, a disappointing 3rd and a full .500 sec behind the leader. However, the $100 Gift Certificate from Aliso Viejo Auto Service (Shane) helped heal the pain
Kangwoo Park, Paul Asterlin, Paul Flores, Brandon Lee, and Mark Sundberg rounded out the MOD class results :
UNLIMITED
It was good to see Rob Burch (Rob.Ok) finally back on track with his newly built motor.
As the sole Unlimited competitor, this FTD of 2:00.183 went unchallenged all day...however, Rob had to depart late in the day with some mechanical issues couldn't run the time trial…but we’ll expect him back soon!
PAX
With the PAX scoring system, the driver’s times are adjusted based on the S2000 mods implemented.
Most importantly the GRAND PRIZE of the day is given to the PAX winner.
Fresh off his previous PAX win at BW where he claimed a $600 ORECK XL Vacuum, Eddie Hsu once again reigned supreme, claiming the TYPE 5 BUCKET SEAT (F1 Spec) worth $500!!
Congratulations Eddie!
CHALLENGE SERIES POINTS STANDINGS...Sorry folks, these will be calculated shortly, watch for the update...
Thanks to the organizers, sponsors, participants and supporters and a special thanks to Cobblestone Realty (http://www.palmdaledreamhomes.com/) for the cool award plaques!!
Great fun was had by all and, yes, a hot day at the track is still...a day at the track!
Wish I would have run with you guys last weekend. Redline was a let down in my eyes... i ran 7 laps between my "half hour" practice session and 3 lap time attack session...lol. hope to see you all at wsir
ouch.. sorry to hear Rob.. im the lil asain guy who asked u about why im getting too much over steer at buttonhook.. hope everything gets taken care of soon!
Originally Posted by hahasti,Sep 30 2009, 06:33 PM
ouch.. sorry to hear Rob.. im the lil asain guy who asked u about why im getting too much over steer at buttonhook.. hope everything gets taken care of soon!
No problem. I was checking out your car....Its sweet. I really like the J's version 2 front bumper and splitter I don't think that bumper / splitter gets enough credit.
thanks.
kinda off topic but do u think my set up gets downforce?
my friends are saying it doesnt give any and some says i do get it but just a lil bit.. hmm..
I've never driven one but I'm sure that its functional. The BW lap record for a NA S2000 is still held by the AJ race car which I believe was using the first version (although I recently saw they were running the updated version).
Its probably not as goods as a custom option or even the new Voltex kit but I'd imagine that its far superior to most off the self options. Remember too that J's actually races their stuff in Super Tai and actually do pretty well all things considered
09-30-2009, 12:42 AM
S2K Challenge #9 Results 9/26/09 - Buttonwillow
)
He's usually up top somewhere, right? Well, with a last minute tire change and trunk swap (which included a GTC-300 airfoil), Mr. Cervantes decided it was time to invade the Mod class... 
