The V8 Series weekend at Savannah Harbor RaceCourse was a weekend of firsts. It was the first time the V8 Series competed with Historic
SportsCar Racing, the first time at the interesting and fun track on the Savannah riverfront, the first time our stock Cars and GT cars had their own group, and the first time we have raced when it was more than 100 degrees in the shade! The Savannah Harbor RaceCourse proved to be challenging and entertaining, and as V8 racer Butch Kummer aptly opined, "this thing has a lot more character than what shows from Google earth or in car video's."

Many of the V8 racers showed up for test days on thursday and friday. They quickly took a liking to the two mile circuit that features some
elevation change, very tight sections, heavy braking areas, two long straights and a very fast, heavily banked turn one that had competitors
thinking they had somehow wandered onto Rockingham Speedway.

Former V8 GT1 Champ Jeff Emery was a late entry and didn't make the test day, but quickly had his fast Fred Strube built winged Monte Carlo flying around the circuit. Emery put his red, white & blue racer on the pole with a 1:15.9 and change clocking. Dave Machavern's Heritage Motorsports
Corvette was second in GT-1 and third overall behind the HSR spec ex TA Mustang of Don Soenen. Former IMSA Camel GT racer Pete Kirill
brought out his BEMCO built, Tommy Riggins prepped Camaro, a car that was a former class winner at the Rolex 24 hours. It had been more than twenty years since Pete last raced, but he quickly showed he hadn't forgotten the technique. Larry Cope and Ray Webb were on hand in a couple more
Riggins built cars. Gene Felton was competing in his new Hamke built 1975 Nova, a re-creation of his ex IMSA championship car.

At the green on saturday's GT race, Emery used all the muscle in his potent chevy mill and led into one. The fast banked section was much to Jeff's
liking as the Altamonte Springs, Florida racer got his start in circle track late models. To say he was quick through turn one is an understatement.
Emery pulled away from Soenen and Machavern over the first few laps at about one second per lap while they battled for position. Felton in the Nova,
Cope in his Buick Somerset Regal and Kirill in the Camaro ran strong throughout the race.

At the checker, it was Emery, Soenen in the HSR spec car, Machavern, Cope, Felton and Kirill. Grand Am racer, Ron Zitza, driving Brad Blum's Porsche 914-6 was impressive, cutting some very quick laps. Zitza took the V8 GT2 class win in the racer that was built and prepped in his Winter Park, Florida, Zotz Garage Porsche performance shop.

Next up was the stock car guys, featuring former Nascar Dash champ Larry Hoopaugh, Grand Am Daytona Prototype competitor JC France,
VIR double winner Kurt Roehrig, ARCA competitior Willie Mullins, Grand Am Continental Tire Series racer, Squeak Kennedy,
Alabama's Reuse brothers, Hollywood Graham, Roebling winner Harry Harper, 2009 GTA champ Randy Walker and HSR stalwart Don Soenen.

In the stock car group qualifying, Larry Hoopaugh (V8 SPO) had it all dialed in cutting a fast 1:20 and change, with JC France about a second back.
Kurt Roehrig took the V8 GTA honors with a 1:21.xxx clocking with Bobby Reuse, Tom Graham, Randy Walker, Squeak Kennedy and Roger Reuse
following.

Hoopaugh easily led into turn one at the start of saturday's race, with JC France next and a determined Kurt Roehrig closely behind. Bobby Reuse
was running strong in fourth overall and second in GTA in his Hamner powered late model. 2009 GTA champ Randy Walker and Harry Harper got
together resulting in both having to retire. Hollywood Graham was showing some strength in his Ford powered GTA entry and was having a
good battle with Lee Arnold in his SPO Impala. Don Soenen and Willie Mullins were going at it, Soenen in an ex Quaker State cup car and Mullins
in the Bugsy's Automotive ARCA Monte Carlo that he and Dave Planakis prepare. Roger Reuse in his late model and Squeak Kennedy in a ASA type Monte Carlo were also having a good go.

When the checker flew, Hoopaugh had a several second advantage for the overall and SPO class win. JC France came home second overall and second
in SPO chased to the checker by GTA winner Roehrig. Bobby Reuse and Hollywood Graham came home second and third in GTA, followed by the
SPO cars of Arnold, Soenen and Mullins.

Sundays' GT race started with Emery again on the pole, with Soenen in the HSR Mustang and Machavern in the Corvette just behind.
The green dropped and Emery roared off again, running laps a good second or more faster than his closest competition and was not challenged.
Machavern dropped out on lap five with an ailing motor, with Ray Webb leaving about the same time with failing brakes. At the finish,
Emery was there first overall and GT1 ahead of the HSR spec Mustang of Soenen. Richard Liebhaber was next in his Grand Am GT type
Ferrari and Mickey Craig in a Viper Competition Coupe. Brad Blum got the GT2 win over Ralph Tolman's Ferrari 308.

In the Stock Car Sunday race, Hoopaugh again took the overall and SPO class honors in his HGC Monte Carlo, followed by France and GTA winner Bobby Reuse. Kurt Roehrig had led early in GTA but brake issues slowed his charge. Willie Mullins made a couple of exciting passes to get a podium in SPO and come home fifth overall.

The V8 StockCar Series wishes to thank Historic Sports Car Racing for the invite to compete with them and for the great job they did
with handling the logistics of the event. HSR's courteous and helpful staff made it a fun weekend for all.

V8StockCar.com wishes to thank its' partners who help make it happen and they are: HSR,GoPro, RaceTalkRadio.com, Sunoco, Hoosier, Goodyear, Mo's Gold, Howe Racing, FiveStar, RaceCar Engineering, RacingJunk.com,Roehrig-Enders, GrassRoots Motorsports Magazine, Racing Limo's, SaferRacer, Randy Lajoie and Hess Racing Products

 

SEBRING RACE REPORT

 

The V8 StockCar racers kicked off the 2010 season at Sebring International Raceway February 20 & 21, once again challenging the famous 12 hour course while running with the Central Florida Region SCCA. We had a brief respite from the cold as the temps were in the low 70's and the sky's clear for the weekend, ideal for some fast laps and great competition.

On Saturday morning Dave Machavern put his familiar Heritage Motorsports Corvette on the overall and V8 GT-1 pole with a quick 2:08.396 despite having some fuel delivery problems. "Babe" Branscombe took the second spot in the class in his ex Spirit of Daytona Corvette with Canada's Marco Cirone third in his brand new Porsche GT3 Patron Cup Car. Paul Breehne put the Rousch/Yates Performance Parts Ford Fusion on the V8 SPO pole with a 2:11.996. Kansas Tornado, Ron "Burr" Keith took out the GTA record with a blistering 2:15.305 and Doug Wilson and his Cherry Cars BMW M3 wiped
out Michael Wheeler's year old V8 GT2 class standard with a 2:19.411.

When the green dropped for Saturday's race Machavern led with the surprising Branscombe hot on his heels. Branscombe dogged Mac for the first
few laps before fading and then succumbing to mechanical issues. Breehne and 2009 V8 SPO Champ Larry Hoopaugh were waging a battle for
supremacy, trading the lead early, with Breehne getting the better of it late, taking the class win and second overall. Marco Cirone seemed to get faster as the race wore on as Porsche's often do. Marco brought his white steed home third overall and second in V8 GT-1 to Machavern.

In V8 GT2, Doug Wilson was cruising to a comfortable class win over Dell Haverland and his new C6 Corvette, built from a stock tub. Wilson was driving the wheels off the blue BMW and was enjoying terrorizing some of the GTA cars, as they would rocket away from him in a straight line, only to find him driving down the inside of them at the next corner.

In V8 GTA, Jay Marshall led early, and in the process destroyed Keith's one day old class track record with a smokin' fast 2:14.138. Burr got the
gold though as Marshall suffered a broken axle on lap nine. "Hollywood " Graham ran a great race and came home second in class to Keith with
2009 GTA Champ Randy Walker taking the final spot on the podium.

Sunday's Race featured a stirring battle between the Corvette's of Machavern and Branscombe with Branscombe turning the tables this time.
Machavern led for the first few laps, but left the door slightly ajar and the bold Branscombe drove it in there and made it stick. Despite
relentless pressure from Mac the rest of the way, the "Babe" never faltered and took home the overall win.

In V8 SPO, Hoopaugh got revenge on Breehne, grabbing the lead early and bringing home his big stock car third overall. Randy Walker returned
to 2009 form taking the V8 GTA win with Ron Keith second, Graham third, followed by Tom Boldry and Steve Wiles.

Doug Wilson got his second GT2 class win of the weekend over Ernest Wildings M3 and Terry Taylor's Z car.

All in all, a good start to the season with two new track records and a first time winner, in Branscombe. By sunday afternoon the group was already
making plans to be a part of the ARCA Tire Kingdom 150 at Palm Beach with only five days to lick their wounds and get down to PBIR.

V8Stockcar Winter Heat 2010

 

The V8 StockCar Road Racing Series will kick off 2010 with its' Winter Heat, running on familiar ground at Sebring International Raceway with the Central Florida Region SCCA, February 20 & 21. Historically, this has been a well attended event and some thirty cars are expected to test the famous 12 hour course.

The following weekend the V8 Series will be at Palm Beach International Raceway as the support series to the ARCA series.
This will be an exciting weekend for competitors and fans alike as the 800 plus horsepower ARCA cars, with their stars of the future test the two mile circuit.
ARCA, well known as a training ground for NASCAR and other series, has always prided itself on being a series that challenges it drivers by scheduling races on short tracks, superspeedways, dirt and road courses. NASCAR stars like Mark Martin, Tim Richmond, Charlie Glotzbach, Davey Allison, Ernie Irvan, Michael Waltrip, Harry Gant, Kyle Petty, Joe Ruttman, Brett Bodine and many more spent time learning their craft in ARCA before moving on to success in Nascar and other forms of racing. Nothing has changed and you can look for big things from current and recent ARCA stars like Justin Allgaier, Justin Lofton, Parker Kligerman, Joey Coulter, Colin Braun, and Scott Lagasse Jr.


The V8 StockCar Road Racing Series is a points championship racing series that competes on North America's finest road courses including Daytona, Sebring, Road Atlanta, VIR, Barber Motorsports Park and more The V8 Series will bring its' four classes of ground pounding rockets with bigs field expected. Just some of the top competitors expected for the Winter Heat are former Grand Am Champ and two time V8 GT-1 Champ Dave Machavern, ten time race winner Charles Wicht, 2009 V8 GTA champ Randy Walker, 2008 V8 GTA Champ Tony Amico, former three time Nascar Dash Champ and 2009 V8 SPO champ Larry Hoopaugh, 2007 V8 GTA champ Jay Marshall, 2009 SCCA SARRC GT-1 champ Ray Webb and many more.

V8 StockCar's four classes are:

V8 GT-1: SCCA GT-1 Corvettes, Camaro's Mustang's' etc, plus Grand Am Rolex GT cars
V8 GT-2: SCCA World Challenge cars, Grand Am Koni Challenge SCCA GT-2 and the like

V8 SPO: ex Nascar Cup, Nationwide, Hooters Cup, Late model stock cars
V8 GTA: SCCA GTA stock cars, 500 hp

Be there this February when the V8 Series turns up the "Winter Heat."

 

 

Mo's Gold Champoinships At Road Atlanta

Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida's Simon Gregg took both the six lap sprint race and the twenty lap feature race at the The American Road Race of Champions November 6 & 7 at Road Atlanta Raceway. The event was also the final round of the V8 StockCar Road Racing Series. Gregg, driving the number 59 Derhaag Motorsports Corvette started from the pole in both races after posting a quick 1:24.471 in qualifying with Bill Smith in his winged late model stock car and former Grand Am Series champ Dave Machavern in his Tommy Riggins Corvette right behind.  At the green in Friday's sprint race, Gregg got a great start and slipped away to a several second advantage as Smith and Machavern battled for second. Machavern held the number two slot the entire race, but was under constant attack from "Wild Bill" in the winged stock car that is painted and decaled up to look like a 1955 Chevy Bel Air.Gregg's margin of victory at the checker was nearly five seconds. With his second place finish, Machavern locked up the V8 StockCar Series V8 GT-1 title for the second straight year, taking home the Mo's Gold Championship Ring.

Gregg started Saturday's feature race from the pole again and used the big horsepower in his orange rocket to power away from Smith and
Machavern. Smith started second and pulled away from Machavern about one half second a lap. The race was pretty uneventful for the top three in the V8 GT-1 with Gregg finishing some twenty plus seconds ahead of Smith, with Machavern another five seconds or so behind. Bob Monette had a fine drive in his new Tony Ave built Mustang coming home fourth. Monette's daughter, Paige, demonstrated she can handle the big horsepower as well coming home seventh overall and fifth in V8 GT-1 in her Ave prepped Corvette. Paige was quickly adapting to her new ride and was running her best laps at the end.

In the V8 SPO class for the high horsepower stock cars, Paul Breehne drove his best race ever, holding off three time Nascar Dash Series champ Larry Hoopaugh and a very quick Grant Leadbetter. Breehne was running his best laps ever at Road Atlanta and was really liking the set up car chief Mike Breault gave him. Hoopaugh kept trying to make a move inside of Breehne lap after lap in the high speed turn one, but could never quite make it stick. On about lap fifteen Hoopaugh spun there nearly getting stuck in the gravel trap. Hoopaugh made it out of the trap and was able to soldier on for a third place class finish, giving him the Mo's Gold Class Championship Ring.

Everyone knew the V8 GTA race would be hotly contested with about ten cars less than two seconds a lap apart and with some of those still getting quicker as they were still learning North America's toughest race course. At the green Ron "Burr" Keith and Road Atlanta master Bob Stretch pulled out from the group and battled for all twenty laps. The pressure from Stretch on Keith was relentless, but the leader of the "Kansas Tornadoes" just wouldn't wilt. In one of the best big bore races ever at the ARRC Keith "manned up" and hung on to defeat Stretch, one of the most prolific drivers of Road Atlanta. Disappointingly, the race would be lost in the tech shed as Keith's racer turned up a fraction of an inch too low, handing Stretch the win. Kentucky's Randy Walker moved to second in the order, which coupled with Tony Amico's horrible luck gave him the V8 StockCar series V8 GTA Championship. Amico went into the final race with a twelve point lead over Walker for the Championship but was taken out on lap three and the resulting DNF and no points handed the Mo's Gold Ring to Walker

In V8 GT2, Raeford, North Carolina's Chris Ingle took the overall, TCC class, and V8 StockCar GT2 wins Saturday, Ingle's margin of victory was just 2/10's of a second over Bob Mayer in his C6 Corvette. Mayer, who had started on the pole with a new V8 Series track record, had led every lap, but Ingle never lost contact and as the two began to work lapped traffic, Ingle closed in.

As the pair came down the hill on the twentieth and last lap, Ingle got a great run and worked to the inside of Mayer, driving it in there deeper than ever, made it stick and just edged Mayer at the checker. Mayer did get the STO class win as well as becoming the first V8 StockCar series V8 GT2 champion, winning by just three points over Cape Coral, Florida's Doug Wilson in his BMW M3. Wilson came into the final weekend with a seven point advantage over Mayer, but down about 100 horsepower and in his first weekend of racing at Road Atlanta, Wilson and his Bimmer just couldn't hang with the Vette's. Ed Lewis finished third in the V8GT2 class for both the race and the points battle giving CrossRoads Motorsports Sam Power two of the top three spots in the Championship. Power preps both Mayer's and Lewis' Vette's.  Mayer took home the Mo's Gold Champions ring for his season efforts.


The V8 Series thanks the Atlanta Region SCCA, it's workers, and the ARRC committee for the outstanding job handling the events logistics. It was truly a "professional event."

A giant thank you to Joe and Trish Mobley of Mo's Gold for their continued support of the series and for sponsoring the beautiful silver rings for our Champions.

The V8 Series partners are instrumental in the continued success and they are: Mo'sGold, GoPro, SCCA,Atlanta Region SCCA, RaceTalkRadio.com, TrackTek Race Fuels,Hoosier, Goodyear,Howe, FiveStar, RaceCar Engineering, DRP, RacingJunk.com, Roehrig-Enders, GrassRoots Motorsports Magazine, Racing Limo's, Dash Racewear, SaferRacer, Randy Lajoie and Hess Racing Products.