Racing Lines: BMW CCA Club Racing Returns to Watkins Glen

The autumn Tire Rack BMW CCA Club Racing events at Watkins Glen always draw some of the largest fields in the series, and the races always deliver intense competition. The 2025 event, run in mid-September and hosted by BMW CCA Club Racing, remained true to form, drawing more than 60 racers; they were divided into two run groups and produced five different overall winners in six races.

Group A was contested by 30 racers, among them seventeen in Spec E46, the largest class on hand, and nine in PWR3, the quickest class in each race. Emrich Stellar won the Friday sprint in his E36 M3, finishing ahead of PWR3 racers Greg Miceli (E36 M3) and Andrew Palumbo (E46 M3). Jesse Clark crossed the line in the Spec E46-winning 330Ci in fourth, ahead of class competitor Ben Hostetler, while Club Racing chairman Mirril McMullen won PWR2 in his E36 323i—beginning a four-race sweep of the class—and Bob Martin won K-Prepared at the wheel of his E30 325i, running solo in the class.

Stellar again took the overall and PWR3 wins in the Saturday-morning Group A sprint race, followed by PWR3 competitors Sean Dwyer (E46 M3) and Miceli. Seven PWR3 racers led the pack to the checkered flag, with PWR2 winner McMullen eighth—the first non-PWR3 racer to cross the finish line. Clark repeated his win in Spec E46, with Hostetler again close behind; in fact, he set a new Spec E46 lap record with a 2:08.835. Martin scored another solo win in K-Prepared.

The Saturday-afternoon feature race was a slightly different affair. With Stellar exiting early, Dwyer took command, winning overall (and in PWR3) ahead of Miceli and Mike Dellutri (E36 M3). It was Clark versus Hostetler again in Spec E46, with Clark holding on for his third class win. PWR2 repeat winner McMullen finished sixth overall, and Martin took his third solo win in K-Prepared.

In the Sunday-morning Group A finale, Dwyer was again the overall and PWR3 winner, with Dellutri and Miceli rounding out the podium. In the lead about halfway through the race, Clark had to pull into the pits, leaving Hostetler to win Spec E46 ahead of Robert McInerny (330i) and Turner Hilliard (330Ci). McMullen closed out his sweep of PWR2, and Martin finished his solo sweep of K-Prepared.

In Friday’s Group B sprint race, Brooks Friedeman (B-Mod F82 M4 GT4) started from the pole and led the 34-car pack from the start, ahead of Peter Agapoglou (C-Mod E36 M3), Todd Brown (C-Modified E46 M3) and a long-absent Will Vanjonack, who had returned to club racing with a C-Mod E36 M3. Several single-car incidents brought out a full-course yellow flag on the second lap; the long caution period allowed necessary track repairs. As a result, the track went green with less than five minutes remaining. Agapoglou, Brown, Vanjonack, and Friedeman were running at the front of the pack at that point, but Friedeman regained the lead, taking the overall and B-Mod wins ahead of C-Mod winner Agapoglou, Brown, and Vanjonack. Other class winners included David DeJesus (E46 M3) in PWR4, Michael Wetzel (F87 M2 CSR) running solo in M2 Spec, Matt Noonan (E36 M3) in I-Prepared , Michael Saul (E36 M3) in I-Sport, and Jason Alexander commanding a Cayman GT4 in the all-Porsche EXB class. (Alexander was one of twelve graduates of the BimmerWorld BMW CCA Club Racing school run at the Glen during the race weekend.)

In the second Group A sprint on Saturday morning, Vanjonack took the overall and C-Mod wins, demonstrating that he belonged among the fastest C-Mod racers, even though he had not run in the series in more than half a decade. “I have been away from BMW CCA Club Racing for the better part of nine years—my last race with BMW was in 2019,” Vanjonack said afterward.  My race car then embarked on a multi-year upgrade program, and although it’s been finished for the last couple of years, we had not run it.  This was its maiden voyage since 2019, and given the breadth of changes, I am very happy with the way it turned out. I’d say we are about 85 percent of the way to getting it completely dialed in.”

Vanjonack turned a 1:57.121 on his way to winning the Saturday-morning sprint, over two seconds faster than current C-Mod points leader Robert Chang, who ran a 1:59.729. Friedeman finished second to Vanjonack, winning B-Mod. C-Mod runner-up Peter Agapoglou (E36 M3) finished third, Brandt Stover (C-Mod E46 M3) finished fourth, and Chang finished fifth. In all other classes, the Friday winners won again: Noonan in I-Prepared, DeJesus in PWR4, Saul in I-Sport, Wetzel in M2 Spec, and Alexander in EXB.

Vanjonack took his second overall win of the weekend in the Saturday-afternoon feature, with Chang finishing second, just 0.23 seconds off Vanjonack’s pace, and Agapoglou rounding out the podium. Agapoglou’s AutoSport Fabrication shop supported thirteen racers at the Glen; he would go on to win the Spirit of Club Racing award for his efforts over the course of the event.

Repeated class wins in the feature sprint went to Noonan in I-Prepared, DeJesus in PWR4, Wetzel in M2 Spec, and Alexander in EXB. First-time winners for the weekend were Warren Wulff (E92 M3) in B-Modified  and Gordy Wagner (E36 M3) in I-Sport.

Chang won on Sunday ahead of C-Mod runner-up Todd Brown; the two are front-runners for the C-Mod national title this year. Friedeman finished third overall, scoring his third B-Mod win of the weekend, and Alexander, in fourth, completed his sweep of EXB. Noonan won I-Prepared, sweeping the class for the weekend after spending the last race battling with I-Prepared competitor Job Nieman; Wagner won again in I-Sport, and Erik Pylypchuk took a solo win in PWR4 with his E92 335i.

Ross Karlin and Asher Hyman served as competition stewards, technical-stewarding chores for the large field were handled by Bruce Smith, Dick Cadieux, Tim Bradford, and Ben Greisler; and timing-and-scoring chores were adroitly handled by Roland Nieves and Larry Fletcher.—Brian Morgan, Roundel motorsports editor

Top Photo: Susan Dobson