BMW CCA Club Racing Visits CTMP and Roebling Road

In mid and late June, the Tire Rack BMW CCA Club Racing series visited two tracks in different parts of North America, with Roebling Road the venue for mid-June and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) the circuit for the late June races. We’ll start with the latest round at CTMP.

CTMP

This year’s Club Racing weekend at CTMP was a two-day event with the Trillium Chapter as the host and was held in conjunction with the Canadian Auto Sport Club (CASC). CTMP, also known as Mosport, is one of the fastest and most challenging tracks in North America. “Mosport is such a fast track, and the less you brake the faster you go,” said IP class competitor Matt Noonan. “If you have the aero and the bravery, the track has way more grip than you think it should.”

The CTMP weekend went very smoothly, with beautiful weather and only a couple of minor incidents over the two days of racing. There were 27 entries in nine classes at CTMP, with the most entries in the B Modified class with five cars. Seven of the eight other classes had three cars per class, and there was only one entry in the usually popular SpecE46 class.

Todd Brown won all three races overall and in the B Modified class. His M4 GT4 had livery that is a tribute to the Red Tail fighters of World War II.

The B Modified cars were the fastest cars over the weekend, with Todd Brown winning all three races overall and in class in his G82 generation M4 GT4, and fellow B Mod competitors Brooks Friedeman and Corey Deeds finishing second and third overall in the first two races. “CTMP is widely known as the fastest track in North America for good reason,” said Brown. “You don’t seem to apply heavy braking all that much, other than for turn five, which is really more an exercise in patience. The G -Body M4 GT4 is quite different than the previous generation. It’s larger and a bit more powerful. Somehow, you seem to drive it with a bit less finesse and with a bit more raw grit.”

One of the highlights of the weekend was longtime club racer Shaun McKenzie winning all three races in the C Modified class in his E46 M3, including the feature race. “After 16 years of racing C Mod with BMW Club Racing, 81 BMW CCA Chapter hosted race weekends and 268 race starts, I’ve finally achieved a first place in class finish in a feature race,” said McKenzie on social media after the race weekend. “I’ve gained great friendships, challenged myself beyond my imagination, and shared a no-compromise sport with a cadre of very competitive, talented and civil people. Thank you all!

Shaun McKenzie won in the C Modified class in all three races.

Matt Noonan won all three IP class races in his E36 M3, which has a unique butterfly livery in honor of his daughter Nicole, who passed away a few years ago. “I liked finding ways to make her smile,” said Noonan. “She could show joy, and she would always get happy when she watched videos of the race car. She loved butterflies and loved the race car, so that’s my way of reconnecting with her and now we race together.”

Matthew Noonan won all three races in the I Prepared class.

In other classes, Frank McCleneghen won all three races in the M2 Spec class and also finished in the top five overall in all three. William Mellott Jr. won all three races in the I Sport class, and Paul van Eeden won all three races in PWR2. In PWR3, Jacques Panneton won the first two races and Sean Dwyer won the third, and in PWR4 Allan Lewis won the first two races and Ryan White won the third. Rick Schoonover was the lone entry in SpecE46. “Every corner is a challenge at Mosport and every corner makes you grin,” said M2 Spec racer Ron Checca. “Great racing, great people, great weather and a great time!”

Frank McCleneghen won all three races in the M2 Spec class.

The Spirit of Club Racing award was given to the Wharton family. “The Wharton Family has just been helping out everybody in club racing for a long time,” said Competition Steward Wayne Dobson. Bob Stiver was a Competition Steward along with Dobson. The Event Chair was Les Carter, Tech was handled by Steve Gailits and Roland Nieves handled Timing.

Keith Primozic (far right) presents the Spirit of Club Racing Award to (left to right) Greg, Connor and Spencer Wharton.

Roebling Road

Back in mid-June, the Peachtree Chapter hosted a club racing weekend at the Roebling Road circuit just outside of Savannah, Georgia. There were 21 total cars entered for the weekend among nine classes, with the most entries in the SpecE46 class at nine.

IS competitor Jeff Traenkner provides a great description of the track and the weekend. “Roebling Road is definitely one of my favorite tracks,” he said. “While it’s fairly straightforward to learn the track layout and get up to speed, those last few tenths are a real challenge. A technical track with plenty of run-off room is a great venue for racing. On Friday, it seemed the weather might be our biggest challenge. Rain slowed practice and qualifying, but we lucked out and ran the enduro on a drying track. The heat and humidity returned for both Saturday afternoon sprint races, making the first cold beverage at the awards ceremony that much more rewarding. We wrapped up the weekend with Sunday morning qualifying followed by the third sprint race, all before the midday heat and humidity reappeared. Even with the changing and challenging conditions, the racing remained very clean and competitive.”

Sripathi Haputantri was the fastest BMW driver at Roebling Road, winning all four races overall and in the PWR4 class. In SpecE46, Sergio Ramirez won the first three races and John Park won the fourth. Five of the classes had only one car in each class, with Sanjeev Duggal in PWR2, Pablo Holoversa in SpecE30, Jonathan Simmons in C Modified, Chris Joos in I Prepared, and Jeff Traenkner in I Sport. In PWR3, Camron Nipper won three races but the only entry in the enduro had a DNF. John Wilkins won every race in SpecE36.

The Competition Steward at Roebling Road was Phil Abrami, Larry Fletcher took care of the Timing and April Massagee and Hunter Dyer handled Tech. The Spirit of Club Racing Award was awarded to Dyer and Massagee for their volunteerism in helping to grid the cars before the race starts.

Competition Steward Phil Abrami (right) gives the Spirit of Club Racing Award at Roebling Road to Hunter Dyer and April Massagee.

The Tire Rack BMW CCA Club Racing series will visit Summit Point Raceway in West Virginia on July 11th-12th, followed by the Lightning circuit at New Jersey Motorsports Park August 1st-2nd.

—David Haueter
[CTMP race action photos courtesy David Williams, people shots courtesy Susan Dobson, Roebling Road photos courtesy SRI Racing and BMW CCA Club Racing]