The Tire Rack BMW CCA Club Racing series visited Summit Point Motorsports Park in West Virginia for the second time this year on the weekend of July 11th-12th. Back in May, the races were hosted by the National Capital Chapter, but this time they were hosted by the New Jersey Chapter as the 13th Geoff Atkinsson Memorial race. This year’s race was dedicated to friend, racer and longtime New Jersey Chapter member Mark Mallory.
The Summit Point race weekend was a premier Blue Ridge Challenge event with four races over two days, including three sprint races and a feature race. There were 37 cars spread over 11 classes, with the most entries in the SpecE46 and PWR3 classes. There was a great variety of cars among all those classes, with BMW 3 Series and M3 models from several generations, but there were five classes that had only one car entered. For those drivers, these races were more about the fun of running and racing with a bunch of other BMWs than fighting for a class win.
Todd Brown won all four races overall and in the C Mod class with his E46 M3.
Todd Brown won every race overall in his C Mod class E46 M3, but there were some good battles going on behind him. Job Nieman and Jared Randall, who were both PWR3 class entries, had some close racing and split the PWR3 class victories. Randall also finished second overall in the first two races behind Brown, while Nieman finished third overall in the first two races and second overall in the final two. Andrew Palumbo (PWR3) and Greg Wharton (PWR4) finished third overall in races two and three, respectively. The PWR3 class also saw podium finishes for David Ellman in the feature race and Spencer Wharton in the final race.
Jared Randall (#96) and Job Nieman (#888) had some good scraps in the PWR3 class race.
Matt Poth of Empower Automotive was also in the mix up front in his E90 335d. Poth was the only competitor in the B Mod class but finished fourth overall in races one and three and fifth overall in the feature. Poth, Randall and Nieman had a good duel going in race one as they ran in second, third and fourth behind Brown. “There were five of us right next to each other going down into the chute, and the car all the way on the inside had his hood come open,” said Poth. “The two cars I had been holding back the entire race (Randall and Nieman) popped out and got around me, but it was a fun race. I like Summit Point – it’s very technical from turn five to nine. The diesel pulls really well going up the hill before the bridge and on the straights.”
Matt Poth was the sole entry in B Mod, but finished in the top five overall in the first three races.
In the SpecE46 class, which had the most entries on any class, Greg Hartman won all four races, while Scott Reiman finished second in the first three. James Williams was third in class in the first two races and second in class in the final race, while John Williams finished third in the feature and the final race. There were only two entries in SpecE36, with Sam Nixon and Charles Calkins winning two races apiece. C Modified had four entries, but that dropped to three entries after race one, when Shaun McKenzie went off in turn one and had contact with the tire wall. McKenzie was OK but he was done for the weekend with the car. Nafi Coker finished second in C Mod in all four races in his highly modified E30 325i, and Andy Staiano finished third in the final three races in an E36 M3.
Greg Hartman won all four races in the SpecE46 class.
The only two other classes that had more than one entry were PWR2 and I Sport. In PWR2, Justin Puzzillo won the first three races and Ian Kimbrough won the fourth. Kimbrough also finished second in the feature and race four and third in race one, while Marc Thomaes finished third in the second race and the feature and second in the final race. In I Sport, Michael Saul and William Bass had two class wins apiece and Scott Stirling finished third in the first three races.
Justin Puzzillo won three of four races in the PWR2 class.
There were five classes that had only one entry, with Matt Poth in B Modified, JP Tracey in I Prepared, Greg Wharton in PWR4, Ross Karlin in E Modified and Timothy Skeuse in J Prepared with an Empower Automotive prepared E30 M3. Skeuse was in only his fourth race after going through the BMW CCA Club Racing School at VIR back in the spring. “I love BMW Club Racing,” said Skeuse. “Everyone is so nice and there’s a lot of camaraderie within the community, and I really like Summit Point. I like the flow of the track. It’s tighter than I thought it was going to be, but I really enjoyed how technical it is. It’s a lot of fun. The E30 M3 is really good on this track. It only weighs around 2,400 lbs. and being an older car, it seems to be well-suited to an older track.”
Timothy Skeuse was one of a few E30 M3’s in the field.
Ross Karlin was the Event Chair for the Summit Point race weekend, the Competition/Chief Instructor was Bruce Heersink and tech was handled by Tim Bradford and Warren Brown. Timing was done by Larry Fletcher. The Spirit of Club Racing award was given to Summit Point Raceway staff members to recognize their overall excellence in being responsive and professional. Tony Salloum from VAC Motorsports drove his M3 as the pace car but was also recognized for his long-running Premier sponsorship of BMW CCA Club Racing.
Tony Salloum from VAC Motorsports paced the field at the start of the races.
The next Tire Rack BMW CCA Club Racing weekend will take place on the Lightning circuit at New Jersey Motorsports Park on August 1st-2nd, followed by Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on August 14th-16th.
—David Haueter
[Photos by David Haueter]
