Registration is open and the early bird offer ends Aug 13th.
MotorsportReg Castol Registration
NWFC at Castrol Raceways Aug 27/28
Registration is open and the early bird offer ends Aug 13th.
MotorsportReg Castol Registration
Castrol 2016 Race Preview
Heading into the last weekend of the season, Mitch Egner has wrapped up the Zetec title and Gavin Aitken has clinched the Pinto championship. The only thing left to settle is the overall championship. Gavin trails Mitch by only 2 points overall. Greg Coffin is the only other driver with a chance to beat them, but after some bad luck at mission, he sits 24 points back before points adjustments and will need everything to go his way in the final weekend to repeat as NWFC champion.
On the Zetec front, Roger Smetaniuk ran away from the field last year, at least when he made it past turn 1. Expect him to do the same this year on the short, tight Castrol track that rewards experience. Mitch Egner will be seeing the track for the first time, and will look to bank on his experience with the similarly small Mission to get him to the front of this field. Steve Ross got caught up in the turn one crash here last year. Hopefully, his bad luck runs out and he can take a step forward at his home track this year. Brian Smetaniuk had a great race with Greg Coffin in race one last year. His experience at his home track has proved to be a bump to his finishing position in the past as he qualified on outside pole in 2015. Brad Law will be making his first appearance of the season in his new to him Van Diemen lets hope he has shook off his Citation luck and runs smooth all weekend.
The pinto race is shaping up to be very exciting. Greg Coffin will bring the 99 mygale back to Alberta, where it finished ahead of everyone except Roger’s Zetec in the first race last year. Last years weekend winner Teague Karall has headed back to karting leaving it wide open for the pinto group. Gavin Aitken might have something to say, as he has been very quick all season long and has shown to do well on smaller tracks in the past. It will however be his first trip to Castrol, and learning a new track might give Coffin the gap he needs. Glenn Yuen has as much experience around this track as anybody and has shown this year he can find his way to the front of the pinto field. Mike Webb will be making his first NWFC start at his home track, and is getting faster with every session on track. Dane Babkirk will be looking to have a better weekend then his trip to Castrol last year and finish off the season with a top 5 overall finish and a battle for 2nd place on the season amongst the Pinto’s with Glenn Yuen. We have a wildcard entry in the pinto class with the Club Ford king of Mission Alan McColl making an entry in Brad Law’s Citation for this race weekend. Look for Alan to quickly come to grips with the wings and put that car right in the middle of the pack.
Overall, look for some fierce competition from Mitch and Gavin as they look to win the overall NWFC championship, but expect Roger and Coffin to find their way to the front of the podium, as Coffin in particular needs the weekend sweep, and Roger is always tough to beat at his home track.
Light rain as qualy is about to start.
Results from quali in the rain.
Race 1 results.
Mitch and Gavin both do what they need to do in the first race, winning Zetec and Pinto. Mitch setting the lap record in the process.
Heading into the last race of the season tomorrow,accounting for dropped races and alternates:
Egner 88.5 points
Aitken 87.5
Maximum points attainable:
Egner 91.5
Aitken 95 (but no reason to score more than 94)
Yuens gamble on inters didn't pay off as the rain held off. Babkirk had a lack of combustibles issue and Law had his alternator decide it was going to take some time off from working.
Mitch destroyed the field lapping up to 4th I believe I was alone in second with Aitken holding station a couple seconds back. Ross and B Smetaniuk started the race close (almost a little too close) but eventually got seperated by traffic. Alan McColl brought home the Citation for a sold finish after rigging himself a seat that allowed him to see out of the car.
Wow, one race left and one point separating 1&2.
Not to mention 1.5 point spread between 2nd and 5th in the pinto class.
Amazing
Cold and windy today could be tough conditions.
Congrats to new series Champion Gavin Aitken!!
Second race results.
Congratulation Gavin!
A Championship well won.
From the birth of you and your wife's first child, just weeks before the first event, to a dominant five win streak to clench the Championship as the last checkerd flag dropped.
Wow !
Congratulations to Mitch for his Ztec Championship (2nd overall) and to Dane Babkirk who emerged from the pack to take 2nd in Pinto and 4th in the Championship.
Last edited by gcoffin; 08.28.16 at 8:42 PM.
Big congratulations to Gavin, needed to win the very competitive pinto class the last five races in a row to do it.
Where was G Coffin in all this ???
3rd in the Championship and second in ztec.....my race budget got spent in turn three at Mission mate
Sorry to hear that Greg....re the second part.
and congratulations on the first part.
Thanks
It just goes to show what a great series we have all been part of developing over the years, and the strength of the completion that has developed here in the northwest.
Next year my goal is to build the series and get a viable third group in the form of pre 90's CFC.
Look for me in the Swift next year in your mirrors.
Let's get 20 car fields !
A big thanks goes out to everyone who ran NWFC in 2016
Hear, hear !
Truly a remarkable series developed by remarkable people.
Many thanks to Greg,Charlie and Roger for initializing, developing and executing this series.
Proof is in the pudding (as they say), the series is growing. annually we see more and more people joining the series.
It only makes sense.. Today I see ads on Apexspeed listing well developed (maybe a little older) cars with a lot of spares available for sale for $13 -$14,000.
Check it out, join the NWFC series, you WILL enjoy it.
Greg, I have no doubt we will see 20 cars next year.
Cheers, Michael
If you head back to Castrol next year, and it's not on a weekend I'm out in a field doing circles in a tractor (harvest time up here) - I'll bring the old 84 Reynard back out.
Gary
Gary Tholl
#24 BlurredVisionRacing
We will hold you to that Gary!
and if you are headed this way you might as well bring along Don, Keith, Wayne and the rest of the FC gang.
RACE REPORT: Castrol Raceway 2016
Cold, wet and windy was the weather forecast as the end of the NWFC season approached Castrol. The 2 Championship contenders Mitch Egner and Gavin Aitken where new to 2.7km 14 turn track so both smartly attended a test day on Friday to get acquainted.
With both Mitch and Gavin having swept their classes at Mission they looked to continue their momentum at Castrol and bring home the Championship. Mitch held a slight lead going into the weekend but with the way the scoring is set up it favored the Pinto of Gavin Aitken if he could manage to knock off some of the newer Zetec cars for the extra points.
Qualifying
(A wet track for Qualifying)
After a cold practice session to start the day the skies opened up and dampened the track as Q1 approached. The rain began letting up and the track began to dry but how much was the question. We saw the full gambit of tire selections go out wet, inter, and Steve Ross braving it on slicks. As qualifying ended it would be Mitch Egner followed by Roger Smetaniuk, Dane Babkirk and Gavin Aitken.
(Ross’s tire choice did not pay off)
Castrol Race 1
(Field going through the tight 1 / 2)
The track had dried but a dark cloud loomed over the circuit threatening to rain just as the race would start. With the track still dry as the cars were called to pre-grid the last minute tire choices where made all cars went out on slicks except for Glenn Yuen on inters hoping the gamble would pay off as he didn’t have enough time to switch back over to slicks. With the hectic tire changing happening right before pre-grid Dane Babkirk didn’t get any fuel into his #2 Van Diemen so he had to pull off from pre-grid to fill up and would start from the back. This promoted Gavin Aitken up to third and brought Stephen Ross and Brian Smetaniuk forward as well. Ross and B Smetaniuk would run closely for the first half of the race and possibly a little too closely at the start before eventually being separated by traffic.
(Ross and B Smetaniuk working through traffic)
Egner’s choice of the soft compound Hoosier would be the right choice in the cold weather as he set a new track record on his way to an unchallenged overall victory. Second place would be Roger Smetaniuk in his Mygale followed by the Pinto class winner in Gavin Aitken. Glenn Yuen’s inters would push him to finishing near the back of the field as the rain never materialized. But his rival in the championship Dane Babkirk’s fueling issue would also relegate him to the back so they remained just 1 point apart going into the final race fighting for second in the Pinto Championship and 4th in the overall. Brad Law’s race would come to an early end as the teething of his new DP08 would only give him 6 laps before a battery charging issue would leave him without power. In Brad Law’s old Citation Alan McColl would fight with the setup and seating position but still manage to fight it across the line in a solid 6th place overall position and 2nd in the Pinto class.
Castrol Race 2
The final point’s race of the season would start with Mitch Egner leading the Championship by only 1 point. Mitch needed another Pinto driver to step up and stop the 4 race Pinto class win streak of Gavin Aitken if he wanted to hold onto the Championship. Gavin needed to make sure he finished in front of a Zetec or two to collect enough bonus points to move ahead of his rival.
(Race 2 Start entering Turn 1)
Off the start Mitch once again opened up a big gap and did everything he could to secure his 8th overall win of the season. But with only 5 Zetec cars in the field he knew he couldn’t max out his points while Gavin Aitken could. Gavin mean while pressed hard taking 2 seconds off his personal best of the weekend and was challenging second place Roger Smetaniuk early on. Steve Ross starting near the back cut through the field chasing down Gavin Aitken in third by mid race. Brad Law’s race would not even start as he continued to fight electrical issues and would not make the grid. This meant 0.5 less points for Mitch and 1 less point for Gavin. Brian Smetaniuk struggling with grip in his Mygale locked himself in a battle with Alan McColl as he began to get comfortable in the Citation. They would battle all the way to the end of the race in 7th and 8th. Glenn Yuen now on the right tires would make the charge from the back of the pack to try and take second place in the Pinto class away from Dane Babkirk but would end up finishing just 1 spot behind his rival in 6th place. In the closing phase of the race Gavin Aitken held onto third and would win the Championship if he finished there. But a late spin would see him passed by the charging Steve Ross dropping him to fourth. As Gavin dragged the Go2Mobi Van Diemen back onto the track he came out just in front of Dane Babkirk in the second place Pinto class car. If Dane makes it past Gavin Mitch wins the Championship by 1 point if Gavin holds on he wins by 2 and a half. The last 2 laps of the race where probably a little stressful for Gavin but he manages to hold onto 4th place ahead of Dane by just over a second.
Castrol Bonus Race
(Race 3 pre-grid)
With the Championship wrapped up it was time for everyone to go out and have some fun on the last race of the NWFC season. New Champion Gavin Aitken would be the only one not to start the race as he was headed on the long journey home to Victoria with his family. The race would turn out to be an interesting affair with Steve Ross quickly jumping into 3rd ahead of Dane Babkirk. Glenn Yuen would also be on the move and by mid race had worked his way from 7th to 4th.
(Glenn Yuen close behind Dane Babkirk)
After passing Dane Babkirk for 4th the tricky 7/8 section caught out the charging Glenn Yuen and would take him out of the race as the car would not re-fire. Brad Law finally had his new DP08 fully charged and electrically working so he enjoyed a few loops and an off road excursion in the new car on his way to an 8th place finish. Alan McColl would have his best finish of the weekend bringing home the Citation 5th in a pretty good first weekend in an FC. Mitch Egner once again would lead the field across the finish line followed by Roger Smetaniuk and Stephen Ross.
(Mitch Egner in a class of his own this weekend)
See you all in 2017!
Northwest FC
Castrol was a blast to run hopefully they will do something with the bumps between 1-2 with a car that is running heavy springs it makes for quit the ride just to get it slowed down for turn 2 because the wheels are in the air more than on the ground.
Great group of guys to race with.
Big thanks to Brad Law for bringing me out to run Castrol it was a great weekend Brad got to run his new car after some teething problems.
With some setup Brad's new car is going to be a blast.
Thanks All
Alan Mccoll
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote