Story by Matthew Overton, Photo Credits by Jerry Chen and Daniel Kirby

Another full week of racing as all three series were in action with some strong individual performances standing out from the crowd.

It was the Trembling Mountain circuit for the historic Datsun 510s as the MNRL took on this re-creation of the iconic Quebec track for two sprint races.

Jason Whited showed the greatest affinity for this twisting circuit, powering his car to the front in both races and chalking up two big wins as a result.  Whether starting from the front in R1 or driving through the field after a reverse grid start in R2, he was the master of the circuit for this race meeting.   The remaining podium places were hotly contested with multiple changes in each race, resulting in Gilles Lalonde and Joe Miller rounded out the podium in R1 while it was Eduardo Beninca and Matthew Overton in R2.

After 6 race meetings, it’s Whited on top(274), with a slim lead over Beninca (268) and then Lalonde (247).  In the Seniors competition, it’s Steve Carman (165) over Jerry Hamilton (128) and Bob Roberson (122).

Both NARS and the VWSC took the Hypercars and the GTs to Spa-Francorchamps for an hour each in the hills of beautiful Belgium.

For NARS, it was HC driver Dan Kirby who topped the qualifying sheet in his Mercedes AMG One at 1:58.349, with HC AM driver Troy Uyan setting a 1:59.994 in a Bugatti Bolide to top his class.  The best GT time was set by Chris Bruno in his Bentley Continental at 2:16.008 clear of the top GT AM qualifier, Paul Ibbotson’s Lamborghini Huracan at 2:19.000.

28 cars took the green for 60 minutes of tense action as the drivers worked to find the right time/place on track to pass when both Hypercars and GTs found themselves in packs throughout the race.  Eau Rouge was the scene of many a shattered dream, so too the bus stop chicane as drivers jostled to get perfect drivers out of the final corner.

At the checkered flag, it was Jon Uyan in his Bugatti Bolide executing a perfect strategy to get himself to the front after the pit cycle and the fend off the challenges of both Brian Hall’s Lamborghini SCV12 and then Kirby to take the win.  Bookending the Hypercar class was his team mate Troy Uyan, who took the AM win, 50s ahead of his closest challenger, Jerry Chen.

The GT result was a close-run affair, with the GT leader, Chris Bruno, suffering a penalty on the last lap and anxiously watching the post race announcements to see if his automatic time penalty, since he could not serve the drive through, would erase his lead over the Acura NSX of George Angelidis.  Huge sigh of relief when it turned out he had 5s in hand after the penalty, securing his win.  In the GT AM, it was Barry Dimarzo storming through the field in his BMW M6, to finish 25s clear of his closest challenger, Stuart Barge in another Acura NSX.

After 4 events, the top of the individual and team standings are as follows:

HC                                                                                  HC AM                                                    HC Teams

Daniel Kirby                          82                           Troy Uyan              75                           Champion Motorsports      133

Jon Uyan                                58                           Jerry Chen             56                           Hall Brothers Racing           90

JT Tami                                   57                           Lanny Hall             55                           Flying Kiwi Racing               75

GT                                                                                  GT AM                                                    GT Teams

Eduardo Beninca                 75                           Paul Ibbotson        69                           HPD                                          85

George Angelidis                 67                           Tom DiLibero        57                           VICE Racing                             76

James Walker                      57                           Erik Jacobs             50                           JB Motorsports                       68

2 days later, 37 drivers returned to Spa to contest the VWSC fixture, with Kirby and Jon Uyan picking up where they left off by taking the two top qualifying positions for the Hypercars.  Ross Smith, showing some great form, claimed the Hypercar AM pole over a very tight field.  Brandon Gant took the GT pole in his Nissan GT-R while Tom Lane took the GT AM top position just behind him in his Ford Mustang.

While the race was hotly contested throughout the field, in Hypercar, Kirby was able to ‘stretch his legs’ after the pit cycle to take the win comfortably from Uyan with a 20s buffer.  In Hypercar AM, the second half of the race turned into a battle between Ross and FKR team mates Matthew Overton and Jerry Chen in their Lamborghini SCV12s, the three cars within 5s of each other as they negotiated the GT traffic.  It was Ross that prevailed for the win in what turned out to be the closest racing of the day.

For the GTs, again with some close racing throughout the entire class, Gant turned his pole position into the GT win however it was Jamie Zolecki in his Aston Martin Vantage that was able to take the GT AM win by 30s over the class polesitter Lane.

With 5 events now complete, the individual and team standings are as follows:

HC                                                                                                                  HC Team

Jon Uyan                                90                                                           CMS PRO                              185

Wouter de Bruijn                  78                                                           Storm Rider Racing            88

Daniel Kirby                          65                                                           Rookie Monsters                  78

HC AM                                                                                                          HC AM Team

Jerry Chen                             90                                                           Flying Kiwi Racing              138

Eric Moinet                           84                                                           Storm Rider n00n                114

Ross Smith                             77                                                           Ecurie Mistral                       84

GT                                                                                                                  GT Team

George Angelidis                  76                                                           HPD                                       127

Brandon Gant                       72                                                           SRA                                         72

Cameron Barker                   62                                                           SMR Corkscrew                   67

GT AM                                                                                                          GT AM Team

Tom Lane                              90                                                          Trash Panda Racing             146

Matt Buice                             84                                                          Manta Squid GT                   105

Jamie Zolecki                        77                                                           Stardust Autosports            46

All three races were steamed, with commentary for the VWSC event by Troy Uyan!  You can watch the three races on the CMS Youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7Kdp07PvIeW47f0_sM0emw.

This coming week, there is only one race on the schedule as NARS heads to Long Beach with the Hypercars and GTs for a race delayed from earlier this month.