British Extravaganza 2009
May 2-3, 2009 | By Brian Mertz | Photos by Gil Murrieta
VARA drivers, crews, families, friends and spectators enjoyed yet another spectacular spring weekend at Buttonwillow Raceway Park for the 2009 British Extravaganza.
Mild temperatures under a somewhat hazy sky made for perfect conditions on the track and in the paddock, which hosted the traditional display of lovely pre-war racers, car show for street-driven British marques (plus a few trailer queens), and Saturday evening barbecue/karaoke party.
The busy racing scheduled kicked off on Saturday with practice and qualifying for all classes, plus the MG-Mini Challenge and the first race of the weekend for the young hot-shoes of Pacific Formula 2000.
MG/Mini Challenge
The well matched Minis of Rodney Davis and Steve Phillips started at the front of the grid, but both were overtaken on the first lap by the fast MGB GT of Don Cole. The MG stayed in front for one more circuit before retiring and ceding the lead to Phillips, with pole-sitter Davis in hot pursuit and finishing just a second behind at the checker.
Top finisher of the MG contingent was the handsome MGA of John Griffiths, crossing the stripe third overall, followed by Bart Smith’s Mini and the MGB of Sean Allen, who had scrambled up from ninth on the grid.
Sprite/Triumph Challenge
Efrain Olivares Jr. and John Wilkins did their respective marques proud, staging a real donnybrook of passing, re-passing and nose-to-tail pursuit for all seven laps. At the finish Olivares’s Sprite was just over a half-second ahead of Wilkins’ polka-dotted Spitfire.
Another spirited contest took place behind Mordy Dunst’s third-place Triumph TR4, as the Spitfire of Joe Siam and the Herald of Jerry Barker battled for fourth overall, swapping positions several times until Siam won out.
Group 1
Olivares and Wilkins apparently couldn’t get enough of each other this weekend, putting on another jolly good racing show while handily running away from the rest of the 45-car small-bore production field. In the end, Olivares bested Wilkins for overall and DP honors.
The Volvo P1800 of Ken Rosenbush was third overall and in DP, less than a second ahead of CS winner Jerry Barker’s Triumph Herald. Finishing with the biggest grin award for this race was Pat Long, who piloted his DP Datsun 240Z past 33 cars enroute from last spot on the grid to 11th overall.
Group 2
Although most drivers in the historic class don’t bother to mount a transponder – some prefer a calendar for timing purposes, no doubt – John Kerr posted a very respectable lap of just under 2:35 in his Miller Ford to take the checkered flag in a diverse field of spindly racing cars that included John Miller’s flat-radiator Morgan Plus 4, Michael Jacobsen’s MG N special and J. Dale Barry’s Morgan Sports three-wheeler.
Group 3
This one was Chris Horn and everybody else. Horn’s CPM Datsun 240Z was virtually in a class by itself, sprinting away from pole and cruising to a 40-second overall win. The BPM Corvette of Rory Rinebold could only thunder along in fruitless pursuit, while fending off the advances of James Smith’s AP Corvette and Steve Link’s BS Datsun 510.
Link prevailed to take third, followed by Smith and Phil Mendelovitz, fifth overall and tops in CP. Kent Mattox finished sixth in his CPX Porsche 911.
Group 4
After polesitter Vince Tjelmeland (FSV3 Ralt RT5), Steve Brown (Star Mazda) and Bernard Juchli (FSV3 Martini) jousted for the lead in the early laps, Bill Modisette (F2000 Zetec) recovered from a poor start to methodically pick them off and grab the lead on lap 8, finishing a comfortable 16 seconds ahead of Brown. Paul Lisec’s Ralt RT5 also got past Tjelmeland and Juchli to take third place overall and first in FSV3.
Group 5
Joe Siam overcame a poor qualifying race, driving his FP Triumph Spitfire to overall and class wins from 11th spot on the grid. Don Plotkin’s diminutive HMod Kangaroo was second, followed by the GP MG Midget of Geoff Monise. Jay Armstrong had a good drive in his GP Fiat Abarth, advancing from 14th at the start to 7th overall and third in GP.
Group 6
Todd Strong pushed his FF Titan past the CF Crossle of Bob Hatle halfway through the 10-lap race, keeping Hatle at bay to finish in that order. Next to cross the line were Roy Jones (Wilkelmann) and Tom Sabo (Caldwell D9), ending a race-long battle just 0.145 seconds apart to take second and third in Formula Ford.
Kim Madrid (Caldwell D13) stayed ahead of Lawrence Whittemore (Zink C4) and Jon Wong (Formcar) to take the FV win.
