Meeting 4 Report - Infineon

Connection problems and scheduling conflicts for a couple of series regulars contributed to a slightly diminished grid for this week's Historic Trophy meeting, but the smaller field certainly didn't mean a lack of action.


The field get under way in Sonoma, California.

The twisting nature of the track was expected to lead to domination by the smaller cars in the field, the Nissan 240z in particular, so it was something of an upset that the top spots in qualifying were taken up by some of the larger cars competing in the series.


Dudley's BMW leads the field through the Carousel.

The star of Race 1 was clearly Joe McSpeed in his 240z - with a storming drive from 7th on the grid to the lead. Morcs' performance in the O-Class Camaro was also notable as his 4th place finish was his best in the series, a result he then repeated in race two. Third place was taken by Badger Gravling in the Chevy Nova, another result that was repeated in both races.


The twisting backstretch is a serious test of car and driver.

The second-place finisher in that first race was Dudley in the BMW, who improved on that in race two with his debut win. His recent run of form has moved him into second place in the overall championship, and the lead of the Under-5-litre Class. (The previous leader, Balhambadger, also a BMW driver, was unable to compete this week.).


Dudley (BMW) and Joe McSpeed (Datsun), this week's race winners.

Both races saw battles between the Mustangs of Beezerly and RichXM655, and in fact there was action all the way down the field.


The midfield Mustang-Pontiac battle wasn't without casualties. Specifically, brake markers.

Sadly technical difficulties saw Meerman and ThaForce record DNFs in Race 1.


ThaForce (Muira) and Meerman(Corvette) dropped out early on with technical issues.

As we move towards the final meeting of the series, we already have one champion to crown, which is Meatball in the Chevy Corvette C2, taking Class O honours. The close competition, with no clear class challenger emerging across the series, means that his points total is insurmountable, so we congratulate him on a well-earned class championship.

The overall points totals also have Meatball in a commanding position, where he only needs to score 4 more points in the final race to be certain of victory. however, the Nurburgring Nordschleife is an unforgiving racetrack and there can be no guarantee of anything...