Super GT Cup - Round 1 Big Willow Recap

Our first round brought the HEAT! 25 Total competitors, 4 classes, and lots of PB’s!

In Street Class, we had 9 total competitors! With the widest variety of cars of any class, Camaros, Mustangs, Challengers, and Chargers all joined the fray in a battle for the fastest car in the class.

In 1st place we have Veteran Super GT Cup driver Chris Reber in his Mustang GT with a blazing fast 1:30.640 in the second session, resetting the street class record held by Ryan Drumm (1:32.4)! In 2nd place, we have Ryan Drumm with a 1:31.398 in the chill session 1, he managed a 1:31.400 in session 2 (2/100th of a second off if his first session time!) talk about consistency! In third Place Pauline Yruretagoyena in her Dodge Challenger with a very impressive 1:35.704 in session 2, this was her very first time at Big Willow, this will be an exciting bunch to watch this year! In 4th place we have Ron Azbell with a 1:35.944, (so close to podium!) 5th place Kevin Schula with 1:37.358, 6th place Michael Meakins at 1:37.757, Adrian Yruretagoyena, Pauline's husband, managed a 1:38.408, and newcomer Taylor Heide showing us what’s possible in a porky Charger with hand controls with an impressive 1:40.541, and in 9th place, we have Donald Kellogg with a 1:40.997. Great and close racing from street class this round!

Now we move on to Mod Class, this is reserved for the modified mustangs, unmodified SS 1Le and some basic corvettes now enter the mix.

We had 5 total competitors for Mod class, in first place with the debut of his brand new Camaro SS 1LE we have Kyle Wilder with a 1:31.665! Next up is Hot shoe driver Hanno Hagedorn in a borrowed automatic Mustang GT with a 1:32.54. Coming in third place, we have Micheal Koldus with a 1:35.925 in his Camaro SS. In 4th we had Taylor Fenstermacher with a 1:36.049 and Chris Pulido with a 1:36.362, 3 tenths apart from 4th, landing him in 5th! Less than a half of a second separated 3rd 4th and 5th place!

Moving on to the fast guys! Super Mod Class had 8 total competitors! Ranging from mild C7 builds to all-out Mustangs and Camaros, this class is the place to be this year! In first place with a new Super Mod record, we have veteran driver Frank Pacheco taking advantage of the cool session 1 air in his modded SS 1LE with a blazing 1:25.796! Beating out Kevin Burkes Supermod Record by 3 tenths of a second! Word on the street is that he will get even faster with the RS Future Aero package he’s installing this year! In second place, we have another veteran driver David Palmer, piloting his C7 Z51 codenamed “Gramps” to an impressive 1:27.073 in session 2, knocking on the door of 26’s! Finishing up the podium is Mark Luton with a 1:30.323 in session 2. 4th pace we have Peter Bird, just 2/10 of a second off of podium with a 1:30.557, in 5th place Jani Sarviluoma laid down a 1:33.753, 6th place Greg Seth-Hunter just 2/10 down from Jani with a 1:33.968. And finishing up the Super Mod roster, we have David Leadley and Andrew Holm, with lap times of 1:36.113 and 1:43.515, respectively.

On to the big dogs, the Hoosier Daddies! If you thought Super Mod was fast, then Race Class is the righteous fury that speed fears, these are the cars that have racing slicks or so modified, that they no longer fit within the point constrictions of Super Mod. This is also where any chassis is allowed to compete, as long as they have an American engine swapped in!

All three of the entries in race are veteran drivers this round, in first place, we have the SoCal favorite and OnGrid Cyber Shootout/Super Mod 2021 Champion Kevin Burke, who put down an astonishing 1:24.067 in session 1 on a set of used A7, in second place we have a Super GT cup newcomer Bob Bankard, in his C6 Z06 on Hoosiers showing us that a simple C6Z is still a force to be reckoned with in 2022, he managed a 1:24.531 in the second session. And in third place, a man who needs no introduction Kurt Robinson in his fifth-generation Lingenfelter Camaro put down a respectable 1:28.738 on Falken RT660 after cording his Hoosiers in session 1.