Going into the last couple of races, of the 2005 Honda Challenge season, we were very happy with the results so far. Even with many ups and downs throughout the year, we wanted to finish the season off safely and on the podium, which is what we needed to win the H4 Championship for the second year in a row.

We arrived at Buttonwillow about an hour before the practice session and set up our pit area. Then we prepared the car as usual by filling up on gas, bleeding brakes, checking tire pressure, and making sure everything is in place. The practice session and qualifying went well even though Edik was only able to get one clean lap in. With that lap Edik qualified 2^nd, with Steve in 1^st and Jeremy in 3^rd.

The green flag dropped for the start of the first race. Steve held the lead for one lap, with Edik and Jeremy right behind. Edik was able to pass Steve and gained the lead. Steve’s race and championship hopes ended after his right upright snapped in half on the turn 1 burm and had to go off. With Steve not in contention anymore, Jeremy was bumped to 2^nd place, right behind Edik, who was having braking problems due to lack of brake fluid. Edik still managed to hold his position as he had to pump the brakes at certain times and pulled away from Jeremy as they went through traffic. Edik finished the race in 1^st while breaking his old lap record of 2:12:3 with a 2:10.673, and also clinching the Championship. Jeremy finished in 2^nd place with Sam in 3^rd place.
 

Sunday also went very well as the qualifying positions were the same as Saturday’s. Andrie Hartanto in his H1 civic was on the inside of the front row with Steve on the outside and Edik right behind Andrie. With the advantage to Edik, he passed Steve in the first turn of the race to once again take the lead. Steve dropped to 2^nd place with Jeremy right behind. Edik managed to stay in front the whole race as Steve and Jeremy battled for second place and also had some contact. Steve recorded a fast lap of 2:10.562, but Edik had a faster lap of 2:10.555. The race finished with Edik in 1^st, Steve in 2^nd and Jeremy in 3^rd.

            After the race, the race directors had a mandatory tear down of the top 3 finishers in the championship, which were Edik, Steve and Sam. Everything was checked and in the end all of the racers cars were to the legal specs, as this was no surprise to us.

            This season was very tough for us as we had some problems along the way, but we held our ground and fought to the last couple of races to claim the 2005 H4 Championship. Edik finished the season off with 12 podiums out of 18 races with 10 wins and 2 second places.

            A special thanks to the Second Generation Integra Club(g2ic) for this event

            Big thanks to all of our sponsors for helping us throughout the year:

Sav-On Driving & Traffic School
Glendale, CA
(818) 500-8332

Mirage Auto Body and Paint
Canoga Park, CA
(818) 227 6858

SpeedVision Motorsports
Glendale, CA
(818) 547-0696 

 

Saturday's grid:


Saturday's Green:

Edik in the lead:

H1 battle with Andrie in front of Ryan:

Edik and Jeremy:

Kenji:

Saturday's Results:

Sunday's Green:

Passing the "slower" cars:

Smokin:

teardown:

inspection:

The rest of the pictures can be found here: Image Gallery