Where should we start? So much happened and so much to report during the third round of the Scottsdale Ferrari Apex Challenge series presented by Coffin & Trout. We should probably start with this: the closest race finish in Apex Motor Club racing history.
It happened during the MX-5 Cup race.
Would you believe nine-thousandths of a second?
That’s less than 30 cm if you do the math at home. Tom Tait rode the outside line out of the final corner, after chasing race leader Joey Rainey, and the side-by-side drag race and side drafting ensued, with Tait taking the photo finish. It was his second straight MX-5 Cup win and gives the Scottsdale driver the championship lead over Rainey by just one point.
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“Clean racing, always fun, here at Apex Motor Club we always have a lot of fun,” said Tait after the race. “Racing with such quality guys means a lot to me. We had zero contact. Just a class act.”
That wasn’t the only drama. Oh, there was much, much more!
In Radical Silver, Karl Fredrickson took his first ever race win of any type after qualifying strongly outside of pole. Evan Wolf finished second for the second straight race and rookie Jason Dyer completed the podium. Championship leader Ryan Fisher took pole, but race challenges left him with a wide-open title fight at mid-season.
“It was just a matter of staying consistent and letting him make the mistakes, and not worrying about passing, and my competitor turned around in Turn 8. It was definitely a battle,” Fredrickson said.
In Radical Gold, Chris McMurry took pole in the final qualifying round and led the Radical class and overall standings from flag to flag. But a post-race penalty relegated the championship leader to second place, allowing Jace Bacon to take his first win at Apex. After a divergent course on the first lap that led to McMurry’s five-second penalty after the race, Bacon made a great run, without any yellow flags, from 15th to second and then to first.
“I wanted to get to first place as quickly as possible, so on the opening lap I hung it on the outside for a few corners. We were racing hard and got taken off the track,” Bacon added. “I had the pace after that, the car was on fire and I just worked my way back. I’m always looking for more.”
And that was the story of the largest field ever of Mazda MX-5 Cup cars at the Scottsdale Ferrari Apex Challenge series presented by Coffin & Trout. The fast-growing class witnessed a four-car train pulling away early and battling within inches of each other for 30 minutes.
Joey Rainey and Brannan Hankins continued to dominate the GT4 and GT3 classes, although Rainey was surpassed by Scott Dehlendorf for the GT3 pole, a sign that battles at the front of the field were approaching. Rainey and Hankins have occupied the top podium step in all three rounds. Elsewhere in the GT race, GTX saw Rich Strahota and Ernie Spada take their first podium finishes.
Time Attack Street Car was taken by Jordan Sawalqah, beating his wife and championship leader Star Sawalqah, who finished third and last year’s champion Jeff Koning, second. Newcomer Joe Cattaneo took a first win in the Time Attack Race Car class.
If you are interested in becoming an Apex member and racer and getting involved, please email info@apexmotorclub.com. Here’s a look at the season standings:
Radical gold
73 – Chris McMurry
45 – Jace Bacon
35 – Jason Plotke
33 – Andy Voelkel
32 – Ralph Gilles
Radical silver
62 – Ryan Visser
52 – Carl Fredrickson
51 – Evan Wolf
47 – Jason Dyer
40 – Niko Kourouglos
GT3
51 – Brannan Hankins
36 – Chris Hanson
33 – Jordan Darling
30 – Ralf Ludwig
GT4
76 – Joey Rainey
56 – Joe Rainey
42 – Matt Williams
36 – Matt Crandall
35 – Scott Dehlendorf
MX-5 cup
51 – Tom Tait
50 – Joey Rainey
47 – Jessica Rainey
38 – Joe Rainey
36 – Jacob Rainey
Time attack – street car
61 – Star Sawalqah
45 – Jeff King
45 – Jordan Sawalqah
32 – Brett Voelkel
13 – Kent Kirimli
GTX
25 – Richard Strahota
20 – Ernie Spada
17 – Richard Kinsey
Time Attack – Race Car
50 – Joe Cattaneo
25 – Jeff King
20 – Rich Gramlich
The story originally appeared on Racer