The 2008 Children’s Charities Grand Prix at the River’s Edge Road Course, Mission Raceway Park. September 20/21, 2008.Post Race Press Release.
Sept 22nd – Mission, B.C.
The first ever Children’s Charities Grand Prix benefitting the BC Children’s Hospital and The Children’s Wish Foundation took place at the 1.33 mile newly-improved 9 turn River’s Edge Road Course Sunday and what a race it was! The entire weekend was like a game of weather-roulette for the 26 P1 and P2 teams and drivers. The competitive spirits were quite obvious with many of the CCGP drivers and teams out testing on the Friday the 19th in preparation for the ½ hour, $10,000 feature race.
Many ‘unofficial’ very fast times were recorded by a variety of stop watches and on-board timers. Saturday saw the entire CCGP field in action. The skies threatened, but the track stayed dry for both morning practice and afternoon qualifying sessions.
Qualifying saw Andy Pearson (Specialty Engineering/GT1 Camaro) setting the fastest time at a 1:09.527 with Glenn Nixon (Bullet Racing/Porsche 911 TT) posting a very impressive 1:09.778 to round out the front row. Andy was the proud recipient of the ‘Centaur Awards’ Pole Position Plaque. Row two was made up P2 Pole-Winner Collin Jackson (Specialty Engineering/GT3 Nissan 240 SX) with a blazing fast time of 1:10.129 along with P1 driver Dave Cormier in his VI Fitness Centres Porsche 911 GT2 RSR at a 1:10.578.
Before the feature race Sunday, the fans were informed that Steve Paquette (Bullet Racing/Porsche 911 GT3) who had qualified an impressive 6th overall had to pull out due to shoulder problems. In his place, ex-Indy Car/Sports Car Ace Ross Bentley was brought in to substitute. Ross was required to start from the back of the field in the same car that was campaigned by Bullet Racing at this year’s Daytona 24 Hours, stay tuned!
Once the driver introductions were complete, 10 year-old Chloe Howlett and her cousins gave the ‘Gentlemen Start your Engines’ command and the field went off on it’s two pace laps. As CCGP Honorary Starter, Drew Hellevang dropped the green, the first ever Children’s Charities Grand Prix was under way with field of cars never seen together charging into turn 1.
Andy Pearson took the early lead as Glenn Nixon chased about a second back in his Twin Turbo Porsche. The race featured lots of great racing throughout. The front pack included Dave Humphries (Specialty Engineering/ GT3 Nissan 240 SX) Tim Brown in his beautifully prepared Brown Bros. Ford/Lincoln, Mustang Cobra R, Rocky Elli (All West Insurance/GT1 Monte Carlo), Wouter Bowman (RX7 Turbo), Tony Morris Jr (Proformance Racing/Monte Carlo), Gerald Paetz (Nixon Prosports/Monte Carlo) and Simon Parker (Lamplighter Bar & Grill/ Monte Carlo). This also included legendary Porsche Driver, Kees Nierop who was battling hard in his Proformance Racing Chevy Monte Carlo and David Saville-Peck who put on a show in his small-but-mighty Super 7 Cars Inc., Caterham Super 7.
Unfortunately, as the cars had circulated during the pace laps, the wind picked up creating a fall wonderland of leaves from turn 3 right through to turn 7. This caused a variety of overheating problems which saw Tim Brown out of the race on lap 2 and both Collin Jackson and Dave Humphrey’s to visit the pits to have leaves removed. Tim was unfortunately-fortunate to receive the Riddleworks Helmet Paint Job ‘Hard Luck Award’. Kudos to the corner volunteers who had worked feverishly before the race to make sure the track was leaf-free.
The Corvette contingent was out in force with cars in both the P1 and P2 classes. Marty Knoll finished 9th overall driving the ex-Frank Allers/Speed GT Tom Johnston Racing Corvette C5. Finishing 4th and 5th respectively in P2 were Bryan Holyk (Bishop Sales/Corvette C5) and Chris Chamberlain (Davenport Motorsports/ Corvette C5) (CCGP Cont’d) Rounding out the top 6 positions in both P1 and P2 were Peter Weedon (Kenwood/Kool Coat GT1) and Dr. Carlos Tesler-Mabe (Carmen and Camille/Porsche 911). Peter had an impressive race charging from 22nd on the grid and Carlos gave up racing at the Miller Motorsports Park, Utah Grand Am finally to join us with his entire family for this groundbreaking event. Harry Watson (Metro Testing/Turbocharged Miata) battled hard throughout the race in his Specialty Engineering-prepared Mazda coming home 7th overall in P2. Larry Bell (ReEntry Racing/Pontiac Trans Am) and Michael Stevenson (Porscon Construction/Monte Carlo) drove great races to end up 10th and 11th in the P1 class. Lou Gruzelier (Bullet Racing/Porsche 911) drove a fantastic race to finish 8th overall in P2. Now back to Ross Bentley (Bullet Racing/Porsche GT3).
Ross put on an unbelievable demonstration of controlled aggression, coming through the field to finish 2nd overall. Of the 26 cars entered, only 24 took the green flag as both Jeff Lowe (Anducci’s/RE/MAX Panoz GTS) and Doug Yip (Engines of Interest/Ford Mustang) did not start due to mechanical difficulties. Ryan Ennis (West Coast Hot Rods/Mazda RX7) battled transmission woes all weekend and retired very early in the race.
The final standings in P1 had Andy Pearson in 1st place with Dave Cormier and Rocky Elli rounding out the podium. In P2, Ross Bentley took the victory with Dave Humphrey and Collin Jackson rounding out the top three.
The weekend also included Hot Laps for Kids which featured an amazing group of cars giving fans the opportunity to go for rides around the track with a donation to the charities. The silent auction featured many great items and was well supported by the great crowd in attendance.
The Children’s Charities Grand Prix was called the biggest race in BC since the Vancouver Molson Indy by Tony Parson’s of Global Television. If the 1st edition is an indicator, the future is bright for Western Canadian Motorsports.
1) Andy Pearson: Chevy Camaro
2) Ross Bentley: Porsche 996 GT3
3) Dave Cormier: Porsche 996 GT2 RSR
4) Rocky Elli: Chevy Monte Carlo
5) Gerald Paetz: Pontiac Grand Prix
6) Tony Morris Jr: Chevy Monte Carlo
7) Dave Humphrey: Nissan 240 SX
8) Collin Jackson: Nissan 240 SX
9) Peter Weedon: Trans Am (Nightfighter)
10) Simon Parker: Chevy Monte Carlo
11) Chris Chamberlain: Chevy Corvette
12) Bryan Holyk: Chevy Corvette
13) Kees Nierop: Chevy Monte Carlo
14) Carlos Tesler-Mabe: Porsche 996
15) Marty Knoll: Chevy Corvette
16) Harry Watson: Turbocharged Miata
17) Michael Stevenson: Chevy Monte Carlo
18) Lou Gruzelier: Porsche 996
19) David Saville Peck: Super 7
20) Larry Bell: Pontiac Trans Am
DNF) Glenn Nixon: Porsche 911 TT
DNF) Wouter Bowman: Mazda RX7 Turbo
DNF) Tim Brown: Mustang Cobra R
DNF) Ryan Ennis: Mazda RX7
DNS) Jeff Lowe: Panoz GTS
DNS) Doug Yip: Mustang Cobra
