Coupes on the Figure 8 – 4/8/25
The MVH Tuesday Night Retro Series schedule pitted the retro Coupe class against the Figure 8 this week. With a larger than usual field of eleven and a later than usual start (due to multiple cars requiring some last-minute tweaks), racing was in the round-robin format on just the middle six lanes in order to get everyone home before midnight.
11 Coupes in Tech:
Once again Cody Pare was posting sub-3 second laps early in the race while Bob “Woody” Hazelwood was matching him in total laps. Rolly Lapierre Jr. was posting lap times close to Woody’s and was in the hunt, but Dave Panich was logging slightly more laps, making it a four-car race for the podium. Further down in the standings the racing was still close with Richard Payne, Joe Yates and John Esposito running within five laps of each other.
Late in the race Cody was “savaged” (local vernacular), breaking his guide flag and forcing him to resort to a backup car which, unfortunately for Cody, was resistant to staying in the slot. After several laps he moved on to Woody’s backup car but, by this point, was out of contention for the win. Meanwhile, Rolly encountered several on-track obstacles and eventually pulled his car in the final heat, taking him out of contention too.
When the dust settled, Woody took the win by four laps over Dave while Cody held on to take the bottom step of the podium. Richard moved up to finish fourth, three laps ahead of Joe, while Espo ended up just two laps back in sixth place. Even though he missed a good portion of the final heat, Rolly was another lap back in seventh place.
Cody was the only racer to run a race lap under 3 seconds, posting a 2.954 on green. Second fastest racer Woody was logging laps in the 3.0s on most lanes while Rolly was the only other driver in the 3.0s. The purple lane was the fast slot on the Figure 8, as five of the eleven drivers notched their fast lap on purple.
Finishing order, laps completed, best-lap time and best-lap lane
1) Woody Hazelwood 332 3.023 OR
2) Dave Panich 328 3.125 PU
3) Cody Pare 317 2.964 GN
4) Richard Payne 307 3.234 PU
5) Joe Yates 304 3.133 PU
6) John Esposito 302 3.125 WT
7) Rolly Lapierre Jr. 301 3.070 GN
8) Rob Hayes 295 3.179 GN
9) Dan Savage 284 3.241 PU
10) Jason Kessel 277 3.461 YL
11) Rich Girvin 261 3.508 PU
UPCOMING EVENTS:
MVH Tuesday Night Retro Race Schedule for the rest of April:
4/15 Can-Am on the Aristocrat
4/22 Stock Cars on the Royal
4/29 F-1 on the King
The MVH Retro Marathon will be held this weekend, April 10th through April 13th:
Thursday, 4/10 Track opens at 12:00 noon, IROC Retro Race on the Figure 8 at 7:00 pm
Friday, 4/11 Track opens at 9:00 am, Stock Cars on the Royal, tech opens at 5:15 pm
Saturday, 4/12 Track opens at 7:00 am, races count for NERR season points:
Coupes on the Aristocrat, handout motors, tech opens at 9:15 am
Can-Am on the Sovereign, tech opens 45 minutes after the Coupe race
Sunday, 4/13 Track opens at 7:00 am, F-1 on the King, tech opens at 9:15 am
NERR Season 12 - Race No. 9 will be the Saturday races in the MVH Retro Marathon listed above.
Podium: (L to R):
2nd Place – Dave Panich, 1st Place – Woody Hazelwood, 3rd Place – Cody Pare
Woody’s 1st Place Chassis:
Dave’s 2nd Place Chassis:
Cody’s 3rd Place Chassis:
