F-1 on the Royal – Cinco de Mayo, 2026
Ten racers headed to the American Royal to run F-1 in this week’s edition of the MVH Tuesday Night Retro series. Racing was on the middle six lanes with four marshals over ten heats.
Ten F-1 Cars in Tech:
Ray Lee started in the white lane and was clearly the fastest car on the track, but it was one and out for him while the field sorted itself out in subsequent heats. However, when he came back in, he proceeded to set the fastest lap on each lane on his way to victory with a 277/10 lap total. Three laps back, Dave Panich placed second while Bob “Woody” Hazelwood took the bottom podium step with a 267-lap total.
Rob Hayes was the best-of-the-rest, finishing in fourth place while Joe Yates claimed fifth. The spread between the third and seventh finishing positions was either eight or five laps, so there wasn’t a ton of close racing. John Mills had a relatively good night to take sixth while Richard Payne finished in seventh, followed by Peter Lentros, Steven Sacchetti and Rolly Lapierre, Jr.
Ray posted the fastest lap of the night with a 3.551 on yellow, where seven of the ten drivers posted their fastest laps. Dave had the second fastest lap of the night, but it was still over a tenth slower than Ray.
Finishing order, laps completed, best-lap time and best-lap lane
1) Ray Lee 277/10 3.551 YL
2) Dave Panich 274/11 3.678 YL
3) Woody Hazelwood 267/4 3.718 BL
4) Rob Hayes 259/10 3.818 GN
5) Joe Yates 251/15 3.960 YL
6) John Mills 246/8 4.032 YL
7) Richard Payne 238/9 4.161 YL
8) Peter Lentros 234/18 4.024 YL
9) Steven Sacchetti 217/10 4.104 YL
10) Rolly Lapierre Jr. 210/4 4.436 YL
UPCOMING EVENTS:
MVH Tuesday Night Retro Schedule for May:
May 12 Can-Am on the King
May 19 Coupes on the Aristocrat
May 26 Coupes on the Figure 8
NERR Awards Baquet and Non-Points Race:
NERR will gather at 1010 Raceway in Bristol, CT, on Saturday, May 16, to celebrate our 13th Season and crown season champions in all classes, plus our overall champions in the NERR and Sportsman categories. Included on the schedule is a non-points GT Coupe race (with some special prizes for participants!) followed by our Annual Awards Banquet. All NERR racers are invited to participate. Further details will be forthcoming.
Podium: (L to R):
2nd Place – Dave Panich, 1st Place – Ray Lee, 3rd Place – Woody Hazelwood
Ray’s 1st Place Chassis:
Dave’s 2nd Place Chassis:
Woody’s 3rd Place Chassis:
