2006 Speedweeks Special

Over 40 racers from across the United States, Canada, and even Alaska came to Orlando Speedworld for our Speedweeks Special event.  It is always great to head to Florida in February with fresh paint jobs and big dreams for the upcoming season.  In the end, some racers headed home with lots of points and fresh racecars, while others took home bent sheet metal and a new resolve to come back stronger than ever in the regular season.

In qualifying on Thursday, the fast times and extra championship points were earned by the following racers:
Future Stars - Dylan Presnell 18.281 seconds
Open Division - Stephen Hershey 17.160 seconds
Junior PRO - J.D. Williams 18.9 seconds
PRO Division - Mark Rouse 15.082 seconds

Later, in the qualifying races, the winners were:
Future Stars - Logan Ruffin
Open Division Stephen Hershey
Junior PRO - Jacob France
PRO Division Race 1 - Nick Proffitt
PRO Division Race 2 - John Klayum

On Friday night, the first Touring Series race got underway with a record car count for our Speedweeks Special event.  In the Future Stars Division, it was Dylan Presnell who picked up the win - his second Speedweeks Special win in his career.  In the Open Division, Stephen Hershey picked up his first ever MMRA Touring Series event win with a strong performance.  The Junior PRO Division win was picked up by Jacob France, who is now tied in points with J.D. Williams who earned the pole position bonus point on Thursday.  Finally, in the PRO Division, it was Mark Rouse who came out on top, fielding a sharp looking new body on his super fast Baby Grand.  For the full finishing orders, click here.

As we have seen over the years, Florida in February can mean rain at any time and despite a good forecast early in the week, by Saturday the rains moved in and washed out our second Touring Series event.  The standard rain policy outlined in the MMRA rulebook was employed, awarding first place points to all racers entered in the event.  As such, the points standings show everyone with two races, and 41 points for everyone in the second race.

Among the good news from the event, DBV Properties stepped up to support the Future Stars division, ensuring the top 5 finishers at all Touring Series events will receive custom designed awards.  Also, thanks to DBV Properties, the 2006 Rookie of the Year in the Future Stars Division will receive a custom leather jacket, and the winner of the Sunday, July 1 Future Stars Touring Series race at Music City Motorplex will receive a custom designed Barry Clapp guitar.  MMRA and our Future Stars appreciate this generous support and all the awards it provides for.

On the long ride home, several ideas were discussed for how to make Speedweeks 2007 even better, and MMRA will be working to implement these ideas in the next few months. 

The next MMRA Touring Series event is the first leg of the Tripleheader over the July 4th weekend.  This should be the biggest event of the year and there are several exciting announcements that will be made about this big weekend.  Be sure to check back on this website regularly to see all the latest news.