2 weeks ago, our sponsored Pro-Am/XDC competitor Geoff Stoneback headed out with his S14 to Hyperfest at Summit Point Motorsports Park in WV.
Prior to this event, Geoff was able to get his S14 tuned to crank out 430whp/420tq (~15% up from the last outing). So, there was no shortage of power for Hyperfest!
Knowing that the race course was somewhat difficult for himself, Geoff took a paid practice run to get a better feel for the course and make the necessary adjustments to both the car and mental prep. This helped Geoff tremendously, as figuring out key pieces of track for shifting and accelerating gave him one of the fastest entry-speeds (80mph). His ability to adapt to the track layout relatively quick was about to pay off!
But, racing isn’t with its occasional hiccups here and there. For Geoff, it happened to be a vehicle stall on his return to the pits. A quick diagnosis showed a damage o2 sensor wire as cause for the stalling. An easy enough fix for Geoff and his team, but a little bit of a setback in getting out for qualifying early.
Geoff reported that his qualifying run was set to be even faster than his practice run, but on approach to his clipping point, a catastrophic differential failure brought his S14 to a halt.
Back in the pits, the crew got right to work, and with only a welded diff available, got the car back out to get Geoff’s run in. It netted him 5th place qualifier.
By now, two setbacks can be enough of a distraction to anyone, especially the driver, but Geoff shook it off and went right to work, quickly advancing the Top 16, then Top 8, getting himself into the Top 4. Geoff was really turning his luck around!
In the Top 4, Geoff’s opponent, and a good friend of his, James Evans had his own set of problems- a lower control arm replacement left the car with a slightly off-set alignment, but enough to get him back on the track to compete with Geoff. It happened to be enough for James to get the nod over Geoff. But Geoff still had a chance at 3rd place.
Another close friend/drift mentor of Geoff, Matt Waldin, was up next. With more power (almost 40% more) than his S14, Geoff had his work cut out for him. Matt kept close on the first run with Geoff leading, and on the second run, Geoff spun on the last turn, handing the win to Matt.
What sounds like a series of unfortunate events turned out to be an exciting one for spectators. Also, all the hard work and efforts by Geoff and his team have kept them 2nd in points (just 3 points behind the leader James Evans).
We know that Geoff will be prepared for the next event and ready to take some more podium finishes. Great work, you guys!
Bravo Whiskey has a great video recap of this event at the link below