July 30th (Alton, VA)

In a repeat of Hyperfest, team members Jon Kofod and Andrew Zimmerman, of the Flatoutracing.net/iCarp team swept the first two finishing spots in the Summer Slam feature race of the 7th and 8th rounds of the East Coast Honda Challenge Series this past Saturday at Virginia International Raceway.

Kofod started on pole, his third consecutive pole position, with a 1:48.66. Zimmerman started second followed by Jerry Birchmore in the #52 CRX. Both Kofod and Zimmerman got good standing starts and had moved up through the field when a double yellow kept the field in check for four laps. On lap six the green flag was dropped and Kofod immediately started opening up a gap between himself and the rest of the H4 field. At the same time Kofod and Stephen Harper in the # 88 Nissan SE-R Cup did battle for several laps before Harper experienced engine problems.

On lap eight Kofod broke the existing H4 track record with a 1:47.92. Kofod's teammate Ian Carpenter, also of Flatoutracing.net/Team iCarp, held the previous record set in 2004. On lap nine Kofod got slowed up by traffic and a tow vehicle in turn five. This allowed Zimmerman to get a run on Kofod and pressure Kofod into going wide in the last turn. Zimmerman briefly took the lead when Kofod took two wheels off into the grass but was able to recover. Kofod got by Zimmerman in turn one and the two continued their battle for a few more laps before Kofod was able to pull a gap and secure the win.

In Sunday's race, disaster struck several Honda Challenge racers including Zimmerman. Some of the racers chose to stick with rain tires from the preceding practice. However minutes before the group went out to qualify the track started to form a dry line. Kofod was on slick tires but Zimmerman had rain tires on. Kofod again secured pole position with a 1:48.61. Karl Kondor in his H4 Accord took second. Zimmerman had to start at the back of the grid because of his tire choice.

Kofod got a good start on the opening lap to build a few car lengths on Kondor before spinning in turn five. Kondor got by but Kofod gathered the car back up and caught Kondor on the front straight making a clean pass in turn one. From then on Kofod set fast lap after fast lap, lowering his H4 record from the previous day by nearly a half second (1:47.6). Kofod cruised home for the win, while Zimmerman battled from the end of the pack to come up just short on Kondor who took second place.

"It's no surprise that Hankook has owned the lap record at VIR. The tires were simply awesome today and I felt that there was still more time to be had out there but I didn't want to throw away a win" noted Kofod.

The Flatoutracing.net/iCarp team now heads into the second half of the East Coast Honda Challenge season in first place with Kofod and Zimmermann leading the way. Through the first half of the season Kofod and Zimmermann have 5 wins, 4 poles, and 4 fastest laps between them. The team wishes to once again thank its two main sponsors, Guident Technologies and Hankook Tires for the ongoing support this season.

Next up will be rounds 9 and 10 at Beaverun Motorsports Complex in September.