Summit Point, WV: Series leading competitors Randy Webb and Steve Diniz dueled one another to the checkered flag in both rounds five and six of the North American MINI Cooper Championship held at Summit Point Raceway on June 29. To the delight of the fans and MINI enthusiasts assembled, the outcome of both races was contested throughout. Randy Webb driving his Webb Motorsports sponsored MINI Cooper “S” (unlimited class) would win the first race, while Steve Diniz in the MINI Madness sponsored MINI Cooper “S” (unlimited class) was the outright winner of race two.
“Super races,” commented Phil Wicks, series organizer. “The best races of our young series so far, I’m very pleased with the competitiveness and the tremendous enthusiasm shown among the competitors as well as the MINI fans that watched. With more entries in the pipeline, I’m excited about our future events. This is going to be one terrific racing series!” Three other MINI racers were entered in the event, but DNS due to mechanical problems. These included Will Haney in Group 5 and two classic MINIs of Robert Gomes and Ralph Cestero. Also scheduled to race were Grand-Am’s Tony Nuzzo and SCCA National Champion Pete Taylor but neither was able to make the event.
In race one, Steve Diniz set the pace by claiming pole position with Randy Webb a close second. At the start, Webb moved into first and was able to hold off a hard-charging Diniz to claim the victory. Rounding out the field was Brian Black and Matt Jenson both in Group 4 MINIs, Waylen Hunsucker in a Group 3 MINI came in 5th while Larry Holloway in a classic Mini finished in 6th place.
Race two saw Webb on pole position and Diniz in second, but Diniz was able to take the lead on the first lap. Mid-way through the race, Diniz went off course with a failing ABS brake system losing the lead and falling several places before recovering some speed with his ill-handling car. In the final laps, both Webb and Black ran out of gas, handing over the surprising victory to Diniz. The final order of finish was Diniz, rookie driver Jenson in 2nd, followed by Holloway, Hunsucker and DNFs recorded for Webb and Black.
The exciting races were captured on video by the cameras of the MavTV network, which launched its coverage of the series with the Summit Point event. “I’m excited to see MavTV at our races,” said Wicks. “They did a fantastic job in both covering the races as well as capturing the enthusiasm and passion our racers have for the MINI.” Broadcast times will be announced at a later date. MavTV will cover and broadcast all the events of the 2007 North American MINI Cooper Championship.
The North American MINI Cooper Championship now takes a breather with the final east coast event scheduled for September 23-24 at Carolina Motorsports Park before ending the season on the west coast at Buttonwillow Raceway on October 30.

 

Thank you for the update. M7 is doing its part to contribute to make for a competitive field, and we are glad to see this series is taking root!

For the record, the reference to sponsorship in this release failed to recognize that drivers Waylen Hunsucker and Matt Jenson are proudly sponsored by M7.

As a matter of note, I approached the poster on this matter, and was informed that he is not at liberty to alter this communication, unfortunately.

M7 wishes this series success, and hopes that it will continue to evolve into something for which we all can be proud.

Peter Horvath
M7 Tuning

 

will this series ever come to road Atlanta?

 

Wow .........
Only six cars out there and you can't even give any personal Kudos to all that helped make it happen?
Maybe Wicks needs a new PR firm, because to beg for entrants and sponsor help and not to even mention one who actually sponsored not one, but two cars is a pretty big mistake. And for a regional director to just tell that sponsor to go take it up with Phil is, ... well, .... a shame.

Maybe M7 is not the kind of sponsor that Wicks is looking for Peter.

 

Congratulations on a successfual and exciting race ....

I hope to make one of the events this year, to compete as well

Keep up the efforts and improvements, it is a given that it is a work in progress

 

Ok, ok, after the Road Atlanta question.......are you coming to Miller Motorsports Park too here in Salt Lake??

 

I'll make the trip out for that one!

I heard that new track is the dogs *****!

 

[quote=onasled...Maybe M7 is not the kind of sponsor that Wicks is looking for Peter. [/quote]

Greg, apparently not... As Peter shared above, he approached the poster privately to address this topic, and was told that he couldn't make any changes to the release, and that Peter should go through PW.

If one starts a thread, it just seems odd to not respond to questions within it, or otherwise. To then defer and/or refer matters to another person or agency sort of defeats the purpose of a forum. If this not to be a topic for discussion, then maybe Vendor Announcements would be more appropriate?

Without a definitive voice here to respond to this and other PW concerns, one is left to relay messages had via other means; as has been recommended/encouraged, unfortunately. And sadly enough, after Peter posted above, he received a PM from the poster, the PW Director for the Western Region, that was less than flattering. Actually it was rude, and totally uncalled for as there was nothing inflammatory in Peter's post above.

A third of the field, 2 cars, were sponsored by M7. Not acknowledging this is really sad, and unfair. It could have been a simple mistake, and easily corrected though. What is not a simple mistake is being rude about it, again - as we saw in the Gateway or "safety" thread.

I can't imagine two more important entities to the success of this, or any new series: the racers and sponsors. Nice job at stakeholder mgt!

 

Could it not be changed because it was written by someone else? If someone else wrote the press release, then Jerry would not have the authority to change it, just post it.

On another note, I am excited to hear that Matt Jenson is joining in the fun. Talking with him at the breaks while caravaning to AMVIV he is a great guy and knows his driving. I'm sure Matt will bring some fun competition to the field. Congratulations Matt.

 

It looks to me like that would be the case also. I noticed the original release posted earlier in a vendor thread here:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=72607

Brian Mackey's contact info is posted there also.

 

Sounds like Jerry got a spanking from Phil Wicks.
I'll chalk that one up for Phil if that's the case as Jerry was doing a fine job of destroying the Wicks reputation via his insulting post here, and seem to continue to do so in PMs to some individuals.

 

That is something that makes sense, but that aspect is not being contested. We understand why there's a leash on this guy now! Referring to those concerned about lax safety requirements as whiners and references to **** Germany are why.... and were grossly uncalled for.

This need to insult apparently still exists, and has now been funneled into private communications (PMs); again, equally uncalled for as post #2 from M7 is not deserving of such a two-word explicative (most are not nice).

This conduct is not fitting of any professional organization, especially one struggling for sponsors and racers.

 

Sorry, I must have misconstrued your previous post. As I have not sent nor received PMs, I thought the problem was the lack of posting sponsorship support regarding M7. I was hoping this was beyond the posters control, thankfully rectified by Peter and we could all congratulate the participants.

I honestly hate to see another thread returning to the same arguments and would rather congratulate the new drivers added to the last race and toast the sponsors for their support.

 

AMEN!!!
Jim

 

No need to apologize. Not being vendor or one who sponsors participants in a race series, the press release is not something that I take issue with by any means. I had no reason to chime-in...

However, after having chatted with Peter today, he was shocked and offended at the response he got. He stayed out of that mess of a thread, much to his credit, and ideally, I too do not want to see this one go that way.

Name-calling and talking in a condescending manner is no way address people, especially when wanting, expecting, or hoping to have a mature, civil conversation. Until that instigation stops, I don't forsee others feeling and acting any differently. PW, or those representing, do not post here much, but with what little we've received, those words have been provocative and disrespectful.

In another thread that also went awry, the well-respected Skiploder just shared this, and I totally agree:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...&postcount=125

In the interim though, assuming this does happen, how we conduct ourselves, as I just shared, needs to be in way fitting of adults.

 

Thanks so much hollis3. I could only keep the bug away for so long, and then when Peter from M7 and Way from Way Motor Works came to me with all of their support, I just couldn't pass it up. For the record, Way and I (mostly Way) built the car in 5 days with Peter doing everything and them some to get us parts (overnighting all kinds of goodies) faster then we could put them on. In fact, we ran out of time and weren't able to put everything together before the race. Needly to say the car was a little under-prepared. We hope to continue to tweak and get the car to it's full potential.

About the press release subject, M7 is not an official NAMCC sponsor (as far as I know), but does graciously support 2 series cars including the current points leader Waylen. I understand Phil not mentioning M7 although I certainly wish he would have. If you notice, he doesn't even say that Brian was a Webb Motor Sports cars, only mentioned the title sponsor for the 2 Group 5 "Unlimited" cars. I wish he would give more equal billing to all participants, but at the same time people seam to be much more interested in the group 5 cars for various reasons. Whatever it may be, I am very grateful Phil has started up the series, and think he is doing a fantastic job. Phil will never be able to make everyone happy, but I know with all of my contact with him as a racer and an instructor for his driving academy that he is doing his absolute best.

Cheers and hope everyone can make the next race!

 

That's a refreshing post. Thanks for that, Matt. All us vols are trying hard to make this series something to be proud of. And FYI, it's Brian Mackey, Phil's media rep, who penned this Press Release.

 

Thanks, now I know who to go to to get my name spelled correctly . (Jensen)

 

Good thing mine is a color....

-Brian