SOVREN Defrost Kickoff – Report and Photo Gallery

Report and photos by Marshall Autry

Vintage racing in the Pacific Northwest kicked off the season with the Society of Vintage Racing Enthusiast (SOVREN) Defrost, a three-day event held April 9-11, 2010 at 2.25 mile natural terrain Pacific Raceway in Kent, Washington.

Defrost Kickoff is a great opportunity to shake down a new or rebuilt car or to allow drivers a chance to knock off the rust. It is also a good opportunity for this year’s novice drivers to learn racing rules, track etiquette and the nuances of Pacific Raceway. Novices also spend time working the corner stations along with the regular track crew.

The Defrost race weekend doesn’t have the larger car counts of the bigger events later in the year, so some of the normal run groups are combined – Formula V’s with the sports racers (Group 1), the faster of the under 2 liter sports cars and B-sedans with the big bore cars in Group 3, Formula 2’s and B’s with the Formula Fords (Group 4). This year, the weather cooperated with sunny skies and a dry track – no worries about wet setups this year.

For this weekend, the Novices ran as their own race group with quite a diverse field. One end of the performance spectrum was the 1973 Brabham BT40 Formula Atlantic of Kevin Roggenbuck, while the chain driven and 750cc Mercury outboard motor-powered 1961 Odenborg/Hamilton H-Mod sports racer of Don Boyd – chain driven and powered by a 750cc Mercury outboard motor – represented the other end. Don ran well until a broken half-shaft put his tiny Odenborg/Hamilton on the trailer.

Group Two – the E,F, and G Production cars were the largest group, and put on the tightest racing, especially in Pacific Raceway’s tight downhill turn 3B. Jeff Rogers 1962 Porsche 356 (silver #157) was the fastest all weekend, with the rare 1969 Piper GTT of Kirby Drawbaugh (yellow # 777) – thought to be the only one in here in the States, giving chase.

Big Bore was dominated by the A Production Corvette of Dave Edelstein (blue # 69), while the BMW 2002s that normally run in Group 2 put on a tight battle of their own. Fastest car of the weekend was an open wheeler – the BMW powered ex-Brian Redman 1975 Chevron B29 (white # 39) driven by Miles Jackson.

Next up for SOVREN is the Spring Sprints, held the weekend of May 15-16. The highlight of that event is the Under 2-liter Touring Car Challenge for the B-Sedans and FIA Group 2 cars.

For more information, visit www.sovren.org.

2010 SOVREN Defrost Kickoff Photo Gallery (click image for larger photo)

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[Source: Marshall Autry]