HKS Drag Series 2007 Championship Review

The HKS Drag Series Championship positions have now been confirmed, and in each class there have been hard fought battles that went down to the final round. The winning car of each class perfectly demonstrated the attributes required to succeed: speed, consistency, reliability and great driving skills. Congratulations to each of the winners.

The presentations of the trophies for HKS Drag Series 2007 were made at the prestigious Autosport Show at the Birmingham NEC on January 12th 2008. The Autosport Show provided an excellent stage to promote the race series to the wider motorsport world, and the race cars from the series in the Pistonheads hall attracted a fascinated crowd all weekend.

Front Wheel Drive Class

Scott Whitelaw topped the class with a huge 1,055 points in his CPL Racing Honda Civic Type R, the only driver in the series to amass four-figure points. The Scotsman took two wins and a runner up place despite being third fastest in the series until the final round, where major mods to the car allowed him to rip up the track to a new class record.

Paul Jones took second place with the TDi North Honda Civic, with one win and two storming performances cut short by breakdowns. Paul’s terminal speeds have been amazing throughout the year, and he has always been toward the top of the qualifying table, allowing him to clock up 615 points.

Westleigh King and Guy Chamberlain were equal third place in the championship both with 420 points. Westleigh was reliably in the middle of the pack for every race and Guy was often fastest, but always marred by sudden retirements.

Street Class

Irishman Jonny McKeon scored 990 points for the season in the GT Culture Nissan Skyline R32, scoring a win in round one, decent points at Rotorstock, and a runner up place at the JapShow Finale. He was always there running the numbers reliably and had incredible pace off the line.

Adrian Smith scored 765 points to take the runner up spot in the Fensport Celica. This beautiful car was able to reliably run in the tens at every round with only a slight mishap putting him out of round one. But a win at Rotorstock and good progress at the JapShow Finale saw him scoring points all over.

Mick Begley came from nowhere in the Perfect Touch Nissan Skyline R32 to win at the JapShow Finale, resulting in him scoring 520 points. Mick had a stalling start at Rotorstock, scoring minimum points for entry alone, but his car came good for the Finale running 10.2 over and over again.

Pro Class

Steve Whittaker topped the Pro class in the XS Power Toyota Supra with a total of 730 points. His car got quicker and quicker from the day he first tested it at the JapShow in June, and by the Finale he was going as fast as 8.013 seconds and 173mph. The car was not at its best by the end of the day, but he still put in a strong performance for the final race of the final round.

Leon Green took the second spot in the championship after an early exit at Rotorstock despite running some amazing numbers in the JPS Motorsport Toyota Supra. Leon made up a huge amount of ground in the championship by winning the Finale and proving that his recipe of stock body and big power motor can run reliable and competitive 8’s.

Steve Guirey took third place in the championships after scoring big points for two runners up places in both the first round and at Rotorstock. But Steve got left behind in the Finale by failing to fix his SMG Tuning Subaru in time to race, and was leapfrogged by both Steve Whittaker and Leon Green, staying on 480 points.

The season standings table is on the 2007 Season Standings page.