A combination of clouds and rain for Saturday’s 30-minute races, followed by sunshine for the 21-lap contests on Sunday mixed things up at GingerMan Raceway for Rounds 7 and 8 ofthe  SCCA Northern Conference Majors Tour.

Michael Sturm’s F Production win came following a battle with the Walker family. Joe Walker’s No. 5 Walker Racing Lotus Super 7 went around Sturm’s No. 48 Sturminator Design/Hoosier Miata on lap 12 for the lead after starting near the rear of the field. Walker abandoned the lead and pulled to pit lane just three laps later with a stuck throttle. Sturm thought he was in the clear at that point, then suddenly discovered the No. 9 Walker Racing MG B driven by John Walker, Joe’s son, in his mirrors. Back in race mode, Sturm picked up his pace, and the younger Walker tried to go to the outside of a turn for a pass. Walker ran off course and ended his day three laps from the checkers, and Sturm finally had his win.

The closest battle of the fast formula car race came in Formula Mazda, where Dale VandenBush had a year’s worth of racing incidents condensed to the 30-minute race in his No. 12 Lake Effect Motorsports Formula Mazda. VandenBush had built an eight-second lead early on, but saw that evaporate when he ran off track through Turn 2, and made contact with a Formula Enterprises machine in a separate incident. With VandenBush’s radiator screen covered in grass, Jason Vinkemulder closed to his gearbox. Though Vinkemulder hounded him for several laps while VandenBush’s temperatures started to climb, he could not find a way by, and VandenBush still was able to celebrate a win.

The Spec Miata race went to a full course caution on lap six, with Voytek Burdzy’s No. 41 Advanced Autosports Mazda Miata leading Michael Novak and David Bednarz. Both Novak and Bednarz pushed hard on the first lap after the restart, with Bednarz going hard in the braking zone for Turn 1 just after the first full lap. Bednarz didn’t get by, but the three were the fastest cars on course.

Novak was the leader as the field saw the one-to-go board. As they raced through Turn 10, Novak and Burdzy touched, disrupting Novak’s rhythm as he tried to stay in the lead. The two raced down the back straight to the final corner and back to the checkered flag with Bednarz in tow and also looking for a way to the front. Following the drag race to the three-wide finish, Burdzy stayed in front by 0.098 second, with Bednarz in third and only about half a car length behind.

After winning on Saturday, Rich Walke held on to Super Touring Lite in his No. 61 Creative Technology RX-7 after a race-long run with Bruce Anderson. Anderson’s Miata chased Walke, pulling in front of Walke through Turn 10 and down the back straight. Walke caught back up down the straight, and the two went side by side through the corner and around a lapped car, with Walke holding on for the final lap to take a 1.8-second win.

After light rains on Saturday dampened the track and storms soaked the facilities overnight, the sunshine and warmer temperatures brought more speed on Sunday, with a handful of track records falling early in the day.

When Fabio Castellani pulled off course and out of the Formula Atlantic and overall lead on lap eight, it opened a door for Charles Duncan’s No. 98 Circle D Racing Swift 016/Mazda to shake free of Doug Campbell and move to the lead.

Last-lap contact on Saturday in Spec Miata caused hurt feelings, but Voytek Burdzy removed those on Sunday by driving away to a convincing win in the No. 41 Advanced Autosports Mazda Miata. Burdzy and Novak pulled away from the field together, nearly from the green flag. Novak took the lead into the last corner at the end of lap seven, with Burdzy to the inside as they raced side by side down the front straight. Burdzy reclaimed the lead through Turn 1, and the two were once again side by side down the front straight to start lap 11. Burdzy kept Novak behind, and began to pull away through traffic over the final laps, eventually winning by 12.830 seconds. Novak turned the fastest lap of the race for a new track record in 1:46.919.

The Northern Conference Majors Tour continues July 26-27 at Road America with Rounds Nine and 10.

SCCA Northern Conference Majors Tour

GingerMan Raceway, South Haven, Mich.

July 12-13, 2104

Round 7 Mazda Winners

Class	Driver	Hometown	Car
F Production	Michael Sturm	Grafton Wis.	Mazda Miata
Formula Mazda	Dale VandenBush	Green Bay Wis.	Formula Mazda
Super Touring Lite	Rich Walke	Hawthorn Woods Ill.	Mazda RX-7
Spec Miata	Voytek Burdzy	Shiller Park Ill.	Mazda Miata

Round 8 Mazda Winners

Class	Driver	Hometown	Car
Formula Atlantic	Charles Duncan	Broomfield Colo.	Swift 016/Mazda
Formula Mazda	Dale VandenBush	Green Bay Wis.	Formula Mazda
Super Touring Lite	Rich Walke	Hawthorn Woods Ill.	Mazda RX-7
Spec Miata	Voytek Burdzy	Shiller Park Ill.	Mazda Miata