HONDA ENGINE INSTALLATION PERFORMS WELL IN INITIAL USAC TESTS

USAC, American Honda Motor Company and its racing division Honda Performance Development (HPD) debuted a prototype installation of the 2.4 L engine this past weekend in three Honda Racing/HPD USAC Ignite Midget feature events at a pair of Michigan race tracks.

A pair of “top-five” finishes resulted as the car, driven by series regular Gage Walker, actually led several laps during one of the three features. Walker, a former Honda USAC .25 Midget Champion, was very competitive and worked closely with Spike Chassis owner John Godfrey in the events at M40 Speedway in Jones, Mich. and at Springport (Mich.) Motor Speedway.

The Honda Racing/HPD platform is a non-points entry in the 2013 series and is competing to evaluate performance and uniformity within the Focus platform.

"The results were very positive considering the engine’s first weekend at the track. The folks at Honda Performance Development and Stanton Racing have invested a lot of time and energy into this new platform and the results are starting to show," states USAC Director James Spink.

Additional on-track testing and event participation are planned in the near future and the engine is expected to be ready for sale this fall.

These tests follow another successful Honda-powered outing at Santa Maria (Calif) Speedway where Jake Swanson earned a feature victory in the Honda USAC Western Midget series.