Rounds 3 & 4 of the SWFM Series were held at TWS on April 2-3 at the Houston Region SCCA April Fools Day Reg/Nat. There were a total of 14 Standard Formula Mazdas racing with 13 of those being SWFM Series participants. Coming into the weekend Frank Tomlinson was the points leader with David Stover in 2nd and Michael Tari in 3rd.

On Saturday, Russell Walker qualified on the pole with David Stover and Darryl Wills in 2nd and 3rd. At the start of the race, Darryl Wills (2004 Champion) got squeezed off the track and lost the nose from his car. David Stover took the lead with Walker in 2nd. Mike Bradshaw held on to 3rd place until the last lap of the race when Ben McCrackin got around him. Stover won with Walker and McCrackin in 2nd and 3rd. Mike Bradshaw finished 4th and David Zavelson 5th. Zavelson, a newcomer to Formula Mazda, also received the Hard Charger Award on Saturday and Novice Awards for Saturday and Sunday.

Sunday’s qualifying was very close with the Top 3 being .08 seconds apart. This time it was Stover on the pole with Wills and Walker in 2^nd and 3rd . However, Stover had a leak in one of his tires and elected to replace it with a new tire. Under SCCA rules, he was required to start the race at the back of the grid (27th place overall). By the end of Lap 4, Stover had made his way up to 3rd place in the FM’s (6th overall). From lap 4 to Lap 20 Wills had a small but comfortable lead with Walker and Stover in 2nd and 3rd. It looked as if the race was going to finish in that order until a full course yellow came out along with the pace car to tighten up the field. After the restart, Wills, Walker and Stover were all running “3 wide” down the front straight with 1 lap to go. On the final lap coming up to Turn 1, Walker went low, Stover went high, and Wills got held up by a lapped car and had to take the center line. Walker came out in front. Wills and Stover still battled it out in Turn 3 going side by side. Wills went of the track briefly and Stover got by him. Walker won the race (1st Win) with Stover in 2nd and Wills in 3rd. Michael Tari finished 4th (coming into the weekend after his 1st win at MSR). JW Roberts is the current leader for Rookie of the Year.


David Stover, Russell Walker, Darryl Wills