Portland International Raceway was opened in June of 1961 and has played host to a variety of events over the years. In recent times, this has included Indy Car and a single SBMRL race back in 2017. For the 2024-25 SBMRL season, it played host to the league’s opening race of the year, and what a race it was!
Regency Motors finished 1st and 2nd the last time we raced in Portland, but Jaap Snellrijder and Sheila Dinkum are now long retired and the team would have its work cut out for them. Here’s where the drivers lined up for the start of the race:
P1 – Orzo Albies (MnS)
P2 – Felix (SM)
P3 – Max (SM)
P4 – Ramen Acuna Jr. (MnS)
P5 – Liu S. Amil X (FS)
P6 – Stoot van Vaart (RM)
P7 – Magnus Rasksen (SB)
P8 – Pieter Pieperpoes (RM)
P9 – Mai “Cashew” Maghur (FS)
P10 – Parker Lacroix (SB)
There was trouble immeidately at the start of the race due to the face that Max got off the line with such great timing he slammed right into the back of Orzo ahead of him, leaving a small bit of front wing right on the start/finish line for the rest of the field to navigate. He and teammate Felix then proceeded to lead the field through the first chicane. This went surprisingly smoothly given that it’s a common spot for cars to get bunched up. The one car that seemed to have no knack for it was Pieter Pieperpoes. He was starting to fall behind almost from the get got.
In what would be a them for the race, it wasn’t too long before someone else took the lead. That someone was Mai, who took an aggressive line through the second corner, bumping wheels with teammate Liu and, like Max before him, leaving small amounts of body work on the track. Stoot also left behind debris has he tried to go three abreast through the same corner.
The early returns from all of this was an early establishment of the Switch Motorsports drivers battling with the Fir Splays cars in wheel to wheel combat.
The second sector of the track saw Regency Motors start to make a move. Their drivers, leaning on past experience, were able to hit corners 3, 4, and 5 just right to get a jump on most of the field. The one exception, of course, was Max. Max pushed his engine to the limit, but that give him the slightest edge over his closest rivals.
Heading into the final corner on lap 1, Max held a slight lead on the entire field. Stoot and Pieter, led the trailing group, but that trailing group consisted of pretty much the entire field. Ramen and Liu were a bit behind, but the jockeying for position in the midfield was extremely intense.
Now each team had a decision to make for their cars. Should they dive for the pits for a fresh set of tires and maybe a quick repair or two? Or should they barrel down the straight in an effort to get an advantage on the rest of the field that had to stop, avoiding any congestion in pit lane?
The answers came quickly, as one after the other all of the front runners pitted. The exceptions were few, and they included Stoot, who had fallen far down the field in the final corner. The other two to pass up on pitting were Liu and Ramen, who were the final two drivers to hit the pit straight.
The gambit paid off for Stoot, who went from near the back to a first place battle with Max. It also worked remarkably well for Liu, who joined the fray to make it that much more interesting. It didn’t work out quite as well for Ramen, who simply wasn’t able to carry enough speed down the straight to keep up.
With the front three cars moving on to navigate turn 2, the rest of the field piled into the chicane hoping to stay within hailing distance should the front three falter. The one exception to this was Orzo, whose pit stop cost him dearly and he found himself adrift in last place.
Among the front three, the first to falter was Liu, who struggled with the second turn only to watch Max and Stoot pull ahead by what appeared to be a notable margin through turn 4.
The trailing pack was led at this point by Magnus and Pieter, who were now neck and neck with Liu. Their defecit wasn’t nearly as large as it seemed, and in the runup to turn 5, disaster struck for both Stoot and Max. Neither driver was able to push their car as much as needed to get through that section of track at speed. On top of that, they were heading into the back straight without any momentum. Suddenly, they found themselves swallowed up by the wave of their challengers.
Max and Stoot’s inability to exit the corner with speed saw them both passed by no less than 4 cars. Magnus led Felix, Liu, and Pieter with the former leaders just hoping to stay within reach. After all the position swaps in the race, the final corner would be where it all came to a head. Liu, Magnus, and Felix all charged into the bend in hopes of staying ahead of their rivals. Pieter, however, came in slow with the goal of letting them battle it out.
It worked. Pieter was able to find a line through the trio up front as he was able to carry the speed needed to get around all three of them.
Magnus followed up in an easy second place, but the rest would not be so straightforward. Liu was caught out in a lower gear coming out of the corner. Felix, Mai, and Max were in a similar boat. Ramen was able to take advantage of Mai and Felix to slip stream forward, but the biggest boost was for Stoot. Stoot carried such speed that he was able to get in behind Liu and get his own slip stream to cross the finish line just in front of the Fir Splays driver.
Liu finished just off the podium with Ramen taking a surprise 5th place after having fallen out of the top half of the running fairly early in the race. Felix followed with Mai and Max behind. The last two runners were Orzo and Parker, who had races they’d rather forget.
Final Results
| Driver | Start | Lap | Finish | |
| Pieter Pieperpoes (RM) | 8 | 7 | 1 | |
| Magnus Rasksen (SB) | 7 | 5 | 2 | |
| Stoot van Vaart (RM) | 6 | 1 | 3 | |
| Liu S. Amil X (FS) | 5 | 3 | 4 | |
| Ramen Acuna Jr. (MnS) | 4 | 6 | 5 | |
| Felix (SM) | 2 | 4 | 6 | |
| Mai “Cashew” Maghur (FS) | 9 | 8 | 7 | |
| Max (SM) | 3 | 2 | 8 | |
| Orzo Albies (MnS) | 1 | 10 | 9 | |
| Parker Lacroix (SB) | 10 | 9 | 10 | |
Pieter’s victory means that Regency Motors has never lost in Portland and also breaks a tie with Scandinavian Blitz for most team victories.
Magnus’s second place, however, will give the entire league notice that the boys in red are certainly going to be a team to reckon with this season. Stoot’s come from behind podium was indeed true to his name.
It’s worth noting that 8 of the 10 drivers in the race held first place at some point during the event. Parker was the only driver not to run as high as 2nd place, having run no higher than 5th throughout. There were 18 lead changes, with Max holding the lead the most but still finishing 8th. Our winner, Pieter, spent more time in last place than in 1st. Timing is everything.
At a team level, nabbing two spots on the podium puts Regency Motors as the front runners to get the year started, and they certainly have to be happy about that. Scandinavian Blitz will be hoping for a more consistent performance from both drivers. Parker Lacroix’s last place finish means that despit Magnus’ second place, the team is only one point ahead of Fir Splays. Mac ‘N Speed and Switch Motorsports may not have had the strongest showings, but they’re not that far back as it’s still only one race in the books.
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