Auto racing enthusiast Bill Okell is back at it for the 2015 Sports Car Club of America’s Western Championship season beginning with a pair of third place finishes on April 11 and 12 at Thunder HIll Raceway Park in Sacramento, Calif.
It was the first race weekend for the Saanich West resident since he finished 10th overall at the Sports Car Club’s national championship in October.
The next stop in the series Western Championship series is Button Willow in Sacramento, May 1 and 2. Okell will race as many of the 12 Western Championship races as he can to qualify fifth or better, for a berth in the 2015 National Championships, which are at Daytona in late September.
In recent years Okell has moved away from the B.C. sports car series based in Mission for the bigger and better races of the Nasport Lite, which he’ll return to later this season with his race ready 1964 MGB. He’s now in his second campaign in the U.S. based Sports Car Club Western Championship, in which he drives a an MG Midget from prepared by San Francisco’s Huffaker Engineering. Okell and Joe Huffaker, the owner and teammate, have partnered on upgrades for the MG since he first drove it last year. Huffaker also drives an MG Midget, and finished first and second at Thunder Hill.
reporter@saanichnews.com