HondafestNW 2018: The 5th Anniversary
Words: Vinnie Nguyen Images: Sergio Mendoza
With 2018 marking its 5th anniversary, this year’s HondafestNW was definitely a wet one. Hoping to continue our streak of having consecutive years of sunny HondafestNWs, we were actively monitoring the weather reports days leading up to the event. Of course, with Washington’s weather, our streak came to an end and the weather forecast was predicting no less than an 80% chance of rain. HondafestNW has shown to always be a great show, so we were not going to cancel or move the event despite the weather conditions. Like with all of our events, rain or shine, the show still goes on.
We arrived to a rain soaked track to set up for the event and as soon as 7am came rolling around, a steady line of show cars started making their way down the show car lane. We were soon checking in car show and pre-sale VIP registrants. To our surprise the staff handling the traffic lanes informed us that the lanes were starting to get backed up. Though traffic wasn’t like past years, there was still a wait to get in. To be honest, we were thoroughly surprised by this. We knew that the bad weather would detract a lot of you from attending the event, but like our team, a lot of you decided to brave the weather as well. It really shows the dedication that you all have for not only supporting us, but supporting the growth of our community and this event.
By the time our staff had finished parking vendors and show cars, the rain was coming down pretty steadily. It was around 10:30am and we had checked in with our vendors and our judges were going to meet to sort through the shows and no shows. With the rain completely coming down on the event, Pacific Raceways shut down the drag strip and allowed lead/follow to run the whole day. Quite a few of you took advantage of this and tested your skills around the track in the wet conditions. Our friends from SpeedFactory Racing came out and brought their Competition Clutch Honda Civic, but with drag racing shutting down, they instead had a chance to meet and talk with a lot of their fans.
As the day went on, the rain and wind seemed to have picked up a lot. Though it wasn’t like Forum Fest 2012 monsoon rain, but there was enough rain for everyone to retreat under their pop-up tents and into their cars. There were a few gusts of wind that caused everyone to hold onto their tents for dear life (including us). With the weather getting more temperamental, our judges stayed dedicated and continued with the judging, although we knew that we would have to expedite the judging process a bit because like you, we all did not want to continue being out in the rain much longer. All of our staff members pitched in to help the judges to locate the remaining cars that needed judging. It was around 2pm when our judges finished and to everyone’s relief, we were going to do our awards ceremony at 3pm, much sooner than scheduled. As luck would have it, as the event was wrapping up, the weather conditions got a little better.
All of those who received awards were well deserved. And if we could, we would have wanted to give awards to not only our car show registrants, but to our vendors, to our staff, and to all of you who attended the event. The event could have gone better, but you all stuck through it and still had a great time. Our staff had a great time as well. Again, we want to thank all of those who braved the weather with us and we are continually humbled by the support that you give to NWMotiv and its events. We have been quiet for the past couple years, but keep your eyes peeled. We’re only just getting started.
Complete Winners List
Best of Show Edenilson Escobar
Judges Choice JR Snow
Pacific Raceways Favorite Edenilson Escobar
Best Vendor Car JDM Status Civic
Best Acura Integra (93 and older) Brian Miller
Runner Up Acura Integra (93 and older) Stephany Mayer
Best Acura Integra (94 -01) Doug Rody
2nd Place Acura Integra (94 -01) Ryan Olivarez
3rd Place Acura Integra (94 -01) Richard Tam
Best Acura NSX Brian Miller
Best Acura RSX Noah Bush
Runner Up Acura RSX Douglas Foster
Best Acura TSX Tyler Macomber
Runner Up Acura TSX Ajay Berry
Best Honda Accord (02 and older) Roy Thomson
Runner Up Honda Accord (02 and older) Matt McPherson
Best Honda Accord (03 and newer) Jerrywin Casipi
Runner Up Honda Accord (03 and newer) Brenna Gammell
Best Honda Civic (16 and newer) Tia Yang
Runner Up Honda Civic (16 and newer) Keoki Nisley
Best Honda Civic (12 – 15) Mikey Reed
Best Honda Civic (01 – 11) Neil Robianes
Runner Up Honda Civic (01 – 11) Jose Hernandez
Best Honda Civic (96 – 00) Dung Nguyen
2nd Place Honda Civic (96 – 00) Owen Felty
3rd Place Honda Civic (96 – 00) Isaac LaFountaine
Best Honda Civic (92 – 95) Travis Gottwig
2nd Place Honda Civic (92 – 95) Rob Smith Jr
3rd Place Honda Civic (92 – 95) Thomas Burns
Best Honda Civic (91 and older) JR Snow
Runner Up Honda Civic (91 and older) Cristopher Beritich
Best Honda CRX / Del Sol Duc Le
Best Honda Prelude Megan Collins
Best Honda S2000 Victor Nguyen
Runner Up Honda S2000 Randy Olivarez
Best Honda/Acura Other Austin Hironaka
Runner Up Honda/Acura Other Cesar Rodriguez
Best Bike Elree Guerrero
