Squeeze Thy Mid Section
A Hug for the Cones
Spring 2007, Event 3 of 4
By Jim Rohn
Firebird International Raceway – May 12, 2007
Mother's Day Eve
An absolutely BEAUTIFUL day
was in store for those that braved abuse from their significant others for sneaking
away for a Saturday play day on this special weekend :-)
The Doug Rowse
course was set up and controversial words were heard about a tight middle
section that required extreme finesse or a very skinny car. Course workers were to get a healthy workout
in the center section of the course. The
pucker factor was big if you carried the correct angle and speed while those
that attempted to square it off were bitten by the looming pylons. See for yourself in the map below:
Mr. Consistency, Dan Hawrylkiw, in his 2005 Lotus Elise posted the top SS PAX
score, an exact duplicate of his effort the previous month. Darrell Covert put
his 2003 C5 Z06 in the 2nd slot 3/10ths timewise over
Kim Kemper in his 2006 C6 Z06 Corvette. Who says horsepower matters? Steve Ryan
in his AS
91 Z07 Corvette was just 2 PAX points down from the SS crowd, but continued to
beat up on the more agile but smaller, lighter and less horsepower 2K Honda S2K
of Pat Riley.
Scott, hey there is way too
much competition in ST2, Meyers nipped Go Daddy Brad Owen in like
cars, both 99 CS Miatae (? is that how you make them
plural?) by ONE PAX point, also one PAX point down from his performance the
previous event. The "other"
Brandon Smith cruised for an unchallenged 1st in GS with his 2000 Subbie 2.5 RS.
The largest open class, CSP,
also know as Mazda Street Prepared, had the same faces beating each other up
with different results: Don Sattler avenged his no show from the event before
to take the top honors ONE WHOLE PAX point in front of Mark Johnson, call that
0.038 seconds raw time. Dawn Maxwell
firmly took 3rd with Kevin Gleaton a half a second
behind her. Mr
Lahey must have had a cone since he was 2 seconds off
the pace ... or maybe he was lusting after another Miata and was distracted.
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Photo by Dan Hawrylkiw |
DSP had Clint Child covering the field with his 2000 Acura Type R over Dan
Martin and Jeremy 10% MO Galo in their shared 2002 Sentra Spec V. Alan Wagstaffe in his 2000 Legrand Mk
25 was alone in BM. Bill Bradleyin his EM 2005
Brunton Stalker covered long time local Mod car
driver Kirby Goodman, this time driving a small block Chevy powered 90 RX7.
James Frink topped the Subbie Modified, SM class, in a 04 WRX STi
over Geren Smith in the same car (his) and Kris Castner in a slightly older 2.5 RS. Not sure if that equates to taking a spork to a gun battle or not ...
In SM2
I guess you are allowed something other than a Subaru (u r a bus if spelled
backward, thank you to jim Wit-kow-ski
for that snippet) was the lone competitor in his classic RX2 Mazda.
STS Open had FIVE different cars, with Britt Dollmeyer
and his 1990 Honda Civic Si on top over the 1990
Nissan 240SX of Travis Gianelli and the 2003 Pontiac Sunfire of Christopher Vasilakos.
STS2 is a Miata class with the "Wash Me"
Racing patinaed 93 Miata of Kevin Venisnik
getting a bye event.
PAX Ladies driver Mindi Cross was
agreeing with their new family acquisition Mini Cooper S and finished with a
good lead over Deb Eymann in the family YELLOW C6 Z06
and Kat Kemper in the family red Z06 Corvette.
PRO class
was a Lotus battle with the screaming yellow DM Elan
of past national Champ Mark Huffman finishing with the Top Time of the Day
ahead of ASP past National Trophy winner Ted Lewis and Mr. David Webb in the
new "family" Cooper S.
Top PAX of the Day was for
pylon plagued Brian Peters and his CSP Miata with a healthy lead on the rest of
the Sportsman
class: Doug Rowse BS 2004 Mazda RX-8, Elliot Speidell BS 2004 Mazda RX8 and the XP Franken Lotus of Fred
Zust.
Perennial SPM leader Dave Young was a tick back in his trusty M3.
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Photo by Dan Hawrylkiw |
Photo by Dan Hawrylkiw |
Street Tire 1 and Street
Tire 2 fared evenly this time, both top scores were 901 PAX points and the rest
of the two fields compared pretty evenly throughout their respective
fields. That said, ST1 top dog was George Sklyarevsky in his 2006 BS Mazda RX-8 reversing the
previous event results over Aytinc Akad in his AS 2005 Mitsubishi Lancer. 3rd went to Chad Mizner
driving a BS 2004 Mazda RX-8. ST2 honors
went to Todd Houser in the "new" but slightly larger 2007 Mini
S. Mike Rogers was 11 PAX points behind
in his 2003 Acura RSX another 11 PAX points in front of Matt Soeffner in his CS 1999 Miata Mx-5. Street Tire Ladies class belonged to Kendra
Albers in her DS 2006 BMW 330I.
Novice 1 was a Corvette class this weekend with Jacob Langkilde
besting Dale Langkilde in their 04 Corvette. Our 1st
Saturn Sky to compete took 3rd piloted by Frederick Szepe. Novice 2 had 7 different cars, the top 3 being:
1st Jeff Hancock in a CS 99 Miata, 2nd Max Gallivan
in a DS 91 325i BMW and 3rd Chris Blair in his 06 Infiniti G35 - quite the
diverse class. Novice 3 had Danny Green’s STX 04
Subaru WRX on top, John Gianelli 2nd in his STS 90
240 SX (say that fast 3 times in a row) and Larry Burrow 3rd in his STX 1987
BMW 325Is. Novice Ladies Mitzi Burrow in her
STX 1987 BMW 325is had a 9 point PAX lead over Carol Nordquist
in her STX 03 330 BMW and Alexis Rice was 3rd in her 05 GS Mini Cooper S.
A mid
section hug, just before Mother’s
Day, left many with thoughts of “How best to do that?” It was fun for all and everyone was packed up
and heading home way before sundown.
Full results for all classes
on May 12, 2007 can be seen here.
The Constellation Course
Plagued by Locusts?
Spring 2007, Event 4 of 4
By David Lahey
Firebird International
Raceway – May 20, 2007
Day of the Locusts
Had there been demons flying out of the sky, or hellfire and damnation raining
down, it could have been Armaggedon! For some, it was. For others, it was a chance to spread their
wings on a magnificently flowing and fast course designed by Rob Rockefeller.
Starting with a right turn, the course went into a counterclockwise loop with a
pinch on what would have been the backstretch, then out and into a smooth long
left (if you drove it that way), another pinch, and into a hairpin to the
right, and a 3 cone slalom to the end. Square off some of those corners, and
you were cursed by the demons and loosing time. But round them off and sight
ahead, and you were rewarded with high speeds and fast times. Some were calling
it a Corvette course, but the times tell the tale:
Sorted by Fast Time:
Pos Class Category Name Car
Fast
Time FT% PAX Time PT%
1 BM Open Alan Wagstaffe 2002 Legrand Mk. 25 31.440 1000 29.679
906
2 XP SPM Fred Zust 2005 Lotus Elise 31.736
991 27.737 969
3 CSP SPM Brian Peters 1993 Mazda Miata 31.821
988 26.889 1000
4 CSP Open Mark Johnson 1994 Mazda Miata 32.576
965 27.527 977
5 CSP Open David Lahey
1991 Mazda Miata 32.663
963 27.600 974
6 SS SPM Steve Eymann
2006 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 32.812
958 27.825 966
7 CSP Open Don Sattler 1991 Mazda Miata 32.813
958 27.727 970
8 SM SPM Dave Young 2002 BMW M3 33.208
947 28.426 946
9 CSP Open Steve Ashcraft 1990 Mazda Miata 33.253
945 28.099 957
10 SM2 Open Victor Malchesky
1986 Honda Crx
33.380
942 28.774 934
Sorted by PAX:
Pos Class Category Name Car
Fast Time FT% PAX
Time PT%
1 CSP SPM Brian Peters 1993 Mazda Miata 31.821 988
26.889 1000
2 CSP Open Mark Johnson 1994 Mazda Miata 32.576 965
27.527 977
3 CSP Open David Lahey 1991 Mazda Miata 32.663 963
27.600 974
4 CSP Open Don Sattler 1991 Mazda Miata 32.813 958
27.727 970
5 XP SPM Fred Zust 2005 Lotus Elise 31.736 991
27.737 969
6 SS SPM Steve Eymann 2006 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 32.812 958
27.825 966
7 BS SPM Elliot Speidell 2005 Mazda Rx-8 33.694 933
27.899 964
8 STU SPM Jay Balducci
2005 Subaru Sti 34.102 922
27.998 960
9 AS SPM Rob Rockefeller 2000 Honda S2000 33.448 940
28.029 959
10 AS Open Steve Ryan
1991 Chevrolet Corvette 33.530 938 28.098 957
Yup, DEFINITELY a Corvette course. <wink>
It was GREAT fun, and anyone having issues with this one should take up some
other sport, like croquet!
The day started with the lot completely COVERED in locusts, or grasshoppers, if
you will. I don't know where they all
came from, or where they went, but enterprising birds were rewarded with a crackling
feast later in the day. It was amazing
watching the clouds of insects flying off from any car or person that came
walking into their hordes. I heard that
they tried to sweep them away from the lot, but from what I saw, they would
have needed a vacuum cleaner the size of the Goodyear Blimp and probably that
much storage to hold them all. By
midday, they seemed to have been run off, though many carcasses remained for
the return of the aforementioned carnivorous evening visitors.
On to the event.
Though summer heat seems to be upon us a little early this year, it was
not so hot in the morning that changing tires was too brutal. An early start time helped with that, and with
Registration and Tech only being open for the morning, most people were there
early and ready to go. The Plague of the
Locusts was pretty much chased off during course walks and first run groups
took care of the rest. Turnout was
light, so only 4 run groups for official runs and then two Time Only groups,
followed by Fun Runs at the end of the day, with lots of car swapping and more
good times. Tire changes later in the
day were more on the brutal side, but proper hydration and finding a shady spot
to do this certainly helped out.
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Photo by Rob Rockefeller |
There were a
lot of close results leading into this event, and some classes were decided on
this day, others pretty much set in stone. SS, for instance, where Kim Kemper took
a 1 point lead into the event over Dan Hawrylkiw,
with Darrell Covert chasing hard. Today, Kim got one more point, which should
give him the Series win in the Open class. Steve "Flyin"
Ryan pretty much had AS sewn up and put in a tremendous time. I swear I saw 4 INCHES
of daylight under his left front tire on the loop exit on his third run. INSPIRING !!! Proof
that an "older" Corvette with a smokin' hot
driver can still git 'er done! CS had Scott Meyers showing the young'un how it's done, but Brad Owen gave Scott the chase
this day! Tom Tkacik
took ES,
and looked his usual smooth and fast self. Some other classes also had only one car, so
Joe Stubblefield took FSP in his 1985 Porsche 944, Michael Wittkopf
took XP
in his 1986 Chevrolet Corvette, Alan Wagstaffe took
Fast time and BM in his 2002 Legrand Mk. 25,
Bill Bradley took EM in the 2005 Brunton Stalker,
and Kris Castner won SM in his 2000 Subaru Impreza
2.5 Rs. Victor Malchesky
took SM2
with his 1986 Honda Crx over Brant Bauman in the
Turbo Miata, and STS2 had newcomer Matt Clower
showing Kevin Venisnik how it's done and in his own
car! Britt Dollmeyer
cleaned the STS clocks and wrapped up yet another Series win. Any more front camber and that thing will be
running on the inside rim!
Don Sattler pretty much had CSP clinched, but there was some hot and heavy competition
for the other spots. Mark Johnson took
the day with a 32.5, with that Lahey guy back in form
on his final run at 32.6 and Sattler with a 32.8. Clint Child even braved the fray in the Wagovan; silly boy. It
was nice to see 8 competitors on a fairly consistent basis during this Series
and as soon as those "other guys" (and gal!) get their cars dialed
in, there is really going to be hell to pay. Great competition,
and fun times. Oh yeah, and that Peters
guy had better look out; we are gunnin' for ya, dude!
Speaking of Sportsman, Mr. Peters swept the Series with 3 perfect PAX scores. The rest of the
troops were scrapping for the rest of the trophy spots. FrankenFred Zust is closing up in the Lotus from Hell, and with Steve Eymann, Elliot Speidell, Jay
Balducci and Rob Rockefeller all scoring in the 960s,
this is always a good class to watch. No
slacking off now, Brian, we are ALL gunnin' for ya! There were no
PRO runners today, as they and a few others were in
ST1 had Aytinc Akad in his 2005
Mitsubishi Lancer with the only score in the 900s. Jim Rohn
took yet another ST2 Series with a close win over Todd Houser and about 6 guys
near the top, but no match for the Audi TT this day.
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Photo by Rob
Rockefeller |
PAX Ladies class had Deb Eymann
taking the win, but with Diane Deanovic still
learning the FrankenLotus and inching closer. Newly graduated Doctor Theresa Clement is
getting the hang of the 2005 Mitsubishi Evo and
moving up and if Kat Morrill had a "REAL" CSP car to play with, they
would all pretty much be tooth and nail in this class.
NV1 had
Frederick Szepe in his gorgeous AS 2007 Saturn Sky Redline taking the win, with
Andrew Macdonald's 2005 Honda S2000 and Chris Nuszloch
in his 1999 Porsche Boxster giving chase. NV2 had John Holbrook smokin'
the field in his 2007 Mini Cooper S and Larry Burrow taking NV3 in his 1987 BMW 325Is. NV
Ladies had his able
spouse taking the Bimmer to the win with Alexis Rice
taking second in her Mini.
So, it was a great day, great course, and good times had by all. The Invasion of the Killer Locusts (okay,
grasshoppers!) subsided and other doomsday plagues were avoided. It seems that Armageddon will have to wait for
another time and place, if that even has a chance to happen. One sad note came from the CP Camaro as it made a BIG POP and had to be pushed onto the
trailer with a broken transmission. Yes,
the devilish beast even folded to what was yet another fine AZ Solo event...
(Sorry, Rip!)
Full
results for all classes on May 20, 2007 can be seen here.
So
the 2007 Spring series ended with some dead
grasshoppers, some tight class wins and certainly a season full of memories and
planning for the events ahead. Full 2007 Spring Series results for all
classes can be seen here.
Everyone
can bench race and postulate the series at the Spring Awards Banquet which will
be held on June 30. Details are in the
discussion forums linked here.
The
Summer Series starts June 10th.
With early starting times, the heat can be beat. See you there.