November 3rd, 2007
Event 3 of 4 for the Fall 2007 Series
by Dave Lahey
Event #3 happened on November 3rd. The "Pinhead" course was longer than usual with a little loopy thing to the left off the start, then a longer potato-shaped loop to the right, done 1/2 times, then to the finish. All found this a new challenge and yet another fine design by our crew. The runs took longer, so only 3 runs each this day, but most liked the course and enjoyed their day.
One of the timing displays was moved to the grid/pit area, so people could see their times and those of others from the grid. A really nice feature that will be implemented on a regular basis. No FM transmission this day, as there was a technical problem, but will be up and running by the next event.
Top Time of Day went to Fast Freddie Zust in the Frankenlotus, who was really movin'! His 45.249 bested the field, and he was able to put the power down in quite a few places. Next up was Mark Huffman in his Elan with a 45.801, follwed by Tage Evanson in Frank Miller's EVO Rs with a 46.279. Tage took the PAX honors with that time, with Fred coming in second and Brian Peters in Jay's Subie Sti in third.
In the Open classes, Dan Hawrylkiw took SS once again with a time of 48.419, followed by Darrell Covert and Joe Moritz. There were 5 more Open classes run with Patrick Riley taking AS, Matt Soeffner in CS, Jim Barks in FS, Louis Boertje in GS and Mike Rogers taking HS. Dawn Maxwell continued her march to the Series trophy by kickin' the boys' butts again, with Mark Johnson and Kevin Gleaton giving vain chase. The boys are going to have to pull something out of their bag of tricks to do anything about Dawn's streak, but she is, after all, The Woman! Speaking of fast women, Diane Deanovic took the win in XP in the Frankenlotus and the PAXL win.
Dan Martin brought out the Spec V Sentra to take DSP, and Sean Powers took his Mr2 to the DP win. Alan Wagstaff returns sans front bodywork to take BMod. In EMod, Bill Bradley had the Stalker running quicker than the Datsun of Clifton Ragland and Kirby Goodman's V8-powered Rx7. Street Mod went to Francis Miller in the Evo Rs follwed by Tim Bergstrom, Dr. Evo, Bill Miskovic and Kris Castner giving chase. Victor Malchesky ran alone in SM2 and took that win.
In the ST classes, Manfred Reysser rose to the top in his Celica GT followed by Clinton Campbell in the Mini Cooper and Aric Trust in his 325I. Rich Damp drove another Beamer to the win in STX and Kevin Venisnik won the STS2 battle over co-driver Jim (I am too tall for this car) Rohn and Dave Branson. Britt Dollmeyer has caught on to the RWD Honda S2K and took the win in ST1 today, followed by George Sklyarevsky, Frederick Szepe and Kim Kemper who had street tires on due to a late flight and no time to change wheels the night before. It had to be a HUGE change in potential being used to R Comps and going to some Goodyear street tire! Greg Rubenstein was just behind Kim with returning S2K driver Jason Miller jumping into the fray. Looking at the results, this is such a tightly packed score in positions 6-12, it is easy to see why this is another popular class.
In ST2, Klayton Albers took the win in his BMW 330I, followed by Josh Dellinger and Todd Houser with 1 point between them, then Scott Meyers, still getting used to the Mustang and James Frink just 2 points behind. Again, this is another popular class for those who want to run a street tire and not have to change the night before or at the event to the R Comps. There were 11 in this group and again, an interesting collection of cars and classes represented. The Street-Tired Ladies' class went to Suzanne Lipke in her Mini Cooper S, followed by Glenda Meyers in the V6 Mustang and Mitzi Burrow in the family 325Is.
Mark Huffman took the PRO class, wearing his 2008 National Championship jacket today, over David Webb, and Ted Lewis. Tage Evanson was the Sportsman winner followed by Fast Fred and Brian Peters, with Steve Eymann, Elliot Speidell and Larry Petrucci tying with Jay Balducci in PAX points, with Clint Child just one point behind. SPM continues to be a mix and match jumble of cars and classes and drivers. With 21 competitors, it was also one of the largest classes for the day.
Corey Ehrler made his return today and took NV1 honors in his Camaro Z/28 over Brandon Young in an Evo Se and Jeff Dare in an '03 Boxter. They were just ahead of a tie for 4th on PAX points between Andrew Garnham (Honda S2K), Gret Shriner (Mr2) and Mike Chadwell in a 540i BMW. In NV2, Jeff Hancock rose to the top in his '99 Mazda Miata, followed by Chris Lane in a Civic Si, Michael Green in a Ford Focus and Loren McGrew in a MazdaSpeed 6. Brad Lundahl again took the win in NV3, driving his STS2 Miata, followed by Danny Green in a Subie WRX and Jason Lifgren in his Nissan Spec V. In NVLadies, Lisa Folb took the win in her Cooper S, followed by Caren Joyner in a Mini Cooper and Sharon Graves in a Lotus.
Fast Fred got faster in Time Only runs, scoring a 45.053 and 1003 PAX points. Tage couldn't back up his earlier run, but got a 999 PAX, followed by Ted Lewis' 988. There were a lot of good comments on the day, and though it was "only" 4 runs (are we spoiled?), no one went home disappointed. Yet another absolutely GREAT day, and a good time for all. The Series is still up for grabs in many classes, and our next event on December 16th will surely bring the cream to the top! See you there!
This day was perhaps accentuated by an event that cannot be passed by: Mr. Richard Rippy, King of all things V8 and CP, and Mr. Macho was actually seen driving a "girly car Miata!" Yes, it is true, and there is proof, courtesy of Larry P and his cellphone! There was even a caption contest, and those and the other comments can be seen in the Forum discussion.
{Sorry for the lack of Photos in this writeup. There didn't seem to be any available.}