January 4th, 2009

Event 1 of 4 for the 2009 Spring Series

by Dave Lahey

New Year Challenge

They were saying 30% chance of rain, or was it 60% ... As it turns out, it depends when you ran over the course of the day. Some groups were damp, some drizzling or outright raining. Arizona Rain, that is; not a downpour, but consistent, and enough to dampen traction on course and make for some interesting conditions and results! There were maybe two run groups that got semi-dry, but overall, it was pretty slippery. Added to that was the gravel that built up over parts of the day, making it necessary to hug the tight line, or end up sliding away in the junk!

Last event, we had a "lollipop" turnaround feature, but THIS time, there were TWO! Out the start line and through a couple right-lefts and hard left into lollipop #1. This one was optional; enter right or left, and exit accordingly. Back out of that and into a right-hand sweeper, hard tightening right to the non-optional counter-clockwise lollipop #2. Out of that one and to the right again, and then a tight little 180 to the left and to the Finish line. Steve Eymann came up with this design, and it was REALLY FUN to drive !!! Even in the damp and gravel, it rewarded a little bravery in places, moderation and control in others, and made for a great first event to start off 2009.

Speaking of gravel, the new surface shed a lot of its sealer and topcoat as the run groups progressed. Run group D probably got the worst of it, but some volunteers swept the corners at the lunch break, and the afternoon groups got a pretty good surface to run on. So, not only was it off and on rain, but the "clag" buildup. Plenty of discussion has been going on about what to do in the future, and if sweeping is needed between run groups, then that will be done. The good news is that it will clear off as more events are run on the skidpad.

Mark Huffman picked up right where he left off in 2008, with Fastest Time of the Day at a 37.060. Next best was Tage Evanson in the BMod Dragon, close at 37.290. Steve Eymann in third, led a trio of drivers in the 39 second range with Clint Child in an '05 EVO and Fred Zust in FrankenLotus chasing the Porsche. Sixth fastest was Alan Wagstaffe in the Dragon, followed by Dave Young in his M3 and Don Sattler getting the best CSP time of the day in eighth, Greg Rubenstein ninth, and Elliot Speidell rounding out the top ten. Mark also took the PRO class win over Ted Lewis and Daisy Huffman.

Clint took the PAX honors, though and put Huffman into second in adjusted time, followed VERY closely by Gentleman Jim Rohn in the O'Neill TT, Britt Dollmeyer out thrashing the Civic, Dave Rock in an '01 Celica, Doug Rowse in the D'Elliot 325i, Steve Eymann in the Porsche, and Matt Soeffner cracking a top ten PAX score in his CS Open '99 Miata Sport.

Matt put the whoopin' on C Stock with a smokin' fast 41.025, which was half a second faster than Brad Owen and Kevin Gleaton, followed closely by Larry Burrow, and Kevin Venisnik. Jeff Hancock proved that even in the wet and clag, you can cord a set of Hoosiers with enough runs! In E Stock, Sean Morrill took the win over Tom Tkacik, and in SS, Kim Kemper is still looking for competition. The battle of the F Stock muscle went to Evan Brom in his '02 Camaro over Jim Barks' Mustang. Jeff Wright took the win in H Stock Open.

Mark Johnson barely eked out Steve Ashcraft in CSP Open, with the only two runs in the 41 second range in that class. Dave Lahey, Dawn Maxwell (pictured) and Derrick Disharoom just couldn't get close to those two, who ended up .028 seconds apart! Alan Humes '95 Firehawk won ESP, Alan Wagstaff took BMod, Mark Shaw in EMod(?) in the wife's Z4 again, and Dave Young was King of the SM crowd over Tim Bergstrom and Frank Miller, running a nice 40 second time. Jason Siebels won the SSM class (formerly called SM2) in his 2000 Corvette.

In the battle of the smack-talkin' Street Tire classes, Chris Largent took the ST honors in his '97 Imprezza over Adam Vega in his Honda Accord, Shaun Brown in a Mazda 3, and Josh Johnston in his '95 240SX. Jeff Israel drove up from Tucson to take the STX win over Rich Damp in a '96 BMW, Sergio Perez in a 2000 BMW, Ryan Bernholtz in a Civic, and George Sklyarevsky in his Rx8. Dave Branson took STS in his Miata, and Ben Clement won the STU class over Kevin Cote and Anthony Ohmer driving a MazdaSpeed 6.

Teresa Clement put the whoopin' on the other gals in the PAX Ladies class in the family EVO, making it a clean sweep for Team Clement in their respective classes. Deb Eymann was next in the family Gt3, Diane Deanovic in the "soon to be" family Lotus, Mitzi Burrow in the family 10th Anniversary Miata, and Kat Morrill in the family '97 Mazda M. There is a pattern here! Not that you have to be in a family to compete in PAXL, but ...

After thrashing Hondas and Acuras, Clint Child has jumped into Ben Clement's Evo and jumped to the top of the heap in Sportsman. Elliot Speidell was next, followed by Britt Dollmeyer, Dave Rock, and with Doug Rowse in fifth. In sixth was Steve Eymann, followed by Travis Gianelli thrashing his Jetta, Don Sattler in "the family" Miata, Fred Zust in FrankenLotus, and Tage Evanson taking the tenth spot out of 22 competitors.

Greg Rubenstein once again topped the ST1 class in his '04 Sti, Robert Smithson was second in his Evo, followed by Mike Mah, David Manley and Jay Ronquillo. In the ST2 class, Jim Rohn drove the "Evil TT" to the win over car owner Kevin O'Neill, Scott Meyers and Mike Rogers. In Ladies ST, Colleen O'Neill made it a TT sweep over Glenda Meyers and Niki Voyatzis.

Dustin Schertz took the Novice 1 class in his '05 Sti over Brian Baily and David Leff in two Lotus Elises, followed by Ali Saad in a Vette and Jason Baker in an Rx8. In NV2, Chris Steele took the win in his Mini Cooper S, followed by Michael Beiser in a Civic, Anthony Smith in his Scion Tc and Clayton Saffell in an '07 MX-5. In NV3, it was Zack Pierce in a WRX followed by Scott Matthews in an Rx8, Elliot Goltsman in a Dodge Srt-4, and Robert Giorgio in a '95 M3. The Novice Ladies class was won by Kim (Possible) Chenoweth in her Mazda 3, followed by Jana Sutton in a Mini Cooper S, Vivian Shiliro in a Lotus Elise, and Mandy Bennett in her Honda Civic.

~ * ~

It was a good day for AWD turbocharged cars, and fast drivers, and a little bit of luck with the weather and track conditions. Surely there was a shuffle of some of the "usual suspects" in the results, but "the cream will eventually rise ..." Hopefully the lot will settle back into its usual state of grip and predictability, and the weather, well, who knows these days, but it should improve over the Series as well. But 2009 got started off with a bang and a great event, and we look forward to more of the same! Seeya out there ...

Thanks to Rob Rockefeller and Dave Lahey for the photos featured here and on the Arizona Autocross Photos website.