September 13th, 2009
Event 1 of 4 for the 2009 Fall Series
by Dave Lahey
We're baaaaaaack !!!
Though your intrepid reporter was unable to attend this event, he was at the May event on the West Track at FIR, and thus familiar with the course. What a GREAT time people had in May, and no doubt this one was just as good! Similar weather, fabulous long 70 second course, and the usual comradery among like-minded enthusiasts; it's a no-brainer!
Those that missed out on the events up in Taylor and elsewhere this summer had to shake the dust off their driving shoes and bring to bear the full wealth of their expertise on this fast and flowing course. Grid was on the long straightaway, and any other straightaways on the track, where autocross-legal speeds might have been exceeded, were pinched down with slaloms, walloms and offsets that really kept people on their toes! A few have commented that 4 months without any practice really showed up in their driving, while others carried on just where they left off, or put to use their years of experience and recent good works at other venues. And while many were still on the road back from the Solo Nationals in Cornhusker country, 97 stalwart entrants enjoyed this great event, co-chaired by Kevin Venisnik and Jay Balducci. Well done, lads! So, rather than bore you with a description, let's just show the fastest run of the day, or at least one of them, from Dan Hawrylkiw's wild and crazy FM car. This is almost a ground's eye view of the course!
The sound is pretty nasty, so careful with the speakers, but here ya go: FMod View.
OR, if you prefer the view from a C Stock Miata, Matt Soeffner posted the worn out V710 CS video.
The AZ Solo group has decided to change over to a PAX-in-Class scoring system, which rewards margin of victory in class, and no longer rates everyone based on the fastest car and driver on the day. While many applaud this change, some are pining for the old ways already. However, for those folks, the results can still be sorted by Fast Time and Overall PAX, so that system is not lost and gone forever, but simply not the way that the classes will be scored for this series. The indexed classes, such as Sportsman and the ST and Novice classes, are still scored using comparative PAX, though they will also use PAX-in-class to score points within their respective classes. And now, on to the results!
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Fastest Man of the Day was Dan H in his FMod car with a 60.972 second run. Next best was Clint Child in the Clement EVO at 65.916, followed by Steve Eymann in his Porsche Gt3 at 66.319, followed closely by Brian Peters in Jay's STR MX-5 with a 66.981, and then Ben Clement at 67.639. Larry Petrucci returns from his CP adventure in Lincoln, NE to return to Street Mod class in his '95 Firebird, posting a 67/657, vollowed by Dave Young in his SM M3 at 68.946, and Kevin Venisnik in his newly acquired ex-Peters, ex-Steele CSP Miata in his first venture at 68.990. Rounding out the top ten were Kim Kemper in an '06 Corvette, in SS trim, and Kevin "Supercharged" Gleaton in his '99 Miata with a 69.497. Honorable Mention goes out to Kevin O'Neill in his DS Audi Effin' TT at 69.915, and Brad Owen in the Gleaton SSM car with the only other sub-70 second run (but just barely!) at 69.990.
Dan the Man makes it a clean sweep with the overall PAX victory as well, with Clint a VERY close second (pictured), Peters in third, Ben C fourth, then Cheater Car O'Neill in fifth. Eymann was in the sixth spot, followed by Britt Dollmeyer, back in his ST Civic, Dawn Maxwell, back in her Mini Cooper, Dave Rock, and Elliot Speidell in tenth. Larry P was next, followed by Travis Berry, who did fantastic in his STU STi Subaru, and has found new shoes or something! Waytago, Travis! Jay Balducci was next, and then Kevin Cote in another STU Subie, Matt Soeffner, Ryan Bernholtz in an STX Civic, and then Tim Bergstrom in his STU M3. Rounding out the top twenty is George "Revs" Sklyarevsky in his STX RX-8, Kim Kemper in the 'Vette, and Kevin V in the CSP car.
The AZ Region Solo group has decided to make the new STR class available for the Fall Series, although SCCA will not have it until next year. So, who showed up with one of those? Well, Brian Peters drove Jay's MX-5 to a whopping victory over Jay, Don Sattler, and Clayton Saffell. It is rumored that others will be joining this class, and perhaps 7 or 8 cars and drivers will be out there at the next event. Something to watch for, as the Street Tire classes expand and evolve.
So, on to the other Open classes, and surprise, surprise, Kim Kemper takes the win in the Super Stock class, with Michael Terrey in second. Matt Soeffner decided to use up the last of his Kumho 710s, and took the C Stock win over Dave Hurt. In the older Miata bunch, E Stock, Peter Yu, in his '94 Miata, took the win over Joe Sandoval. Kevin V took CSP, and Alan Humes took ESP, the only runners in their class this day.
Ryan Bernholtz took the STX class in his '08 Civic, followed by George Revs and Richard Damp, in Rx8 and BMW respectively. Britt Dollmeyer brought out the trusty old Civic, and his superb driving skills with that car, and took the ST win over Dave Rock, Brock Palmer, Chris Largent, Adam Vega, and Josh Johnston. Dave Branson was the only STS Miata out there, but may not be alone for the rest of the series.
Travis Berry took STU in his STI with Kevin Cote second, and Tim Bergstrom third in his M3. Dave Young took SM in his M3, Kevin Gleaton took SSM in his now supercharged '99 Miata, and Michael Wittkopf took XP Open in a topless '86 Corvette.
Teresa Clement took the win in PAX Ladies over Deb Eymann (pictured) and Colleen O'Neill in the family TT. In Sportsman, Dan H was fastest with Clint Child right on his heels, then Ben Clement, Kevin O'Neill, and Steve Eymann fifth. Dawn Maxwell makes her return to HS in a pretty new Mini, and then Elliott Speidell, Larry Petrucci, Brian Weikert and Dave Munsey round out the top ten.
Scott Meyers was a blur in ST1 in his '07 Mustang, but Chris Steele was right behind in his Mini, then Mike Rogers in his RSX, Mark Halliday, and Jim Witkowski in a Mazda 3. Jon Roesch was seventh, followed by Weldon Knape, Rick Paradis, and Bruce Mundy. In the ST2 class, Jeff Israel put his R32 on top, followed by Todd Houser in his Mini S, Dan Tracy in an '05 STi, Dustin Shertx in another, and David Manley in a third Subie. Jana Sutton was sixth in her Mini, followed byt Jeff Abrams, Rx8, Stephen King in his ESP Chevy S-10, Scott Matthews in an Rx8, and Elliott Goltsman in an SRT-4.
In the Novice 1 class, Brett Hughes brought his '05 STi and took the win over John Leonhardt in an '09 Cobalt SS, followed by co-driver Tyler Glembo, Alan Yu in the Miata, and David Tiro in an RSX Type S. Jon Rodhousetook the NV2 win in his RX-8, followed by Kenneth Eguchi in a VW Gti. Tito Miles took the NV3 class win in his Mazda 6 over Pat Campagnola in an '02 Mini, and Rachel Cherico in an '07 Cobalt LS Coupe.
All in all, a fabulous day, as a steady breeze kept people from getting heat soaked, and plenty of fluids kept them fresh and hydrated. Quite a few folks made it back from the SCCA Solo Nationals to make the event, while others were still in transit, so to speak. And while the Skidpad 4 sealer continues to cure, hopefully, a return to that lot and the return of many of our Nationals competitors should make for a great Fall Series here in Phoenix. In October, we should have cooler temperatures, so get ready for that, as well as the rest of the year!
Thanks to John Leonhardt and Jeff Israel for the photos featured here and on the Arizona Autocross Photos website.