March 14th, 2010
Event 3 of 4 for the 2010 Spring Series
by Dave Lahey
Better late than never, right?
What perfect weather! What a perfect day! What a great course, and what a great time we all had! I tell ya, this is the time of year to be in Arizona, for all these reasons and more! In March, and probably April as well, there is just no better place!
Let's start out with this fun course! A bit of a switch, as you were faced with a straight shot out of the starting gate, and a three cone slalom. We have become used to a turn-in entry, but this was different! For the narrower cars, not much of an offset, but for the wider ones, a challenge! Not too much speed, though, as there is a tight 180 right-hander coming up, and into a sweeping left that leads you to another slalom up the middle. Negotiate that, and on the first lap, off to the left and around the top, and then into a couple of offset gates. Again, the wider cars were probably working harder to get through here while the narrower cars picked their arc and blasted through them, almost as if it was one big S-turn! Ah, but too much speed, and you are caught! Have to turn left at the end, then across the bottom of the loop and up that three cone slalom again; and careful! Up through the middle again, and then you have to go to the right, and it is a pretty sharp turn, so you might have to touch the brakes, around to the right to sight on the three cone wallom ahead. Careful there too, for too much speed will put you all over the awaiting line of cones on that last jog just before the end, or even worse, put you outside the finish line and precariously close to the timing equipment, and those miserable Extreme DNFs! Luckily, no one ventured that far, and most kept things nicely under control, and made it through. However, there sure were a lot of adventures going on! And farbeit for anyone here at the Press to go pointing any fingers!
We are all sick of seeing photos of Fred's Frankenlotus, but once again, he was top time of day at 37.701 seconds. So, something a little different; NOT Fred driving, but our good friend Jeff Hancock, returning for some practice seat time in the car which he co-drove at Nationals last year, and it looks like will do that again, as well as in San Diego at the Tour event. Jeff was second quickest at 37.773, and who knows, might just break Fred's stranglehold on the jacket? We'll see. Next quickest was Steve Eymann, at 38.837. and then Dan Hawrylkiw, who only got one run in the Zink before the drive belt went flying. Still, a 38.9 is darn quick! Next best was Dave Schotz, returning to flog Dad's '07 Vette to a very respectable 40.011. Mark Johnson found the straight and true way in Ted's Wild Ride ('65 Elan), and was just behind at 40.213. That was just quick enough to outrun the CSP Miata pair of Steve Ashcraft and David Lahey, at 40.244 and 40.293. Ted Lewis was next, at 40.367, and then CSP co-drivers Tom Tkacik and Kevin Venisnik, 40.422 and 40.526.
Flop things over to the PAX sorted results, and it is Fred and Jeff again, then Steve Eymann, and Elliot Speidell (pictured) jumping into the fourth spot, with Dave Schotx next, Flyin' Brian Weikert in sixth in his '95 STU M3, then Ashcraft, Lahey, Clint Child in the Clement EVO, and Tom Tkacik in the tenth spot. Now that there is no rain, or really cold mornings to help the AWD folks and hinder the earlier runners, we are starting to see the standings as we had become used to before the "resurface" of a year ago, and the sloppy wet weather of recent months.
And now for the Open class results. Kim Kemper says it's goodbye to the trusty red Z06, as some sort of Germanic sports car is taking its place. So, for its last hurrah, Kim puts the smack down in SS and takes the win over Michael Terrey and Jim Enriquez, also in 'Vettes. Newcomer Vince Switzer took BS open in his '04 Z4, and Evan Brom continues to dominate F Stock. We think Evan is car shopping, though, as wrestling the '02 Z/28 might just be headed for replacement. Evan had one of the spins of the day, and would have had to bleep any videos. Understandable!
Steve Ashcraft brought his A game to take the VERY close CSP field, with a .05 win over co-driver Dave Lahey, with Tom Tkacik third, and Kevin Venisnik in fourth. LESS than .3 seconds covered these four, as they battled it out run by run! In ST, Chris Largent put the ex-Team Eddy Subaru Imprezza atop the heap, followed by Josh Johnston in his 240SX and Brock Palmer in another Imprezza. Michael Fleming made the trek down from Flagstaff to take the STS win over Dave Branson and Joe Sandoval, all in Miatas. John Cylkowski took the STX Open win in an '05 RX8.
STR was once again the Matt Soeffner Show, as he ran the only 41 second run in competition. Larry Burrow was second, followed by Don Sattler, Clayton Saffell, and Eric Malsack. Bill Fisher and Larry B whooped up on him in Time Only runs though, but it looks like Matt will be collecting the trophy. Jeff Abrams took the Street Mod class over Steve Brannigan, and Paul Hamersly took the SSM Open win. Alan Wagstaffe is back int he Legrant Dragon, and ran a smokin' 41.408 in the shakedown run of the new motorcycle powered beast. Ted Lewis took the PRO class win in the Gulf color schemed '65 Lotus Elan. Clean Colleen O'Neill took the PAX Ladies' class win, but Kat Kemper, driving the departing Z06 was faster, but that darn PAX factor, and the "cheater" FN Audi TT took the top spot. Mitzi Burrow was next, then Teresa Clement and Mandy Bennett in the Burrows' STR Miata. Mandy is going to be driving this car in San Diego with Mitzi, so look out!
The Sportsman standings look pretty much like the overall PAX results, with Fred in the top spot, Jeff second, Steve Eymann third, then Elliot, Schotz, Weikert, Clint, and Mark Johnson in eighth. Ben Clement was next, followed by Britt Dollmeyer in a 20 year old Civic, but still looking like a brand new car, and QUICK in Britt's hands. Brad Owen (pictured), with the widest tires on the wackiest car, gets special mention, just because those tires stick out at LEAST six inches from the fender! I guess that keeps the cone marks away, but really, that sucker is a WIDE RIDE !!!
As Kevin O'Neill would probably say, "HOLY SMOKIN' JESUS," someone FINALLY beat Chad Mizner in ST1! Yup, Chris Steele did, in his Mini Cooper S, outrunning Chad in the trusty 330i. James Frink returns in Geren Smith's Boxter to take the third spot, with Scott Meyers fourth, Jim Rohn in Chad's bimmer fifth, Mike Rogers sixth, and Michael Beiser, '07 Civic Si, in the seventh spot.
"HOLY SMOKIN' ..." Well, you get the idea. Brad McCann brought the Saturn Sky Redline down from Flag to put the hurt on Jeff Israel, preventing the sweep for Jeff and his R32 in the ST2 class. Elliott Goltsman was next, followed by Todd Houser and Jana Sutton, both in Mini Cooper S. Sharon Roberts brought out the '06 S2000, and took the ST Ladies' win over Kim Chenoweth in her first attempt at RWD and a clutch in Josh's 240. Kim started out with a spin in the first corner, but adapted well after that, and will most likely improve!
Dave Camarillo brought out his '04 Golf R32 and took the Novice 1 class win over MiniStu Lasswell, Erich Weber, Dustin Frank, and Broc Leonhardt in his newly acquired '94 Mazda M. John Hogan took the NV2 class win in and '09 Imprezza WRX over Ross Green, '07 Subie, Juan Espinoza - '06 EVO, and Jose Soto - MazdaSpeed 3. Boyan Vasillev took the NV3 class in his 328Ci, leaving the Eclipse at home, over Marcus Myer, '09 Mitsu Ralliart, adn Patrick Campagnola, '02 Mini Cooper S. There were no Novice Ladies out this time, so come on guys and gals, bring your friends!
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At the end of the day, Jeff Hancock had the fastest Time Only run, at 36.7, with Fred next at 36.9. These two just KILLED! Steve Eymann put down a 38.5, the only car under 39 seconds. Dave Lahey put in a 39.4, but too late for comp runs, and Mark Johnson was at 39.5, Kevin Gleaton at 39.8, and Ted Lewis at 39.9. Everyone else was over the 40 second mark, and yes, Clint, that means YOU with your wimpy 40.029. LOL. [I gotta have some fun SOMEtimes, right? ;)]
Cool Car of the Day was another hard decision, but goes to Weldon Knape in his new (to him) and absolutely gorgeous blue S2000 CR! Honorable mention has to go to this stealthy black Mustang (pictured below), and a couple of others, but when it comes down to it, this sucker just LOOKS fast, don't it?
So, all in all, another suPERB Arizona autocross day, with another suPERB and fun and challenging course, suPERB weather, and great fun for everyone! If it gets any better somewhere else, then okay, maybe Hawaii or California or ... But this is hard to beat, and the best way to spend a Sunday. Now get back to work! Hahaha ...
Special thanks to Rob Rockefeller, Bill Fisher, Kim Chenoweth, John Leonhardt, and Dave Lahey for the photos featured here and on the Arizona Autocross Photos website.