Ivory Tower Power
     Beware the Ides of June! It seems that when the Glen Region holds a Solo II event in the Ithaca area there’s gotta be rain or it isn’t official. This is especially so when the event is paired with an autocross school. Well, this year was no different as the rain conspired against school participants and all but the first run group during the event. Nevertheless, the rain didn’t dampen the attendance as 63 entrants made their way through the dampness to test their wet driving skills on an Ithaca College parking lot in mid-June.

    Several large classes made for some great competition. The largest class of all was the Street Touring S Class with 13 entrants. At the end of the day it was Todd Tottman in a Neon (the one with the good motor) who took class honors. Todd also wrestled away the best PAX time of the day beating out traditional PAX leaders Tom Mikulka as well as the entire Flying Tyburski Family.

    The next largest class was the nine member H-Stock division, where defending 2001 Glen Region H-Stock champion Mike Taves continued his dominance by driving his 1984 BMW 318i more than a full second faster than the number two H-Stock driver, Eric Irvine, in his 1999 Honda Civic. The personal favorite H-Stock entrant of this writer, however, had to be Aaron Boltman and his vintage Ford Crown Victoria LTD stationwagon. I could swear I heard him yelling, “Coming about” at every apex.

     Following H-Stock, the next largest class at Ithaca College was Glen Region perennial favorite G-Stock with seven drivers. This year, however, there is a change in the seasonal trophy standings for G-Stock. There’s still a Tyburski in the running, three of them actually, but this year it’s Mike Tyburski who won his third in a row G-Stock victory edging out brother, Brian, and father, Jeff. Then again, it’s Mike’s car, a 1995 Ford Probe, they’re driving so maybe Brian and Jeff are just being polite.

    After H-Stock, both B-Stock and D Street Prepared tied for the number of entrants with six apiece. In B-Stock it was Eric “The Red” Navestead in his 2000 Honda S2000 who edged out Garrick Goh in a 2002 Honda S2000 for class honors. In D Street Prepared, Tony Cornish in his 1999 VW Passat took class honors with over a two second advantage over second place winner, Sean Ulrich in his 1997 Saturn SC2.

    Other sizable classes at Ithaca College included some highly competitive driving in C-Stock, F-Stock, and Street Touring X. In C-Stock less than six-tenths of a second separated the top three finishers with Dan Ullrich (1984 Porsche 944) slipping past Bob Stowits (1994 Miata) and Shawn Koelemeyer (1974 Porsche 914). Only two-tenths of a second separated Mark Lockhart (1999 Ford Mustang Cobra) from Jeffrey Eames (1999 Chevrolet S-10) in F-Stock while in Street Touring X, Greg Pierce managed to beat out both his father and his uncle all three Pierces driving the very same 1987 BMW 325is.

    It wouldn’t be right to describe a Solo II event without mentioning Fastest Time of the Day. Tom Mikulka, no longer content with taking just the PAX title managed a quick 55.833 in his 2002 Subaru WRX in D-Stock competition to capture FTD honors. Having All –Wheel - Drive on a rainy day isn’t a bad idea. It also wouldn’t be right to describe ANY Glen Region Event of ANY description without commenting on the latest part falling off of a Rob Craig vehicle. He can upgrade his cars, but the Curse of the Craig continues unabated. This time it was a genuine BMW factory installed foglight that flew off of the car when Rob applied the brakes aggressively. I suppose that Rob is telling everyone that it’s a testament to the legendary stopping power of BMW brakes, but don’t believe him. It’s the Curse of the Craig.

     All in all the third event of the 2002 Glen Region Solo II season was highly memorable even if it did rain. The number of attendees was high, the competition was great, Kathy Ng didn’t hit any light boxes, and Casey Creamer ran his last Glen Region Solo as a bachelor. The way I see it is that if Kathy can drive without hitting a light box even under less than ideal driving conditions and Casey can get married, can Patrick’s offer to buy us beer be far behind???? . A complete listing of all of the classes, the cars, the drivers and their PAX scores can be found here