The Fall Fling: A Great Event and a Great
Triple Prime Burger at Rubys
What an incredible day for the last event of the 2006 Glen Region solo
season. Im not just saying this because of the post-event triple prime
burger at Rubys, either. After tropical storm Ernestos dump at our
last event all of us needed and deserved the bright sunny skies and just plain
right temperatures which embraced us at the Arnot Mall, Sunday, September 17.
Between the ideal weather and the fact that this was the last chance in 2006 to
go a Glen Region soloing, 40 drivers did their level best to repave the
Arnot Mall lot with rubber. Even the continued presence of snowblowers in the
barbecue section at Sears failed to bring us down. Best of all,
Casey, Pat and Eric, the gurus of course set-up, used the same clockwise, three
lap hourglass configuration of the August 20 event as though they knew we
wanted one last chance to better our seasonal efforts. There was one difference
in the two courses, though, far fewer cones. Instead of the 10 or so cones used
in August at the Pearly Gates at center track, only two were left
standing and left standing they were. This small difference not only made
worker station #3 much happier, but opened up the track and reduced
kone-killage and times, alike. What a great way to end the season.
Two classes shared the honor for largest of the event: H-Stock and Street
Touring (Tire) with five entrants each. It doesnt seem like that many
years ago that H-Stock routinely enjoyed high attendance at our events, but for
the past couple of years if it was H-Stock and it was also a Glen Region event
H-Stock was pretty much a father and son act, á la Jeff and Andy Weaver.
Not so this time, though the results were largely unchanged. Jeff still
took the class title over son, Andy, both while driving the same 01 Ford
Focus. Newcomer Taki Isobe (Subaru Impreza) of the Ithaca College Sports Car
Club did his best to come between the Weavers, but 2/10th of a
second kept him in third. It was much the same in Street Touring Tire, as Tom
Deneka gave returned his wifes car and used his very own 98 Honda
Prelude to score best in class. Admittedly, it was pretty much a toss up in the
first heat between Tom and Kyle Kubick (94 Volkswagen Corrado), but Tom
opened the gap in the second and final set and that was that, as they say. The
same thing could also be said about Greg Pierce (87 BWM 325is) versus the
other D-Street Pierce class members, Ken and John. Except that only 15/1000ths
of one second separated Greg from Ken. Pat Scopelliti claims that this is about
six inches
I dont want to know how he knows this but will take his
word for it.
It was more than six inches separating the drivers in Street Modified. James
Sherrick (99 Audi Avant A4) staged the revenge of soccer moms everywhere
with his decisive victory over Tom Sterling and Toms 97
stealth Neon. Right on Toms perforated bumper was newcomer
Louis Caligiuri (97 Nissan 240SX) of the Ithaca College Sports Car Club
who gets the most improved driver award for bettering each and every run,
picking up more than eight seconds in the process. Believe me, I think
well see Louis back in the spring, but probably with new tires as Louis
left his old ones all over the Arnot lot.
Brian Ballet (03 Nissan Altima) staged a repeat of his performance at the
August 20 event at Arnot Mall by winning the ever-popular G-Stock class from
second place Ezekiel Wright (06 BMW Mini Cooper S) of the Ithaca College
Sports Car Club and third place Richard Ayers (02 Honda Civic si). It was
also a repeat performance in the 125 Shifter Kart class, as Casey Creamer
(05 MW Chassis World Formula Kart) ran away from Pat Scopelliti (90
TechnoKart) and newcomer Sandra Kimmel (01 Trick Olympic). Sandras
kart was prepared by Bill Barkely, who has prepared many a nice autocross ride
not to mention some Yugos. This is one writer whos hoping that Sandra
(and Bill) will be back next year to up the ante, so to speak.
Other classes competing at Arnot Mall included A-Stock, where yours truly got
away from Eric Navestad in our IROC du jour, my 01
Honda S2000. The real big news in A-Stock, however, is the rumor that a certain
Crossfire driving novice bought a new Honda S-2000 as we were going to press
(or web). What this will mean for next season remains to be seen. In B-Stock,
meanwhile, Aaron Boltman ditched his garage queen to borrow a ride from Jeff
Tyburski. Showing that hes definitely not a one trick pony, Aaron repaid
Jeff for his kindness by winning not only the B-Stock trophy, but by also
taking the PAX trophy along the way with some really nice driving. Speaking of
nice driving, and I was, all of the autocross stars must have been aligned in
Street Touring X (STX) or at least for Ken Moyer (97 Honda Prelude) as
Ken not only took first place, but never hit a cone or went off course and just
plain drove the tires off of his car for a best in class finish. Kyle Mangiagli
(02 Nissan Sentra) had to be satisfied with second this time.
Over in the MR2 class, E-Stock, Nile Heermans (91 Toyota MR2) had a grand
day, repeating his trophy winning performance of the last Arnot Mall event by
completing the course ahead of Rich Chernosky (88 Toyota MR2). Actually,
Richs performance was good, better than his August 20th
performance, in fact, but just not sufficient to keep up with Nile. Repeat
after me, Rich, Next year, next year, next year
.
A-Street Prepared saw a battle between a Glen Region old timer and a newcomer.
Thak Chaloemtiarana had not competed at a Glen Region event since June of
01, the last time he had a car on which he could depend (and it
wasnt all that dependable, folks). Throwing caution to the wind and still
lacking a dependable ride, Thak brought out his 72 Series IV Lotus 7 to
do battle with newcomer Garth Dennis (89 Porsche 944). Garth led at the
half, but Thak, as tradition dictates, managed a last run that nicked Garth by
2/5 second (Pat, how many inches is that?).
In C-Street Prepared, Brian Bell (95 Mazda Miata) managed to beat Ryan
Jones (99 Mazda Miata) in four of six runs, but it wasnt good
enough to beat Ryans best time for yet another split-second decision and
class trophy to Ryan. Im just wondering what Brian is planning for next
year.
If youd like a more complete run down as well as the official event
results head to the net: http://www.glen-scca.org/solo/2006/results20060917.asp.
While youre there you just might want to check out the unofficial season
standings http://www.glen-scca.org/solo/2006/points2006.asp
and the Cone Preservation Society standings http://www.glen-scca.org/solo/2006/kones2006.asp
Thus ends the Glen Region 2006 Solo II season. A big thanks from the Glen
Region to the folks at Arnot Mall and Sears for the loan of their lot three
times this season. Its been great being your guest. As always a vote of
appreciation to Eric Navestad for getting the van to our events and to Casey
Creamer, Pat Scopelliti, and Eric for setting up the courses. The same goes to
the Pierce family for their work in timing and scoring and for all of their
help behind the scenes. Although we didnt have a working PA system at
this event, my thanks to Pat and Casey for being our very own version of
Speed. The events always better with you two at the mic. Thanks
also to all of you who served as Event Chairs, Safety Stewards, Assistant
Safety Stewards, and tech inspectors during the season. We couldnt do it
without you. Last, but certainly not least, a big vote of appreciation to our
Solo II Program Chair, Ken Moyer, without whose help we couldnt have
functioned this season. Hopefully, well all be back for another season in
2007. In the meantime, those timing lights are on just for you.