Riding the
I’m
back. Not only am I back, but Solo is back and we’re both the better for it. Or
at least, I think we are. From an osprey nest to a burned-out clutch and
everything inbetween, this was an event worth experiencing and 49 drivers
apparently agreed as Sunday, May 4 saw the first Glen Region Solo event for the
2008 season at the acme of Upstate New York solo sites, the Seneca Army Depot.
What was even better was that the weather cooperated. Oh, it could have been a
few degrees warmer and there could have been a tad more sunshine than what we
received and someone could have made a fortune if they’d opened up a sandwich
stand on the tarmac, and I wouldn’t have minded the Dallas Cowgirls cheering us
on, but I’m not complaining. This event was as good a start to a new solo
season as one gets and I was glad I was there.
Bret
Bauer designed the course layout and a good design it was. For one thing, it
required little in the way of memorization and resulted in a minimum of cone
killage. Oh, a few off-courses did occur (Right, Bruce... ?!?) and more than a
few cars were rubbing off kone smudge after the
event, but I suspect that the offending drivers were well aware that they were
going off course when the infractions occurred and few complaints were given.
The course, itself, opened with a leftward drift into a short slalom, before
entering one of the Glen Region’s infamous “Pearly Gates.” For the uninitiated,
in a “Pearly Gate” the course passes through a gate in one direction, reverses
and passes back through the same gate but going in the opposite direction. The
Pearly Gate led to a relatively high speed ess-turn which emptied to the right
through some relatively high speed turns before ending into a decidedly slower,
box - left, which itself emptied into another slalom. The slalom led to a hard
left turn, followed by some criss-crossing that required drivers to hold back
on the throttle to avoid overshooting the component gates. Cones were rarely in
trouble at the criss-cross, but having spent a couple run groups watching this
section I can tell you that many drivers never realized that better times would
have resulted had they not come in quite so hot at these gates and spent
valuable time flailing at the wheel. After the criss-crossing the course arced
a gentle and fast 90 degrees into the “stop lights” and ended.
There
were several large classes present at the event, including six in A-Stock and
Street Modified, five in F125 Shifter Kart and Street Touring S, four in Street
Modified 2, and the largest class of them all, H-Stock with seven entrants. In
the aforementioned H-Stock, Mike Hargrave (2006 Mazda
3) jumped ahead in his first run and never looked back, leaving the big battle
between Richard Ayers (2002 Honda Civic Si) and David
Sky (2001 Honda Civic) for second place. The final result was Richard taking
second place after David punted a kone that took away his chance for glory. Next time, David.
As
mentioned, A-Stock had six entrants and only Ben Heater’s Subaru 2004 WRX STi kept it from being an all-S2000 day (Someone’s got to
talk to that boy). Being the odd man out didn’t stop Ben from almost seizing
class honors, but in the end Skip Testut (2001 Honda S2000) edged him
out by 2/10 of a second. James Semper followed Ben
and claimed third place honors in a lovely 2008 Honda S2000 Club Racer.
In
Street Modified, six drivers in a variety of cars competed. Ben Gilmore (1996
Plymouth Breeze) got out in front in the first runs, but a fried clutch took
away his opportunity to get even better times in the second group. It was
enough for our illustrious solo board leader, Kyle Kubick (1994 VW Corrado SLC) to turn in some great times and win the class.
Just behind Ben for third place with a very respectable time was Julius Carozza in his 1985 BMW 318.
In
the chainsaw class, also known as F125 Shifter Kart, five drivers vied. Despite
it being the day after Casey’s birthday, Rob Craig (1991 Techno Kart) showed no
mercy to the group and took the checker for his efforts, not to mention earning
FTD honors while doing it.
Allan
Kintz (2005 Scion tC) came
out of the timing box running and never let up until the Street Touring S
trophy was his. Of the remaining four drivers in the class, Erick Vanduyne (2001 BMW 330i) ran on fumes, but managed second
place, while Bill Szozda (1992 Eagle Talon) came from
behind Ryan Stout (1999 Subaru Impreza 2.5), who led
in the first runs, to nip Ryan in the second group of runs and get third place.
Street
Modified 2 had four entries, including a father-son battle. When the last
timing light clicked off, though, it was David Savage (2006 Nissan 350Z) who
cruised to victory leaving the Raymond family to fight it out for second place.
Son Colin Raymond may be new to this sport, but his 1992 Mazda Miata carried him ahead of his very proud, but third place
father, Dave Raymond, in the same car. I always thought that teenagers borrowed
their father’s car?!?
I
already mentioned that the best time of the day was Rob Craig (1991 Techno
Kart), but there were other hot shoes in attendance, as well. The fastest stock
car and PAX titles (which were incredibly fast) were earned by Bret Bauer (2000
Chevrolet Camaro). Bret also deserves a trophy for
his good-natured handling of all the razzing he took for his success ON A
COURSE HE DESIGNED! Other best times of the day included fastest in Street
Prepared won by
The
Glen Region thanks all the people who helped organize and run the 2008
inaugural solo event. This includes
The
next event is scheduled for Sunday, May 11 at The Shops at Ithaca Mall,
formerly known as the Pyramid Mall off of
We'll keep the timing lights on for you.