More than 130 drivers took to Michigan International Speedway to contest the penultimate round of the 12-round SCCA Northern Conference U.S. Majors Tour, part of the SafeRacer Club Racing Program. The race weekend served as a closing act to the entire 2015 Majors season.
The road/oval configuration of the speedway allowed competitors to gear up for the upcoming SCCA National Championship Runoffs to be held at Daytona International Speedway, while also sewing up the final 28 Northern Conference Class Champions. With the Runoffs returning to the facility for the first time since 1969, competitors looking for an edge have been clamoring to put in laps at each road/oval course of the Majors calendar throughout the year.
Many drivers approached the two-day event as serious practice for the approaching national championship event, held at the famed Florida tri-oval. Race results supported the observation as all out speed was favored over a more raceable car setup. After the final checkered flag of the day fell, a total of 24 new lap records were set among the 27 classes represented.
Two of three typical classes from which razor-thin margins of victory are the norm produced a close race, at the end. Tyler Kicera, of Manheim, Pennsylvania, drove his No. 44 Rock-It Cargo/Talt Towers Mazda Miata to a 0.038-second win over Todd Lamb in his No. 98 Caveman Kyle Mazda Miata.
Spec Racer Ford provided the second-closest finish of Saturday’s on-track action as Adam Gottlieb, of Wilmette, Illinois, got to the finish line 1.203-seconds ahead of Max Koff. Those two finishes would prove to be the only class margins of victory which were less than two seconds.
The 12th, and final round, of the SCCA Northern Conference Majors season concludes Aug. 23. Seven race groups will contest 24-lap races, starting at 9:00 a.m. (EDT). Follow the action with live streaming video, audio and pit notes at SCCA.com/live.
More information on the SCCA U.S. Majors program can be found at SCCAMajors.com.
BROKLYN, Mich. – Provisional race winners for Saturday’s Northern Conference Majors Tour Round 11 race at Michigan International Speedway. Drivers are listed by Class: name, hometown, and car.
American Sedan: Andy McDermid, Howell, Mich., Ford Mustang
B-Spec: David Daughtery, Fortville, Ind., Honda Fit
Formula 500: Don Napier, Greenwood, Ind., F500 Scorpion
Formula 1000: Nicho Vardis, Sylvan Lake, Mich., JDR F1000
Formula Atlantic: David Bleke, Franklin, Wis., Swift 014
Formula Continental: Thomas Gaffney, Birmingham, Mich., Van Diemen RF00
Formula Enterprises: Scott Rettich, Columbus, Ohio, Formula Enterprises
Formula F: Max Mallinen, Liberty Lake, Wash., Spectrum 014H
Formula Vee: Brandon Abbott, Livonia, Mich., Vector AM-1
E Production: Joe Moser, Wilmette, Ill., Honda Prelude
F Production: David Bednarz, Ann Arbor, Mich., Mazda Miata
H Production: Matt Brannon, Columbus, Ohio, Fiat X1/9
GT-1: Michael Lewis, Poway, Calif., Jaguar XKR
GT-2: Mark Kirby, Shawnee Mission, Kan., Dodge Viper
GT-3: Joe Kristensen, London, Ont., Canada, Acura RSX
GT-Lite: Joel Hipp, Norwalk, Ohio, Austin Mini
Prototype 1: John Gyann, Darien, Ill., Stohr WF1
Prototype 2: Anders Graff, Kohler, Wis., Prince LSR
Spec Miata: Tyler Kicera, Manheim, Pa., Mazda Miata
Spec Racer Ford: Adam Gottlieb, Wilmette, Ill., SRF
Spec Racer Ford Gen3: Bobby Sak, Mattawan, Mich., SRFG3
Super Touring Lite: Mark Wajda, Cement City, Mich., Honda Civic
Super Touring Under: Charles Tobel, New Hudson, Mich., Pontiac Solstice
Touring 1: Mark Boden, Buffalo Grove, Ill., BMW M3
Touring 2: John Buttermore, South Lyon, Mich., Chevrolet Corvette
Touring 3: Patrick Womack, Burr Ridge, Ill., BMW Z4 M Coupe
Touring 4: Voytek Burdzy, Algonquin, Ill., Mazda MX-5
It’s hard to believe that the 2015 TireRack SCCA Solo Nationals is just around the corner. Kicking off the first of a two-part series, we reached out to Alex Jones, who is our East course designer for this year’s big show. For those of you that may not know Alex by name, he is the guy that may have one of the newest “Prepared” car on the grid, chopping up a perfectly good ’07 Pontiac Solstice GXP for F Prepared. If that doesn’t prove Alex’s commitment to the sport, I’m not sure what does.
With 14 years of Autocrossing experience under his belt, Alex began competing with the Firebirds Car Club before becoming an SCCA member of the Northwest Ohio region four years later. It wasn’t long after his Autocrossing debut that he was tackling the premier job as course designer, where he began designing courses for the local club. Fast forward several years, and the majority of today’s national Autocrossers have driven over Alex’s work. Beginning with the Oscoda ProSolo in 2011, Alex sculpted the courses of many other notable events including the 2013 SCCA ProSolo Finale, and last year’s Toledo Pro and Wilmington Tour. It was only a matter of time before Mr. Jones was assigned the grand-daddy of all assignments, designing for the Solo Nationals. Alex believes there are three key qualities a top notch course designer should have:
“Flexibility, a visual mind, and thick-skin.
You have to be flexible in your design and attitude. Most of the time, you design a course without actually being at the site. Problems will arise. The airport didn’t move some equipment as far out of the way as planned. Your course flows right over an unanticipated surface issue. The safety steward has a concern. Some of these things you just can’t fix and others you can compromise. Even though you are the course designer, It’s important to remember that you’re working as a team with others, each with their own role. A visual mind helps translate ideas from your mind to paper to concrete. Using the above view course map to visualize what the course will look like on the ground can be difficult and can take practice.Thick-skin is a must. You try to please everybody, but must realize it’s not possible. Some people will say nasty things about your course (it’s easy to say anything from behind a keyboard!) so you must be able to brush it off, filter through the noise and find the constructive criticism.”
Haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, right? Anyone who has ever tried it will agree that scheming up a quality design is no simple task. When asked how it’s done, Alex gave us the run-down of the process he goes through when putting one of his masterpieces together. Fortunately, the site that Lincoln Airpark provides for us allows the designers to get creative with little standing in their way.
“Start with a scale map of the site with all known obstacles marked off. Then figure out where the start and finish will be.
After that it’s about designing the flow of a course. I draw a smooth line carefully around the site with straights and varying radii curves. You want to make sure it has a good balance so you don’t accidently design in any course dependencies for class competition. I also think about corner station placement at this point. I may come up with 2 or 3 different flow sketches.
Last is adding the cones and visuals. I will usually make a few copies of the flow sketches and place elements around the flow. Once I think I have a good layout I will remove the flow-line and re-draw the line, anticipating how people will actually drive it.”
Without revealing too much about this year’s East course, Alex hints to incorporating a “Chicago Box” or two in his design, as he enjoys watching people cringe at the sight of them. Definitely expect some creative elements that’ll make you think twice when determining how to approach Jones’ course this year.
