East Coast RallyCross Winners on High in Maryland
A Maryland hilltop was where nearly 70 competitors came together for the July 8-10 SCCA East Coast RallyCross National Challenge.
Hosted by the Washington DC Region at a location nicknamed “Gravel Mountain” near Frostburg, Maryland, this event was only the second ever RallyCross National Challenge conducted in the revitalized format that aims to mimic the success of the RallyCross National Championship. On Fridays, open “Test & Tune” sessions are held followed by competition Saturdays and Sundays. Each weekend has three unique course layouts, and drivers get at least three shots at each configuration. Runs are timed to 1/1000th of a second with missed “gates” resulting in a 10-second penalty. Class winners are based on the total time of all runs Saturday and Sunday.
Perfect weather greeted racers over the weekend. The facility itself was filled with gravel, which made the surface “grip” substantially different from that of a dirt field where RallyCross events are usually held. The three different course layouts over the weekend flowed well with a variation of sweepers and offsets to challenge competitors.
The largest Class of the weekend, Modified Rear Wheel Drive, was won by Joshua Hickey — but the top five finishers were only separated by a couple of seconds. The Prepared All Wheel Drive Class produced a close battle between Clifton Kangas and Mark Macoubrie. Kangas claimed a cone on his fourth run Sunday that gave a comfortable gap to Macoubrie, who then went out and set a smoking fast run to secure the win. But the fastest lap of the weekend went to Zbigniew Lorenc who won the Stock All Wheel Drive Class.
Class, winner’s name, hometown and car are as follows:
Stock-Front Wheel Drive: Chang Kim; Maynard, MA; Honda Del Sol VTEC
Stock-Rear Wheel Drive: Logan Altmyer; Smyrna, TN; Nissan 240SX
Stock-All Wheel Drive: Zbigniew Lorenc; Dublin, OH; Subaru Impreza WRX
Prepared-Front Wheel Drive: Dmitry Beliaev; Marlboro, MA; Ford Fiesta ST
Prepared-Rear Wheel Drive: Shawn Roberts; Woodbridge, VA; Mazda Miata
Prepared-All Wheel Drive: Mark Macoubrie; Louisburg, KS; Subaru Impreza WRX
Modified Front Wheel Drive: Andrew Thomas; Adamstown, MD; Toyota Celica GT
Modified-Rear Wheel Drive: Joshua Hickey; Burke, VA; BMW 318i
Modified-All Wheel Drive: James Kimmett; Leesburg, VA; Subaru Impreza
This weekend’s event also included the new package where video of each new course layout is captured using a Garmin VIRB XE and made accessible to drivers for review prior to runs. Along with that, a course map was produced from the camera’s data and supplied to competitors.
As the SCCA’s most widespread and readily accessible form of extreme motorsport, RallyCross is a scaled-down version of a rally stage laid out on a non-paved plot of land where the course is delineated by traffic cones instead of trees or rocks. Participation requirements are considerably less than those associated with other forms of performance rally, so drivers usually only need a mechanically sound, hardtop vehicle and a helmet to come play in the dirt.
Next up on the RallyCross schedule is the August 5-7 SCCA Central RallyCross National Challenge at Colorado Off Road Extreme in Agate, Colorado.
Image: Zbigniew Lorenc set fastest time of the weekend in his Subaru Impreza WRX.
Justin Hille claimed the 2015 SCCA U.S. Majors Tour Northern Conference Championship, and aims to do the same in 2016 with just two weekends remaining. He’s currently sitting in first with a seven-point lead over Voytek Burdzy.
Although the Spec Miata field is always tight, the Runoffs are heading to Hille’s home track, Mid-Ohio. Many expect him to vie for the win because he can drive Mid-Ohio forward and backward with his eyes closed.
Justin’s only using the pressure of racing at his home track to motivate him further. If he is able to take the win at the Runoffs, he’d like to head to the Mazda Road to 24 Shootout and move into the ranks of professional racing.
To read more about Justin and his aspirations, visit MazdaMotorsports.com.
We are only a few days away from the last Match Tour of 2016, and many Northeastern drivers are preparing for the last of the nearby tours before Solo Nationals! The weatherman is calling for a chance of precipitation Saturday morning which should make for some interesting, drying-condition runs as we transition into the afternoon; but all is well that ends well, Sunday shows partly cloudy skies. Registration sits at 119 drivers for the final Match Tour, here are the classes to look for:
In STX, a field of BRZs and 128s brings the class to eight drivers. Kyle Herbst is looking to pilot his 128i to a first place finish. Matt Jones and his co-driver Sara Odioso in their BRZ are looking to put the pressure on Herbst, Jones is itching for a victory following his trophy at the DC Championship Tour. But Darrin DiSimo, in his BRZ, will ensure that those STX trophies won’t be easy. Another BMW is set to appear, and with Ryan Davies in the driver seat, STX is sure to put on a show.
BS is showing the second largest class for the Heavy Metal Showdown, at twelve drivers. A few local names are ready to show the world what the Steel Cities Region is made of, Mark Sanner, Alex Artayet and Brian DePietro will arrive ready to defend their home turf. Entry lists show DePietro and Megan Biddle co-driving a brand new Focus RS, which could be a strong contender for B Street. But Andrew Graul will be bringing the power to the class in his C5, he is also coming off a trophy from the DC Tour a few weekends back. Anne and Gregory Vincent are set to appear in their S2000 as well, both looking to claim a top spot.
Last but certainly not least, and as always, SSR will be the class to catch. Holding the largest entry count at thirteen drivers, John Fink, Michael Figliolia and Dan Ireland are gearing up to defend their home region. But with names like Casey, and Strano, and Monfort, and Braun, and George, all converging on Wampum this weekend, the locals certainly have their work cut out for them.
So brace yourselves for a weekend packed with lots of runs and lots of funs, it is set to be a great weekend hosted by a great region!
Live timing available at: sololive.scca.com
Day two of the Packwood Championship Tour resumed on Sunday after a great Saturday night banquet again at the Packwood Firehouse just down the street from the site. The fire fighters put on a very tasted BBQ chicken dinner with all the fixings, and the region supplied craft beer from Gigantic Brewing, along with some wine also. No body went home hungry for there was plenty of food available along with some tasty deserts! Kevin Dietz again ran the fun spirited raffle as many of participants won lots of racing relevant prizes, along with other great items from around a 20 box field of items. Raffle ticket purchasers put one or more tickets into any box of a prize they wanted a chance to win. Great time with all of our Canadian Racers and other region members who came down for the weekend.
Sunday racing started dry so group 1 had some great close competition come to a close as some folks made big come backs to win or trophy in their class. STX with their 19 car class has some changes in the order as competitors like Brett Wilson coned all three runs sunday to drop to 17th after sitting 2nd on Saturday. John Krotez kept his lead to win the class, with Daymon Krotez coming in just 0.359 back, and third going to Annie Gill, one of the fast ladies running in the open class. The rest of the trophy winners that got skirted were Jerry Jenkins, Karl Coleman, and Micheal Knudson, all sporting a FR-S or BRZ.
Group 2 saws sprinkles right from the start coming down just enough to make you clear the windshield or helmet visor as you pulled to the line. A lot of competitors looked to take somewhat conservative runs to insure clean ones in case it would be there last, and sure enough with almost two runs for all in the books, the rain finally started to fall and time dropped dramatically. Many a class was spoiled for those who did not get a good dry run while they could. On third runs CM was a spin fest as drivers knowing there race was over went out for a fun run to see if they could master a FF with slicks in the rain. Half the field spun out at least once on there last run. Bryan Heitkotter won the class easily by 1.8 over Jonathan Clements who had a real nice first run Sunday to secure second. Father Eric Clements rounded out the trophies.
It wouldn’t be a Packwood Tour without some controversial results. Two years ago it was #Cone401 and this year it was STU in group 5 as the final runs came to a close. The course had a very fast finish straight with most going to third before the finish, followed by a barely adequate stop box that you had to be on top of to really shut down in time. Generally no problems, but when Dan Podhola on his last run came screaming into the final straight in third gear he looked up to see a car still sitting int the stop box. With this he lifted significantly early before the finish and safely stopped but he knew he had left time out there. After realizing the issue he asked for a rerun. A provisional re run was granted and he was able to improve enough to jump up to the 3rd trophy in STU. So now the provisional re run had to be reviewed by the Chief Steward to see if it would be used. Thanks to great Petrel SoloStorm telemetry provide by Dan’s runs, they were able to clearly see not only the car in the stop box on his third run but see where he had lifted and slowed significantly before the finish. With this the rerun was honored an Dan rightly got his 3rd trophy in class.
Combined Top Time of the event went to Bryan Heitkotter in CM, and the top Pax shifted heavily to FS drivers. Top 5 where:
- Ryan Otis – FS
- Geoff Clark – ASP
- Norman Hayton – FS
- James Paulson – FS
- Mitch Fagundes – SSP
NWR put on a very smooth running event with Jill Snell leading the way, and the Reijo Silvennoin course were well received and truly nationals level courses. Even the trophy presentation was spectacular, with the largest turn out attending I have ever witnessed in 30 years! Next weekend is the Packwood ProSolo at the same great site and NWR region hosting. The weather is looking to be very good and there is still plenty of room, so if you are not signed up yet come on up for a prosolo at a fantastic location and great event site.
