STAFFORD SPRINGS, Conn. (Jan. 30, 2008) - On a blustery weekend in northern Connecticut, the New England Region hosted the first RallyCross National Challenge event of the year at a snowy Stafford Motor Speedway.Stock All-Wheel Drive was an all-Subaru show, save for Scott Beliveaus Toyota Tacoma, which finished fifth. Thanks to six error-free runs, Matthew Gleiner was the class winner in his STi by nearly 10 seconds over the Imprezas of Roger Borlase and Phillip Mueller.Stock Front-Wheel Drive was a much closer affair between the dueling Nissan Sentras of Henry Boudreau and Andy Longe. Despite coning four of his six runs, Boudreau was able to edge Longe by 2.580 seconds. They were followed by the Volkswagen Jetta of Robin Wilkins.Prepared All-Wheel Drive seemed to mirror Stock All-Wheel Drive, with only one of the seven class entries not driving a Subaru. Geoff Guerrera managed a fourth-place finish in his Mitsubishi Evo, but was no match for the WRX of Nikolay Nemchuk, who won PA by more than 13 seconds over fellow WRX drivers Antonio Sirabella and Don Grant.The largest class of the event was Modified Two-Wheel Drive, with 10 entries. Sharing a Honda Civic, Chang Ho Kim and Kim Hapgood were each others biggest competition finishing at the top of the time charts together after nearly every run. Ho Kim clearly had the upper hand however, finishing 22.152 seconds ahead of Hapgood. Lodwyk William followed in an Acura Integra.It was an Audi that ended Subarus all-wheel drive domination at Stafford. Driving an A4, Warren Elliot won Modified All-Wheel Drive by a comfortable 6.699 seconds. Chris Regan and his Toyota Celica were nipping at Elliots heels throughout the weekend and entered times faster than Elliot in three runs, but two cone penalties on day two ruined Regans chances for a victory. Fellow A4 driver Justin Baltrucki finished third.The RallyCross National Challenge moves on to a warmer locale next month. Homestead Motor Speedway in Florida will welcome RallyCrossers Feb. 23 24. Click the Rally tab to find out more about RallyCross.
