Pictures thanks to Alvin Cheng of 5hpdecals. Left: While not the fastest way around the course, Karton Lew's SM Subaru STi was entertaining to watch as his co-driver, Donald Lew, slides onto what we can only assume he thought was part a rallycross course.
Autocrossing in Northern California returned to Crow’s Landing for the Pro Solo and Championship Tour weekends after an absence of nearly 20 years. A Naval Air Station from World War II, it has served as an alternative landing site for the space shuttle and an Auxiliary Landing Field for the now de-commissioned Moffet Field. Those who remember autocrossing on the large tiedown area nearer the deserted control tower (now a permanent training course for a local sheriff’s department) were surprised that we would be competing only on the runways. After the one hundred degree plus temperatures of the Pro Solo weekend, temperatures in the high eighties to low nineties were welcome.
The Chris Cox designed course had received some on-site modification, and featured numerous slaloms and offsets of varying configuration. Cox had also figured out a path that provided a number of very welcome sweeping corners in addition to the expected airport runway offsets.
The technical nature of the course and grip of the surface made for some interesting results. Cone counts were high and affected the results in numerous classes. Blair Reed, Boise Idaho, nailed down Fastest Time of Day with a two day total of 106.121 as the only Kart Mod entry. Other Mod classes suffered breakage, with Jesus Villareal hitting two cones and then one on his first two Saturday runs, then breaking an axle on his V-6 powered Lotus Europa on run number three. Bob Weisickle’s Austin Healey 100-8 was dirty as well, but held a 3.5 second lead over Villareal in E-Mod on Saturday. With the course opened up for Sunday, Weisickle’s very quick Healey nailed down a clean run on number three and increased his win to a 5.8 second margin over Villareal’s repaired Lotus with a 116.602 total.
Tony Rivera's BSP Nissan 350Z put on a strong performance over Anthony Porta's MazdaSpeed Miata.
Mark Huffman’s Elan had the D/M scratch time on Saturday, but three dirty runs left Steven Goldine leading by 0.3 on a clean run in Dave Henry’s Caterham. Huffman again had winning scratch times on runs one and two, but needed the clean run on number three to take the win. Mechanical failure on the Elan’s third run ended that charge, and Goldine’s total of 113.736 took the win by 0.256.
Classic American Muscle drew seven entries, including Steve Hobaugh’s 1965 Corvette, the 1979 B/P Championship winning car in the hands of the late Larry Park, who incidentally had a lot to do with getting access to Crow’s Landing site in the 1990’s. Brian Hobaugh in his dad’s Corvette, and multi-time National Champions Mike Maier and Mary Pozzi were the class favorites going in. The younger Hobaugh led Pozzi’s 1973 Camaro by just over 0.9, with Maier’s 1965 Mustang notchback (not the Shelby GT350 listed in the results) another 1.1 in arrears, with all dirty runs. Maier, not satisfied with scratch times just over a tenth behind Hobaugh, made changes to the chassis setup as soon as the car was released from impound. Mike DeJesus and Brianne Maier would test these changes out later in the day in C/Prepared. Hobaugh would extend his lead on day two, winning over Pozzi by just over two seconds. It should also be noted that one of Saturday’s biggest smiles was on Howard Duncan’s face as he drove Craig Johnson’s 1963 Ford Falcon.
Bill Schenker's CSP Miata dominated the class over the weekend.
Super Street Prepared had a fair amount of diversity in an eleven car class. Ryan Johnson’s Lotus Elise led Joel Villareal’s Corvette C5 Z06 by 0.947 on his only clean run, with co-drivers Rob Boynton and Scott Fraser fighting for third in Boynton’s Porsche GT2. Sunday’s faster course apparently favored Villareal, as his second run took the lead by 0.299 over Johnson. Villareal, running before Johnson, coned run number three, leaving it up to Johnson. Johnson slowed on number three and coned, and Villareal breathed a sigh of relief. Note that Villareal’s 114.493 total time was the third fastest total of the event. Boynton and Fraser had their own battle going for the final two trophy positions, and Fraser had moved ahead on run number three. Boynton was unable to respond, and remained in the fourth and final trophy position.
Street Modified was sixteen cars strong, but could anyone give Godzilla a run for its money? After Saturday’s competition, a challenger appeared. Eric Hyman, Godzilla’s keeper, trainer and driver, had only 0.036 in hand over Josh Salvage, in Richard Jones’ Evo 9. Jones was less than 0.6 behind Salvage. Although Hyman couldn’t improve on his first run, Salvage could not close the gap, and ended up just over 0.2 in arrears. Jones’ inability to score a clean run on Sunday dropped him out of the trophies and David Webb brought his Mitsubishi up onto the podium, just under two seconds behind Salvage.
Street Touring X was the event’s largest class, and the competition didn’t disappoint. Mack Tsang and Stephen Yeoh led the twenty car class in BMW 325is’ after first Saturday runs, with Justin Tsang and Steve OBlenes, BRZ, threatening to clean up dirty runs, as every run was a swing for the fence in this class. Justin Tsang and Ricky Crow, Scion FRS, moved into second and third, tenths behind Mack, when he slowed and coned on his second run. Clean third runs were the order of the day, and OBlenes took the lead by 0.011 over Mack Tsang. Alex Muresan was 0.468 back in the Integra Type R with co-driver Bryan Heitkotter only 0.068 behind. Justin was 0.078 behind Heitkotter, and Crow was another 0.189 back. No one could keep pace with OBlenes on Sunday and his first run would have won. Heitkotter was second fastest on the day and moved up to second place, 0.898 back. Mack Tsang remained in third, and Annie Gill, with the third fastest Sunday run moved into fourth. Justin Tsang and Crow rounded out the trophies. Second to sixth places were covered by 0.733.
Thanks to Mack Tsang for a picture of his STX 325is taken by Ric Q.
Last but not least it's worth noting Jerry Mouton's 1964 Jaguar XK-E ran this weekend in C-Street. I'll just leave this picture here and let you see why it's worth noting...
Click here for complete 2014 Crow's Landing Championship Tour event results.
