Photo Credit: Barbara Seeger

The tires have now cooled and the trophies distributed from another phenomenal day of Solo competition here at the Devens Championship Tour. It’s really been a fantastic event here in Massachusetts as the weather, drivers and community have come together to put on a spectacular weekend. Drivers fought hard on this Sunday, June 14th of 2015 with very close battles across many classes throughout the morning and afternoon.

Jumping right into our Street classes, Mark Daddio pulled off the win in A Street throwing down an incredible 68.450 on his second run, 1.3 seconds over Jeremy Prati’s best. Prati had the lead going into Sunday and fought hard but did not have enough to keep up with Daddio. A great battle between them, hats off to both drivers. Moving to B Street, Evan Schieckel held on to his lead in his C5 Corvette. In C Street, Brent Vander Werf secured the win in his 2011 Miata over Brian Doherty, who had the lead after yesterday’s runs. Brian had the winning raw time but coned away the run and did not have the same pace on his third run. He finished three hundredths behind Vander Werf; Doherty will go home with a second place trophy.

Next up, in E Street we saw another shuffle of the trophies, Rich Wayne had the fastest time on Sunday’s course, but not enough to make up for yesterday’s time. Daniel Podolski had the lead going into Sunday but struggled with the cones for two of his runs. Your E Street winner was Ed Lange with a three tenths lead over Wayne and Podolski finishes in third, nice driving there. In G Street, Matt Jones drove his FoST to the top trophy spot over Charlie Thompson, only two tenths behind. Patrick Huxley held onto his lead in H Street and will go home with a victory. In Devens' spec-Corvette class, Grant Reeve piloted his C5 to an impressive 64.903 on his third run, securing the win in SSR. Sam Strano came in second driving Laurence Casey’s car on Sunday; he had some mechanical issues with his car after Saturday's runs. Sam had the lead in SSR going into Sunday’s runs, but Reeve put it all on the line to go home with the victory nine tenths in front of Strano. In the third trophy spot is Josh Luster, who very nearly had a winning run, but just nicked the entry cone of the final slalom. His raw time would have had him about a tenth behind Reeve. Excellent driving by SSR drivers, and by all Street drivers at the Devens Champ Tour.

Street Touring classes saw a lot of action on Sunday too. Starting off in Street Touring Extreme, Don Slevin came through the lights on his second run with almost a seven tenths advantage over Saturday’s STX leader, John Rappa. Both drivers coned their final run leaving the finishing order with Slevin in first, Rappa in second and David Thomas, who also had a fast time on Sunday, in third. With Street Touring Roadster being the largest class at this year's Devens Champ Tour, trophy spots where tough to acquire. As expected, we saw some amazing drives and a hard fought battle to first place. Joseph Ottofaro, Saturday's leader, got bumped out of first after William Koscielny put down an amazing, class-leading, 67.965 on his first go at Sunday's course. William was in fourth going into Sunday’s runs and clearly showed up and drove with one focus on his mind, that top trophy seat. Onto second runs in STR, Daniel Stainback jumps from eighth place after Saturday's runs (and coning his first Sunday run) all the way into the trophies, sitting in the number three position. But Joseph Ottofaro hadn't had enough yet and put down a 68.640, not the fastest of STR's Sunday times, but enough to give him just under a four hundredths lead over Koscielny. In the third runs, drivers in the trophy spots were not able to decrease their times, leaving the finishing order with Joseph Ottofaro in first, followed by William Koscielny in second, and Daniel Stainback, Evan Clavijo and Sam Tocci in third, fourth, and fifth, respectively. Fantastic driving by the top-down drivers on Sunday.

As we look to our R-compound classes, Billy Davis extended his lead over his father, Bob Davis, in their 1999 CSP Miata. Billy also sits in top PAX overall, with a painful 2.4 seconds over the next driver. Phenomenal driving by Billy Davis, home to the New England Region. In ESP, Bryan Mancuso danced his Infiniti around the course to the top trophy spot. Erik Carlson, Saturday’s ESP leader, could not find another two tenths on Sunday's course so he finished second, followed by Adam George in the third trophy position. In Street Mod, Brian Kuehl slipped past Rachel Baker in his '91 CRX with a nine hundredths lead. Rachel went home with the second place trophy in SM. Great job by those drivers in SM. As we move to the Prepared classes, we saw a lot of cars competing out of their comfort zone. David White drove "Panda" in XP to a first place trophy, even with a one-cone penalty on his fastest run. Jake Namer finished second in XP, also with a one-cone penalty on his fastest Sunday time. Finally, Jeffrey Bakken finished first in CAM-C in his 2015 Chevy SS (Ahem, Classic American Muscle, but a gorgeous looking car nonetheless) over Joseph Haskell in his 2014 Mustang GT.

Photo Credit: Hamfist Racing

Reports from the drivers and general verdicts from the attendees indicate that the 2015 Tire Rack Devens Championship Tour was a huge success. NER put on a great event that ran smoothly throughout the weekend. PJ Corrales provided an awesome course layout that was a blast to drive on both Saturday and Sunday, and even left drivers wanting some alone time to burn through their tires on, it was that much fun to drive. A massive thank you goes out to NER and all who made it happen, including the SCCA event staff, the drivers and their support teams. We’re starting the countdown to the next Devens Tour right now! Thank you for having us and until next time, Devens!