Event Results
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.
