Topeka, KAN. (June 20, 2017) - The 2017 Tire Rack Devens Championship Tour continued the SCCA Solo® season with overcast skies and some leftover moisture from the previous day. A number of people were coming to Devens for the first time, while others returned after a number of years away from the unique site. The course was set up on part of an ex-military runway and two taxiways in the shape of a triangle with a course length of nearly a mile. Despite the gloomy weather, competitors were excited to take on the Brian Levesque-designed course, a challenging layout with many transitional elements that have become the staple of the Devens runway.
Highlights in the first heat included a tight battle in A Street, with Erik Carlson, Matthew English, Pat Salerno, and Mark Sarcevicz all within a half-second of each other in the 65’s going into Sunday’s runs. That battle was for second, however, as Mark Daddio took a commanding 2.9 second lead, consistently putting runs in nearly a second clear of the field at any time. Of course, the runner-up fight came down to last runs, with Carlson pulling a 60-flat on the reversed Sunday course, edging him out over English with Salerno claiming the final trophy spot.
Also running in first heat was E Street Prepared, with seven drivers split between Ford Mustangs and Infiniti G35’s. Saturday runs concluded with Ben Spatafora in his Infiniti G35 holding nearly a 1-second lead as PJ Corrales in another G35 coned away faster runs. The pressure was on the next day as from the start it Bryan Mancuso set the pace by making up the differential on the strength of a 58.9. Spatafora’s answer on the second run was quick but dirty, leaving just one run to go as Corrales dropped to within two tenths of Mancuso. On final runs, both Mancuso and Spatafora DNF’ed runs, with Spatafora’s co-driver also managing an off-course excursion, leaving the door open for Corrales to take the win on a 58.7.
Second heat saw a couple of the biggest classes, H Street and Street Touring R. In HS the Ford Fiesta ST’s held the top spots, with the Mini Cooper of Jack Nguyen trying to keep them honest while managing to stay within a half-second of the leaders. Ted Descovich held the lead going into Sunday’s runs, and defended it as the first HS car into the 64’s. His 64.7 sealed the deal over Nathan Winters, who managed to stay ahead of Jason Fair. Fair was unable to clean up his own 64 second run. Nguyen rounded out the trophies in 4th.
Down in STR, a trio of brand-new Mazda Miata drivers battled for the top spot. Co-drivers Mark Dudek and Will Koscielny held first and second ahead of Darren DiSimo after Saturday competition. DiSimo took advantage of Koscielny’s coned second run to slip into the bridesmaid position, as Dudek continually dropped time to the tune of a 58.0 on his final run. This gave him a half-second win over DiSimo as Koscielny was relegated to third, unable to match the pace of his second run while staying clean.
The closest class of the day goes to C Street, where Brian Doherty and Mark Shrivastava battled it out in their respective Mazdas, Doherty in the RX-8 and Shrivastava in his ND Miata. On Saturday’s runs Doherty held the early lead and finished with a 65.9, just about three tenths ahead of Shrivastava. On Sunday’s course, the tables turned, with Shrivastava taking the lead early on with a 60.5 as Doherty could only manage a 62. As Doherty dropped time, Shrivastava did as well, with the final runs culminating in both drivers improving, and Shrivastava holding onto a 0.004 second lead.
In the final heat, Super Street R managed a five-car class full of Corvettes, with Grant Reeve and Evan Schickel battling for the top spot throughout the weekend. Saturday had Grant standing on his first run with a cone and DNF following, as Schickel managed a 62.8 for a half second lead. With some car changes on Sunday, Grant answered back with a pair of 57’s to start as Schickel was unable to answer back. The final 56.5 for Reeve was enough to hold the lead as Schickel finished a half second back in second place.
C Modified also managed a five-car class, with Josh Parker getting the early upper hand over the co-driving pair of David Thomas and Jeff Anderson. Dirty runs by all three on Sunday let Parker hold the lead as his second run cleaned up to a 54.2, with Anderson finding a 53.9 with a cone. Parker matched both the time and cone on his final run, leaving the door open for Anderson to go for broke with a 52.9 that would have been enough if not for a pair of cones also attached to the run. Thomas cleaned his final run up to take second with a 54.3, and Josh Parker held on to the class win.
When awards were presented under the event party tent, a significant number of entrants stayed around, giving the event a strong community feel. Of special note during the awards was the presentation of the Grand Master Award, better known as the “Get Off My Lawn” award, presented to one of the more senior drivers for an outstanding drive at the event. The tent erupted with applause when it was awarded to local driver John Williamson. Howard Duncan, Senior Director of Rally/Solo, noted that while he was watching ESP drivers on the west end of the course, despite John being outgunned in the class when he volunteered to move from STP to ESP to help make a class, he was driving very aggressively and was carving through the course with spot-on lines. Even though Williamson may have been the oldest driver on site at 80 years old, he was driving like a young champion.
The Tire Rack Championship Tour continues with the Tire Rack Bristol Championship Tour, June 30 - July 2.
Words and Photo by PJ Corrales
