Changing Weather Conditions Keep Things Interesting at Autocross #6
Cal Club Autocross returned to El Toro Marine Base in Irvine, CA on Sunday, June 11 for the sixth event of the 2017 season. Changing weather conditions in the morning kept things interesting while clear skies in the afternoon provided excellent competition on the runway style course.
The largest class of the day, Street Touring Roadster with 13 entries, got things started off on the right foot with an intense battle for the top spot. The initial lead was shared between a couple of people before Michael Yanase ultimately triumphed by edging out Sebastian Rios by a mere .085. Bob Endicott finished third while Reed Gibson (first event in his new car) took the final trophy spot. It should be noted that Ken Motonishi, who placed sixth, had the raw times to win but was dirty.
Dennis Hubbard led from start to finish in the eight-person E Street class to win by .261 over Mark Wolfe, while Sidney Chang likewise led from the gate to win F Street by 1.4 seconds. It was a different contest in H Street, where Silvio Zucchet came from behind to earn the win over Bill Martin with a 1.2-second improvement between his third and fourth runs.
G Street witnessed a battle between first (Kaustav Acharya—out of retirement) and second (Michael Parker) as the pair were ultimately separated by just .021. PAX Ladies featured similar competition as Jessica Pao held off Lisa Berry for the win by again just .021. Kencey Christopher finished third just .188 back while Neelu Yeoh had the raw time to win the class on her fourth run, but coned to finish fifth.
Marshall Grice in the A-Modified ACME Special claimed top honors in the 10-person PAX class (as well as overall PAX honors), winning by 2.1 seconds over Tom Berry. Sadly, the A-Modified car will be moving to Texas as owner KJ Christopher leaves the Cal Club region for better opportunities.
George While won Super Stock R by 1.2 seconds over Cathy Strovers, while Reinaldo Pena-Huerta emerged on top of Super Street Prepared by seven-tenths over Anthony Pena. For the sixth time this year, Brian Howlett won Historic 1 by five seconds.
C Modified witnessed a shakeup at the top as Jason Swindle, winner of four previous CM events this year, finished second to Eric Clements by nearly seven-tenths. There were some issues with the mod car that contributed to Swindle only taking two runs with co-driver Casey Quinn completing three.
Following the lunch break, two junior classes took to the course with Cyan Kalman winning Junior A by eight tenths over Robert Ekstrand and Shelby Baltazar winning Junior B over Samuel Barrish.
Among the three Classic American Muscle classes, the closest contest was in CAM-C with Greg Nelson needing a fast fourth run to fend off Paul Molina for the one-tenths win. Jordan Wilkins earned a 3.2 second victory in CAM-S while Chad Ryker won CAM-T for the third time this year with a 4.1 second win.
Leonard Cachola won C Street with a fast second run to beat course-design Thomas Frecentese by .612, while Randy Gonzalez won A Street by almost three seconds. Pete Loney claimed first place honors in the eight-person Street Touring Sport class, the first time he has ever won by standing on his first run. Kai Hur finished in second .855 back while Stephen Yeoh rounded out the podium a tenth behind.
Another great class on the day was Street Touring eXtreme, which saw Jeff Wong come from behind to earn a .039 win over Jonathan Lugod (who coned away the winning run on lap three). Nicole Wong finished in third place 1.3 seconds back while Adam Tarnoff was .014 back in fourth.
The smallest margin of victory on Sunday went to Max Hayter, who improved by eight-tenths from his third to fourth runs to move past co-driver Jason Isley for the .007 D Street victory. Chris Holmes came in third place with Brett Madsen in fourth.
Julian Manolov won Street Mod Combined (featuring cars from SSM, SM, and SMF) for the fourth time this season with a .793 edge over Marco Cruz. Brandon Porambo likewise won California Street Touring for the third time this year, defeating Michael Bradley by only two-tenths.
Cal Club Autocross returns to El Toro in Irvine for the seventh event of 2017 on Sunday, July 9.
