“Thinkin’ of Lincoln” Provides Final Tune-up Before Nationals
Irvine, CA – Cal Club Autocross was back at El Toro Marine Base on Sunday, August 20 for the ninth event of the year. Nearly 160 people took to the runway-style course designed by Jonathon Lugod, in which many competitors enjoyed some final tune-ups prior to the start of Solo Nationals in September. The first group of the day featured the raw sound of Classic American Muscle cars. Greg Nelson took the win in CAM-C by seven-tenths over Paul Molina, finding faster times in each of his four runs. Chad Ryker stood on his second run in the seven-driver CAM-T class, earning a sixth-tenths victory over Michael Cuthbertson, with Efrain Diaz rounding out the podium finishes.
Thomas Frecentese also stood on his second run to win C Street, edging out Leonard Cachola by .636. Stephen Yeoh only needed one run to win the eight-person Street Touring Sport class, finishing the course nearly seven tenths faster than Pete Loney, with Craig Naylor in third. Course designer Lugod also only needed his first run to win Street Touring eXtreme, besting co-driver Terence Chang by .347 while Jeff Wong came in third just .169 back. Lugod also took the top spot in the overall PAX standings with his performance. Every driver in D Street saved their best run for last, but it was Max Hayter who ultimately claimed top honors winning by .663 over Mitch Metling. Street Mod Combined—consisting of cars from SSM, SM, and SMF—came down to final runs as Julian Manolov held off Marco Cruz by just .072. Matt Jones won A Street by 3.2 seconds over Randy Gonzalez. Brandon Porambo stayed clean on all four of his runs to win California Street Touring by half a second over Jonathan Hartendorp. After the lunch break, five juniors took to the course. Tomo Wakayama won Junior A over Robert Ekstrand, Shelby Baltazar won Junior B against Tadao Nakata, and Lakshmi Nakata raced in Junior C. E Street witnessed a battle between co-drivers as Kai Hur improved in each of his runs to defeat Edward Tsui by .194, while Dennis Hubbard was in third just .126 back. Street Touring Roadster was another tight afternoon class as the first four drivers were within half a second of each other. James Yom only got one clean run of his four attempts, but it was enough to win the 11-driver class by .176 against Reed Gibson. Michael Yanase finished third .224 behind, while Bob Endicott was fourth just .160 back. Another close clash was witnessed in B Street, as Tom Tanquary stood on his first run to defeat Mihail Milkov by two-tenths. Lisa Berry likewise earned the PAX Ladies victory by .271 over Jessica Pao, as Neelu Yeoh drove a different car than normal due to battery issues with the CRX. Another person driving a different car than normal was Tom Berry, who drove in the family’s BMW after the Evo broke on Saturday. Jeff Stuart had the raw times to defeat Berry and win the PAX class, but coned away the victory. The six-driver C Modified class was led by Eric Clements, who bested Jason Swindle by .887 (although Swindle had the raw time to win but hit two cones). Scott McHugh took the H Street win by half a second over Silvio Zucchet, while George White won Super Stock R by 1.8 seconds over Cathy Strovers, and Brian Howlett won Historic 1 by 3.4 seconds over Cal Woolsey. Cal Club Autocross returns to El Toro for the final time of 2017 on September 23-24.
