2018 Season Concludes at December Autocross
Fontana, CA—The 2018 season ended for Cal Club Autocross on Sunday, December 9 during the 12th and final event of the year. Over 100 competitors enjoyed magnificent weather and a fun yet challenging course with some of the largest sweepers seen all year at Auto Club Speedway.
Two Junior A drivers got things started in the morning, as Shelby Baltazar led from the gate over Samuel Barrish for the .311 victory. The second closest finish of the day came from the four-driver Solo Spec Coupe class. Reed Gibson stood on his second run after coning away faster third and fourth runs, and held on as Max Hayter’s final run placed him just out of the top spot by .067.
Jack Tsou had the early lead in Street Touring Sport following the first two runs, but Andrew Aul improved by over six seconds on his third run to take the lead. Tsou followed that up with a quicker fourth run, but so too did Aul as he claimed the victory by almost four-tenths.
The second largest class of the day, California Street Touring, saw a flip flop of the leaders midway through the run group. Brandon Porambo in his S2000 led after two runs as most other competitors were dirty, but Scott Mullens in his Mx5 came in with a clean and fast third run that propelled him to the top. Although Porambo would also go faster on his third run, Adrian Cardenas in the Rx8 used a fast fourth run to slide into the second spot, with Alex Valencia in his 350z using a quick third run to place third.
The tightest battle of the day came in E Street as the top two drivers were separated by just .043—Pete Loney edged Dennis Hubbard on third runs. In F Street, Myles Wakayama led from first runs en route to a near one-second victory over David Reiner. Catherine Tran in the Mazda Rx8 improved on each of her four runs to claim a half-second win in PAXL over Jessica Pao in the Mazda Mx5.
The lone Ford in an otherwise Porsche Cayman B Street class, James Yom’s third and fastest run was enough to withstand a final push from Sebastian Rios, who cleaned up consecutive dirty runs to finish .508 in second place. Thomas Frecentese found 1.5 seconds between his first and second runs to win C Street by 1.2 seconds over Michael Parker, who finally cleaned up three dirty runs on his final lap to move up to the second spot.
The Historic Class was an all Morgan Plus 4 lineup, with Brian Howlett taking over the lead on his second run en route to a five-second victory. Bill Martin earned the win in H Street, improving on each of his runs for a 3.4 second win over Eric Wong.
Michael Yanase led in the four-driver Street Touring eXtreme class after two runs, but coned away faster third and fourth runs to open the door for Steve O’Blenes, who improved and climbed into the top spot by three-tenths on his last run. Jonathan Lugod went faster on each of his runs and led from the gate in the six-driver Street Touring Roadster class, beating out Robert Joe by over a second. Kevin Pao finished third just three-tenths back.
The largest class of the day, PAX (12 drivers), saw their standings ping pong after each run, but it was Anthony Porta who improved on each of his runs to win the class by .875. Jeff Stuart climbed into the second spot after his third run, barely beating out Tony Rodriguez in third by .022. Tom Berry stood on his second run to finish fourth by a mere .0001.
Novice had seven drivers and was led by Rory McHugh from G Street, with Marco Kok from STR in second and Chris Lara from GS in third.
Cal Club Autocross kicks off its 2019 season on Sunday, January 13 back at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana.
A big thanks to all our chiefs and volunteers!
Event Master - Randy Gonzalez Registration - Matthew Gonzalez Timing and Scoring - Rick Brown Course Designer - Anthony Porta Workers - Jonathan Lugod Tech - Kevin Pao Gate - Jessica Pao Novice Coordinator - Leonard Cachola Safety Steward - Tom Tanquary Youth Steward - Steve Ekstrand
