Connecticut Autocross and Rally Team Autocross # 5: Familiar faces return
Sunday, June 25, the Connecticut Autocross and Rally Team met at the Rowley Spring parking lot in Bristol, Connecticut. Ninety one drivers, including twenty four novices signed in for the event under clear, sunny skies. It was good to see Rick Alexander and Brian Moran return to autocrossing after taking a brief hiatus from competition. It was the second time this year the traveling road show has visited the Rowley lot, starting a 5 event stand at the facility.
Course designer Bill Evans went to work fitting a course to the Rowley pavement. During the novice runs on the first round, it was decided to make a course adjustment, in the interest of maintaining event flow. As a result, times dropped from 100 seconds per run to less than 40.
The course was arranged in a figure eight pattern, over simplifying it a great deal. The start was a wide left one eighty with a slight off center at the end. This went into a fast right three hundred fifteen degree turn. This was a fast portion, relatively wide until the last forty five degree section. The turn went tight, the gates narrowed down, and you had to get whoa'd down for the following forty five degree left. This looked like a cone killer on the walk thru, but it was strangely peaceful during the event. The combination of tight turn, tight gate intimidated most people. After this tight section, you were now turning left on the bottom of the "8". Another fast section with a slalom thrown in to keep you honest. A tight button hook left at the bottom of the course fed you into the left right center section combo, and the opportunity once again to make haste. Across the center, gathering speed, and then the tight, right finish. The second inside cone at the finish went down so many times we were going to spring mount it to save the corner workers. A few drivers suffered an off course penalty for failing to come to a full stop at the finish.
As a result of running some small courses this year, the FTD battle has gotten to be great entertainment. Horsepower helps, but the handling guys now stand a chance, and are making the most of it. Joe Solury had control of FTD until run number three when Nick Fanacone made a successful charge at it. Chris Zelle, Sherman Baumann and Brian Moran, jumped into the fun. With each pass, a new low number was recorded, and the crowd really enjoyed the battle. With the last run, Joe Solury won FTD, beating Nick Fandacone by .134 seconds. Chris Zelle was third, Sherman Baumann was forth and Brian Moran was fifth.
By class, Joe Solury (Corvette) won AS, beating Pete Day (Evo). CS, the all Miata class, was won by Kahren Seinyan, beating Quinn Kizis. Todd Kean (Impreza) won GS, beating Joe Rathbun (Neon). HS laurels go to Tom Cavuto (Jetta) defeating Roger Booth (Mini). ASP was a strong comeback victory for Brian Moran (Corvette) beating Stan Marcewicz (Elise). Paul Omichinski (Porsche 924) won CSP by less than eight tenths of a second, beating Chris DiFiore (MR2). It was a tight battle in DSP as Robert Pielli Jr. (Cooper S) won by less than half a second over Matt Cummings (Jetta). Mark Eastwood (Mustang) took ESP over James Jaffe (Legacy).
STS was won by James Reinle (Honda) beating Julia Walters (Boxster) by 1.1 seconds. James Velgot (STI) scored a strong win in SM over Michael Sousa (WRX). Fiero Prepared (FP) had a ringer entrant as Rick Alexander brought out the Rolling Roc after over a year layoff. It did not good, it was life as usual, Jay Bode over Bob Doiron. AM showcased some unusual cars, with Sherman Baumann's hill climbing Dwarf beat Tom Duran's Superformance 7 roadster. Chris Zelle showed off the new paint job on his MR2, winning DM over Andris Skulte's twin turbo Camaro. SM2 was won by Nick Fandacone's 350Z over Stephen Gartner's sneaky fast turbo Miata. In the novice classes, Jordan Pagano (YN Saab 99), Michael Dumont (XN Honda S2000) and Jeff Rivard (ZN WRX) all advance out of novice with class wins.
