Photo Credit: Anthony Porta
The first day of the 2015 San Diego Championship Tour is in the books. There were some interesting features racers had to contend with, like the long slalom in the back, and an exciting finish that required a quick, confident flick to get the car through the last element.
"The course was fast,"Jonathan Lugod, leader in STU, explained afterwards. "It was definitely faster than it walked." Lugod came in with a time of 47.209, 0.351 seconds over Jeff Stuart. Expect some reshuffling in the pack as the first through fourth spots are only separated by six-tenths of a second. Both George Schilling and Anthony Porta, leading CM and BSP respectively, repeated the sentiment about the course being fast, and declared that the layout was well suited to their cars.
Porta used a third-run 45.672 to take a two-tenth lead over Tony Rivera. "The car has been a work in progress from the beginning of the year," Porta said. "This is the first big event with the new suspension setup, and it's just a matter of trusting the car and trusting the tires. Porta's co-driver, Steve O’Blenes, who had the best raw time in the class but was dirty in each of his runs, rounds out the trophies in third.
Photo Credit: Anthony Porta
Schilling stopped the clocks with a 43.018, seven-tenths faster than Jonathan Clement. "I have tough competition," Schilling stated. "Both Jon and Eric are hard to beat. They're not going to roll over tomorrow; they're going to look to beat me and I'm going to try to beat them."
In BS, Jeff Bandes leads a class of 16 drivers with a time of 49.306, seven-tenths ahead of Tom Kenna in second. Byron Goodman, Julius Bernardo, and Ben Clement round out the trophy spots in third, fourth, and fifth respectively.
Mark Scroggs is the day-one leader in GS with a time of 48.209, almost two and a half seconds ahead of second place (and also third top PAX of the day), while Brenda Barnes used a third-run 52.295 to vault into the lead in BSPL over two competitors.
Photo Credit: Brian Peters
Brian Peters is almost a second ahead of Tim Bergstrom in ESP with a time of 45.632—good enough for the second-best overall PAX of the day. "Today was about being clean, executing without over driving," Peters elucidated. "There's a lot of time to be lost out there."
Glen Hernandez leads AS by less than three tenths with a 48.604, while Sean O’Boyle has a 1.094 advantage over John Laughlin in FS. Jayson Woodruff and Kaustav Acharya are separated by a mere 0.037 in DS, so expect some shifting in the trophies as the top four competitors are all within eight-tenths of each other.
Photo Credit: Anthony Porta
Mary Pozzi, running in CAMT, is leading a seven-person class by 1.331 seconds with a time of 50.619. "Getting the car set up for this course was really critical to do well," she illuminated. Tom Kamman is second followed by Ian Sakurai for the third trophy spot.
Photo Credit: John Laughlin
Photo Credit: Peter Loney
Photo Credit: John Laughlin
Matt Ales is the STS leader by four tenths over Stephen Yeoh, who only got one run in due to car troubles. In the 12-person class, Pete Loney is third while Steve Ekstrand is fourth. "Hopefully I can use my advantage to keep the lead tomorrow," Ales said. But don’t be surprised if Yeoh comes from behind on day two. The top four competitors are also all on Bridgestones, putting stock in the Japanese rumor mill that the tires are two percent faster. Also note the pictures above, which document an amazing story regarding Stephen's car and a local's daily driver... and an engine swap after Day 1. More on this story tomorrow!
Shauna Rios added some truth to this rumor, explaining, "The car felt great on our new Bridgestone tires, and gave me a lot of confidence." She leads the STRL contingent of ladies by almost two seconds, stopping the clocks with a 48.812. Husband Sebastian Rios, leading STR by 0.645 seconds, described: "As long as you committed, got it done right, and turned in early, you were good."
Marshall Grice took advantage of a great third run to lead SSM by nearly a second, coming in at 44.235, 5th overall in PAX. Ryan Johnson sits second while Mitch Fagundes has the last trophy spot.
Alcino Axevedo paces the four-person CAMS class with a 51.260, while Eileen Blando got it done on her second lap to lead CSL by one second. In ES, Vernon Jolley has less than a two-tenths lead over Alex Johnson, and is only half a second ahead of Paul Newton.
Tom Berry paces SM with a 45.439, almost 1.4 seconds ahead of Greg McCance. Robert Stangaron is in second with Michael Yanase and course designer Peter Bollenbeck rounding out the trophies. Look for the racers to move around on day two as second through seven are separated by just three-tenths.
"My game plan for today was to drive as hard as I could without hitting a cone, and being mindful of the breaking zones," Adrian Cardenas, CS day-one leader, specified. The 16-person class might see some turnover in trophy spots on day two as the top four racers are separated by only half a second.
Photo Credit: Max Hayter
Brandon Porambo leads STX after a first-run 48.697. Max Hayter is close on his heels in second just two-tenths back, while Edison Tran and John Burrows are third and fourth respectively.
In DP, Ted Lewis maintains a 1.153 lead over Darlene Pittman, but she is just 0.032 ahead of Robbie Robinson. Michael Heinitz leads the seven-person STF class with a 49.513, leading Travis Sackwar by close to eight-tenths.
The future of our sport exhibited close competition as Kevin Jung and Zak Kiesel were separated by less than two-tenths in JA.
Mark Huffman of DM holds the top PAX time of the day.
