Left Image: Mark Scroggs. Images Below: Mary Pozzi.

Well, folks, the Crows Pro is done and put to bed, almost 200 entrants got plenty of seat time and opportunities to challenge the fast, slalom-intensive courses, and we got to crown some new and returning Challenge Champions. Your ace reporter here conducted plenty of interviews, watched over 2400 runs (yes, I was there watching the sun rise over the Eastern Sierras and set gently past the Coastal Ranges to the west on both days), and shot about a million photographs commemorating each and everyone's runs in various digital images), celebrated successes of some and the heartbreak of failure in others. Our SCCA San Francisco Region knows what it takes to host an event of this size and level, and under capable guidance from co-chairs, Ed Runnion and Charlie Davis, made sure every "i" was dotted and "t" crossed leaving nothing to chance.

Solo is a sport where you can win... and lose. Add to this the Starting Light Tree and while you may not win with a satisfactory launch, you sure can lose with a bad, or even worse, a hasty launch. Going over the results showed that Saturday's predictions for this Pro being a full-on Sunday event were mostly true as almost 25 percent made their last runs on each course their best which definitely affected class placings. It was a true "Moving Day" for many as several classes were decided by thousandths and the short side of tenths while others were half-second leads. Only a handful had the leader over a second, perhaps two, ahead of the next fastest driver. And yes... cones and greediness at the lights caught up with more than a few.

As for individual class wrap-ups, there was some moving and shaking going on with conage and delayed starts (can’t forget that 15-second Shot Clock as it’s always ticking down) being huge factors. One of these classes affected was L2 as Barbara LeRoy-Boehme leaped from lower mid-pack on Saturday to the top spot with two huge runs, both clean, both quite fast, ahead of Jocelyn Huang. LeRoy-Boehme coned early Saturday, cleaned up runs in the afternoon, and with deceptive elegance and smoothness behind the wheel, didn't put a wheel wrong in that Corvette. LeRoy-Boehme’s strategy was simple as she told me afterwards that she really worked on the launches and the 60' times knowing how important they were for an overall fast time. Huang, driving her Porsche GT3, didn't go quietly and ended up .178 behind LeRoy-Boehme while L2 El Toro winner, Shelly Monfort, settled for third about three-tenths back and knew there was more time in the little Focus; she was one that "found" the course on the final two runs. She also found every single control on that car on various runs over the two-day competition while trying to shift to third... front wipers, rear wipers, several gears, horn, and probably Jimmy Hoffa as well. The top five in L2 were separated by mere tenths ensuring all would see each other in the Ladies Challenge.

L3 was a three-way battle for top honors as A. Tasha Mikko, Michelle Miller, and Shauna Rios knew the high stakes involved and what it would take to get there. On Saturday, Miller had it but Sunday brought coned runs and a RL in the black STF MINI. Mikko took advantage, kept things (mostly) clean, turned her fastest left side time on the final run, and brought home the win in the STU Mitsubishi Evo by .539 second. Even ten minutes after the Evo was resting in Impound, Mikko, wide-eyed and excited, said "I'm STILL shaking over that last run. This is my first Pro class win!" Rios finished third about a tenth back from Miller. Of these three, Mikko and Miller advanced to the Ladies Challenge.

And for L1, it was all Christine Grice as she showed grace and superior driving skills in the ASP Mitsubishi Evo by almost 3.5 seconds. No other driver had a thing to throw at Grice and if she hasn't already, she'll be one that makes an indelible mark on our sport of Solo. Unable to contend on Sunday was Laurie Hyman as the Godzilla Nissan GT-R on Steroids chose her first Sunday run to chew up a front axle. Grice took Top Qualifier spot for the Ladies Challenge.

Bump 4 grid looked like a cioppino of cars as you had SSR Loti and Corvettes indexed against KM Tony Karts, ASP Evo’s against SMF Hondas, and a lone DSP BMW that was right there on time but dirty on cones. Class winner, Tom Berry (ASP Mitsubishi Evo) continued making flawless trips through the cones keeping almost a full second ahead of runner-up, Paul Russell, in that speedy Tony Kart.

Also keeping the lead at the end of Sunday's competition was R2's Andy McKee. He powered the highly modified Mazda RX-7 through the courses seamlessly taking the class win over Ron Bauer. Bauer. driving a gorgeous Mazda MX-5, took advantage of Moving Day leaping ahead of Justin Moore and Teresa Neidel-McKee. He was quite cone-dirty on Saturday but sealed the deal Sunday on the final runs to cut that 2.5 second deficit down to a mere second. McKee told me Saturday, "He's coming. If he can keep things clean, he'll be there." McKee also said that the high afternoon winds played havoc with anything that had aero.

In R1, Jeff Kiesel had cone issues and a RL in the lime-green KFR Turbo Sprite and needed over a second to reclaim the lead coming into Sunday's runs. That he did being one of the many 25 percenters that got it done on the final runs. His overall combined time was TTOD for the event and Kiesel knew that staying clean was the ticket for the win. KJ Christopher driving a really cool AM ACME Special also fell prey to the dreaded winds and told me "I couldn't match the times I set yesterday as the car was very drag-limited today." Kiesel needed wind, got it, and coupled with great driving, capitalized on the unforeseen Gods of Wind to take the class win.

Continuing in the Kiesel family winning ways was Tony Kart driver, Zak Kiesel. Just turning 15, this is his last year in this class, FJA, and I look for him to start driving with dad, Jeff, later this year.

For FJB, Robert Ekstrand slept well Saturday night and continued to set fast times Sunday taking the win in the Cosmic Mercury kart.

The all Ford Mustang class, ESP, had cones affecting the final outcome as runner-up, Tim Bergstrom, caught two on his fastest raw time for Sunday. Bergstrom told me "The Top Three are bunched together by three-tenths and it's anyone's win. You can't lay up at all and there's no margin for error." Class winner, John Hogan, was gracious as he knew he was the benefactor of mistakes and said it best, "You can be good, be lucky, or be BOTH." Hogan took the class win by .280 second.

Watching a car driving off course is routine. Seeing one being towed through the Finish is another. And when the back end of said towed car is up on roller dolleys, it hits you right in the feels knowing that for all intent and purposes, the event for that car is over! Such it was when the Bollenbecker Subaru arrived in Impound with the left rear kicked outwards like a bent pretzel. We all felt for SM’s Peter Bollenbecker as wife Diane made her first runs successfully. For his turn, the class leader heard the bearing go at the initial launch and wisely shut things down quick avoiding collateral damage. Even with the disastrous Sunday, Bollenbecker still held on to the SM class win. Michael Yanase switched from the usual Scion FR-S to the sister car, a Subaru BR-Z, needed a left side time, got it, and cinched the second spot moving up from fifth the day before.

Hotly contested STR was also Moving Day for Kevin Dietz as he used his final right side time Saturday and combined it with a fast first Sunday left time to move from fourth to second in the class-popular Honda S2000. Taking that top spot was Nick Bjoin in yet another S2000 by .637 second. Bjoin knew there was more grip out there and looked for sections to attack more. He told me afterwards, "These courses are more about getting on the power sooner and staying on it." Looking at the results, Dietz is most likely ruing pylons hit on fastest raw time runs as without them, that margin would have been much, much less... or even on that other side of zero.

Monty Pack's incredible Porsche GT3 RS was capably managed by SSP class winner Steve Lau. This car has been campaigned in several different autocross and track-type series and has done well no matter what the venue. Both Pack and Lau say with confidence that managing the Porsche is all about the back end. It's about stability and after Saturday's runs, some adjustments were made to improve on this. Lau was the only one that got into that elusive 29 second barrier on the left side and if clean, would have had the same on the right. "I knew on Sunday I was in the zone and much faster as I got to the limiter sooner..." said Lau. He didn't have it easy, however, as Ryan Johnson was a mere .284 behind in the ubercool Lotus Elise. As for Pack, he ended up fourth but quite pleased with the overall success of his charcoal-grey Porsche.

"I had the times but with two .480 red lights, it didn’t do my much good." said first-time Pro class winner Charly Spyksma who went on to say, "One of those reds was about a second faster so I knew I had .9 in the bank." He worked on being consistent and stayed off the cones to win STX in his Subaru WRX by about half a second over Justin Tsang, also in a WRX. Both made it to the Super Challenge. Karl Coleman, class leader on Saturday, couldn’t improve and dropped to third.

Steve Ekstrand was ruing both courses as he coned six of his 12 runs and especially so on his fastest left side scratch to stay in second, and taking valuable Pro class points, in STS. Ekstrand told me afterwards he never got a good left side run and blew every third-gear shift he made. He laughed and said, "Heck, I've blown every third-gear shift I’ve ever made in haste..." Taking the win by 1.1 seconds was Stephen Yeoh with both drivers in the popular Honda Civic.

Never putting a wheel wrong was STF class winner, Michael Heinitz, who made it look easy … too easy for some, in his Acura RSX Type-S. Sand in the trunk isn’t his motto which was a good thing for everyone else in the Super Challenge as he easily won the class.

And I have a huge correction to make as I wrote in error about a Bump 2 car and it's safe to say that Max Hayter’s cool DS Subaru doesn't have traction control as initially intimated in yesterday’s coverage. There is a human factor involved and the monster launches and fast 60' times were all about Hayter’s deft right foot. With calculators clicking index factors, it came down to Sunday's runs. Hayter turned his best on his last but after the finally tally came in, the class win stayed with Ford Focus ST driver, Mark Scroggs. Scroggs gave the right side and "all the marbles" run and told me, "This is a momentum course all the way. Any slowing down costs time exponentially. You need to pick your spot to slow down to keep your overall mph up. "The clock keeps ticking!!" Scroggs winning margin was .156 second taking both to the Super Challenge later that afternoon.

Steve O'Blenes got it done with the ultra-fast Miata taking the BSP win by almost a second. Runner-up, Tony Rivera got closest with fast Sunday times and got his chance to shine in the Bonus Challenge.

Also doing well were the two Tangs, Justin and Jensen, co-driving a fast FSP Toyota Corolla. Justin prevailed taking the win over Jensen by about half a second.

It was Moving Day for Joshua Salvage in HS. The almost all Ford Fiesta ST class made it a drivers class as the cars should be prepped the same, just plug a “shoe” behind the wheel and have at it. Salvage, sitting in third at the end of Saturday, was golden on Sunday and improved by over a second on the left side. "I wasn’t expecting this at all. My goal was to set good times that would keep me in the trophies and tried to use less brakes to keep speeds up." That he did winning HS by over half a second. Shane Jensen, co-driving third place Des Toups’ FiST, nabbed the runner-up spot by moving from ninth (yes, ninth!!) by cleaning up the right side and, of course, staying clean and RL free. Saturday's leader, Navid Kahangi, dropped to fifth behind Ed Runnion, all in the class-popular Fiesta ST’s.

In CS, it was Mazda RX-8 against Scion FR-S as Adrian Cardenas had a disastrous first right side run collecting cones but made the last run on that same side his best. This, coupled with a great left side run on Saturday, cemented the class win. Scion driver, Mike Nakata didn't go down like a sack of sand and got close with two stellar runs (right side was the fastest of the class) only allowing Cardenas a .240 second victory. I asked Cardenas the secrets to being so quick and he said ,"I held the throttle down and trusted that the RX-8 would make it. Couldn't have done this without the Bridgestone tires and they're an amazing tire for our cars. It made winning easier."

In SS, Charles Kim used good Saturday times to keep him in the top spot in this all-Porsche class. Jodi Fordahl got the courses figured out, turned her fastest times on the last runs Sunday, and stayed in second.

Jonathan Lugod continued his winning ways and took home the class STU win in the ultra-fast Chevrolet Corvette by the slimmest of margins, .020! It doesn't get any better (or closer...) than this and the lead kept passing back and forth between Mitsubishi Evo pilot, Doug Mikko, and Lugod. Both, obviously, advanced to the Super Challenge and Lugod said it best "Good racing. The way it should be."

A fresh build and three weeks later, a SSM Pro class win for David deRegt. Leading by about 2.4 seconds on Saturday, he saw this being whittled away as Bob Bundy kept improving finally breaking into that magical 29-second threshold to close that gap. "Godzilla," the most beastly GT-R on this planet, made things mechanical for owner / driver, Eric Hyman, by grenading the axle during wife Laurie's morning L1 runs. The car was repaired but with cones on fast scratch times, Hyman was relegated to third in class.

For AS, another close battle was witnessed when Ryan Otis and Glen Hernandez, both in Corvettes, pushed each other run after run that left both drivers wondering where the ceiling really was. These two often compete against each other locally and know strengths and weaknesses. "It's a very friendly rivalry," said Otis... or was it Hernandez. Either way, they were worried about potential class spoiler, James Yom. Yom got to Crows Landing late missing morning runs on Saturday. Without walking the courses, he set quick afternoon times that was one clean and three dirty. And forgot to turn off "The Nannies" too. Otis' margin of victory was a mere .070 of a second and the win wasn't finished until Hernandez made his final run.

The top three, Brian Coulson, Alex Muresan, and Cal Craner, all stayed nicely in formation leaving Saturday and finishing Sunday in BS. And all three needed clean runs to seal the class deal. Of these, Muresan appeared to have the class in hand. However, a late cone call on his first left side run on Sunday ruined that plan which allowed the class win to stay with Coulson. In Impound, Coulson enthused how much fun the Pro courses were and said "You had to take huge risks to get results. I got a great right side time to match my left and was happy." The margin of victory in this hotly contested class was about seven tenths of a second.

Our final reported class was FS and this definitely didn't disappoint. It was American V8 thunder and horsepower vs. European stealth and engineering, Ford vs BMW, Mustang vs M3. Leading after Saturday by the slimmest of margins (.088) in that Mustang, Chris Cox never relaxed nor let up as he continued to look for better lines, speed maintenance, and where to create those elusive straightaways in his early morning course walks. Knowing that Sean O'Boyle most likely had more talent in the tank made both drivers take things to new levels in search of speed. Sunday was scary for O'Boyle as going up against the Mustang in the other lane, he red lit both first runs and had to dig deep on his final ones. Cox also knew O'Boyle was coming and as a result BOTH drivers turned class fast times on their respective final runs. The outcome: O'Boyle by .254 of a second. Chris Cox had nothing but admiration for the BMW driver and said "I drove with a passion but he STOLE it." O'Boyle replied later, "Those last runs were 'Big Time' runs. The adrenaline was flowing and I tried to get a jump on Chris. Guess I left a bit early..." Great driving by both and as a result, both ended up in the Super Challenge.

The Bonus Challenge is quite cool as it gives many of us who will never taste a Super, a bite of the Challenge apple. It's luck of the draw as those that don't make the Super or Ladies Challenges on their own merit and class placings put their names in a hat and eight are picked. Even though these are the bulk mix of Pro class ingredients, there's no letting up or offering Mulligans and what's also cool is you run with your own time, not the class winners. Lights and cones mattered big as those that stayed clean advanced. And the two that made it to the final pairing were Tony Rivera (second in BSP) and Micah McElravy (7th in Bump 4). First runs had these two .034 of a second apart but as the two courses were not entirely equal, at the end it was McElravy and the fast red Miata that prevailed for the win.

For the Ladies, their Challenge also had no "gimmes," as Christine Grice was seeded first. She easily dispatched her opponents (Jami Olerich red lighted and Jocelyn Huang collecting a cone) before meeting Pam Kannan, fourth place in L2, in the final pairing. Grice finished first runs with a .341 lead and added another two tenths on the second giving her the Championship by half a second. In the runoff for the third spot, Jocelyn Huang easily bested Michelle Miller. Throughout the run up the ladder, Grice had good lights and kept her cool. She's been in this Circle of Champions before and I'm positive we will see her here again.

And for the Super Challenge, it was high stakes as all eyes were on Michael Heinitz, easy STF class winner with a huge margin. Not knowing how much "sand" was shoved underneath that Acura’s bumper was the mystery. Was it there or not? I’d talked with Heinitz, watched both Saturday and Sunday runs, and was pretty positive there was little, if any, as he’d assured me this wasn’t his intent. Still … his Sunday times were a bit slower than Saturdays. And with that, the Acura driver made it look easy while moving smoothly up the ladder pushing each opponent to either hit cones or get sloppy. That ended when Heinitz met Ryan Otis (class winner in AS). It was a fair fight as Otis ran fast times with excellent lights, .587 to Heinitz’ .604, but Heinitz prevailed taking him to the final pairing against Brian Coulson (class winner in BS). Coulson moved down the ladder in similar fashion as Heinitz, pressuring his ladder-mates into hitting cones and over-driving. Meeting in the finale, you could feel the intensity. Heinitz left first, then Coulson, and as they approached the end sweeper, they were fairly closely matched. Both seeking the finish, Heinitz finally felt the pressure by carrying too much speed into the slalom and collected a cone. He was ahead on time after first runs but with the added two seconds of penalty subtracted, all Coulson had to do was continue his fast drives and stay clean. And that he did taking the Challenge win. In the pairing for third, Andy McKee bested Ryan Otis by the slimmest of margins, .109 of a second.

I’m thinking SCCA should charge extra for these thrills...