Photo Credit: Funphotos
In case you haven't already been making last-minute adjustments, packing the car, reviewing travel times or repeatedly checking the entry list, along with a slew of other pre-tour items, the next stop (well sort of, looking at you, Pikes Peak) on the Championship Tour is this weekend, and will take place on Moore Army Airfield in Devens, Massachusetts. The cones are stacked and ready for another fearsome battle on the 2015 Road to Lincoln calendar.
The entry list is currently showing a comfortable one-hundred and sixty-five of Northeastern's finest. The field comprises largely of Street class drivers, something we've been seeing more frequently this year. The sixty-eight Street entrants are distributed nicely, with seven different Street classes holding six or more competitors.
Starting off in A Street, we have a battle between Club Racers and C6 'Vettes. Each having their obvious advantages, we're sure to see an interesting fight in this class. Chris Morton is jumping cars to his AS Corvette after securing a DS win at the NJ Pro and is looking to gather another Street class victory. Jeremy Prati and Tim Kong, both running Hondas, are hungry for more after strong finishes at the NJ Pro as well. However, Mark Daddio, who is currently holding an AS NJ ProSolo win will be sure to put up a tough fight and lay down plenty of rubber from those massive Corvette-sized Rival S'.
The second largest class for the Devens Champ Tour will be B Street, at a modest twelve drivers. Much like A Street, the pack shows mostly S2000s and Corvettes, with one Evo 10 looking to push through the crowd. Eyes are on Evan Schickel, who is carrying two Pro wins at NJ and Wilmington coming into the tour. But Evan will need to bring his A-game as eleven other competitors will be pushing for the top spot.
Lastly for the Street classes, in G Street we see a few strong drivers in a class of eight. Matt Jones is coming in with three trophies and is determined to add another to the collection. Andy Thomas, who has been seen competing in STR, returns to his beloved Celica and Nick Babin is still hungry for a 2015 National Tour Victory. Competition will be tight across this class of three-wheeling Focus STs and Celicas.
Moving on to the Street Touring classes, to no surprise, STR is Devens' largest class for this year showing twenty-four drivers registered; five of whom are in the Ladies class. The entry list shows many fresh names to STR competition for this year as well as a few drivers already gaining traction and holding trophies. In STF we have 7 competitors comprised entirely of Mazda 2s and 3s, so expect another heavyweight versus lightweight match-up. Lastly, early Miatas continue to battle the new-for-2015 CRX in STS; seven drivers are ready to prove their car’s worth there.
For this year's Devens Champ Tour, Street and Street Touring cover most of the paddock. We’ll still brief over our race tire classes as there are a few drivers who will be sure to leave spectators in awe of what they make these machines achieve. In ASP, keep an eye out for Matt Murray in the drop-dead gorgeous BMW 1M. Those that haven’t seen this thing in action should be sure to tune in to ASP’s run group, it is one heck of a show. Next, in Street Modified FWD, Brian Kuehl has two victories in his ’91 CRX, and his co-driver Don Kuehl is quick too. They’ll be on the lookout for Ken Johnson and his co-driver Brian Levesque in their ’92 Civic Si. Our Street Modified and Super Street Modified classes include PJ Corrales’ notorious “Panda” 240-SX. While PJ is not driving it at the Devens Tour, (he’s hopped to ESP) the car will still compete with two drivers in both classes; it’s quite the machine and certainly gets driven hard. Last but certainly not least, the Devens Tour’s modified classes hold a total of nine drivers between A, B, and C Modified classes. This region is home to the “Dragons,” AM and BM cars that consistently complete mind-blowing times, don’t forget to tune in as it’s sure to happen really, really fast.
The forecast for Ayer this weekend says good chance of showers on Saturday, but high seventies and low eighties throughout the weekend. We'll see you there!
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