Day 1 Results
Photo Credit: Anthony Porta
In the first group on day one of the 2016 TireRack Crows Landing Championship Tour, STR driver Sebastian Rios jumped out of his car following his first run, grinning from ear to ear and exclaiming how fun the course was. “I only broke three times!” Those sentiments would be echoed throughout the day as all competitors greatly enjoyed the fast, flowing course that rewarded those who stayed committed to the throttle. With speeds reaching in excess of 80 mph for well-prepped cars, the former Crows Landing airbase enjoyed beautiful weather and intense competition for the West Coast’s first championship tour.
Each of the six A-Street drivers drove fastest on their third runs, but it was Glen Hernandez who pulled out the best time to take a .895 advantage heading into the second day. Hernandez also had a top-10 PAX finish and is the fastest street-class car on day one. B-Street is a tightly contested race as Tony Rodriguez, Alex Muresan, and Dan Bullis are all within 0.157 of each other, meaning that any of them could take home the crown on Sunday.
The main story in C-Street is leader Jonathan Stroud, who, had he not coned his third run, would have had a full second advantage in the 17-driver class. With the cone, though, Stroud leads co-driver Jason Stroud by four-tenths, with Jeffrey Bandes, Eric Chiang, and Ahren Renner rounding out the trophy spots. In C-Street Ladies, Deana Kelley holds a .433 advantage over Eileen Blando, while Zachary Heidepri leads the Miata filled E-Street class by 1.79 seconds over Craig Boyle.
Each of the trophy positions in F-Street all used a fast third run to gain time, with Mark Scroggs besting Ryan Otis by a mere .018 for the one-two combo. This close competition is one of the main reasons why Scroggs made the jump to FS from G-Street last year. Matt Ales is seven-tenths back for third while Sean O’Boyle and Richard Jones round out the top five. F-Street Ladies is likewise a tight battle between first and second place as Lacey Otis in her Camaro leads Jessica Cauthier in her Mustang by only .064.
Co-drivers Kit Gauthier and John Laughlin lead the five-person G-Street Class, with Gauthier on top by two-tenths. Another co-driver pair has the advantage in H-Street, as Russell Bowlus also has a two-tenths advantage over Grant Wood.
Husband and wife duo Jeff and Nicole Wong pace the 11-person STS class by about two seconds: Jeff is .366 ahead of Nicole while Nicole is 1.9 faster than third-place George Hammond. Hammond has two racers on his heel, as Craig Naylor is only a tenth back and Oliver Taylor two-tenths; so those three will be battling it out for the final two trophy spots on Sunday.
Jeff Stuart is the day-one leader in STU, taking an eight-tenths lead over Doug Mikko, while Teddie Alexandrova is half a second back for the third and final trophy spot. In STR, the two competitors favored heading into the race are indeed one-two, with James Yom in his Honda S2000 leading by .331 ahead of Ron Bauer in his Mazda Miata. Kevin Dietz is only .141 behind in third, though, so expect a close finish on Sunday. In STR-Ladies, Shauna Rios had the early lead with a great first run, but Kate Fisher found nearly two seconds to leapfrog into first by .779.
Expect a massive battle for first place in the 20-person STX class on Sunday, as Karlton Lew is.058 ahead of Justin Tsang, who in turn is only .130 in front of Ken Motonishi. In fact, the top seven drivers are all within seven-tenths of each other. In STX-Ladies, Mindi Cross in her Scion FR-S is nearly half a second ahead of Amy Coleman.
STP, with all four drivers in Ford Mustangs, will come down to the wire on Sunday as Christopher Cox leads Steve Wynne but a mere .048. Not to be outdone, the 12-person SSP class is another that will be determined by final-day runs, as Brian Peters has a .047 advantage over Steve Lau in his Porsche 911 GT3 RS.
To top both of those, D-Prepared, with nine competitors, is still another class that will come down to Sunday runs, as Ron Baker is ahead of Bret Dodson by only .028. Andrew McKee (fourth overall in PAX) is the frontrunner in X-Prepared, leading co-driver and wife Teresa by 1.741, while Mike Maier (third-overall PAX) owns a healthy four-second advantage over Jason Braunberger in C-Prepared.
If not for a cone on his third run, Jason Merritt would have the lead in Street Modified, but as we all know, cones count, and Geoff Clark took full advantage of that with a .376 lead. Peter Bollenbecker will look to gain some ground, as he is only two-tenths back in third place.
Donald Lewis is the leader in SMF by four-tenths over Paul Fritze. Class-favorite Bret Norgaard was not able to take any of his runs as co-driver Bryon Goedeker striped second gear on his first start.
Moving to modified classes, Matthew Ellam leads B-Modified (and the overall field with top PAX) with a blistering time, .236 ahead of co-driver Tom Ellam. Ben Martinez has a four-tenths advantage over Eric Clements in C-Modified, while George Schilling has the last trophy position in the eight-driver class.
The CAM classes have strong leaders as Sean Breese has a healthy 3.3-second advantage over Joel Villareal in CAMS, Dennis Healy likewise owns a 5.3 second lead over Jake Obniski in CAMC, and Mary Pozzi is beating all the guys in the nine-person CAMT class by 2.5 seconds.
Tune in live on Sunday as cones, courage, and competition will define day two at the 2016 TireRack Crows Landing Championship Tour.
