Top PAX Time of the day went to Jeff Kiesel (image)

With the first SCCA National style event under way in San Diego, we saw some incredible battles unfold on day one. Earlier morning runs seemed to yield faster times on course, while the afternoon temperatures dropped by about 10 degrees yielding some grip issues. With a fully sold out event and some timing issues early on, the event ran well into the sunset with the later CAM classes running well into the dark. A few classing changes last minute yielded some shuffling about, so without further ado, let’s dive into it shall we?

A-Street

Not just the cops that think that red corvettes are fast: This was a father-son duo proved that they are on course as well! Young Matthew took a pretty commanding lead in his first runs in the morning finding nearly 9 tenths of a second with his 48.106, with father, Randy trailing just over a second with a 49.287. In the PM runs, Matthew slowed down about four-tenths (48.540), with randy slowing down about a half second with a 49.754.

B- Street

Visiting from northern California, Tony Rodriguez stole the show in his AP2 from the second run in being the only car in class getting into the 49-second runs and took the win by a margin of 2.2 against Dana Lucas in his MSR Miata. Scott Schubert in 3rd was also late AP1 for the final trophy position. Fisher, in his son’s STI, found a good pace and was able to be about four tenths out of the trophies this weekend and was struggling with the short gearing in the STI. Acharya switched classes to GS, and Dave Devendorf, unfortunately, was not able to run this event.

C-Street

Local boys Scott Lewis and Andy Orodonez lead the way in their respective Miatas, but Lewis showcased why he’s the one to beat in San Diego with his NC, laying down a very consistent 49.237 in the morning and a 49.116 in the afternoon. Orodonez’s 49.712 and 49.515 would put him in second spot, with Maurice Velandia in third spot with a 49.240 and 49.992 in morning and afternoon respectively. Velandia’s second run showcased a DNF as a accidental misshift from 2nd to 1st (aiming for third) caused Velandia’s ND Miata to violently spin. CS grid was also quite concerned for his back as suffered a tweaked back (we saw Velandia on Sunday and he said he’s doing a lot better). We also hear that his car was a trooper and ran fine after the incident.

D-Street
Mark Scroggs showed the field why he holds a couple of red jackets bringing the 2.0L Turbo Camaro on stock shocks down to a 48.831 time. Tire warmer Des Toups brought home the final trophy spot in DS. Cameron in the yellow 2017 Ecoboost would finish third with Quinonez suffering from two dirty PM runs would round out the class in fourth. 

E-Street  

Michael Heinitz proved once again why he’s got the red jackets, and was the only ES car to be well into the 50 second time with a 50.607 in the morning with a 51.031 run in the afternoon. Dennis Hubbard ran a 51.370 with a 51.278 in the morning and afternoon respectively snagged second spot in his 99 Miata, while Craig Boyle in his 91 Miata snagged third with his 52.262 run in the morning and improved by almost a full half second in the afternoon running a 51.762. Edward Tsui in the 2003 MR2 Spyder piloted his way into the fourth and final trophy position running a 52.050 in the morning and 52.357 in the afternoon. Mark Wolfe in fifth was was a mere two tenths out the official hardware spot, but with Mazda paying out to fifth place, an honorable mention is worthy for the local San Diegan for whom this is his first National Level contingency payout!

We also found out that Heinitz jumped into Mark Wolfe’s Miata for something a bit softer to drive than his STF Acura that’d been taking the class by storm the last couple of years. Wolfe wanted some input on setup and the two struck up a codrive for this event and yielded positive results for both drivers.

F-Street

F-Street found a full class of five and Jason Bucki took the early lead driving nearly a full two seconds faster over the class both in the morning and afternoon. Dan Hawrylkiw grabbed second and final trophy spot in the 2013 Ford Mustang GT.

G-Street

A true battle of the ages was fought in this class with the top 4 drivers separated by about two tenths going into the afternoon, but it was Michael Parker that edged out Wiggy Greacen with Parker running a 50.066 in the morning and a 49.468 in the afternoon in his 2012 GTI. Greacen matched Parker with Mark Scrogg’s ex-championship car with a 50.215 and a 49.594. David Howdyshell put down a flyer of a last run in the afternoon grabbing the final trophy position running a 50.029 in the morning and a 49.958. Honorable mention here goes to Kristen Acharya, who despite her visit to the emergency room earlier that week, was determined to play with with her car finish a set of runs. “I absolutely love the car and wanted to really wanted to spend time with friends,” she said in between runs, unsure on whether or not she would be able to continue into the afternoon. 

Street Touring Sport (STS)

Going into the afternoon, Gary Gameron had the lead by a margin of about three tenths, which put Pete in a determined mood. Loney knew the car had pace and all things came together for his second where Peter put down a 49.299 to Camerons 49.650, edging Gary out by a mere 0.030 of a second. Both drivers in Miatas, Peter in the ‘95 and Cameron in the ‘90.

Street Touring Xtreme (STX)

Jonathan Lugod stole the show in STX not just due to the fact that he was able to put a flyer of a 47.284 on his first run, but was able to replicate that exact time for his third run. Lugod ended up slowing down by a little over eight tenths in the afternoon, but still took the overall win here by a margin of 1.141 seconds. In second spot Steve O’Blenes ran a consistent 48.343 in the morning with a 48.213 in the afternoon. Jeff Wong piloted their new FRS into the third spot trophy position keeping very consistent in the 48’s, but nabbing a cone in his last run in the morning. Wong would stand on his second run of the morning 48.428 and speed up a couple of tenths laying down a 48.206 in the afternoon. Nicole Wong, newcomer to RWD had a very impressive showing also putting down a 49.296 and a 49.271 respectively rounding out the final trophy position.

We also talked to Jeff Wong regarding his suspension on the FRS (big Megan Racing banner yielded the discussion). With a little work, Jeff seems to have found the stride on making the kit work. He mentioned that the kit is a budget alternative to the bigger names out there, but with very little work can be made competitive. For grassroots racers this is a huge plus.

Street Touring Ultra (STU)

Jimmy Au-Yueng took the win in black ‘06 STU Evo, but was dirty for all of his runs both in the morning and afternoon aside from his first. Competitor Steve Coe also struggled with clean runs and finished second in his Mazdaspeed Miata.

Street Touring Roadster (STR) 

James Yom took the win with a flyer of a second runs with the 47.178 and 47.851 combination, with local driver Jason Munchoff trailing by almost eight tenths had a huge improvement in the afternoon running a 47.493 bumping Jason into second. Seb Rios also sped up in the afternoon and found four tenths on his first run and snagged the final trophy position. Honorable mention goes to Robert Joe being a scant tenth out of the trophies in this highly competitive field.

A-Street Prepared (ASP)

Senior took the class here by a margin of 2.1 against Ipock and Bailey seemed to actually codrive with Senior on Sunday to keep the Hoosiers warm in the dropping temperatures.

B-Street Prepared (BSP) 

BSP was a dramatic battle between 2016 BSP National Champion Anthony Porta and Pro Racer Tony Rivera. In a classic case of David v. Goliath, Porta piloted the little Mazdaspeed to victory putting down a huge improved morning run of 46.669 and a 46.191 in afternoon. Rivera suffered from ABS issues with the brakes being on full lock with very little application. Determined to make the best of it, Rivera decided to drive out on his last run in the afternoon to try and clean up the 48.8 plus cone - and boy did he ever. Tony stopped the clocks with a 46.654, his fastest run of the day without ABS. Rivera mentioned the car had some more time left in it, but he was happy with the results.

C-Street Prepared (CSP)

CSP was a battle of new vs old Miatas and Stephen King (not the author) pulled ahead of Don Sattler in the NC Miata on Street tires. King ran a 49.156 clean in the morning but would stand on a dirty 48.050 plus cone to Sattler’s 50.153 and 49.365.

X-Prepared (XP)

Leaking shock oil and two year old Hoosiers would yield for very tricky handling for the Hogan X -”Very under” - Prepared Mustang. Peters was definitely doing all he could to keep the car in check, but it definitely looked extremely twitchy while on course. Brian took the win here in XP with a 48.060 and 47.124 combination with Tim Bergstrom in his 2006 Mustang finishing second with a 48.701 and 48.340 combination. Hero story of the day though was Thomas Armstrong finishing in final trophy position capitalizing on Hogan having all dirty runs in the morning.

D-Prepared (DP)

Local codrivers Robbie Robinson and Darlene Pittman duked it out with Robbie Robinson taking the win with a 49.187 run in the morning and saw some in the afternoon laying down a 48.560.

F- Prepared (FP)

Ian Allegoren led the way in the FP E30 against codriver Nick Beier with a 48.165 run in the morning and then ended up finding a huge chunk of time in the afternoon. Allegoren stopped the clocks with a 46.445.

Street Modified (SM)

SM was all about the battle of the Boosted Boxer motors and Bollenbecker McCance led the way in their EJ powered boxers with Jeff Stuart grabbing the last trophy position in this class. Bollenbecker led the field going into the afternoon with a 45.291 and was consistent with a 45.365

Street Modified Ladies (SML)

Leading the way in SML was 2014 STU National Champion Diane Bollenbecker with a 48.245 but slowed down a bit in the afternoon with a 48.447. Codriver Sherri Savage took the final trophy spot managing a 53.969 in the morning, but sped up to a 52.349 in the afternoon.

Super Street Modified (SSM)

Local driver Carl Miller drove the Ramos Exige to victory besting CR Dutch’s 48.041 and 47.759. Miller’s 47.869 and 47.789 would be enough to keep him ahead of Dutch by 0.142.

SMF (Street Modified Front)

It was truly a YAWSPORT 1-2 lockout with Bret Norgaard dropping 3 seconds over the morning runs finishing with a fast 46.540 in the morning and a 46.845 in the afternoon. The final trophy position was snagged up by codriver Neil Alexander laying down a 48.643 and 48.536.

C-Modified (CM)

Class of six deep CM yielded a great battle and Clements lead the way with this 44.674 and dropped an exact three tenths to a 44.374 in the afternoon. Casey Quinn trailed by just a few tenths with a 44.843 and 44.749 in the afternoon.

E-Modified (EM)

It was a Kiesel 1-2 here, with Jeff leading the way with a 42.755 and 42.390 to Shawn’s 44.605 and a dirty run in the afternoon.

Kart Modified (KM)

Michael Korody took the class by over a 3 second advantage over Carl Lewis, basically putting any doubt to rest for any future prediction. Wait...a SM pick that’s gone wrong? That’s never happened!

And that was Saturday.

If you think that’s wasn’t exciting - wait till you read the excitement showing up for Sunday’s recap.

Stay Tuned!