Mall Madness or What we did while shopping for Mothers Day Gifts! Saturday, May 11th was a beautiful day. Not only did the weather cooperate by providing a bright sunny day with gentle winds and pleasant temperatures, but 51 drivers turned out for what is historically one of our more lightly attended events. The large turnout was even more amazing taking into consideration the absence of many Glen Region regulars. The layout of the course was a clockwise, mini-road course format featuring three excursions along a relatively long, sweeping arc followed by tight, occasionally off camber turns. Our new practice of chalking the route of the course was again successful as no one registered a "lost on course." However, a few drivers apparently lost count in their exuberance. Some thinking they were driving an endurance Solo made extra laps, while others, in a frantic bid for FTD, made fewer laps. Regardless, there was a lot of driver praise for both the course layout and having three laps per run instead of two. The new Solo II car classifications appear to working well for the Glen Region, too. A look at prior seasons shows only a couple of classes containing significant numbers of competitors. This latest event was no exception. It is less common to see single car classes while routine to see four to six cars in many different classes. Last year B-Stock rarely had an entrant, while this year it averages six entrants per class per event. G-Stock and H-Stock, perennial favorites in the Glen Region, continue to draw large numbers of participants, and the new Street Touring classifications more than hold their own. This growth in individual class numbers should encourage the "Solo Junkies" to continue turning out in large numbers. Of course Topeka (nee Denver) may be redrawing some of the class lines for next season, but for the Glen Region's 2002 Season it's been a lot more competitive out on the asphalt. Speaking of competition, the Fastest Time of the Day (FTD) went to Kent Sawyer in his www.neairphoto.com sponsored C-Modified 1988 Reynard Formula Ford (49.757). Kent was followed by FLR member, Jeff Guerdat (John Holtz Acura sponsored 2001 Honda S2000) with a time of 52.038, and Skip Testut (Taber Street Auto/Bob's Honda sponsored 2001 Honda S2000) with a time of 54.479. Applying the PAX Driver's Index shows that our PAX Champion of the day was Jeff Guerdat with a PAX time of 43.035, followed by Derek Wyman with a PAX time of 44.387 (1998 Dodge Neon ACR), and Skip Testut with a PAX time of 45.054. As for the most prestigious Glen Region Honor, the Kone Killer Award, the top driver of the day was Aaron Boltman, a novice driver, in his 1995 Eagle Summit. Aaron was good for four of the dreaded orange fiends. A word of warning, Aaron, you cannot rest on your laurels. There were so many drivers at this event having three cones to their credit that it made little sense to list their names. If you are going to win this award you will have to try much, much harder. For those of you who are interested, a complete listing of the event results can be seen on the Solo II web site (http://www.glen-scca.org/solo-home.asp). The next Glen Region Solo II event is scheduled for Ithaca College on Sunday, June 16th in Ithaca. There is also a Solo II driver's school scheduled for Saturday, June 15th at Ithaca College, but the school is already filled.
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