Mon Tour, Monsieur

“April showers bring May flowers,” but they don’t do much for Hoosiers and Kumho Victoracers. I, for one, thought that ice racing season was all but over, but the combination of cool surface temperatures and occasional showers suggested otherwise. Some of us on Sunday, April 25th did our best to avoid embarrassment and wanton ego destruction and failed miserably. This was supposed to be the opportunity make up for the last event of the 2003 season, the event at which I swear I saw an odd boat just off the ARC parking lot lining up animals in pairs. Well, the animals were no where to be seen at the Austin Medical Technology parking lot in Montour Falls (at least if you don’t count Dan and Aaron), but there was plenty of rain to bedevil those of us those too lazy to change to stock tires or foolish enough to travel without them. I plead guilty to both charges, by the way. Anyway, 34 intrepid souls running in 14 classes came out to inaugurate the 2004 Glen Region Solo II season and inaugurate it we did.

Repeating last season’s popularity, the largest of the 14 classes was Street Touring S (STS), with seven entries. When the race was over, the fastest of the class was Matt Latyszoneh driving a 1998 Dodge Neon followed by Glen Regionaire Todd Totman (‘96 Plymouth Neon) in second and Matt Lockhart (‘04 Toyota Matrix) completing the trophy run in third. For those of you who aren’t as brazen as your reporter, I found out that Todd and Jeanne Peterson are not only sharing a car (finally agreeing to call it by the same color and make), but decided to get a break on their SCCA dues by becoming a family as of April 1st. What folks won’t do to save a few dollars. Congratulations to both of you.

The next largest class was perennial Glen Region favorite, G-Stock, with six entries. Jeff Tyburski (‘94 Ford Probe) got off to a good start, but in the end Barry Butterfield (‘03 BMW Mini Cooper S), in his second appearance at a Glen Region event, edged out Mike Tyburski (‘94 Ford Probe) by less than 1/10 of a second for class honors. Nile Heermans (‘90 Nissan 240SX) managed a respectable third place in this class, a class dominated by some of the region’s best drivers. Nile, I don’t know if you noticed, but the only old timers you see in G-Stock are the Tyburskis. There’s a reason for that, you know.

There were several classes with three drivers, including B-Stock, D-Street Prepared, and Street Touring X. In B-Stock, Eric Navestad (‘00 Honda S2000) easily defeated two would be ice racers, Skip Testut (‘01 Honda S2000) and Phil Cornell (‘95 BMW M3). Eric wisely selected the right combination of tire and driving style to dominate the class. You’ll get yours, Eric, at least hat’s what Phil tells me. In D-Street Prepared Kevin Kronenbitter (‘02 VW GTi) did some great driving, himself, holding off Ken Moyer (‘97 Honda Prelude) and Dan Tobbe ( ‘00 Honda Civic) to claim the trophy. The most exciting class of the day, however, had to be Street Touring X. Greg Pierce (‘87 BMW 325is) got off to a flying start in the first run group, setting the fastest time for that group. He was bested by John Pierce (‘87 BMW 325is) in the second run group as John managed to do the very same thing in group two and beat Greg’s time in the process. It was all for naught, though, as Ken Pierce (‘87 BMW 325is) showed everyone how he won the Glen Region PAX crown last season by being the fastest STX car of the day, setting the fastest time of the day (FTD), and achieving the best PAX of the day. I still think that if the Pierce Clan’s BMW had any additional negative camber it’d be resting on the wheel bearings, but that’s just me and you all know what a sore loser I can be.

Other multidriver classes included E-Stock where Tedd “Daddy” Hurd (‘83 Mazda RX-7) managed to get by Rich Chernosky (‘88 Toyota MR-2) for class honors. As one of our announcers mentioned, not only is Tedd Hurd a second generation Glen Region solo II driver, but his RX-7 happens to be the self same car his father ran years ago. What is interesting is that it doesn’t look any better now than it did then (or vice versa). Still, there’s much to be said for tradition and Tedd continues the Hurds’ winning tradition.

In H-Stock, Michael Brush ( ‘93 Ford Festiva) managed a respectable win over second place Timothy Reissman (‘00 Toyota Echo). Timothy deserved recognition as the most improved driver, though, as he picked up approximately 8 and 1/2 seconds between his first and best run under conditions which were challenging to say the least. Nice driving, both of you. H-Stock was exciting to watch.

Finally, in E-Street Prepared it was a battle of past Kone Killer award battlers, as Mark Lockhart (‘99 Ford Mustang) in his final run managed to get by Aaron Boltman (‘03 Camaro SS) for the class trophy. It couldn’t have been easy keeping all of that torque under control, but Mark and Aaron managed to do it.

Considering the weather, we had a respectable turnout for our first Glen Region event. Let’s hope that’s a good omen for the rest of the season. All of the remaining drivers and their times can be seen on the Glen Region web site at: http://www.glen-scca.org/solo/2004/results20040425.asp.

On behalf of the Glen Region, I want to thank the good folks at Austin Medical Technology for the loan of their parking lot. In addition, a special vote of appreciation to the safety stewards, Mike Taves (chief), Aaron Boltman, and Jeanne Totman. The same goes for the course set-up gang, Casey Creamer, John Florence, Ed Hurd, Mike Taves, and for my nemesis (one of many), Eric Navestad, for going out of his way to get the Glen Region van to and from the event. Finally, John Florence was the event chair. He’s always the first to volunteer and the last to say “No” (unless it involves registering late ;-). You folks are definitely the greatest and the reason the Glen Region Solo program works as well as it does. Here’s hoping we see all of you at the next Glen Region event, Sunday May 16 at Arnot Mall in Fisherville/Big Flats.