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Race 12 - February 17, 2008
Talk about a fun-filled weekend at Aloha Stadium! Not only was there the Swap Meet and Great Aloha Run, but there was Autocross on Saturday AND Sunday!!! Thank goodness for no work Mondays! Saturday was our Driving School / Test-N-Tune where drivers had a total of 842 runs!! I’m sure everyone got their money’s worth of practice and fun. Many thanks to our instructors, Curtis Lee, Mike Parker, Jason Tokunaga, Ken Van Orman, Jayson Guzman and Me! The morning setup crew got a much appreciated break from our usual 5:30am start time since the track was already setup from Saturday’s event! That extra half hour of sleep really makes a difference!  We had 102 drivers at our President’s Day Weekend Extravaganza – 8 of whom were novices. Welcome to Craig Brown, Ron Wong, Andrew Hutchinson, Alex Kendrick, Cruz Garcia, Daniel Boatman & Kevin Sia! Craig & Daniel also took advantage of Saturday’s driving school. I really enjoyed this track. It was relatively ‘simple’ since it was designed for our novice drivers from Saturday’s driving school – we ran Saturday’s course backwards with a few modifications to the start and finish. The course was very flowing with a couple areas where you could really let the car breathe and a couple ‘oh crap’ areas.  We started on the NE corner of the lot (see Ty, I learned!) with a tight first gear turn leading to the showcase turn in front of the trailer. This turn provided the drivers and trailer crew lots of entertainment, as entry speed and braking points were crucial for a well driven turn. Craig Brown in the Elise gave us one of the best shows of the day with his spin out, followed by Panos Prevedouros’ tail-waggin’ due to the soggy first heat track.
After the showcase, it was hammer down to the drain. Wiggle through a fast 2-cone directed slalom to the top turnaround. This was a doosey of a turn as well – many drivers commented about having difficulty with this turn. Some even took out the outside wall of cones… right, Dan?? If you got this turn just right, you could enter the 2-cone directed slalom with some wicked speed. Next, the infamous left turn to the finish (I for one never quite got this right). Lots of people didn’t brake enough for this and paid for it… and there’s too many victims to make fun of just one person  Now, this being Hawaii, rain can be a factor at any time of year. Sunday was no exception. The rain started on cue as the 7:00am registration began. The gate crew and walk-up registration peeps were huddled under the gate tent, the registration table took over the American Muscle Car tent of Rick Okazaki, and tech & track setup trudged through the rain dutifully. Props to them!  The morning rain left puddles on the track, prompting Solo Chiefs to delay the start of heat 1 to remove the standing water. Mahalo to our volunteers and course workers who helped re-mark the cones and squeegee the course!!!  Despite our efforts to clear the course of as much water as possible, first heat drivers had their work cut out for them. Street Mod and D Mod drivers got the short end of the stick, slipping and sliding through most if not all of their runs. In SM2, Mike Parker laid down the fastest rain time of 32.764 but ended up 19th overall after all was said and done. Dan Hanrahan stole 2nd place from Cory Tomoyasu managing to get some dry runs in heat 2 since he shared a car with Robert Schmidt who came in only 0.2 seconds behind Cory.
In the versatile SM class, Tyler Sato set the tone with a 35.405 on first runs, while Dirk Minami had some cone trouble and Cliff Goto lost his transmission/drivetrain on the first turn. Gary Kitagawa graciously offered his Honda Prelude to Cliff for his remaining runs and he managed to take 3rd place. Gary may not be so gracious next time since Cliff beat Gary by 0.362 seconds!! (Sorry Gary, I had to say it!) Meanwhile, Dirk & Tyler duked it out keeping within 0.2 seconds of each other through third runs. Tyler was on top with a 34.4 when Dirk laid down a 34.362 on his last run. Tyler was unable to answer so Dirk upset SM taking 1st place over Tyler Sato by 0.08 seconds!
DM also ran in the rain, but Erin Atta lucked out by driving in the afternoon heat due to gate worker duties. She took first place over Earl Izawa & Jack Evans!!! Yay Erin!  By the time second heat started, the course was dry which made Street Touring and Prepared drivers happy campers. In STS, the Serikaku brothers battled for first place and Steven came out on top by 0.251 seconds. In STS2, Rogelio Tanicala took first place over Avery Tsui and Chris Lambert in his MR2 split the Miata-filled class by taking 3rd out of 5 competitors.
Stephen Nakamura in his Mazda-rarri laid the smack down in STU winning the class by 2.1 seconds over Marcus Suzuki, Mark Pacpaco and Diego Agbayani. Stephen’s time also got him 9th PAX!! Congrats!!  CP is the land of large American muscle cars with a Chevy Impala SS and 2 Pontiac Firebirds. Jonathan Robbins made good use of Saturday’s Test-N-Tune and won the class by 2.595 seconds!! Big is beautiful, baby! From Big American Muscle to Small Japanese Agility, FP is home to the Morton’s Datsun 260Z. Dan got to run in the dry so needless to say, he took the win over his Dad, Ron.
A fourth of our drivers competed in Stock classes A through H. Super Stock is growing and now has 4 drivers! Jayson Guzman laid down a stellar fourth run dropping 2 whole seconds in one run for a 30.640! Boo... nah nah, I’m just jealous because he beat me. Boo… Randy Kawell had some cone trouble in the beginning but managed to clean it up and clock in a 32.038. See what some race rubber can do for ya?? Nice job, Randy. Craig Brown was our fastest novice in a borrowed Lotus Elise – Looks like we hooked ourselves another Solo enthusiast!! Ron Wong in his GT3 came in a close 4th only 1.26 seconds behind Craig.
Charlie & Jenn were the lone competitors in A Stock. Charlie is still besting Jenn, but she’s inching closer and closer -- watch out Charlie! In B Stock, Tom Richards took the win over Earl Huang with a 32.731, which was good enough for 18th overall and 13th PAX! Understeer, smundersteer! Ed Vestal lost Scott Tamashiro to BSP for this event so he raced all by his lonesome in a normally full C Stock.
I guess Gabe was busy buying his new Mazdaspeed 3 last month since he didn’t show for the January event, but he was clearly present for this event. Gabe took D Stock by 1.451 seconds over Mike Grimes and Andrew Hutchinson in his brand-spankin’ new, paper plate Mazdaspeed and had a great time doing so. In E Stock, Rodney and Bill took turns beating on their Miatas trying for the top time. Rodney came out on top by 0.376 seconds but had to settle for his best run as his first run.
Sean Breese of the NorCal region was the one competitor in FS in his son’s Ford Mustang. He managed to squeeze out a 35.303 for the day. Mini Land, a.k.a. G Stock, had some stiff competition with Mike Ward and Mike McCabe wrestling for top spot. Mike McCabe laid down the fastest first time but Mike Ward quickly regained the lead on his second and third runs to win the class with his 31.747, good enough for 8th overall and 1st PAX!! Alex Kendrick put up a good fight dropping nearly 6 seconds to get down to a 40.921. Mad props to you for jumping into such a competitive class! Now if only people would do that for BSP…
H Stock had 7 drivers!! Brad Lau drove his new Honda Fit with some practice from Saturday’s Test-N-Tune and managed to get within 1.066 seconds of Jeff Okinaka, one of the top HS drivers. Elliot Loo stole 3rd from Sara Cox by 0.052 seconds on his last run. Ok Sara, no more nice announcer girl -- time to get vicious!! Elliot is not as innocent as he seems – I heard him announcing during 4th heat, right Gabe??
Mike Bux had some navigational problems on his first 2 runs but rented Aaron Strom’s GPS system and managed to win ASP by 0.284 seconds over Pete Chuen. Ironically, Mike & Steven Serikaku tied for 44th place overall! BSP is no surprise there, Curtis took the win over me but lost top PAX to Mike Ward by 0.266 seconds. Bill Wong struggled on his first run and tried to catch up to Calvin Brandt who was sitting in 3rd place, but was unable to and settled for 4th by 0.23 seconds. Garrett Chew ran earlier in the day, perhaps to his disadvantage, and settled for 5th by 0.179 seconds.
The normally overflowing class of CSP now only has 3 competitors. Let me rephrase… only has 3 intimidating competitors – Ken Van Orman, Jason Tokunaga & Leila Johnson. Leila used Jason’s MR2 since her Miata is out of commission due to a broken hood latch. Once again Ken & Jason put on a great show going back and forth during their runs. Jason had the 1st run lead by 0.5 seconds, then Ken answered back to take the 2nd run lead by 0.02 seconds. Jason coned his third run leaving it all up to final runs. Ken knocked 0.614 seconds off his third run for a final time of 31.120. Jason cleaned up his last run but couldn’t meet the mark and ended up behind Ken by 0.215 seconds.
DSP is another versatile class with a Mini, Prelude, Celica, Matrix, Neon and 2 Sentras. Robert Fairchild has been dominating the class in his Mini and this month was no different. Gary Kitagawa took second in his Prelude and Daniel Pagan fought for 3rd in his Celica besting Reid Kubota by 0.003 seconds. Eric Kenney lost 4th place to Reid by 0.020 seconds. Talk about a close race! Those 3 came in 80th, 81st, & 82nd, respectively in the overall standings. In ESP, Jon Matsushige laid down a 31.627 on his first run to startle the rest of the ESP drivers into a frenzy (as well as the rest of the us who hadn’t raced yet). He managed to drop it down to a 31.234 for the class win, 5th overall and 4th PAX. Walton Ching got some new rubber and put down some blazin’ times as well. He and Richard Takaba battled for 2nd place and Walton came out on top by 0.184 seconds. They came in 15th and 16th overall, respectively.
Last but not least, we come to FSP. What can I say about these two people? Hmm… soooo many things come to mind but I’ll stick to the race facts. ;o) Brendan won and Troy lost. Bwahaha! Looks like it’s time for Sabotage Services to pay a visit to the newlywed, Mr. Matsumura… And I shall end it here and before I get myself into anymore trouble. BUT, I can get other people in trouble!! It seems the Autocross crew has a newfound talent – limerick writing!! Here’s what our talented drivers thought up. Thanks for reading and see you at Runoffs on March 2nd, 2008! Limerick #1, By Barry Lai Over 50 hours on some planes, So I didn't get to play in the rains. Dubai wuz nice but not complete, their taxi drivers would get FTD. Qualified for Runoffs so its all good, The track sounded nice? Of course it would. Limerick #2, By Jayson Guzman Oh how the rain, Brought Parker some pain, He had to kiss away chance at FTD, Was so cold, he had to go pee. Never have Barry Lai, Cause he was being baller in Dubai, Jenn like protest the Vette, No make, cause his 2nd & 3rd runs were still in the wet. Runoffs going be da next race, I hope I win so I can tell my competition "In Yo Face" Limerick #3, By Francis Lining You guys can rhyme, As we race against time. The big dogs will fly, The small ones will cry. Can somebody tell me what's a Dubai? Is that what I used to smoke? Nah, just joke!! Runoffs are here, but have no fear. I’m driving my own car, So, no FTD this year!!!! Limerick #4, By Jayson Guzman Fran not running his own car?!? Now placing top 10 overall in runoffs looks good so far. Joeys car getting FTD wasn’t one joke, When is Vern gonna come back - I miss that big moke. Who's gonna take FTD at runoffs I wonder, I hope I don’t lose it again by making a stupid blunder. How come we gotta make all this stuff rhyme? Damn, look at the time. Gotta get up early for work so can make tire money, But first, still gotta go and uff da honey... Limerick #5, By Brendan Matsumura Test and Tune was fun, We made eight hundred runs. People ran all day trying to get it right, Making 40 runs before they kept it tight. Still dizzy from that day, Came back out and raced on Sunday. With a raging battle for FTD, What a surprise its still a Lee. End of the season is near, Another trophy in our racing careers.
The next race is Runoffs on March 2nd! Pre-registration for the funruns will begin on the morning of February 24, so check out the link on the main page that morning. Also, if you're want to order a t-shirt, contact Amy! Twelfth Race Results (Feb 17) |
