One usually expects our February rallycross events to be knee in snow and bitterly cold, but thanks to this unusual winter, we had a balmy 40 degree day. This weather was a welcome break from January, where dangerous wind chills forced us to cancel the race. The fine day allowed us to draw a crowd of 26 racers, despite it being Superbowl Sunday. There was a diverse mix of cars, with a 35 year age gap between the newest car to the oldest. We also had a good mix of veteran racers and new attendees. As always, rallycross is a blast, no matter what car you’re bringing out or what your skill level is.
Five drivers took the field in Stock FWD, one being a surprise entry of a Toyota Prius! From the first run of the day, Charles and Devin P resumed their constant father son battle for first place. Devin took advantage or the extra HP of his RSX to open up roughly a second gap over his father on the morning course. However, the tables turned quickly on the afternoon course, with Charles taking the lead by the second run. It looked like there was chance that Devin was going to reclaim the lead, but he got out of sorts on his final run and tagged 5 cones at the finish line, cementing Charles in first place in class and 7th overall. Andy L’s Prius was a crowd favorite as he blew all of our minds with how quick it was! He had no hesitation in wheeling the car for all it was worth, only missing out on third place due to missed gate on his final run.
Subarus filled the Stock AWD class as usual and surprisingly, they all finished the day without breaking! Things started off very close between Jay K and Hugh H, with only fractions of a second separating them. Jay slowly opened up the gap on the second course, but a whopping four cones on his last run put his win in jeopardy. All eyes were on Hugh but despite putting down the fastest run of the class, he couldn’t make up the difference. In addition to taking first in class, Jay also captured 3rd overall.
Prepared FWD was a class of four drivers in two cars, pairing Dodge against Mitsubishi. David C roared off to a large early lead and never looked back, taking first in class and sixth overall in his Neon SRT4. There was more of a battle for second, between Cliff J (Neon SRT4) and Tristan S (Lancer). Freshly disappointed with the news of not winning Cone Killer for the fifth straight year, Cliff got to work mowing down cones, hitting 7 cones just on the morning course. All these penalties allowed Tristan to keep things close, but sadly the Lancer had to retire from the race prior to the afternoon course. Cliff ended up with second, despite a healthy 15 cones for the day.
Prepared AWD was a class of one, allowing newcomer Anthony C to focus on improving his times without competition pressure. He dropped significant time between his first and last runs on each course as he got the hang of rallycross. He could be a driver to be reckoned with at future events.
Newcomer Vincent H put his bright pink Accord through its paces as the sole entry in Modified FWD. For his first time rallycrossing, Vincent put down respectable times while also getting faster each time on course. We hope we’ll see him back at future events!
We took a trip back to the ‘80’s in Modified RWD, with our competitors piloting an ’85 Porsche 944 and an ’81 Ford Mustang. Things were looking good for Keegan S in his American muscle, opening up a 13 second gap over Steve M (Porsche) on the morning course. Steve attacked the afternoon course with a vengeance, looking to redeem the Porsche’s reputation. A gap of only 3 seconds kept Keegan in the lead with one run remaining for each driver. Sadly, something failed in the read end of the Mustang, forcing Keegan to forfeit his last run and handing the win to Steve.
The Subarus (including one rebranded as a Saab) were out in force in Modified AWD. The battle to watch was between Eric L and Aaron B. Aaron was rocking a freshly built high compression engine, which allowed him to put significant pressure on Eric. Aaron had a few struggles as he relearned the car with so much more power on tap, allowing Eric to take the first in class and first overall by a few seconds. The remaining drivers were father son duos squaring off against each other. Experience prevailed over youth for the day, with both fathers taking the wins over their sons.
We also had two drivers racing in our Constructors class, home to custom built vehicles or caged race cars from other racing series. Clayton S and Alex P battled it out in Clayton’s ’02 Ford Ranger. Things looked like they might be close after two runs, but then Clayton hit his stride, opening a large gap up over his friend to take the win.
Thank you again to everyone who raced with us and then helped us clean up afterwards! I honestly think it was one of the fastest clean ups we’ve had in a while. We’ll be racing again at CFMP on March 10th, so head to the event page now to get signed up!