Las Vegas Region SCCA

Round 4

by Rick Kostelaz

Las Vegas pulls another one out of grasp of Mother Nature…and this one on Mothers Day! With dire predictions of high winds and dust storms LVR once again managed to place their autocross in between two storm fronts. The weather on Mothers Day was beautiful, with temperatures in the low 90’s and not a breath of wind to be found.

The early morning sunshine found Dave Hironaka and Spencer Stroyer setting out Daves course on the Bullring lot at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Dave’s design was a national quality effort and was built with as few cones as humanly possible. It featured two relatively tight slaloms, several greater than 90 degree turns and a set of giant slaloms set out with sets of four cones each. The average time was around 45 seconds and the fastest drivers all “looked ahead”.

With the help of our timing and computer chief Chris Barth, event Chairman Rick Kostelaz got the event under way shortly after nine o’clock. All ninety-three competitors received four runs in the morning sessions, which were followed by a club sponsored BBQ lunch. Then everybody got back to driving for four more runs in the afternoon session.

Today’s event was specially designated as the “Mister 2 Autocross”.  SCCA LVR invited the MR-2 club to join us and we provided a special trophy presentation for the three fastest MR-2 of the day. Top honors went to Fabrizio Leone who drove his 2001 Mr2 to a 45.891. The second place trophy went to Nhan Thai (Roo) who drove his STS2 Mr2 to a quick 49.933. The third place trophy went to Jonathan Cordova in his CSP Mr2 with a 47.193.

The Karts were the fastest, turning in times as quick as 40.244. That time was run by Paul Durr in his 2002 Honda CRG; Paul set top time of day with that run. Right on his heels was Greg Piet driving his 2002 GP Racing GP5 kart with a 40.570 for second fastest time of day. Todd Lashley placed his 2001 Birel Q32 in fourth place with a 41.303.

For the fastest cars (other than Karts) Jim Kant drove his 1978 Lola T540 to a very speedy 41.004 to take the TTOD other than karts category. Jim actually beat Todd by nearly .300 seconds. Ken Howatt drove the next fastest car. Ken’s A Modified ’83 Westfield 7 (the winged wonder) placed second with a 41.508 and in third place the E Modified Fiero Tomcat of Rick Kostelaz set down a 42.281.

In the TTOD PAX adjusted grouping we see some new names escalating to the top. Aaron Godwin drove his A Stock 2004 Subaru STI to the fastest PAX time of 44.169, while Spencer Stroyer driving a ’89 Honda Civic in STS placed second with a 46.276. Third in PAX went to David Hironaka also driving a ’89 Honda Civic with a 46.336.

In the class competition we find ten competitors driving in STS.  Spencer Stroyer took first with a time of 46.276 while Dave Hironaka placed second with a 46.336. Third place went to Tyler Jones in his ’99 Civic Si with a 48.561.

G Stock was the next most subscribed class with six competitors. Toping the list was Daniel Tait who drove his 1999 VW Vr-6 to a first place with a 48.323. Second place went to Bob Kile in his Mini Cooper with a 53.876. Third went to Ted Nowark with a 53.887 in his Ford Mustang.

Street Modified also had six drivers with Chris Darquea rising to the top in his ’95 Ford Mustang with a 45.755 while Michael Bolanos drove his ’86 Toyota Corolla to a second place of 47.912. Third place belonged to Rafal Rozycki in his ’98 Subaru Imprezza with a 48.747.

C Street Prepared was well represented with five drivers. Steve Wright took the top position with a 46.924 driving his 1992 Mazda Miata, see Steve all of that suspension work paid off. Jonathan Cordova took second in his MR2 with a 47.193 while Chris brown drove his 1986 Mazda RX-7 to a 50.370 to take third place in class.