The Thunderhill SCCA round of The Crossflow Cup went off smoothly. We had a last minute tech hurdle related to logbooks, but everyone received their tech sticker in time to get out on track for the Friday test sessions. Thanks to the collaboration efforts between long-time Crossflow Cup CF driver and board member, Dan Wise and our new Crossflow cup CF driver, Steve Gomas who holds National Tech Credentials, and the SCCA Region Chief Steward, Jim Rogaski, inspecting cars was completed successfully. Due to their assistance as well as the SCCA Registrars, the Grid, and the Tech folks in Impound, we got everyone on track. We felt the SCCA teams were very professional and helpful. As always, big thanks to Ivey Engines. Colin was down from Portland this weekend and assisted several of us with engine and tuning problems over the weekend. We are grateful for your service and dedication to our race series.
SCCA cordoned off the south overhead canopy and the RV spots with power located near turn one so the Crossflow Cup competitors could paddock together. This helps highlight our group when we all paddock close to each other and fly the Crossflow Cup banners. The management and registration staff were fantastic to work with due to being so helpful. It was Goldilocks weather: Near perfect! Not too hot, not too cold, and no rain.
Friday was an optional test day and most took advantage of it. We were broken into groups with 3 sessions in the morning and 3 in the afternoon so lots of track time was available.
Saturday morning qualifying saw Adam White with his freshly repaired Titan on pole at 1:58.6, closely followed by Danny Baker at 1:59 flat, and Mark Smith was third on grid at 1:59.9. The fastest Club Ford driver was Brian Swanson at 2:00.3 followed by John Plavan with 2:01.4. Kelly Heil struggled on his old Avons. The go-kart trick of flipping the tires on the rims wasn't getting the job done landing Hiel into the third spot in club ford with a 2:03.3/P10 overall. Jay Streets was able to out qualify his little brother, Skip, for the second time in two weekends. Steve Jeffords really upped his game putting in his personal best of 2:02 for the 7th spot overall on the grid. Sam McCord had a clutch issue with his beautiful Crossle (previously driven by Bob Lesnet), resulting in a start from the back.
SCCA was trying out a new schedule process with each session ‘followed by’ rather than fixed times. As a result, Saturday’s race session went out earlier than expected, which doesn’t happen often. Thankfully, we all made it to the grid on time! After the pace car pulled off, the front row kept us at a measured and consistent pace. There was some feedback that it was too slow, but it did allow everyone to get lined up on the straight before the green flag dropped. We received high praise from the SCCA starters who said, “Look at this beautiful pack! This is fantastic! Well done!” Thank you to Adam and Danny on the front row for doing your part to promote a clean start. All the cars got through the start safely. A little accordion effect from Swanson to Heil in turn 2 led to an Ed VanTassle off in the grass on the outside. Jay Streets stayed in front of Skip until turn 6 when Skip made his move. The front pack broke away leaving Jay to drive on his own…until a gearbox failure occurred coming down the Crows Nest. This ended his weekend and brought out a full course yellow with the safety car. There were reports of some individuals who passed under yellow, but immediately gave the position back. There should be no passing under yellow.
Adam brought it home for first place with the best time of the session 1:58.601, Danny was second at the flag and Todd Strong came in third.
The Club Ford battle resulted in Kelly Heil on the top step of the box with a 2 minute flat, Skip Streets in second and John Plavan (JP) rounding out the group with his third place finish.
The Masters podium: Neil Porter, Chris Schoap and Jeremy Shaw. (Kelly pictured doing his best impersonation of a very serious Neil)
Hard Charger Award went to Skip Streets for moving up 5 spots.
We gridded for Sunday morning Qualifying based on best lap time from Saturday’s Race. We are going to continue with this format for upcoming events. Our front row again set impressive lap times with Danny Baker taking the pole position with a 1:58.609 just 0.005 seconds ahead of Adam. Next were Mark Smith and Todd Strong in their Titans followed by a trio of Club Fords: Brian Swanson, Skip Streets, and John Plavan. There were close qualifying times throughout the group. Sunday afternoon, Skip Streets experienced transmission issues on his recently acquired Van Diemen. This occurred while running in the SCCA session so he was unable to compete with the CrossFlow group. It was a tough weekend for the Streets brothers.
Sunday afternoon’s race saw another clean start for 20 of our vintage Formula Fords. Thankfully everyone was paying attention to the yellow flag station in turn 3 and kept their cars under control. Our hats off to the SCCA corner workers, they are the best around. Many of them have FIA licenses and work at IMSA, IndyCar and F1 events in addition to club racing. In this specific case, there was a car stalled, blocking the track in a blind, off camber corner. The frantically waving yellow clearly communicated that there was a serious issue ahead. This really shows the importance of paying attention to the flag stations. Adam was able to pull out the win over Danny Baker. Todd Strong took third, giving us a carbon copy podium for Historic Ford. Kelly Heil took the checkered as 4th overall, 1st in Club Ford but unfortunately came in just under 1125 lbs on the scales. That set the Club Ford podium as Brian, John, and Neil. The Masters podium was Ed Van Tassel, Alex Dodd, and Sam McCord.
Our Saturday awards and social get together was hosted by Katusha Speed Shop under the awning. Saturday awards included a bottle of Tequila, in anticipation of the upcoming all you can eat taco party at the Wheelhouse. Sunday awards were Twisting Turns Cabernet Sauvignon. Thanks again to the Kitchen family for providing our feature race awards.
Our raffle winners:
Alan Dezzani Old School Gasket set
Alex Dodd Scott Young Enterprises
John Plavan Jay Ivey Engines
Jay streets Dezzani Digital Art
Fred Greiss Krauss Racing
Sam McCord Roger Kraus Racing
The Grand Prize winner of an Entry Fee Rebate was Kelly Heil.
Many thanks to all of you for your cooperation this weekend. Most of all - your heads up driving. We got compliments on the clean, close racing through the entire grid. Unfortunately, we still had reports of passing under yellow and a few close calls. Please race well within your limits and leave extra racing room.