Photos by James Kim
LAGUNA, RACE #4
(a.k.a. the Steve Romak Show)
Round 4 of the Crossflow Cup, took place under sunny skies and warm weather of the Monterey Peninsula in June. After the cold and gray weather of Round 3, it was a welcome change!
38 cars took to the track at 11:30 AM on Saturday to start qualifying, with Martin Lauber's familiar blue Titan striking first, topping the timesheets in the early part of the session. A heated battle for the top starting spot ensued; pole position was held for a bit by Art Hebert and Danny Baker at different points before Steve Romak in his bright orange Titan eventually put his stamp on the session with a 1:39.138. Baker's Lotus locked out the 2nd spot, followed by Hebert and perennial Formula Ford Drivers Club front runner Todd Strong, who put in a solid effort in his Titan to start him off on the outside of the second row. A few spots back, the Club Ford pole was snagged by Kelly Heil, followed closely by Brian Forster's Tiga and Colin Cross in a strong qualifying effort in only his second Crossflow Cup appearance.
4:30 was the scheduled race time and 19 rows of cars lined up nice and tight behind the pacecar for what was to be a very slow but clean start. When the green flag flew, the mosh pit began! Steve Romak immediately took the point, but Baker, Martin Lauber, Art Hebert, Todd Strong, Andrew Wait and Ed Lauber were all in lockstep behind. Other than Baker, Nick Colyvas' and Kelly Heil's cars were the only dissenters in Titan Town, with the Crossle and the Merlyn duking it out on lap one on the run to turn 5. The heated battle ended early for Heil though, as he found himself in the Turn 4 wall a lap later. This was to be a deciding factor later in the race.
Local yellows covered the scene of the incident in 4 so racing continued around the 2.238 mile course, as battles raged between locals and out-of-towner's, Kim Madrid's Crossle fought it out with Tom Minnich's Titan, Lotus 61's driven by Kitchen's (of both the elder and younger variety), and Brian Swanson's Van Diemen RF80.
Chris Locke's beautiful blue Merlyn made a really strong showing, hanging out inside the top 10 all day, besting both Brian Forster and Tom Duncan's Club Fords. Locke ended up on top of the Master's division podium for his efforts, flanked by Jay Streets in 2nd, and Ed VanTassel in the 3rd spot.
After 7 laps, race control decided to put out a full course yellow quelling the fights, and the field circulated behind the safety car for a few laps before the checker waved. An unfortunate halt to what was a dominant performance by Steve Romak, who came through to win his first Crossflow Cup race, followed home by Baker and Lauber. The Club Ford podium was home to Colin Cross (another first time Crossflow Cup winner), Brian Forster, and Tom Duncan.
The points battles are really heating up with two rounds remaining; so if you need points you'll want to go to Portland next month! Both of the Cypress Lane trophies are still completely up for grabs with the top 3 in both classes still in striking distance of taking the honors.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention the dangerous situation of the incident in turn 4 and how our drivers dealt with it. I heard many mea culpas on the part of most of our drivers; I feel like most of you were very uncomfortable with racing past a car lap after lap in a precarious position. I cannot expect you to come in to pit lane en masse and say "please stop this race". What you can do, however, is reach out to CSRG and voice your opinion. Thank you all for being heads up and racing safely past what could've been a very regrettable situation.
So in closing for Rebecca and I, we thank you all so much for another great weekend! Looking forward to Round 5 already!
Historic Ford Podium
1st - Steve Romak
2nd - Danny Baker
3rd - Martin Lauber & Art Hebert
Club Ford Podium
1st - Colin Cross
2nd - Brian Forster
3rd - Tom Duncan
Masters Division
1st - Chris Locke
2nd - Jay Streets
3rd - Ed VanTassel
Champagne Sponsors
Podium finishers were asked to a select "champagne sponsor" to let someone spray bubbles on their behalf this round
POINTS STANDINGS:
HISTORIC:
Baker, Danny - 46
Romak, Steve - 31
Lauber, Martin - 24
Wait, Andrew - 23
Lauber, Ed - 16
Colyvas, Nicholas - 12
Kitchen, Paul - 9
Cowdry, Dan - 8
Monahan, Tim - 8
Hebert, Art - 7
CLUB:
Heil, Kelly - 34
Forster, Brian - 26
Wise, Dan - 22
Cross, Colin - 21
Dezzani, Alan - 19
Swanson, Brian - 19
Lynn, Jim - 15
Duncan, Tom - 7
Keller, Mark - 6
full list on website here
PARTY HIGHLIGHTS:
Being the last race of the day has its benefits, as a bumper crop of smiling faces attended the post race festivities. The new Crossflow Cup koozies were a hit, and we changed up the usual champagne spraying by asking our podium finishers to select a "champagne sponsor"; someone who had never had the opportunity to spray the ceremonial victory bubbly before. It was quite entertaining to see!
Shippert Racing Services offered up the prizes for the drawings this time with a pair of driving suit dryers going each to Andrew Wait and Jim Lynn respectively. An Amsoil care package with spray cleaners and engine fogger went to Ed VanTassel, and Steve Romak continued the theme of the weekend by winning the Longacre digital tire pressure gauge!
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
Please share any onboard video with our Crossflow Cup Drop Box. Just a quick 10-15 seconds (or if a longer video note where to start to see the highlight of a good pass, restart, close finish, three-wide, etc). If you are having technical difficulties, message us for a physical address to mail your flash drive to.
UPCOMING RACES:
Rose Cup @ Portland: July 9-11 (more details coming in the next few days!)
CSRG @ Sonoma: October 1-3 (season finale!)
FUN-DING THE FUN
Many people have asked how they can help the series - prizes for the party, beer, wine, even donations via paypal ethan@shippertracingservices.com