Season Finale! Crossflow Rounds 7 & 8:
What was originally scheduled to be Rounds 3 and 4 ended up closing out the season due to construction holdups on the part of Monterey County. The plus side of this was that our racers got to run on fresh asphalt in what was a record-breakingly fast weekend on the Monterey Peninsula with mega fast lap times in every session. We finally saw the Crossflow Cup debut of Mark Smith, Ben Zlotkin made his debut in the ex-Chris Locke Merlyn, Ed Abate also debuted behind the wheel of Jim Lynn's rented Crossle 32, Jonathan Rosenthal toed the waters of historic FF racing with his Titan for the first time (and loved it!)), and Marguerite Willams jumped in Sam McCord's Zink for her first taste of Crossflow Cup.
Qualifying 1:
136 treaded tires left the pitlane at 9:40 sharp Saturday morning (that's 34 cars, for you math whizzes) and the grid did their level best to show the last two rounds were going to be heartstoppers. It was cool and clear and the track was in stellar condition for some really quick times. Bob Lesnett showed he was ready to roll first thing with an opening lap in the low 1:37's... But then Mark Smith dug into his bag of tricks with a 1:36.9 and left jaws open all along pit lane. It wasn't long however before he had some company in the 36's. The top SEVEN cars were all in the 1:36's by the close of the session, with Club Ford standout Adam White throwing down a monster lap of 1:36.0 to put him on top of the grid overall (while simultaneously qualifying himself for Sunday's Top Gun Shootout.)
HF points leader Andrew Wait was struggling with braking issues early in the weekend which put him outside row 4 at the close of qualifying. Max Minshull showed strongly again in the Royale in his second weekend out with another top 10 qualifying effort, and you'd have to go back to row 9 and Ed Van Tassel before the grid was out of the 1:30's. Dave Sandlin had a solid qualifying session with a 25th grid spot effort, just ahead of Jonathan Rosenthal's solid debut Crossflow qualifying effort.
Race 1:
There was a story going around the paddock on Saturday afternoon. It goes like this: Mark Smith sat on a hillside for over an hour watching race starts so he would know when to go. Like most race weekend fables, it might be true, it might be false. But based upon Mark's start, you'd be foolish to think there wasn't a HINT of truth to this fable.
17 rows of 2 lined up at 2:25 pm, hungry to get Round 7 on the books. Polesitter Adam White chose the inside lane and brought the field up to a textbook smooth and steady start. When the green flag waved, the grid went 4 wide almost immediately, and slingshotting himself up from inside row 4 to take the point heading into the Andretti Hairpin on lap 1 was...Mark Smith.
White followed P2, with Wait, Lesnett, Romak, Baker, Hebert, Ramleth, and Martin Lauber in close contact. Don't pay any attention to the order that I typed those names. None of them stayed in anything resembing that order for more than a lap. It was hard racing at the front, (we really danced on the edge of acceptable this race, gentlemen) but thankfully everyone came home with all 4 wheels on their cars and proboscis intact.
A full course yellow came out around midway to collect the Zink of Mei Willams, which gave everyone a breather, and the bunched up grid went hammer and tongs again when the green came back out.
The club ford battle raged between "The Brians" (Forster and Swanson), James Hakewill, Neil Porter, and Max Minshull at the bottom half of the top 10 overall, and the Club Ford podium. At the flag, Hakewill would see himself in front of Swanson to take that final spot on the rostrum. Fred Greis had a great run to pick up 5 spots overall, and Mitch Roth was our hard charger with 6 spots, putting him 15th overall at the checker. Mark Smith would go on to take his first ever Crossflow Cup HF (and overall) win. Fittingly, Club Ford honors were taken by our other first time winner, Adam White. And in our Masters division, Neil Porter took home the win, followed by Chris Schoap and Dave Sandlin.
Far Left : Saturday Masters Podium - Elusive Neil Porter P1, Chris Schoap P2, Sandman P3
Left: CF Podium - Adam White (with Lilly) P1,Bob Lesnett P2, James Hakewill P3
photos by Vincent Puleo
Right: HF Podium - Mark Smith P1, Martin Lauber P2, Andrew Wait P3
Far Right: Golden Hitch Ball, Long Tow Award, Chris Schoap
SATURDAY PARTY HIGHLIGHTS
Beer for the weekend was again supplied by Steve Romak. Thank you so much Steve! And we had a bunch of great giveaways provided by our series sponsors. Thanks to Shippert Racing Services, Dezzani Digital Art, Brian Forster, Scott Young Enterprises, and of course Ivey Engines!!!
Saturday:
Fastest Wrench (polesitting mechanic) - Dominic Giansiracusa, Fluke 101 multimeter
Ivey Engines $250 Gift Certificate - Alan Dezzani
Hard Charger- Mitch Roth
Longest Tow- Chris Schoap - Chris also received the season-ending "golden hitch ball" for his efforts in towing all season long. Well done Chris, thanks for making the tow every time to come race with us!
Dezzani Digital Art Drawing- Steve Jeffords
Qualifying 2:
Mark Smith showed everyone the meaning of "early to grid" on Sunday morning as most folks arrived to find he and his mechanic John Fosse sitting proudly at the head of the line as the sun came up. Sunday was going to be a quick turnaround as CSRG had given the Crossflow racers the bonus session of the Top Gun Shootout later in the day, so round 8 qualifying and race would both take place before noon on Sunday.
Unfortunately, qualifying 2 was to be a bit of a shemozzle. A miscommunication on the part of the flaggers, as well as our front runners meant that some of the grid felt they were going out to a green track, and some felt the first lap was under yellow. A shunt occurred in T10 at the finish of the first flying lap, resulting in a black flag all and the extended cleanup meant the session was brought to a close with only one lap on the books. We were also down 2 cars with the Titan's of Mark Smith and Steve Romak on the trailer both with suspension damage.
I do not like to use the post-race writeups as a platform for lecture, but I will say this guys: we MUST remember that qualifying is just that. It is not a race. We should not be fighting one another for turn-in points, apexes or track position. We should NEVER be blocking, least of all during a qualifying session. In the coming season, expect me to be more heavy handed with grid penalties if these shenanigans happen again.
As the truncated qualifying session closed, Bob Lesnett took his 4th overall pole of the season, followed by Andrew Wait, Martin Lauber, Adam White and Oliver Ramleth rounding out the top 5.
Race 2:
The butterflies in everyone's stomach from qualifying proved not to be a fluke as a waved off start caused some nose-to-tail contact as the grid rolled up in formation to the flagstand. In a moment, we lost the cars of Ed Van Tassel, James Hakewill, and John Plavan from the accordian. The wave off turned into a yellow for another lap to clean up the mess; following that, polesitter Bob Lesnett led the field around to a start.
The battle at the front involved 3 other cars with HF points leader Andrew Wait, Martin Lauber, and Adam White fought doggedly over the top spot. Not far back from the lead 4 was Oliver Ramleth and perennial front runner Art Hebert, who by his own admission spent the weekend looking at the back of Oliver's Titan and was anxious to get by!
Danny Baker, who's entanglement in the earlier qualifying mess had forced him to start shotgun on the field was slugging his way forward from the first green lap. Eventually passing 16 cars on his way to an 11th place finish and hard charger honors which would prove fortuitous for the Top Gun Shootout later in the day.
At the finish, Bob Lesnett went flag-to-flag to take the overall and CF victory, sealing his Club Ford Championship, Adam White was P2 in CF and Neil Porter took the 3rd spot. Martin Lauber ended up P1 in HF (2nd overall), bumping him up to P2 in the HF points standings for the year with Andrew Wait finishing P2 in HF and taking his first ever, long awaited, hard earned Crossflow Cup HF Championship. Oliver Ramleth closed out the HF podium with a great drive. The Masters podium had a couple familiar faces, Chris Schoap at the top step, Dave Sandlin P2, and our newcomer Jonathan Rosenthal taking home a podium in his first Crossflow weekend. Congrats Jonathan!
Far Left: Sunday Masters Podium: Chris Schoap P1, Sandman P2, and Jonathan Rosenthal P3
Left: Sunday: CF Podium: Bob Lesnett P1, Adam White P2, Neil Porter (caught on camera!) P3
Right: Sunday Historic Podium: Martin Lauber P1, Andrew Wait P2, Oliver Ramleth P3
Far Right: Sunday Fastest Wrench Award going to Riccardo Pinero
SUNDAY PARTY HIGHLIGHTS:
Fastest Wrench (polesitting mechanic) - Riccardo Pinero - Leak down gauge
Ivey Engines $250 Gift Certificate- George Jewett
Hewland Dogring- F. Greis
Hard Charger- Danny Baker
Ivey Shirt- Sandman
Sunday's awards were short and sweet, as there was still one race on the season to go. At the conclusion of the prizes and podiums, we did the random draw for the Top Gun Shootout grid. At the close of the final points race, the Shootout Qualifiers were: Andrew Wait, Art Hebert, Bob Lesnett, Brian Forster, Brian Swanson, Paul Kitchen, Oliver Ramleth, Martin Lauber, David Dupuis, Ed Van Tassel, Adam White, Mitch Roth, and Danny Baker.
The Grid: (Did not appear)
Swanson
(Lesnett)
Forster
Ramleth
Hebert
White
(Roth)
(EVT)
Lauber
Kitchen
(Dupuis)
Wait
Baker
CSRG Presents, the TOP GUN SHOOTOUT
9 cars made the call for our 5 lap shootout to close the season. The random grid draw saw an all-Brian front row and the pair did a stellar job of holding the small group together at the start. The grid instantly transformed into two rows of 4.5 wide cresting the hill as the green waved and the fight commenced. Close quarters action between Hebert and Forster caused Lauber to lose track position early, but up front Mr. Toad himself, Brian Swanson had taken the point and set sail. Swanson showed massive pace early on as the pack of champions slugged it out behind him. A shark was circling though; Danny Baker was hungry for the championship belt and took 3 of the 5 laps to get his way to the 2nd spot. Adam White was running a solid 3rd place but mechanical gremlins sidelined him at the start of lap 3. Just behind the lead battle, Art Hebert was breathing down Oliver Ramleth's neck, trying desperately to finally show the back of his gearbox to Ramleth. Our HF points champ Andrew Wait sat within striking distance, as he was clear of Lauber, Forster and Kitchen.
As lap 3 came to a close, Swanson struggled with power down in T11 which allowed Baker the advantage moving onto the front straight. Danny wasted little effort in moving his Lotus into checkmate position and came home at the close of lap 5 on top, followed by Swanson and Ramleth. A fantastic scrap to end our 2023 season!
All hail the Top Gun Shootout Champion, Danny Baker!
FINAL POINTS STANDINGS:
Final Points! Drivers with asterisked names ran 8 races, so the 7 race drop rule was enacted with their lowest points score removed.
HISTORIC
Andrew Wait 60
Martin Lauber 52
Art Hebert 46
Steve Romak 41
Oliver Ramleth 31
Tim Barber 24
Danny Baker 22
Paul M Kitchen 21
Ed VanTassel* 18
Nicholas Colyvas 18
Will Jackson 14
Chris Schoap* 11
Mark Smith 11
Eric Verdin* 10
Marty Benck 10
Mitch Roth 10
Jack Wilson 9
Tim Monohan 9
David Sandlin* 7
Edward Lauber 7
Alex Dodd 6
Frederick Greis 6
Jay Streets 6
Mike Wirrick 6
George Jewett 4
Ben Zlotkin 2
Bob Posner 2
Chris Locke 2
Jonathan Kitchen 2
Jonathan Rosenthal 2
Ron Bonham 2
Steve Jeffords 2
Brian Swanson 1
Mark Colbert 1
CLUB
Bob Lesnett* 81
Adam White 51
Brian Swanson 45
Brian Forster* 41
Neil Porter 39
Kelly Heil 27
John Plavan Jr* 24
Max Minshull 22
Tom Minnich 18
Tom Duncan 10
Alan Dezzani* 8
James Hakewill 8
Terran Swanson 8
Daniel Wise 6
Sam McCord 6
David Dupuis 5
Mark Keller 4
Jim Lynn 3
Ed Abate 2
Marguerite Williams 1
Mike Malone 1
Congrats to our Champions, our podium finishers, and all of you who make Crossflow what it is. The racing is great, but the camaraderie and friendship are the special part of our series.
We will be sending an official evite out soon for the awards dinner! Please let us know if you don't receive it, and please RSVP if you plan on attending.
