Half a league, half a league, half a league onward...
Welcome to the 2023 Crossflow Cup Season! The long winter's nap was finally and officially brought to a close this past week at Sonoma, under much hoped-for blue skies and chilly temperatures. But the cool breezes were of little matter; the battles on track were hot enough to start a five alarm fire.
The Friday test day showed that the winter testing did little in the way of calming the storm of competition. Our frontrunners had all racked up the miles of testing but it was clear that as the sand fell down the hourglass leading towards Q1 on Saturday morning, it was all to play for with no clear vision as to whom would be standing the top step later that day.
Qualifying 1:
There were some familar names at the front of Q1, accented by some folks making a statement with big moves for the opening salvo of 2023. In Historic Ford, Oliver Ramleth showed he was here to play in '23, following Kelly Heil as they rolled out for qualifying and laying down a low 1:48 to put him safely inside the top 10, and Alex Dodd showing that the off-season testing really paid off with him laying down a personal best 51 flat to put him in the 17th spot overall (just under 4 tenths would've found him 5 whole spots further north). Up front, Andrew Wait laid down a heater on lap 4 to take the pole (and be the first to qualify himself for the CSRG Top Gun Shootout) with Martin Lauber .009 (yes, you read that correctly) sec adrift in P2 and Danny Baker P3 a tenth back. Both Lauber and Baker's cars were fresh off massive winter rebuilds at the hands of the Katusha and CTC crews respectively, and all 3 drivers were clearly trying to put their mark on the season early.
In CF, Bob Lesnett showed that he had lost none of his speed during his brief respite as he took the 4th spot overall and class pole in his freshly restored Crossle, ahead of Jellyman Kelly Heil's euro-spec Lola 540. Brian Forster's Tiga was P3 on the CF grid, followed by newcomer Adam White's USA-spec Lola 540, and thankfully Chip Ganassi and Alex Palou let us borrow Terran Swanson for the weekend so he could qualify 12th overall and 4th in CF. A little further back, Alan Dezzani was sorting out his freshly rebuilt Royale, and Sam McCord had honored us with debuting his beautiful Zink Z10 after over a decade of dormancy.
Race 1:
A 36 strong field rolled off to take the green flag to really get the season underway and almost immediately the mosh pit began. The grid refused to line up single file until the race was almost 6 miles old; nearly 3 laps of the 2.5 mile Sonoma Raceway circuit had lapsed by that point. Clean racing from nose to tail though as battles raged all the way through. Before the end, mechanical gremlins culled Dr. Nick Colyvas' stunning Titan from our ranks, and the new car shakedown blues took Tim Monahan out of the fight as well. Losing Will Jackson and Brian Swanson both to engine woes meant we finished a few less than we started but the race ran clean and green from start to finish.
No less than SEVEN cars fought it out for the top spot for the entirety of the race distance: Wait, Hebert, Lesnett, Romak, Lauber, and Baker slugged it out, swapping spots over and over but being very egalitarian in their fight. Seemingly everyone had their turn at the point at one time or another. Rarely less than 2 wide, and occasionally 3 wide, the frontrunners showed tenacity but gave fair racing room. 7th place starter Kelly Heil struggled with engine issues that kept him from having a say in the battle but he hung in there, notching up the first race finish for his car since 1979. The finish was equally bonkers as last year's Champ Martin Lauber showed '22 was no fluke as he took top honors by a nose over Wait, with Hebert, Romak and Baker filling out the Top 5. Lesnett took CF honors with Heil P2.
The second pack scoffed at a 7 car battle and said "hold my beer". At one point there were 10 cars in the scrum which included Terran Swanson's Van Diemen, Adam White's beautiful new-old-stock Lola 540, Oliver Ramleth's Titan, "The Ed's" both Lauber and VanTassel in their Titan's, Paul Kitchen's Lotus, and more. Ramleth found his way to the front of this group by the checker, and Brian Forster showed that he didn't actually need to qualify after a starter issue on the grid forced him to start last and he managed to fight his way forward right into the thick of this battle, winning the Katusha Speed Shop Hard Charger award in the process and qualifying himself for the CSRG Top Gun Shootout. Swanson finished P3 at the checker but fell afoul of the scales of justice, moving Adam White to the final spot on the CF rostrum.
Some of our Crossflow newcomers, perhaps wide eyed and swinging for the fences were John Plavan (in the ex-Heil Bros Crossle 30) ending up 18th overall, just ahead of Eric Verdin's Titan, while Sam McCord enjoyed a race long battle with Alan Dezzani and Fred Greis showing that the midfield fights just as hard as the frontrunners.
Our Masters podium was topped by Marty Benck, Eric Verdin in the second spot, with the always shy and reserved Bob Posner on the final step.
Top Left to Right:
Saturday Masters Podium - Marty Benck P1, Eric Verdin in the second spot, Bob Posner P3 (Teo Lauber as stand-in)
CF Podium - Bob Lesnett P1, Kelly Heil P2, Adam White P3 (Noah Shippert as stand-in)
HF Podium - Lauber Family P1, Andrew Wait P2, Art Hebert P3
Party People!
Bottom Left to Right:
Sunday Masters Podium: Marty Benck, Chris Schoap, Eric Verdin (Noah standing in)
Sunday CF Podium: Bob Lesnett, Kelly Heil, Adam White
Sunday Historic Ford Podium: Andrew Wait, Art Hebert, Martin (and Teo) Lauber
Ivey Cylinder head refresh winner - Mike Wirrick
Qualifying 2:
Q1 showed our racers that it didn't much matter where you qualified, you were going to have to slug it out when the green dropped. Nerves were jangling as the field of cars awaited the clock to start.
Martin Lauber drew first blood with a mid-46 to put him on the top spot at the end of lap 2 but it wasn't to last as Andrew Wait put the big two-three on the board with a 46.08 on lap 5 to take the first chair. Flanked by Art Hebert and Steve Romak in 2nd and 3rd; 4th and 5th of Bob Lesnett's Crossle and Danny Baker's Lotus respectively doing their level best to take the fight to the army of Titan's.
John Plavan showed he learned a boatload about wheeling a FF on Saturday with an outstanding 11th place starting spot. This was to line him up just behind Tim Monahan who's Titan had been given the "full triage" approach by the Katusha and Ivey brigade on Saturday night. Monahan's car wasn't the only one that the good Dr. Ivey performed surgery on; Kelly Heil's Lola was benefitting from some carb work and a new distributor and was firing hard on all cylinders now. The Jellyman would have legs to stand on in the afternoon's battle.
Tom Minnich had an epiphany and used his fresh Ivey power to lay down a personal best to put him him the 20th spot on the grid, followed by Chris Schoap who struggled most of the weekend with braking issues. Never one to let it dampen his spirits, Chris kept a smile on and kept chipping away. Speaking of braking issues, Dan Wise was putting some new pads to good use as he knocked off the winter's cobwebs in his Crossle. And our Southern CA interlopers, the Monise crew had put in some hours on Saturday finding and eliminating an electrical gremlin on Max Minshull's blue Crossle 32. Max was to line up outside row 11.
Race 2:
A partial track oildown by a Porsche in the group before caused a delay to the start of Round 2. This was to prove key as it led to a messy start and some action early on. The grid formed up nicely but the starter threw an incredibly late green nearly causing a disaster as the grid went 4 and 5 wide into and through T1 at the start; Steve Romak commented that he actually pulled his shoulders in as cars blasted past him on both sides as he fell from 3rd place! Thankfully all our racers made it safely up the 13 story climb to the top of Sonoma Raceway's Turn 3A, plunging down into the off-camber Turn 4. Sam McCord got caught out on some errant oil in T4 however, and came together with Mitch Roth's Winklemann which brought out a full course yellow as the field came through to complete lap 1. Roth's car was able to roll in under its own power (though his day was done) but McCord's weekend ended with a slightly wrinkled Zink.
The field, headed by Wait, circulated behind the pace car for a few laps. When they were released, Wait jumped quickly to a two-car lead, which he was to hold all the way to a truncated finish. After Saturday's donnybrook, Sunday's race was a bit of an anticlimax. Hebert was P2, Lauber P3 with Romak and Baker filling out the top 5 in class. Lesnett was 4th overall, again taking CF laurels, with Heil and White nose to tail in 2nd and 3rd (7th and 8th overall). Our car-trouble twins from Saturday (Colyvas and Monahan) ended the weekend on a good note with top 10 finishes for both, and a tie for the Katusha Speed Shop Hard Charger award between Oliver Ramleth and Paul Kitchen.
A little further back, Ed VanTassel finished up another solid performance by rounding out the top 15 and Chris Locke's lovely little blue Merlyn went toe to toe with Dave Sandlin's Titan with Sandlin coming out on top. Our Master's podium again found Marty Benck at the top spot, with Chris Schoap in 2nd, and Eric Verdin in 3rd.
Top Left: Sunday Masters Podium: Marty Benck, Chris Schoap, Eric Verdin (Noah standing in)
Top Right: Sunday CF Podium: Bob Lesnett, Kelly Heil, Adam White
Bottom Left: Ivey Cylinder head refresh winner - Mike Wirrick
Bottom Right: Sunday Historic Ford Podium: Andrew Wait, Art Hebert, Martin (and Teo) Lauber
Below: Your Crossflow Cup couple, Ed and Dana VanTassel
Below Below: Adam White, looking sharp in steelies and a snorkel
PARTY HIGHLIGHTS
Beer and wine were supplied by Crossflow donations, entertainment was provided by the Lauber and Shippert children, and we had a bunch of great giveaways provided by our series sponsors!
SRS donated some Amsoil Miracle Wash which was won by Terran Swanson. Convenient, considering Terbear had a bit of oil mess to clean up on the King's Royal Van Diemen.
Alan Dezzani has graciously donated a digital print at every Crossflow round this season. Alan's artwork is fantastic (some of his portfolio can be seen here: http://dezzanidigitalart.com/home/vintage_racing)This weekend's print was won by Chris Locke who's Merlyn Mk 11 will be immortalized by Alan.
The Ivey Engines crew donated a TON of great stuff. First up was a Tilton clutch disc which was won by Marty Benck, next was a discount on rebuild won by Alan Dezzani. And finally the big prize, a certificate for a cylinder head refresh which was won by the luckiest man in the paddock, Mike Wirrick. For those of you keeping score at home, you may remember Mike won the free set of tires last fall. I strongly recommend someone set up in the paddock next to Mike next time and take him to 7-11 to buy some lottery tickets.
This year's Crossflow race weekend trophies were donated by Brian Forster. The trophies feature a lovely image of a Compomotive basketweave wheel off of his Tiga. In addition to the race weekend trophies, Brian is giving away a "longest tow" award each weekend. This weekend's recipient was of the $50 Starbucks card went to Bob Posner for his 800 mile trip from the Pacific Northwest. Thank you so much Brian for stepping up to take this on!
Scott Young Enterprises donated a Mk box dogring, which was won by someone... but your writer is having a mental block and cannot for the life of himself remember who. Remember racers, call Scotty for ALL your Hewland needs, and remember to tell him you are a Crossflow Cup racer and Ethan sent ya for a 10% discount.
The CSRG Top Gun Shootout qualifiers for this weekend were: Andrew Wait, Brian Forster, Paul Kitchen and Oliver Ramleth.
Next Up, Thunderhill:
Rounds 3 and 4 find the Crossflow Cup tackling all the challenges that the 3 mile circuit of Thunderhill has to offer. We will be sending out information about this event in the coming weeks so please sit tight. Some pertinent items of information about the event that we DO know:
A CSRG license is acceptable, you do not need an SCCA license for the weekend
There will be ample track time. SFR is going to give us our usual Q1/R1 Q2/R2 setup, as well as a possible Saturday AM practice session. There will be an optional track-run Friday test day for an additional charge, but this will not be mandatory
We are our own group. If you have a buddy with a modern FF, they can run in Group 4 (the SCCA FF group). Ditto for those of you with Atlantics, or other SCCA cars. Even those poor unfortunate souls with fenders and doors. Come on out and double dip!
They are going to try to give us our own space in the paddock. If you didn't come to T-Hill last September, this is one of the best parts. It's like going to summer camp with your racecar buddies.
I really want this event to be a success. If we like this, we have the option to run more events with San Francisco Region SCCA in the future. If you want to have a say in how Crossflow is run, I need you there to "sample the merchandise" as far as what SFR SCCA has to offer. This is YOUR series after all; Rebecca and I are merely trying to steer the ship in the way you tell us to.
To that end, if we hit 30 cars, I'll give away one free entry out of my pocket. If we hit 40 cars, I'll give away two. Simple as that. That would be a 1 in 20 chance of winning, those are WAY better odds than the California lottery (and ironically better odds than any single car has of winning a on any given Crossflow weekend...) So PLEASE come out and support Crossflow.
Swag will be available! If you haven't already bought shirt, a hat, sweatshirt or tumbler, we will have them for sale there as well! All proceeds help to support YOUR series!
~ Thank you all for making Rounds 1 and 2 a success! ~