2023 CROSSFLOW CUP CHAMPIONSHIP DINNER
On December 16th, Crossflow Cup held it's first ever year end championship and awards dinner. Serving the dual purpose of an awards banquet with a shopwarming party for the new location of Shippert Racing Services, around 80 guests filled the 4200 sq/ft shop, enjoying a few post-season libations and the warm embrace of fellow competitors. Many beers were consumed, much bench racing occured, and plans for the upcoming season were laid.
Your 2023 Cypress Lane Trophy winners are Bob Lesnett in Club Ford, and Andrew Wait in Historic Ford. Our two champs had similarly strong seasons, both of them commanded from the front. But while Andrew's title fight was never a sure thing, Bob had a stranglehold on the top step from round 1.
Lesnett came out swinging in his freshly rebuilt Crossle after a few preseason test days, and won both of the first two rounds from pole. In fact, Bob went 6 out of 8 on the season, never finishing worse than 3rd in his other two "non-wins".
Andrew Wait has been on what at times might've seemed like a Sisyphean quest over the past few seasons. Always a contender, always at or near the front. The 2022 season looked like it would finally be his year, but the racing gods can be cruel. For 2023 however, Andrew was not to be denied and with four class poles, two wins, three 2nd's and a single 3rd out of 6 starts, he finally got that championship cup he so roundly deserved.
Congrats gentlemen!
Top Left: Rookie of the Year: Max Minshull
Mid Left: Mechanic(s) of the Year: Steve Raymond of AutoSpa
Mid Right: Series MVP: Brian Forster
Top Right: Crossflow Cup: Fred Greis
Above: Jack Wilson's WDF3, your 2023 FFanciest FFord winner!
SPIRIT AWARDS
For his efforts behind the scenes designing and purchasing our race weekend trophies, Brian Forster won the Series MVP.
Your votes for FFanciest FFord saw Jack Wilson's beautiful rebuild of his Winklemann WDF3 (carried out by Katusha Speed Shop) take home the cup.
Rookie of the year honors went to Max Minshull. Max made it to all 8 rounds (a qualifying criteria), kept improving all year, and had a great time doing it!
This year's Mechanic of the Year was given to Steve Raymond on behalf of his shop AutoSpa. They look after several regular series competitors like Steve Romak, Dave Sandlin, and Alan Dezzani, and the award was given to them for the relentless efforts they put in on behalf of their clientele. Great job gentlemen!
The highest honor our series has to give is the Crossflow Cup. This is a spirit award for the person that represents the best of what our series stands for. The trophy is handmade by Colin Ivey and the symbolic weight of this award is only rivaled by it's actual weight. This year's recipient was none other than Fred Greis. For those of you that don't know Fred, he is a relative newcomer to our series, 2022 was his rookie year. But Fred has something special in his approach; he always has a warm smile and a great attitude about his racing. He embodies everything that Crossflow is all about; putting your best effort on track, and never forgetting that camaraderie off track is every bit as important as one's effort on it. We are so very fortunate to have Fred amongst our ranks and if you haven't spent any time with Fred over the past 2 seasons, make a point to find him in the paddock in the 2024 season. I promise, you'll make a new friend.
Above: CF Championship Podium: 3rd Brian Swanson, 1st Bob Lesnett, 2nd Adam White
Below: HF Championship Podium: 3rd Art Hebert, 1st Andrew Wait, 2nd Martin Lauber
Above: Wine Bar, Kids Podium, Gloves Giveaway, Founders Cup
CROSSFLOW NEWS
NEW SPONSOR FOR 2024:
Chris Emery of the Racer's Safety Source has stepped up in a big way for Crossflow. In addition to donating 2 pairs of Alpinestars gloves that we gave away at the dinner, all Crossflow Cup competitors will receive 10% off his online store for ALL gear and equipment. Just enter "Crossflow24" at checkout. Chris has also designed this custom OMP suit you see below, exclusively to Crossflow Cup competitors. This is a fully tailored, custom suit. For those of you that have never had a tailored suit, trust me when I say you will never go back to "off the rack". Crossflow price on this suit is $2300 which is a $500 discount off of retail. If you're interested, reach out to Chris - chris@theracerssafetysource.com and tell him to set you up!
HMSA DATE CONFIRMED
We have a confirmed date for the March HMSA event! It will be the March 22/23 weekend, immediately after CSRG, allowing out of town racers to hit 2 weekends on the trot. We are happy and excited to be working with HMSA again, and looking forward to a strong second weekend of the 2024 season.
ONLINE SWAG STORE!
Rebecca has worked long and hard to launch the online swag shop for Crossflow. No longer will you have to wait until the race weekend to purchase gear! Click the blue button below, and make sure to share it with your friends and family to support your series and help it grow. (baby and kids clothes too!)
Shop Crossflow Swag (Click HERE)
2024 MEMBERSHIP DUES
As it is the new year, we humbly ask once again for your membership donations. For 2024 we are asking for $300 to help us pay for the costs of running the series. For the 4 points weekends, this comes out to $75 per weekend. This goes into things like giveaways, prizes and refreshments, the year end championship trophies (the Cypress Lane Trophy, the Top Gun Shootout belt, etc). As usual, you can send funds via paypal to ethan@shippertracingservices.com, or pay in person on one of the race weekends. Will Jackson has volunteered to be our "membership ambassador" to help when we have out-of-towners, as well as new members. As you all know, there isn't a more friendly face in the paddock than Will. Think of him as the guy in the background answering the phone on the PBS pledge drive...
ELKHART LAKE INFO
I almost have the transport and tenting ironed out for the Elkhart Lake trip in July. The bullet points are:
Towing will cost around $4800 round trip with Intercity. This is an incredible deal. We will be booking trailers in groups of 8 cars. The space will include your car, everything you can fit in the cockpit, 2 tote bins and 1 spare set of wheels.
Tenting will cost around $250 per car. This is a giant circus style tent and it will keep us out of the elements (which can be prodigious in Wisconsin) For those of you towing yourselves, you don't need to be on the trailer to be under the tent.
These numbers are an estimate, they will move +/- little based on final car count, albeit not too much. I hope to have this finalized by the end of the month. Please, if you are planning on entering and coming on the trailer, shoot me an email: ethan@shippertracingservices.com and get on the list. This way I can start a group email with pertinent information and billing/dates.
ROLEX INFO
In case you haven't heard, Historic and Club Fords are being accepted at Monterey this August for the Rolex weekends. This will be our first time back since 2019, and once again Crossflow is being asked to help make it happen. I have been asked to steward the group; we will scale cars and run drivers meetings like it is a normal event. However, as most of you know, not all cars will be accepted. There will be more cars entered than they have room for. As such, this will not be a Crossflow Cup points event. Entry forms will be available in the next week or two.
WRAPPING IT UP
2023 was another great year for Crossflow. Once again, Rebecca and I have so many people to thank. We all owe a lot to our series sponsors: Jay, Cam and Colin Ivey at Ivey Engines, Scott Young at Scott Young Enterprises, Roger and Brandon Kraus at Roger Kraus Racing Tires, Brent and the boys at Katusha Speed Shop, and of course the crew at Shippert Racing Services. Most of all, we want to thank all of you that have contributed financially or with your time. Always remember, Crossflow is YOUR series. The racers make it special.
See you in March!
