urfsin wrote:It was 7:00am and the ground was still soaking from the previous 48 hours of rain. It was so slick that some cars had a hard time getting to the staging area. When you finally did make it there, you had to step out into the dreaded mud. When I saw all of this, I knew it was going to be a glorious day for rally cross racing.
We started off running the SS2 and SS4 classes. As we were parading around the course, I knew the poor SS2 guys had no chance. When we started racing, the times around the course reflected the conditions. It was slow and sloppy. Guy Sappington showed his years of rally cross experience to take 1st place in his rented Chevy Aveo. He was followed up by John Harris for 2nd and David Clark for 3rd.
Next up was SS4. The conditions were getting a little better, but not by much. Dave Haws of 505 Motorsports dominated his class in a 2.5RS and took 1st place by 88.51 seconds. It was the largest margin of victory of the day. Dusty Wall finished 2nd in his WRX bug eye wagon and Pete Landry rounded it out with 3rd in his Saabaru wagon.
SM2 had one of the most interesting battles of the day. In one corner you had Robert Miller representing Flat Rabbit Racing in his 88’ Turbo Civic with well over 200 HP. In the other corner you had Burney Storms in his Geo Metro with well less than 100 HP!! Going into the last run, Burney held a 4.65 second advantage over the turbo Civic. With only half a lap to go, Burney unexpectedly pulls off the course and heads to the pits, resulting in an Off Course. This sealed the win for Robert. Amazingly, Burney still ended up in 2nd place. Bill Martin finished 3rd in his 92’ Nissan Sentra SE-R.
This brought us to SM4. Last year SM4 was the red headed step child, but this year it is the biggest and most popular class. We had 15 entries in this class alone. This was also the fastest class of the day. Louie Minette driving his “Monster” 2.5RS edged out Tom Crane in his WRX by 1.59 seconds with an overall fast time of the day of 408.59. Not to be left out of the party was Peter LeClaire in his 93’ Legacy with 3rd place. Not too shabby for a first timer with less than 100 HP at the wheels!! Trent Koury gets the honorable mention with the single fastest lap of the day, he ran an astounding 98.16 in his 2.5RS.
Rally 2 was the smallest class of the day with only four entries. Jack Szanto was coming off a win at Ridgecrest and was looking to follow it up with a strong performance. It was not his day though as Kevin Patterson and Jake Walters took one and two in a shared Dodge Neon. Too many cones foiled Jack and he ended up in 3rd place with his DCH Motorsports SRT- 4.
Just when you thought the conditions were perfect for a showdown in Rally 4, the skies opened back up and it started to rain. Not to fear though as the showdown came down to the wire. Mike Malsed driving the 505 Motorsports “Monster” 2.5RS squeaked by Walter Park with a .17 second advantage. Sometimes it’s amazing to think that it can come down to such a small margin of victory. With his trip from the Bay Area all for not, Brian Francis finished 3rd in his STI.
Overall it was another great day at Glen Helen. The conditions were sloppy at first, but got better as the day wore on. 505 Motorsports could not have asked for a better day. Dave Haws in the “Tsardine” dominated SS4; Louie Minette got his first win of the year in SM4 and the “Monster” 2.5RS in the hands of Mike Malsed ran strong and true for a win in Rally 4. Flat Rabbit Racing is also looking good as Robert Miller continued his fast driving by getting his second 1st place in SM2.
The next race for the 2008 So Cal Rally-X season is at Johnson Valley on April 5th, followed by Glen Helen II on April 20th. We hope to see you there.
For more information about Rally-X, follow these links:
http://www.rallyxportal.com
http://www.formularallyx.com
http://www.californiarallyseries.com
http://www.505motorsports.com
http://www.dirtyimpreza.com