February 27

CCR held its first autocross of the 2000 season at Knights Stadium. The course layout featured fast, sweeping sections and a technically challenging crossover instead of the traditional high-speed crossover. Fast times around the course were in the low 40 second range.

We had a large turnout of 121 entrants, 39 of which were novices. With a field of this size, we were limited to 3 runs on course. The rain held off until the last run group, and most everyone in that group got at least one dry run. Despite a few timer malfunctions, we did manage to finish the event in the rain. Thanks to all of the course workers who got soaked in order to keep the event moving!

Chris Peterson blistered the course in the SuperWabbit with a time of 41.464, which was good enough for FTD and FTSP. FTM went to Patrick Murray in an Adult Kart with a time of 44.837. Todd Hopkins (our Solo 2 member of the year) had FTP in his Chevy Monza with a time of 46.705. John Messenheimer had FTS in his GTI VR6 with a time of 43.186. Anna Mckenzie took first place in Ladies class with a raw time of 50.993 in her CSP Mazda Miata. Some of the junior Karts were just as quick as the faster cars on course. Ryan Jackson took first place in Kart class, and 5^th fastest time of the day, with a time of 42.594.

Novice class had a tough battle for 1^st place. The top 10 novices and their raw times, starting with 1^st place are: Enrico Scolari, BMW M3 (46.173)(pax37.631), Bill Hencak, Mazda Miata (46.418)(pax37.645), Nathan Wisch, Ford Focus (48.280), Chris Shipley, Mitsubishi Eclipse (47.077), Robert Spangler Jr., Dodge Neon (48.272), Nis Nicolaisen, BMW 325is (49.041), Keith Walters, Porsche 944(48.789), Maichael Mann, Saturn SC (49.824), Cameron Crummet, Mazda Miata (48.859) and Jon Blanton, Nissan 300ZX (47.900).

I would like to thank Erica Mangum for working Registration, even though she does not drive. I also thank Steven Rankins for working the entire day in the timing van, although he was unable to run his car in the event. Thanks to Todd Hopkins for all of his help and for bringing all of the equipment that make our events possible. Thanks to everyone who helped make the first Autocross Event for CCR a success.

John Messenheimer (not Jr.), Event Chair