Issue link: http://digital.nexsitepublishing.com/i/108534
These two scenes couldn't be more different. Yet, I experienced them both within the span of twelve hours. Barb and I returned to Seattle from a week of vacation on Friday night around 9pm. When I told my very understanding wife that I was going to autocross on Saturday morning, she looked right at me and said "You're crazy!" She might be right. The fifty degree swing in temperature was a major shock. Stock was the first run group this day and they were presented with a rather wet surface and colder temperatures. But that didn't dampen the competition. Jim Christensen and Alex Rosser were fighting it out in S2 with .5 seconds separating them. In S3, Mike Swale and Jeff Parks were only .29 seconds apart. Class S4 went down to the final run with Brent Martonik beating out Linda Kornacki. As the stock class was finishing, the clouds parted and the track started to dry out. Luckily for the second run group, who ran on sticky tires, the day continued to warm up and dry out. Mark Dennie beat out Mike Wilcox in class P2. Dennis Fleischman took P3 over Lyall Edey by .73 seconds. Keith Brown in his Cayman S dominated the 996s in P4 by over 1.8 seconds. Jodi Fordahl was devastating in GTW driving a borrowed 2007 GT3. In the GTU class, Mike Crandall beat all other 914s. The fastest class, GTO, once again had Geoff Newman taking not only the class, but top time of day in his RS America by over a second. The season has started and the tire rubber is flying! Out of the gate the competition was fierce but friendly. PNWR autocrossers have an amazing trait in common. We may drive hard, but we are an incredibly supportive bunch. Everyone is happy when the competition is close, and we cheer each other on. It is amazing the level of sportsmanship that is displayed. www.pnwr.org I must admit, it was good to be back home. Hopefully I'll get to use my suntan lotion sometime this year. But, I still want the dollar cervezas and margaritas back! May 2011 21