Aloha SCCA Drivers!

It was SuperSolo Sunday for the die-hard racers on Oahu! The skies were clear, the pavement was dry, and the company was great! I can’t think of a better way to spend my Sunday although, I think there are a few people who may disagree.

For those 76 drivers who share the same sentiment, we got to drive a really well balanced course with two very fast slalom sections and three technical turns that were disguised quite well as just normal turns. The really fast times came from those who knew to have patience to take the fast exit and give the space needed off the pivot cone to find the right line. I may or may not have been one of those drivers… it depends on which run you’re talking about.

Heat 1 was off to a slow start after a timing switcheroo was discovered after the first 2-3 cars took their first runs. Something wasn’t quite right with the timing system and it was discovered that the start and finish eyes were switched! Note to self: Red is for stop! After the quick switch, we were off again and finished our morning heats with plenty of time for lunch before the afternoon driver’s meeting.

In case you didn’t hear this specific part of my driver’s meeting announcements, I must remind everyone that your SpeedWaiver photos are official documents! While I love the pictures of your furry kids (not so much of your ceiling fans or lights), please take the appropriate selfie as these are saved as SCCA National Office record documents for at least 7 years! I’m fine with the silly photos as long as I can tell that it is you – but you may end up featured in a future Banquet Slideshow or on our SCCA Hawaii Private Facebook page!

Race #2 Results:
http://www.sccahawaii.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/race-2-02-07-2021_fin.pdf

PAX Class had some fierce competition with 6 of the top overall PAX times of the day. Taking home top PAX was Ken Van Orman in his BMW M3 by a mere 0.054 seconds over last event’s PAX winner, Mark Pacpaco in his Acura Integra Hype R. Just 0.340 seconds behind Mark was Mike Parker in a borrowed Ford Focus ST courtesy of the Kubo family. Coincidentally, the top 5 in class were Ken, Mark, Mike, Mike, Mark… then me. LOL.

I didn’t know it until he was on course, but Ryan Sato brought out his now-famous IS300 that is featured on the latest Curtis Lee Memorial T-Shirt! I hear that car has tons of gadgets and gizmos on it including an exhaust silencer. At least, that’s what I heard.. or didn’t hear? Watching Ryan’s debut run with his completed project was pretty awesome. But like most, if not all, racecars… it decided to have a minor meltdown and deflate the balloon of awesomeness on its first run. Fret not, I hear it was fixed before the end of the heat and will live to see another race!

Rookie Class had 5 drivers again, but with only 2 of them being return drivers! Eli Zollo in his Honda CTR dug into his Evolution Performance Driving School bag of tricks and grabbed the win over Victor Martell in his BMW 318is and Logan Barayuga in his Honda S2000. Competition was tight for that 3rd spot with everyone within less than half a second of each other! Many thanks goes to Brad Lau and Gabe Hanohano for providing out-of-car Rookie Instruction and giving our Rookie drivers the best experience possible with our new COVID compliance rules.

D Street was the battle of the AWDs. Daniel Boatman in his Focus RS laid down a smokin’ last run dropping nearly half a second to secure top spot in class and 2nd in overall PAX! Arian Yee and Michael Baquiro, both in Subaru STIs, duked it out for the second spot with Rolando Santiago in his Focus RS claiming the 4th spot.

And the H Street winner was Shasta Yamada!! She dropped time every run breaking into the 38s on her fastest and final run. Her overall PAX placement was higher than her raw time placement, which means she drove faster than her car was classed for. Watch out guys!

In ESP, it was Ford v Dodge. Cliff Goto (Ford Mustang) and Nick Martin (Dodge Charger RT) made it out to their first event of 2021 and watching them on course was entertaining! They joined the likes of Lionel Shigemura having to watch their acceleration around the sound meter with all that American Muscle! Cliff took home top honors standing on his second run of the day while Nick chunked down almost 4 seconds to be within less than half a second of Cliff.

The story of the day was in XP! I heard Bret Desmond got a set of new tires and he definitely made use of them. Bret powered his BMW 318ti to the second fastest time of the day! He dropped nearly 2 seconds on his last run to take the lead from Jon Matsushige in his Happy Black Lab Chevy. The only person faster than Bret this day was Mark Pacpaco. Congrats on this stellar performance, Bret!

Roel Bonilla brought back his Mazda Miata after trying out his BMW last event in STR. When asked which one is more fun, I think you can guess the answer! Not only is the Miata more fun, but it took 1st place in STR. Howard Shek drove hard in his Honda S2000 to beat Roel’s fastest time but coned his fastest run in the finish lane and poof went the win.

Sunday was another really great event in the books! I am very impressed with how well we can run these events, have fun and be very COVID compliant. I hope you have read and received my earlier email listing the changes the Chiefs have agreed upon for future 2021 events. If not, please remember to READ YOUR EMAILS as that is our main mode of communication for event updates!

Next race is Sunday, February 28th and pre-registration opens on 2/20/2021 at 9am. This is the last confirmed event I have for 2021 until the Stadium is able to give more date approvals. Please note that all events dates are subject to change with the volatile COVID climate.

See you at the races!
Jennifer Parker
SCCA Hawaii Solo Chairperson