2006 DURYEA HILLCLIMB

“STILL THE BEST GAME IN TOWN”

 

Duryea Hillclimb, the sixth event in the 2006 SCCA/TIME TRIALS and PHA series is history, and this driver is adamant that this event is still the best game in town!

 

One hundred and five drivers competing in thirty-six classes set eight class records over the course of seven timed runs offered during the two-day event with no major incidents or delays!

 

In an attempt to offer competitors more timed runs, touring runs were limited primarily to novices (virtually one quarter of the entrants were novices).

 

The officials, workers, and drivers are all to be commended for a smoothly run, trouble-free event, and Nelson Kase, in particular, is to be commended for keeping all those runs (and times) in order!

 

Registration and Tech. on Friday night went smoothly and everyone looked forward to Saturday with great anticipation.

 

Saturday dawned clear and sunny, and, after the Novice touring runs and the driver’s meeting, timed runs began with the drivers in both run groups getting a run before the lunch break.  Drivers had two additional timed runs for a total of three before the hill closed for the day.  There were no major incidents or delays, which is pretty phenomenal if you consider that’s over 300 timed runs- one quarter of them by novices!

 

The party Saturday night at the Liederkranz was once again a combination of good food, good drink, and good comraderie.

 

The “After-party Party” threatens to become another “Boathouse” party.

 

Sunday dawned damp and the course was wet so caution was the better part of valor for most of the morning, but, by noon, the course had dried and times began to drop.  Drivers had the chance to take four timed runs on Sunday (with a brief break for lunch), again with no major incidents or delays, before the event ended for another year.

 

The following drivers set new class records: in ITA, Mike Ancas in a Neon at 131.205; in ITE, Bill Miller at 119.525 in an Audi S4; in ST. MOD., Bob Deysher in a Mazda 323 at 124.540; in ST.MOD. 2, Jeff Fazio at 123.913 in a Toyota MR2; in SPEC MIATA, Rich Stichter at 135.648; in HIST 1, Bill Lessig at 129.713 in a Lotus Elan; in DSR, Kurt Eikenberg in a Prince PR1 at 117.565; and in SPECIAL 1, John Hartnett in a Klaus HK-1 at 119.360.

 

FTD was set by Merlin Miller in his Sunbeam Tiger at 114.998.

 

The winners of the HANKOOK TIRE Contingency Awards presented by CJ’s Tire were: 1st-Gordon Wise, 2nd-Joe Foering, 3rd-Gene Brown.

 

The winners of the TOYO TIRES Contingency Awards presented by CJ’s Tire were: 1st-Matt Williams, 2nd-Rich Stichter, 3rd-Chris Mower.

 

The following are observations of happenings on the hill… Some interesting statistics: almost one quarter of the drivers were in three classes- Historic 1, Vintage 1, and Street Mod. and almost one quarter of the drivers were novices!  So, what’s that prove?  I don’t know; it just looked interesting.  Chris Mower won his class and a tire contingency award with his Neon- we’ll never see the Chevette again!  Dave Yeager fixed Gordon Wise’s GTI- thanks, Dave!  Bill Miller went under two minutes in his awesome Audi- well done!  Merlin Miller and Dave Rohrbach fought tooth and nail for FTD- the cat won.  Aaron Yeager got time off from Penske Racing to turn a 120.822 in Bob Deysher’s Mazda 323- that’s scarey!  Joe Perlo had quite a finish at the top!  It’s good to see Craig Danks, Rich Stichter, and Tammy Oswald back on the hill.

 

Kudos are due to all who made this event the fantastic success that it was!

 

The next event is the Jefferson Dash at Summit Point-a LEVEL 3 Track Trial; see you there!

 

Joe Foering, #37