Spring Weatherly was held over June 11-12 this year.  Despite the unfavorable weather forecast, the weekend stayed mostly dry, and we only had a little bit of rain Sunday morning.  That rain was enough to give us a damp course on Sunday, although it had mostly dried out by the time we were taking our last runs of the day.

Mark Aubele (53 SPO) once again took FTD, with a 51.540 in his 2003 Ford Mustang that he runs in Super Production Over.  His time was also good for a new class record in SPO.

There were no other class records set at Spring Weatherly, which is very unusual.  This was probably due to the damp course on Sunday.

Martin Donnelly came in second overall in his Crosskart (172 S1) with a 52.279.   Kurt Eikenberg (08 S1) was third overall in his Cheetah, only .133 seconds from second with a 52.412. 

In addition to the close times in S1 between Martin and Kurt, there were a lot of really close times a lot of the other classes.  Here are some highlights…

In American Sedan (AS), a little more than half a second separated the top two drivers.  Gary Polakoski (16 AS) won the class in his Ford Mustang with a 58.417, with Brian Halecki (42 AS) .542 seconds behind with a 58.959.

In Forumla S (FS), Bill Feist (95 FS) won the class with a 54.282, with Dave Cutchins (94 FS) coming in .636 seconds behind with a 54.918.   Both drivers were in a Stohr F1000.

On to the “Autocross” classes, A Street Prepared (ASP) was really close, with James Nauman (932 ASP) in a Subaru WRX taking first place with a 61.272.  Only .211 seconds behind, Stephen Sincavage (1 ASP)  in a Subaru STI ran a 61.483.

D Street Prepared (DSP) was another close battle, with Jody Miller (003 DSP) running a 60.530 in his Honda Civic SI.  Bryan McCrea (98 DSP) was .268 seconds behind in his Scion FR-S.

In F Street Prepared (FSP), Crystal Whisler (175 FSP) in her Plymouth Neon and Mike Axarlis (45 FSP) in his VW Scirocco battled it out, with Crystal taking first place with a 68.902.  Mike was .560 seconds behind with a 69.462.  Note that Mike sat out on Sunday, working the finish line instead.  Thank you Mike!

In Super Street Mod, Adrienne Reed beat Dan Reed by .181 seconds, both in Adrienne’s Chevrolet Corvette.  Adrienne ran a 56.805, which was fast enough to put her in the top 10 times overall (she placed 9th).  Dan’s fast time was a 57.986.

Last but not least, Street Mod FWD (SMF) was also close, with Tim Lewis (242 SMF) in his Honda Civic SI beating Jason Fraley (142 SMF) in the same car.  Tim ran a 58.769, and Jason was only .242 seconds behind with a 59.011.  Hmm, that time difference is quite a coincidence! 

My car was running and shifting great, and despite the damp course on Sunday, I was very happy with my times.  I’m still not close to my best time at Weatherly, but the car felt great, and I can’t wait for Pagoda!

In other news, Matt Rowe and Jen DeHart were inducted into the Weatherly Hall of Fame on Sunday.  This was very well deserved as they have put many years of hard work into the Weatherly Hillclimbs (and other PHA events) as event officials.

Also, I’d like to introduce the next generation of hillclimbers!  All three were born within a couple of weeks of each other, and Spring Weatherly was their first event.

Special thanks to the Weatherly Fire Department — here’s a great photo of the crew from Wayne Domkowski:

I’d also like to thank Nancy and Steve Lewis and the rest of the timing crew for their efforts in resolving the timing issues.  While we did have a timing problem on Saturday, it was only in the sense that the start and finish lines weren’t talking to each other (no signal).  Thanks to the backup devices available with the new timing system, no times were lost, and timestamps just needed to be transferred from the backup devices after Saturday’s runs were complete.  There were a couple of times that were transferred incorrectly, resulting in some confusion on Sunday, but everything was corrected after the final audit.

Thanks also to Patti Murphy and Don McLaughlin for the pictures in this post.  Patti’s pictures are on Facebook, and Don’s pictures can be found on his Spring Weatherly flicker album.

Speaking of pictures, as usual, Wayne Domkowski took many pictures at this event, and has posted samples on the PHA Facebook page.  Contact Wayne directly on Facebook or by email at bdi.black.diamond.imaging@gmail.com with specific requests to see the pictures he took at this event.  You won’t be disappointed.