At both the 2019 Packwood National Tour, and the 2019 Packwood PRO in the books, Oregon Region racers were able to shine, bringing home over 30 trophies in the two weekends of competition.
Tour came first with the competition fast and furious as over 281 racers took times throughout the weekend. Many class battles came down to last runs, with both wins and trophies changing hands in rapid succession. In B-Street, PNW Region racer Piotr Szarkiwicz had Dan Bullis by .008 after day one. Bullis then had to wait until his third run to finally get a clean run, taking the win over Szarkowicz by .643 in the end. Ryan Otis lead the way from start to finish in a talent heavy D-Street class taking the final win by .344 over the always fast Des Toups. Ryan will look to be one of the favorites heading back to Lincoln. In F Street, Roy Hocket was able to hold off a pesky BMW to pilot his Mustang to the win, while in G Street, Dennis Healy found himself in the similar position as his White GTI was able to carry him to victory. STX saw a first time national tour winner from Oregon region. Alex Paraskevas took the win in a class that has 5 drivers within .100 of each other after day one with a dead heat for second place down to the thousandth. Alex however was able to put down a flier on his second run on Sunday to edge out the win by a scant .078!! Dallas Cutler was able to navigate his extremely speedy Evo around the tough course to take a commanding win in Street Mod by over 1.6 seconds. Look for him to bring that same speed to Lincoln in September. Staying in the Evo ranks, co-drivers Josh McCall and Zach Morgan were able to take charge in a tough field of X-Prepared cars to not only win but dominate, taking both first and second place by over 2 seconds. Scott McCusker from OR slid in to claim the third and final trophy spot in class making it an Oregon sweep. In Cam action, it was the beautiful Mustang GT of James Paulson showing the way as he took top honors over fellow Oregon Region member Steve Wynne by 1.8 second in Cam C. Meanwhile in Cam T, it was the sexy Blue Mustang of Chris Pokornie taking first place. Rounding out the winning ways, Ashley Boedigheimer put down some speedy times in her dad’s extremely fast ‘89 Corvette to win in Super Street Mod Ladies. We now turn our attention to the PRO weekend. It may have been a different weekend, but it was many of the same stories taking place as Oregon Region was able to claim 6 more class victories! Dan Bullis, James Paulson, Dallas Cutler, and Ryan Otis were all able to complete the double header sweep backing up their tour wins with PRO wins. Adding to the class winning, John Tritsch moved up from second in tour to the top spot in the PRO in C-Street, and Zach Morgan got the Better of Josh McCall this time around to claim the win in R2. With the class battles over with, we turned out sights on the Super Challenge with many racers entered in. In the first round, it was Adam Ruff facing off against car Owner Tritsch with Adam able to sneak away with the round win. The second round saw Paulson go head to head with Bullis. With Dan taking a cone on his first run, James cruised to the win. Both Ruff and Paulson would see rounds fall their way as both would find themselves in the final paired up. Ruff would take a large lead on the faster left side course after the first run. But overheated tires and a tough right side course would jump up to bite him as Paulson was able to put down a blazing fast left side run to come from behind to take his first ever Super Challenge win in heart pounding fashion. A huge congrats to both racers for putting on a heck of a show in the final. The Oregon region in total brought home 32 trophies between the two weekends, a fantastic showing considering the stiff competition. With Nats just around the corner, the region will be looking to bring home some more from Lincoln as well! Best of luck to all traveling back from the PRO Finale and the SCCA Nationals in Lincoln, Nebraska. Tour Trophies Dan Bullis 1st BS, John Tritsch 2nd CS, Adam Ruff 4th CS, Ryan Otis 1st DS, Allen Westerskow 4th ES, Roy Hocket 1st FS, Dennis Healy 1st GS, Alex Paraskevas 1st STX, Garret Cogburn 6th STS, Dallas Cutler 1st SM, Tom Mill 4th SM, Ashley Bodigheimer 1st SSM, Josh McCall 1st XP, Zach Morgan 2nd XP, Scott McCusker 3rd XP, Jason Braunberger 3rd CP, Tim Bodigheimer 4th CP, Jim Daniels 2nd DP, Sam Otis 2nd FJB, James Paulson 1st CAM-C, Steve Wynne 2nd CAM-C, Chris Pokornie 1st CAM-T PRO Trophies Dan Bullis 1st BS, John Tritsch 1st CS, Adam Ruff 2nd CS, David Santel 2nd STX, Dallas Cutler 1st S1, Ryan Otis 1st S4, Lorin Mueller 3rd S4, James Paulson 1st CAM, Zach Morgan 1st R2, Jim Daniels 2nd R2, Josh McCall 3rd R2, Sam Otis 1st FJB
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August 3-4 saw the final Packwood events for the year roll around. The weather was hot, and so was the action as both Saturday and Sunday saw strong turnouts. With big numbers and fast drivers, taking top honors was a real feat.
In CAM, Brian Duncan in his Corvette took wins on both days as he works to take home the season championship. After both wins, he now holds a 5 point lead over Aaron Folkerts who missed this past weekend. Duane Schaefer holds down the third spot. As we said good bye to Packwood for the year, this means the Juniors Championships closed out as well. In FJA, it was a brother dual as Andrew and Gabriel Nolke went head to head. It was a HUGE Sunday as Gabriel was able to claim his first ever win over his big brother. But it was Andrew who would have the lst laugh as he takes the season Championship by 16 points over little brother. FJB action has been tight all year with Sam Otis showing blistering speed. He will claim the season win with Ember Safstrom, Torin McCusker, and Abby Paulson rounding out the class. And in FJC, the master of the ‘Game face” Rachel Kuehn taking top honors. With talent like this, the future is bright for the region!! Perry Keller scared away all the competition in NS1, and looks to have a lock on the class as he took another win on Saturday. NS2 saw Dave Russel close the gap to Aaron Mauldin as with two events left, it now stands at 20 points. NS3 see’s a fight for second place as Ben Cort and James Keller do battle. Both trying to catch the always fast Scott McCusker. Phil Leavens said goodbye to Groot this past weekend and was able to put some ridiculous times to take the win on both days. Look for a new B-Mod car next year form Phil which should be lightning quick!! NS4 is also tight with Garrett Cogburn leading the way over Jake Hartough. Rio Rios sitting in third will have something to say before its all over as well as this class will come down to the final weekend. Dan Kuehn and Carl Tanner played spoilers this weekend as both split the weekend wins. Dan sits in 4th, and might be a thorn in the side for the top 3. S1 has Shane Kienholz sitting on top as Chuck Spittal is trying to mount a late season charge. Will it be too little, too late?? PIR will decide. S2 saw George Emery leading the way with 2 more wins on the season. He has shown amazing speed in his Ford Focus ST, and is holding on to a 20 point lead over the speedy Allen Westernskow. Michael Pinto sits third, and will need some luck to come his way to try and jump up in to one of the top spots. Matthew Turner is only 4 points off of the podium, and has his sights set on the back of the Pinto Porsche. Trophy Challenge is a real dog fight as both Ben Holmessmith and Laura Duncan have been going back and forth all season. With two big wins this last weekend, its now Ben’s to lose as he will take a narrow 9 point lead into the final weekend. Can Laura keep the spins away to reclaim the top spot? Only time will tell. PRO PAX Ladies looks to be an uphill climb as Lacy Otis has been showing amazing speed in the Otis Family Racing Focus. With her putting down top 10 PAX times all years, she has been extremely hard to beat. She holds a large lead in the point over the always fast Danielle Paulson. Annie Gill stopped by to play spoiler on Saturday taking the win, but it was Lacy jumping back on top on Sunday with a time that put her 7th on overall PAX. Great driving by all the ladies in class. And in PRO PAX, its more of the same as the last name of Otis sits on top. Ryan Otis holds a commanding lead over second place James Paulson who finds himself tied with Dallas Cutler. Oddly enough, neither would find themselves on the top spot this past weekend as it was Jim Daniels who stole that honor. Jim in his DP Miata was flying all weekend long as he edged out Dan Bullis on Saturday, and then Dallas Cutler on Sunday to take both wins. Cutler and Paulson will be going at it tooth and nail the last weekend of the year as they try and sort out the final two steps on the podium. Saturday evening saw the second annual Region Potluck take place on site in Packwood. Fellow racers and family came together to enjoy great food, and great friends in what looks to be a long standing tradition. Packwood truly is a magical place, and we are lucky enough to share in this great town. If you have yet to make the trek up to the base of Mt Rainer, DO IT!!!! The racers will have some time off as many get ready to make the trip back to Lincoln, Nebraska. The PRO Finale and SCCA Solo Nationals will be taking place the first week of September, and it will be a sight to see. With 1325 racers signed up, selling out in a mere 25 hours, Solo Nats will be the hottest place on the planet! Follow all the action live as it happens. Find the links from the SCCA Home page. We wish safe travels, and the best of luck to all who are making the trek out East. May your runs be clean, and your times fast!! One weekend stands between us and the finish line. With many points battles left to finish, the action will be ferocious. So Portland International Raceway, September 21st and 22nd will be the place to be. Mark it down and come on out and enjoy the family that is Oregon Region Autocross!!! Until then, we will see you at the races…… |