of a racing season. That is why it’s tough to write this article since I was not able to attend for the first time in seven years. Two things are for sure though – I will come back as hungry as ever next year, and the “F5” button on my keyboard at work was getting a workout on the competition days from refreshing the live timing page! By my unofficial count, CENDiv sent 136 entrants to Nationals this year, and more than 30 percent of them came back carrying extra weight in their tow vehicle or trunk! The division managed seven class
winners. Drivers Bartek Borowski (ES),
Jeff Ellbery (third, EM, Iowa Region).
Eighteen other drivers earned
trophies: J. Ma (fourth, DS, Milwaukee
Region), Christy Vehe (fourth, STUL,
Chicago Region), Greg Meier (fourth,
DP, Chicago Region), John Engstrom
(fourth, CM, Chicago Region),
Mark Sawatsky (fourth, DM, Badlands
Region), Keith Beumer (fourth, FM,
Land O’ Lakes Region),
JERRY DOCTOR
Andew Canak (STS), Anne Robinson
(DPL) and Tom Reggaine (FJB) made it
back-to-back wins. Some new winners
(both overall and in classes) included
Hubert Borowski (fifth, ES, Chicago
Region), Stephen Jones (fifth, DSP,
Land O’ Lakes Region), Sean Ford
(fifth, EM, Land O’ Lakes Region),
Chris Mosley (fifth, FM, Land O’ Lakes
Region), Michael Waich (sixth, STX,
Milwaukee Region), Brian Slack (sixth,
XP, Land O’ Lakes Region),
The August “Come
Hell or High Water”
Jocelyn Huang in BSL, Katie Lacey in
XPL and Bridget Sawatsky in BML.
Chicago was king of the division with
four champions (Borowski, Robinson,
Reggaine and Huang) while
Double National at
Motorsports Park
Hastings was a
winning weekend for
everyone involved:
the Nebraska Region
that organized it, the
Milwaukee had two (Canak and Lacey)
and Badlands had one with Sawatsky.
Brian Packingham (sixth, DM, Iowa
Region), Colin Fiedler (seventh, STR,
Milwaukee Region), Pat Washburn
(eighth, ST, Milwaukee Region),
Harry Aro (eighth, CSP, Milwaukee
Region), Wes Jenrich (ninth, ES,
Chicago Region) and Anthony Montelo
(10th, F125, Chicago Region).
Although Milwaukee may have
come short on wins, they had a lot of
near misses. Ten Milwaukee Region
drivers ended up with second- or
third-place finishes. Chris Shay was
the day one leader in SS but the
slalom-heavy course on Wednesday
slipped him back to third. Jason Frank
had a strong ProSolo weekend and
parlayed that into a second-place
finish in ST. Neal Tovsen was expecting
to finish strong in X Prepared after the
impressive finish he had at the
Although the bitter rivalry between
Milwaukee and Chicago Regions does
see Milwaukee pip Chicago with five
more trophy winners ( 17 vs. 12),
Chicago did have the most drivers on
the top of the podium and also took
home some specialty awards.
Midwest Division’s
workers who made
it happen and the
racers who got to
race that weekend.
Borowski was the lone Solo Triad
winner from the division as he won
Nationals, the Divisional and the
Northern States Championships (he
won the Southern States, too).
CENDiv Divisional Solo. He made
good taking third in a tough XP class.
Other Milwaukee near misses were
Chris Fenter (second, CS), Mary Bahr
Reggaine would have accomplished
the same feat, but Formula Junior
classes are supplemental. However,
the youngest Reggaine did receive the
McClintock-Berry Cup, which
recognizes the same accomplishments.
(second, CSL), Gretchen Austin
(second, STXL), Jeff Cashmore (second,
DM), Denise Cashmore (third, DM),
Craig Mankiewicz (third, STX) and
Zach Moore (third, FJA).
The other regions also had a lot of
other podium finishers. Winnipegger
Jeff Janzen took second in B Stock.
The Winnipeg crowd has shrunk a bit
from years past, but the Badlands
Region members drive strong. Perhaps
the biggest surprise was the drive of
Chicago Regions Robert Gosda taking
second in F Stock. Robert has been a
quiet and consistent driver locally, but
this is his first spotlight National finish.
Other drivers in the top three from the
division include: Brandon Ranvek
Last but not least was Borowski
being one of the two winners of the
Gumout All-Star Shootout. This is a
new program that was run after last
runs of the event on Wednesday and
Friday. The highest index driver from
each heat each got two runs in a Street
Touring-prepared Volkwagen Golf. On
Wednesday’s competition, Borowski
was drawn as the final driver, and
many thought that was at a
disadvantage as the car was on Toyo
tires, which typically like cooler tire
temperatures. But that theory went out
the window when Borrowski managed
to beat out Tim Aro to take home the
win and the $500 prize. The sernik is
on him next time!
(third, STU, Land O’ Lakes Region),
Bob Anderson (third, ESP, Chicago
Region), Dede Padberg (third, CPL,
Blackhawk Valley Region) and
GATEWAY TO MIDIV
MIDWEST DIVISION
B Y EILEEN WATERS
CONTACT SAM KARP
(414) 975-0846
karpsam@hotmail.com
DON’T YOU JUST
LOVE IT WHEN
A PLAN COMES
TOGETHER?
The Nebraska Region was planning a Club race for Aug. 20-21. The region’s plan was to
have its August Double National race
at the Mid-America Motorplex
followed by a triple points Regional at
Motorsport Park Hastings in October.
However, the previous season’s
massive snows up north and the Corps
of Engineers had other ideas. When
the dams north of Nebraska were
opened, allowing the water from all
the melted snow to flow at a higher
rate than usual toward them via the
Missouri River, the region had no idea
what was going to happen to all the
race plans.
Candy Gerber, Race Chair for the
Double National, had put together
the race plan and supps for the
Mid-America race, and the Chief
Steward Ken Patterson had approved
them. The SCCA National Office had
even assigned a sanction number
when the terrible news arrived – Mid-America was under water. The track’s
manager Jim Howe made the dreaded
announcement that he was going
to have to close for the remainder of
the season.
Now what would everyone do? The
question became: Could Nebraska
Region put on a Double National at
Motorsport Park Hastings? The track
hadn’t been approved to hold a
National, let alone the additional
stresses that come with a double
race weekend.
Everyone scrambled to try to make
the race weekend happen. SCCA
provided a track inspector to come out