This year marked the 38th anniversary of the Zone 1 Regional Autocross event at Devens’ Moore Airfield hosted by North Country Region. Fifty-four drivers from six regions throughout PCAs Zone 1 participated in the two-day contest – down a bit from previous years but a good crowd nonetheless.
The Zone 1 Region Challenge has changed a lot since the old days when Regions picked their teams and it was typically a battle between “home teams” North Country and Northeast Region with the New Yorkers and Connecticut Regions in close pursuit. Now Team members are picked randomly by the Zone 1 organizers so while you can monitor your Class position on Live Timing during the event, you really don’t know if your team is a winner until the awards are announced at the end of the event. The “Purple Team” won the contest this year. Several NER members (Jeff Johnson, Lev Tabenkin, and others were on the Purple Team)
This year NER fielded only 10 drivers, with NCR only fielding one. Close races included Class 8 with Lisa Roche (driving Jeff Johnson’s 718 GTS) held a lead over Jeff until he overtook her in his next to last run on Day two to win the Class. NER drivers Placed first in 6 of the 18 Classes run at the event; in the old days or Team Challenge rules, this would have secured a Region win for NER but not under the current rules.
Thanks go to the Zone 1 Team – AX Chair Dan Fishkind and Registrar Graham Mingst – as well as the NCR AX Team – Dan Quaroni, Joe Kraetch and Lisa Roche for running a smooth event. Final Results are available on NCR’s Live Timing site at ncr-pca.org/LiveTiming/2023
-Chris Ryan
