Northeast Divisional Championships

NER was host for this year’s NEDIV Championship event. Ron Gross, Matt Kogan and Jason Bundas chaired a great event attended by 180 drivers from all over the North East. Weather was typical New England, hot and humid with temps in the high 90’s, presenting the drivers and cars with plenty of reason to overheat. As you can see from the accompanying photo, Richard Hunter, EP, came to the aid of the trophy ceremony by parking his portable shade device in just the right spot to keep us all from melting into the runway!

Because this is the NE championship event, we get to see folks from outside the normal MA, CT & NY area, as well as some drivers like Pat Salerno and Mike Soloman who we just don’t get to see often enough. Both of these guys went home with the gold in their classes, with Pat setting top RTP for the event.

In CSP, David Ciufo of Livonia NY screamed his Mazda Miata to a win over the perennially quick Duo of Duane and Travis Lariviere.

DSP was controlled by "the old guy" Phil Kogan who led both days in His BMW. In the battle for FSP, former NER Solo Chair and now star road racer Fred White showed that he has not forgotten how by jumping into Al Berardi’s Scirocco and pushing him all weekend. Al got the win, but may not lend Fred his car again.

For the first time recent memory, Scott Jessurun did not win CP. Chris Kunkel made the trip from Hamburg, NY to open up a can of wupass on the Camaros and Mustangs. Wade Scannell showed that he is ready for Topeka with a win and high RTP finish in DP.

EP saw Daryl Beck flying to a 1.5 second win over a strong field of challengers. Don’t miss the chance to watch brother Daryl twist his VW like it is a Honda and thread it through the cones. He is on a tear!

Another fellow we haven’t seen much of lately won SM. Fedja Jeleskovic (I don’t have a problem with this name, why do you?) covered the class by 2.8 seconds. STS was a battle right to the very end, with Matt Kogan claiming the win on his last run by just .017 seconds over Nathan Whipple.

F Junior was well subscribed and Byron Liedtke wheeled his red Genesis kart to the win.

The C mod class was predictably tight with NER’s Greg Vincent getting his first Divisional win on his last run over Bob Miller.

F Modified had nine drivers, and every one had a shot at the win. When the dust had settled, teammates Bob Jordan and Tony Bettencourt were on the top of the pile, separated by .162 seconds.

As you can see from this short account, this year’s Divisional Championship was a great event in every class. No matter where NEDIV 2003 is held, I hope all the drivers in the North East will make sure that they are there to contest for their class championship.