By Tom Hale
Special to the Aroostook Republican
LIMESTONE — Over 130 motorsports enthusiasts competed in the two-day autocross at the third annual Cumberland Motor Club (CMC) event held at the former Loring Air Force Base.
Records were set in many classes as contestants pitted themselves and their cars against two world class courses set up to challenge the novice as well as the most experienced driver.
Autocross features courses that are set up on the runways and taxiways at Loring. Traffic cones designated the boundaries, curves, slalom areas and high speed sections where the fastest cars went over 100 miles per hour.
Aroostook County drivers swelled the ranks of competitors on Saturday and Sunday with over a dozen drivers. Spud Speedway regulars Dell Brissette of Caribou and Nate Haney of Connor brought their stock cars to the autocross and did exceptionally well despite the fact that their race cars are set up to go left at the stock car track. Haney ran within 20 seconds of the fastest vehicle at the autocross.
The fastest County resident was Garth Johnston of Mapleton. Driving his 2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302 Laguna Seca Edition with 450 horsepower, Johnston travelled the approximate 1.5-mile Sunday course in just 89.9 seconds.
“I wish I was faster! I definitely plan to be here next year,” said Johnston, a self-employed logger. “Hopefully I drive a little better.”
The fastest time overall was turned in by Jake Daniele of Pownal, driving his Intrepid shifter kart featuring a liquid cooled CR 125 Honda six-speed. The 22-year-old graduate of Colby-Sawyer College in New Hampshire races as part of a father-son team. His father, Mark Daniele, is a retired mechanical engineer also from Pownal. He raced his 1968 Lotus Formula Ford, which he purchased this spring.
The duo began racing together when the younger asked to go to a Cumberland Motor Sports Autocross shortly after he got his permit at age 16. Daniele’s father had been racing in autocross since 1982 but gave up motorsports activities to raise his son.
Since they began racing together six years ago, they have raced a Lotus Europa, Chaterham and karts, getting progressively faster as they got more experience. Each got instruction at the Skip Barber Racing School in Lime Rock, Conn. They have raced at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and autocrosses throughout the state. The elder Daniele races with the Vintage Racing Group (VRG), having recently raced at the Mont Tremblant Race Course in Quebec.
“When I started he would always smoke me,” said the younger Daniele. “He would show me the ropes. My goal has always been to get within two seconds of his time. I got closer and closer. The powers have turned. Sometimes I am faster than him now. It is a nice little relationship we have.”
CMC Karting Coordinator Daniel Morency of Freeport was one of the four racing karts to traverse the fast Loring courses. Karting has been part of Morency’s therapy since being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in 1992. The day of his diagnosis was also the day when he and his wife found out they were pregnant for his son Ian. Morency’s son usually travels and races with his father to races such as Loring, but he was at Rochester Institute of Technology, where he was taking summer courses.
Daniel Morency lost his license due to the degenerative features of MS. He stubbornly determined that with his experience as a mechanical engineer he could learn ways to do exercises which would stimulate alternative pathways for signals to the brain, allowing him to eventually restore his driving license.
“Bill Owen of Brunswick was president of the CMC at the time,” said Morency. “He also suffered from MS and encouraged me to try autocross to restore my abilities to drive. I started racing my wife’s car in 1995. I even raced an extended cab pickup. I do the racing to help my body find alternative routes to perform those functions.”
Detailed results from the Loring event are posted on the CMC website: www.cumberlandmotorclub.com.
