Spring Nats! It’s like Solo Nationals, but in the Spring! Memorial Day weekend to be specific. That’s this weekend in case you’ve been hiding under a rock. Both the ProSolo and Champ Tour are full (wouldn’t hurt anything to get on the waiting list) at 264 and 331 entrants respectively. This is the event for getting your car tuned to Lincoln’s concrete, and overall will be a strong gauge for who will find success come September.
Let’s look at some of the classes to watch, starting with the ProSolo:
A Street – 16 Entries: Mike “Junior” Johnson is coming off a strong finish at the Goodguys Nashville Nationals and is guaranteed to be towards the front of the pack. This event will show how quickly Jason Frank is learning their new C5 Corvette. Marcus Merideth is also one to watch.
E Street – 12 Entries: Just a few weekends ago at Blytheville, It was Roberts, Ron, and Brown battling for top honors. Ron and Brown will be back in Lincoln, joined by Eric Peterson fresh off a win in New Jersey. We will also see how Mike Brausen is adjusting to street cars in his first National event in his new NB Miata.
Super Street R – 6 entries: Sam Stano is back in his own Corvette Z06 after a win in New Jersey in Vitamvas’ BSP BMW, joined by Matthew Braun who claimed the win at the series opener at Fort Myers. These two should put on quite a show as their times are usually close in any Solo format.
Street Touring Sport – 20 entries: Ron Williams held of David Whitener to claim victory at Blytheville. Lincoln provides a rematch while adding in other competent shoes: Kinch Reindl, John Clark, and Mike Herrick. Will Whitener top the Hondas with his Miata? You’ll have to watch to find out.
Street Touring Xtreme – 17 entries: Four of the five STX ProSolo class winners of 2017 so far will be in Lincoln, along with several runners-up. Terry Tabor, Chris Thorpe, Jonathan Lugod, and Craig Wilcox all have a chance to claim their second victory of the season. Will they succeed or will one of the 12 other entries claim top honors? Side bets on Kyle Herbst or Jeff Wong may not be a bad idea.
Street Touring Roadster – 14 entries: Both James Yom and Ricky Crow are already qualified for tier 1 of the ProSolo Finale. That’s not stopping them from making the trip to Lincoln. David Marcus is joining them in hopes of matching his win from Fort Myers. Keep your eyes on Ken Motonishi, Kevin Schultz, and Jed Peterson who have all shown speed this season.
K Modified – 12 entries: “Hey karters, we hear you like grippy concrete!” and they are coming in force. Larry MacLeod, Jared Langenfeld, Tom Harrington, and Shawn Hill all have the skills to take the win. If you can stand the sound of two stroke engines, check this class out. If you can’t some of the competitors might have earplugs available.
Race 2 – 15 entries: Brian Peters is already qualified for tier 1, but will be challenged by co-driver John Hogan, Troy Acosta, Chris Dorsey, Mark Madarash, Dave Montgomery, and Fred Zust. Any of them have the credentials to claim 20 points, which would give most of them enough points for tier 1. Other than being cool cars to watch anyway, there will be some close racing in this class.
Ladies 2 – 16 entries: Jordan Towns has already qualified for tier 1 but will have to fight for this win. She’s being joined by Deana Kelley, Jennifer Bedell, and Meredith Brown are likely to join her at the top of the results.
Ladies 3 – 13 entries: This seems like a good time to mention that there will be no bumping in Ladies at Spring Nats. As a bonus to this strong group of ladies, they should be offered a 16-driver Ladies Challenge. That will be a show Saturday afternoon. Nicole Wong, Kim Whitener, and Jennifer Fox all have L3 wins already this year, but not enough to be qualified for the Finale. As a fourth favorite for the win, Michelle Knoll only missed the win in New Jersey by .014-second to Jennifer Fox and should be in the mix.
Moving on to the Champ Tour:
Much of the story will be the same as competition transitions from ProSolo to Champ Tour, but with some new faces as drivers move between classes and are joined by some friends.
D Street – 18 entries: Twins and WRX dominate this large class with just one outcast, a BMW M3 driven by Carl Kirkegaard. Dennis Sparks continues to do well in his WRX but many believe that the twins have the advantage if the conditions are good.
Street Touring Pony – 6 entries: STP is gaining traction and drawing the pony car drivers that don’t want to prep to CAM levels. This should be a fun class to watch.
F Street Prepared – 5 entries: Volkswagen vs. Honda continues in the slowest of the Street Prepared classes and the two fastest cars at 2016 Nats are facing off again on the Concrete Beach. Costello’s CRX has a new driver: fast shoe from CSP, Matt McCabe. On the Ladies side, it’s the same cars and same drivers from 2016 Nats, looking for a preview for 2017 Solo Nationals.
C Prepared – 15 entries: Brian Peters and John Hogan are new to CP, but making waves with their newly-upgraded Mustang. Robert Lewis and Mark Madarash should provide a stable measuring stick for that build.
E Modified – 8 entries: Jeff Kiesel will be hard to beat. It’s a known fact. But John Hunter made the offseason transition in to the Ver Mulm Camaro. Along with Bob Tunnell, you have at least a couple strong reasons not to hand over the 1st place trophy just yet.
F Modified – 7 entries: A fine example of switching classes between the ProSolo and Champ Tour: Trey White is jumping from the AS Johnson Corvette into the Kiesel FMod. It’s essentially a big kart, so there’s no reason to think Trey won’t be quick with Zak Kiesel. Reigning Champion Jason Hobbs is still favored for the win.
See you guys on the Concrete Beach!
