Paul Russell, of San Diego, California, was the Super Challenge winner at the Tire Rack® SCCA ProSolo® Finale at Lincoln Airpark. The Challenge win allowed Russell to claim the 2014 ProSolo Super Challenge Championship. Kim Whitener, of Fort Worth, Texas, was the Ladies Challenge winner earning her the ProSolo Ladies Challenge Championship title.
The Finale brought together the best ProSolo drivers from around the country to Lincoln, Nebraska, to help decide season-long championships in both Super Challenge and Ladies Challenge groups.
The final class runs on Sunday morning were delayed by lighting and a brief downpour. Following the 20-minute intermission, competition got back underway on the pair of rain-drenched courses. The wet conditions forced each driver into a slower pace, but served as more practice in preparation for the Challenge portion of the meet.
Directly preceding the Challenge rounds was the inaugural Speedway Motors SCCA Classic American Muscle Invitational. Josh Leisinger, of Souix Falls, South Dakota, took home the win, in a competition that was very popular among drivers.
“This is my first SCCA event,”Leisinger said. “The track is huge and fast. The surface was awesome and each of the SCCA folks were very helpful.
“With the invitational nature of this competition, there were a lot of fast cars here with some tough competition. I had to be on my ‘A’ game and couldn’t take any of the other drivers lightly. Using the ‘Christmas Tree’ was something different and created some more strategy for the competition.”
The CAM Challenge was not only popular amongst those who competed, but also spectators at the event. The classic, high-powered Detroit iron attracted the attention of the other ProSolo competitors, but also some locals who have never been to National-level Solo events.
Chuck Jones, of Lincoln, Nebraska, was an SCCA member in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Through his recent attendance at Nebraska Region SCCA events, as well as today’s event, as a spectator, Jones said he is starting to fall back in love with racing.
“When I was a kid I used to go out to stock cars races in which Speedway Motors sponsored cars,”Jones said. “I’ve grown up with the company, in some ways. They have a car here that they are sponsoring, which is awesome.”
Doug Grote, of Lincoln, Nebraska, is a first-time attendee at an SCCA Solo event. Grote said he was alerted to the event by a customer of his muffler shop.
“I’m really impressed,”Grote said. “I did some work on a Mini Cooper for a couple from Washington who told me about this event. We decided to come out and see it. Hopefully, we can make it out to the Nationals for the rest of the week.
“The overall atmosphere is really cool. The customers from Washington said this is the Super Bowl of autocross, so we wanted to see what it was all about.”
Russell (Kart Modified, Seventhgear.com Tony Kart) started Challenge competition as the No. 3 seed and beat Glen Hernandez (Street Index RWD, Evolution/Chase Race/Petrel Data Systems Chevrolet Corvette) in the opening round.
In the second round, Russell scored the victory over another SR-classed car driven by Eric Peterson (Solo Pro Driving/Atomic Empire Toyota Spyder). Eric Strelnieks (Super Street Modified, Hoosier/OSGiken/Jungle Cat Racing Mazda RX-7) was the next opponent for Russell, in the quarter-finals.
Russell’s semi-final matchup was against Jeff Stuart (C Street, Berry Family Racing/Racetraceapp.com Nissan 370Z). Russell came out on top, earning him a trip to the finals against Nick Barbato (Street Touring R, KARCEPTS/Adidas Motorsports Honda S200).
Barbato’s road to the final started with wins over Tom Berry (SP/SM Index A, Berry Family Racing/Hoosier Mitsubishi Evo IX) and Kinch Riendl (Street Touring Compact, Riptidehosting.com/RDP Hosting Honda Civic Si) in the first two rounds, respectively.
In the quarter-finals, Barbato met and beat Paul Kozlak (Street R Index RWD, Red Haus Racing Chevrolet Corvette) in their head-to-head battle. Barbato earned his spot in the finals after taking out Mark Hill (Bump Class, Jayhawk Racing/Ive Got Grip Mitsubishi EVO XI).
In the Super Challenge final, Russell showed he was the class of the field by besting Barbato on both the east and west courses. With the win, Russell earned enough points to take home his first season-long Super Challenge title. In the third-place runoff, Hill completed the podium positions after beating Stuart.
“The first couple rounds I got lucky,”Russell said. “The other drivers threw up a couple red lights, which really helped. I then met up with Strelnieks, and we were close in the Championship standings. So, that match-up would pretty much decide the season-long winner.
“After the first run I was 0.1-second quicker than him. On the second run, I’m still not sure how I was able to hold him off. After that is was just all about being smooth and fast.”
Whitener (Ladies Class 3, Black Armor Helmets/Texas Track Works Honda Civic) entered the head-to-head Challenge bracket at the top qualifier after taking the win in class competition. Whitener began her march to the final by after scoring the opening round win against Laura Campbell (Ladies Class 3, Honda S200).
In the quarter-finals, Whitener faced off against Linda Duncan (Ladies Class 2, MiniUSA MINI Cooper). Whitener came out on top beating Duncan to finish line on both the east and west mirror-image courses.
The win promoted Whitener to a semi-final matchup against Jocelin Huang (Ladies Class 2, The Alignment Guy Porsche GT3). Whitener eliminated Huang from the competition for the bracket win, earning her a final showdown with Gwen Habenicht (Ladies Class 2, Audi TT).
From the No. 15 seed, Habenicht did what it took to win her matchup against No. 2 seed Christine Grice (Ladies Class 1, Berry Family Racing/Chase Cam Mitsubishi Evo IX). Her next win came against Rachel Baker (Pixie Posse Racing Karcepts, Honda CRX) in the quarter-finals.
Habenicht earned her spot in the bracket final after eliminating Chris Peterson (Ladies Class 2, Atomic Empire Toyota Spyder).
In the final, Whitener got the best of Habenicht and came away with the win and 2014 ProSolo Fletcher Cup as the Ladies Challenge Champion. This title makes Whitener the third woman to win three ProSolo Ladies Challenge Championships in a row. In the third-place runoff, Peterson took the win over Huang and completed the podium positions.
“The Ladies Classes are hard,”Whitener said. “When I started out I was at the bottom of the pack. Running against top-notch competition makes one a better driver. You can look through the record book and see all the National Championship drivers you are competing against.
“We made some setup changes last night, which really helped us today. Luckily, we had the CAM Invitational to dry the courses out. The courses were fun and fast, but also technically challenging.”
Information on the Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo Finale can be found here. More information on the entire Tire Rack SCCA Solo program is available at http://www.scca.com/Solo.
Follow SCCA on Twitter @SCCAOfficial and like the Club on Facebook at Facebook.com/SCCAOfficial.
2014 ProSolo Finale
The SCCA Mid-States Conference Majors Tour, and the entire 2014 U.S. Majors Tour schedule, wrapped on Sunday at Heartland Park Topeka with six group races and settled the remaining open championships.
Sunday’s schedule featured 21-lap races around the 2.2-mile HPT configuration to wrap the season. Championship battles were settled by scoring the best eight of 12 races within the Conference.
Highlights from Sunday include:
Group 1: Denny Stripling clinched the Mid-States Conference Spec Racer Ford championship with a pair of wins in his No. 4 Lightspeed Motorsports Spec Racer Ford, walking away from the field to take care of business without any help.
There were a number of scenarios that would allow Stripling to vault Keith Verges’ No. 69 Apex Driving Academy SRF in the standings, but the simplist entering Sunday’s race was for Stripling to win. Starting from pole, he held the lead for the distance and won by a final margin of 12.740 seconds.
That final margin of victory is a bit misleading. Stripling was up four seconds when the field saw the white flag, with Chris Funk’s No. 54 KC Racing SRF battling hard with Verges for second and third place. Funk spun on the final lap, and Verges spun to avoid him, avoiding contact. Both continued quickly, and crossed the line together in order to complete the podium with Jimmy Cote’s No. 20 Micro-Comm Inc. SRF just behind.
Matt Reynolds swept the weekend in Spec Miata, running flag to flag for his win in the No. 73 Reynolds Bros. Racing/JPM/Vintage Connection Mazda Miata.
Group 2: In a mirror image of Saturday’s race, Michael Mallinen started in front of the field and pulled away in the No. 71 Swan Motorsports Swift 016/Mazda to lap the entire field and take the win.
Stuart Rettie’s No. 21 Hillenburg Motorsports Formula Mazda swept the weekend in Formula Mazda, moving around Darryl Wills late in the race. Wills’ second-place finish clinched the Mid-States Majors Tour class championship in the No. 1 Hillenburg Motorsports/Hoosier Tire/Hawk Performance Formula Mazda.
Group 3: Saturday winner Max Mallinen was an unexpected Formula F winner on Sunday after a last lap incident elevated his No. 1 Spectrum 014H/Honda from third to first.
The race was a three car battle between Mallinen, Bill Kephart, and Cliff Johnson, with all three taking their turn in the lead in a race that featured an official 10 lead changes.
By the final stages of the race, Mallinen had fallen back and Kephart’s No. 37 Vestial 10F/Honda led Johnson’s No. 4 Alpine Litho-Graphics/Farley Engines Piper DF-5/Honda at the white flag. Johnson, looking for an opportunity to move into the lead, tried to move around Kephart in turn three. The two got together, with Kephart going over the top of Johnson’s machine.
Mallinen suddenly found himself in the lead, and picked up the win. Because they had already put a lap on the rest of the field, Johnson limped around for second, with Kephart being towed in but still in third on the final standings.
In Formula 500, Herb Noble held on for the win in his No. 44 Mitchell Racing Services Scorpion 001/Rotax after a battle with Conference champion Timothy Friest. The battle between Noble and Friest’s No. 86 Hoosier/XTRacing/RodEndSupply KBS MkVII/Rotax became the battle for the lead with CJ McAbee’s No. 15 AJ’s Import Garage/Hoosier AJ’s 2012/Rotax pulled to pit lane on lap three.
Lisa Noble drove the No. 7 LittleFeat.Net Vortech FV to the Formula Vee win after starting from the rear of the field. Noble worked through traffic and took the class lead on lap five, then swapped the lead with Justin Willbanks’ No. 21 RS1 Motorsports Wormer EV-3 for the next two laps. Noble broke free of that battle and drove to the win.
Group 4: David Fershtand and Mark Kirby marched away from their closest competition on Sunday, taking wins in GT-1 and GT-2, respectively, and finishing first and second in the overall order.
Fershtand led flag to flag in the No. 05 Fershtand Race Prepared Chevrolet Corvette, setting a new track record with a 1:23.016 on lap three. Kirby matched the win in the No. 21 Dodge Viper, winning by six seconds over Mike McGinley’s No. 50 Hendrick Chevrolet/McGinley Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette.
Group 5: A weekend sweep by Preston Calvert in Touring 2 gave him the nation-wide point title in the No. 77 Phoenix Performance/Hoosier/Penske/Hawk Ford Mustang, but Steven Coleman’s third place finish in class gave him the points he needed in the No. 25 Race Away Cancer Ford Mustang to take the Mid-States class title. Coleman’s point total equaled second place Natha Waldbaum’s in the No. 51 Hutter Performance/Vettesport Chevrolet Corvette, but earned the title on tiebreakers.
Kim McDonald got a great start in the No. 29 Kim’s Auto Repair Services/Herman Plumbing/BosselmanOil Pontiac Firebird, jumping into the early lead but falling behind Tim White’s No. 7 Woomah.com Ford Mustang and Dean Palmer’s No. 5 Palmer Racing Development/Ford Racing Parts/Hoosier/AJ’s racing engines Ford Mustang on the opening lap. By lap five, McDonald had moved back to the lead, and held the position through the middle stages of the race. By lap 19, however, Trevor Janke’s No. 14 Janke Auto/Blue Ox/Famous Racing Ent./Pender Body and Glass was closing to the back of McDonald. McDonald held on for the final two laps, with Janke second.
Cliff Ira got revenge from Saturday’s race, keeping his No. 36 Fira Motorsports Acura Integra in front of Bob Schader’s No. 12 MiataCage.com/Hoosier Tire Mazda MX-5 for the distance. Ira held off a charging Schader through the final corner, when Schader dove to the inside in his last effort to take the win. Schader spun, with just a hint of contact, but Ira stayed in front up the front straight to the checkered flag.
Anthony Simmers wrapped up the Super Touring Under Conference title in the No. 45 RebayReseller.com/Hoosier Tires/Vaslet Design Volkswagen GTI with a pair of wins in the weekend, and James Place swept the Touring 4 weekend with a win on Sunday in the No. 138 Place Rentals/Hawk/Acura/BFG/Summit Acura GRS.
Group 6: Nigel Saurino, running in F Production on Sunday, moved his No. 57 The Race Shop/Kelley Engines/Hoosier Tire MG Midget around Jesse Prather’s E Production No. 34 Jesse Prather Motorsports/MAZDASPEED/Carbotech/Hoosier Mazda MX-5 on lap five through lapped traffic, then kept his car in front for the overall and class win.
Saurino maintained a gap over class rivals Rick Harris, in the No. 8 Jesse Prather Motorsports/Hoosier/V8 Roadsters/Mazdaspeed Mazda Miata, and Eric Prill, in the No. 7 MaxtonsFight.org/JPM/Hoosier Tire Mazda Miata, to hold off any serious challenges. Harris and Prill completed the class podium.
Roy Lopshire drove his No. 98 TRD/Williams Racing Development/Hoosier Toyota Tercel around Kent Prather’s No. 26 PratherRacing/Mazdaspeed/MossMtrs/Torco/Carbotech/Hoosier Tires Mazda Miata on lap 15, then pulled away for the race win.
Ralf Lindow swept H Production with a win on Sunday in the No. 53 Volkswagen Golf, but the No. 09 R & R Racing/R. Smart Properties Fiat X 1/9 of Randy Smart walked away with the season long Mid-States Conference championship with his second place on Sunday.
That concludes both the Mid-States Conference and the entire U.S. Majors Tour for the 2014 season, as the SafeRacer Club Racing program turns its eyes to the 2014 SCCA National Championship Runoffs® at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, October 7-12. Each of the National Championship Races will be broadcast live on SpeedCastTV.com.
More information from the Mid-States Conference Majors Tour finale, including race results, can be found at SCCA.com/HPTMajors.
TOPEKA, Kan. – Provisional race winners for Sunday’s SCCA Mid-States Conference Majors Tour Round 12 from Heartland Park Topeka. Drivers are listed by Class: name, hometown, and car.
American Sedan: Kim McDonald, Potomac, Md., Pontiac Firebird E Production: Jesse Prather, Topeka, Kan., Mazda MX-5 F Production: Nigel Saurino, Tulsa, Okla., MG Midget H Production: Ralf Lindow, Bellevue, Neb., Volkswagen Golf Formula 500: Herb Noble, Marion, Iowa, Scorpion 001/Rotax Formula Atlantic: Michael Mallinen, Liberty Lake, Wash., Swift 016/Mazda Formula F: Max Mallinen, Liberty City, Wash., Spectrum 014H/Honda Formula Mazda: Stuart Rettie, Houston, Texas, Formula Mazda Formula Vee: Lisa Noble, Manhattan, Kan., Vortech FV/Volkswagen GT-1: David Fershtand, Fort Worth, Texas, Chevrolet Corvette GT-2: Mark Kirby, Shawnee Mission, Kan., Dodge Viper GT-Lite: Roy Lopshire, Blue Springs, Mo., Toyota Tercel Spec Miata: Matt Reynolds, Fair Oaks, Texas, Mazda Miata Spec Racer Ford: Denny Stripling, McKinney, Texas, Spec Racer Ford Super Touring Lite: Cliff Ira, Kansas City, Mo., Acura Integra Super Touring Under: Anthony Simmers, Boulder, Neb., Volkswagen GTI Touring 2: Preston Calvert, Potomac, Md., Ford Mustang Touring 4: James Place, San Antonio, Texas, Acura GRS
Heartland Park Topeka Majors U.S. Majors Tour
Paul Russell, of San Diego, California, was the Super Challenge winner at the Tire Rack® SCCA ProSolo® Finale at Lincoln Airpark. The Challenge win allowed Russell to claim the 2014 ProSolo Super Challenge Championship. Kim Whitener, of Fort Worth, Texas, was the Ladies Challenge winner earning her the ProSolo Ladies Challenge Championship title.
The Finale brought together the best ProSolo drivers from around the country to Lincoln, Nebraska, to help decide season-long championships in both Super Challenge and Ladies Challenge groups.
The final class runs on Sunday morning were delayed by lighting and a brief downpour. Following the 20-minute intermission, competition got back underway on the pair of rain-drenched courses. The wet conditions forced each driver into a slower pace, but served as more practice in preparation for the Challenge portion of the meet.
Directly preceding the Challenge rounds was the inaugural Speedway Motors SCCA Classic American Muscle Invitational. Josh Leisinger, of Souix Falls, South Dakota, took home the win, in a competition that was very popular among drivers.
“This is my first SCCA event,” Leisinger said. “The track is huge and fast. The surface was awesome and each of the SCCA folks were very helpful.”
“With the invitational nature of this competition, there were a lot of fast cars here with some tough competition. I had to be on my ‘A’ game and couldn’t take any of the other drivers lightly. Using the ‘Christmas Tree’ was something different and created some more strategy for the competition.”
The CAM Challenge was not only popular amongst those who competed, but also spectators at the event. The classic, high-powered Detroit iron attracted the attention of the other ProSolo competitors, but also some locals who have never been to National-level Solo events.
Chuck Jones, of Lincoln, Nebraska, was an SCCA member in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Through his recent attendance at Nebraska Region SCCA events, as well as today’s event, as a spectator, Jones said he is starting to fall back in love with racing.
“When I was a kid I used to go out to stock cars races in which Speedway Motors sponsored cars,” Jones said. “I’ve grown up with the company, in some ways. They have a car here that they are sponsoring, which is awesome.”
Doug Grote, of Lincoln, Nebraska, is a first-time attendee at an SCCA Solo event. Grote said he was alerted to the event by a customer of his muffler shop.
“I’m really impressed,” Grote said. “I did some work on a Mini Cooper for a couple from Washington who told me about this event. We decided to come out and see it. Hopefully, we can make it out to the Nationals for the rest of the week.
The overall atmosphere is really cool. The customers from Washington said this is the Super Bowl of autocross, so we wanted to see what it was all about.”
Russell (Kart Modified, Seventhgear.com Tony Kart) started Challenge competition as the No. 3 seed and beat Glen Hernandez (Street Index RWD, Evolution/Chase Race/Petrel Data Systems Chevrolet Corvette) in the opening round.
In the second round, Russell scored the victory over another SR-classed car driven by Eric Peterson (Solo Pro Driving/Atomic Empire Toyota Spyder). Eric Strelnieks (Super Street Modified, Hoosier/OSGiken/Jungle Cat Racing Mazda RX-7) was the next opponent for Russell, in the quarter-finals.
Russell’s semi-final matchup was against Jeff Stuart (C Street, Berry Family Racing/Racetraceapp.com Nissan 370Z). Russell came out on top, earning him a trip to the finals against Nick Barbato (Street Touring R, KARCEPTS/Adidas Motorsports Honda S200).
Barbato’s road to the final started with wins over Tom Berry (SP/SM Index A, Berry Family Racing/Hoosier Mitsubishi Evo IX) and Kinch Riendl (Street Touring Compact, Riptidehosting.com/RDP Hosting Honda Civic Si) in the first two rounds, respectively.
In the quarter-finals, Barbato met and beat Paul Kozlak (Street R Index RWD, Red Haus Racing Chevrolet Corvette) in their head-to-head battle. Barbato earned his spot in the finals after taking out Mark Hill (Bump Class, Jayhawk Racing/Ive Got Grip Mitsubishi EVO XI).
In the Super Challenge final, Russell showed he was the class of the field by besting Barbato on both the east and west courses. With the win, Russell earned enough points to take home his first season-long Super Challenge title. In the third-place runoff, Hill completed the podium positions after beating Stuart.
“The first couple rounds I got lucky,” Russell said. “The other drivers threw up a couple red lights, which really helped. I then met up with Strelnieks, and we were close in the Championship standings. So, that match-up would pretty much decide the season-long winner.”
“After the first run I was 0.1-second quicker than him. On the second run, I’m still not sure how I was able to hold him off. After that is was just all about being smooth and fast.”Whitener (Ladies Class 3, Black Armor Helmets/Texas Track Works Honda Civic) entered the head-to-head Challenge bracket at the top qualifier after taking the win in class competition. Whitener began her march to the final by after scoring the opening round win against Laura Campbell (Ladies Class 3, Honda S200).
In the quarter-finals, Whitener faced off against Linda Duncan (Ladies Class 2, MiniUSA MINI Cooper). Whitener came out on top beating Duncan to finish line on both the east and west mirror-image courses. The win promoted Whitener to a semi-final matchup against Jocelin Huang (Ladies Class 2, The Alignment Guy Porsche GT3). Whitener eliminated Huang from the competition for the bracket win, earning her a final showdown with Gwen Habenicht (Ladies Class 2, Audi TT).
From the No. 15 seed, Habenicht did what it took to win her matchup against No. 2 seed Christine Grice (Ladies Class 1, Berry Family Racing/Chase Cam Mitsubishi Evo IX). Her next win came against Rachel Baker (Pixie Posse Racing Karcepts, Honda CRX) in the quarter-finals.
Habenicht earned her spot in the bracket final after eliminating Chris Peterson (Ladies Class 2, Atomic Empire Toyota Spyder).
In the final, Whitener got the best of Habenicht and came away with the win and 2014 ProSolo Fletcher Cup as the Ladies Challenge Champion. This title makes Whitener the third woman to win three ProSolo Ladies Challenge Championships in a row. In the third-place runoff, Peterson took the win over Huang and completed the podium positions.
“The Ladies Classes are hard,” Whitener said. “When I started out I was at the bottom of the pack. Running against top-notch competition makes one a better driver. You can look through the record book and see all the National Championship drivers you are competing against.”
“We made some setup changes last night, which really helped us today. Luckily, we had the CAM Invitational to dry the courses out. The courses were fun and fast, but also technically challenging.”
Final Results
Information on the Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo Finale can be found here. More information on the entire Tire Rack SCCA Solo program is available at http://www.scca.com/Solo. Follow SCCA on Twitter @SCCAOfficial and like the Club on Facebook at Facebook.com/SCCAOfficial.
