The Tire Rack SCCA Solo Championship Tour made a stop at Pikes Peak International Raceway this past weekend for a two-day event. The competition marked the sixth of eight race weekends scheduled for the series of meets.

The event utilized the same competition format as the National Championships which allows each driver to take a total of six runs throughout the weekend. Competitors had three attempts on Saturday’s course, and then the layout was changed for Sunday’s three remaining runs.

Heading into the weekend, the weather looked downright ugly with rain forecasted for both Saturday and Sunday. However, the weather held off with sunny skies as the order of the day while cars were on course throughout the weekend.

Roger Johnson designed both courses that were considered fun by many competitors. Johnson’s course was tighter than most, but featured a mix of transitions and sweepers. It proved to create wide separation between those who understood the course and those who struggled with it. That resulted in varying degrees of separation amongst each of the class leaders and the rest of the pack.

Jake Dawson (Super Street, BlackWatchRacing.com Lotus Elise), of Albuquerque, New Mexico, set the top indexed time of the event and in the process beat out many former National Champions. He also took home the class victory by a wide 5.9-second margin.

E Prepared had two entrants, but it proved to be a dogfight to the end. Corky Newcombe (Honda Civic Si), of Colorado Springs, Colorado, did not begin the competition on the right foot by scoring a DNF on his first run. Throughout the day Newcombe stepped it up, but finished behind John Dorchak. On day two, Newcombe put the pieces together and leapfrogged to the lead on the strength of his final run. Newcombe’s composite time ended up 0.164-second ahead of Dorchak.

Keith Pizio (A Street Prepared, Subaru Impreza STI), of Fort Collins, Colorado, was the class winner following a solid performance. After Saturday’s three runs, Pizio led the class by a few tenths of a second over Todd Briley. Come the finale day of the meet, Pizio did what he needed to do to expend his lead to 0.296-second.

B Street produced another closely-contested battle between eventual winner Hsun Chen (Subaru WRX STi), of Longmont, Colorado, and Andy Hecox. Hecox held the advantage into the overnight break by nearly a half second. However, Chen came storming back on Sunday by setting a time nearly a full second quicker than Hecox best. The result was a 0.327-second win for Chen.

Paul Leonard (B Modified, Global Garage Flooring & Design Radical ProSport), of Monument, Colorado, took the class win in a closely-fought battle between father and son. Following Saturday’s runs, Paul — the senior of the two — led by a slim margin of 0.07-second. One Sunday, Paul proved the saying ‘Old age and treachery outpace youth and enthusiasm,’ as he sealed the win. Paul finished 0.392-second ahead of his son, Evan.

Additional information on the Tire Rack Colorado Championship Tour, including full results, can be found here. The next stop for the Tire Rack Championship Tour is scheduled for July 10-12 at the scenic Hampton Mills competition site, in Packwood, Washington.

Competitors at the 2015 SCCA Colorado Championship Tour woke to bright blue skies and comfortable temperatures, conditions that remained constant throughout competition runs. While competitors were enjoying a fantastic pasta dinner with salads that garnered rave reviews, Roger Johnson was adapting the course used Saturday for competition Sunday. Some elements were used in reverse, with changes to layout that created all new challenges.

Sunday’s course rewarded setup and aggression, with a couple of thread the needle spots that were very easy to thread IF set up well. In SS, Jacob Dawson continued driving quickly and precisely, earning both a commanding lead over the rest of SS, but top index time overall for the weekend in his Lotus Elise.

In BS, the top five spots were occupied by four distinct cars – a Subaru WRX STI, Corvette, a Boxster and a Mitsubishi Evo8. Keeping up with lead and place changes during competition was difficult, as it seemed to shuffle with each run, but in the end, Hsun Chen put a fantastic time on the clock on his second run, driving a borrowed WRX STI, for the class lead, .327 seconds ahead of 2nd place finisher Andy Hecox in his new-to-him Corvette.

CS finishers were stretched out like a 205 tire on a 9 inch wheel. Dave Ogburn III ran away with the class, almost two and a half seconds over Brian Killourhy. Both were driving 13 Scion FR-S. Chad Lipscomb settled into 3rd in his 95 M3. There was a lot of great competition to watch in CS, with several RX8s and a couple of M3s vying for the third and fourth trophy spots – but no one could catch Ogburn or Killourhy this weekend.

Paul Brown is a familiar name when discussing mid engined Toyotas, and he’s back at it with a 2003 MR2 Spyder. Brown won ES handily, but in 2nd, there was a 99 Miata driven by Matt Leicester. Leicester only recently finished putting the car together – “recently” can be measured in hours – and things are looking good for him, easily besting the rest of the field.

Kevin Youngers had a convincing win over the rest of FS in his familiar Mustang, and in GS, Joe Lavelle piloted his 2015 Volkswagen GTI to the win. Maegan Contreras won BSL, showing that hard work does in fact pay off.

Street Touring classes have really grown in the past few years. Colorado has a strong STX and STU contingent. STX was won by Chris Mayfield, whose first run on Sunday was fast enough to lock in the win over codriver and car owner Greg Paine. In STU, Lane Borg fought off all the Subarus in his Corvette for the win.

Sunday was a repeat of Saturday in SSP, with Tom Reynolds running away with the first finishing position, over the Gladu’s Lotus and the Driggers’ McLaren. In Street Modified, Robert Thorne borrowed a BMW sedan, put some giant wheels and tires on it & proceeded to win SM over his codriver, Amanda Hahn.

The father-son battle in BM was widely anticipated; at the end of Saturday’s competition, father Paul had a .078 second lead over his son, Evan. Experience overpowered youthful exuberance this weekend, as Paul’s first run was all it took; Evan got within four tenths, but not quite enough. Our two Junior Kart entries, Kristina Clark and Abigail Dorsey drove exceptionally well & had a great time.

In CAMC, a class that has turned out to be very popular in Colorado, Mike Trenkle not only competed, but won. At a recent local event, Mike let the smoke out of his Mustang motor & had to get a replacement in and running in time for the Colorado Championship Tour – he did in fact succeed, with a strong margin over Eric Paquette in his ’04 Mustang. In third spot, Roger Kroog was just .359 back in his 88 V6 Camaro. That’s not a typo – Kroog placed 3rd in a six cylinder Camaro, a finishing position he most certainly earned.

The 2015 Colorado Championship Tour was a great success; we had a great welcome party, excellent dinner on-site Saturday evening, “movie night” Saturday night, and fantastic competition on a dry course. The weather held out JUST long enough, as it started raining during the awards presentation. Put Colorado on your calendar next year – great site, great facilities and great competition!