WILMINGTON, Ohio. (Aug. 6, 2014) – The Tire Rack SCCA Solo® Championship Tour completed its final regular-season stop prior to September’s Tire Rack Solo National Championships this past weekend at the Wilmington (Ohio) Airpark.

This Championship Tour event was nearly a record setting one as 368 competitors were entered into the two-day event. The current record sits at 398 for the 2005 event in Peru, Indiana. Wilmington now holds the distinction of being the second-most attended meet.

Weather became an issue during Saturday’s second heat. The skies opened up, drenching the course and competition was halted for 45 minutes for lightning in the area. Rain was still falling when the remainder of the heat two drivers got back on course, but by the beginning of heat three the rain had stopped. Sunday offered some relief as the rain stayed away, producing better course conditions for each of the drivers

Alex Jones designed the courses for this event. Under the gun to get Sunday’s course set as quickly as possible, Jones and his crew rose to the occasion. That gave each competitor the chance to complete the customary course walk prior to jumping in their cars.

Neal Tovsen (C Street Prepared, Apruve/Vision Speedworks Mazda Miata), of Apple Valley, Minnesota, was the CSP winner by the smallest margin recorded during the meet. The leader going into the overnight break, Tovsen was able to maintain his lead over Brian Garfield. Tovesen’s combined time was 0.044-second ahead of Garfield.

Wayne Onyschuk (D Street, Subaru WRX), of Oak Forest, Illinois, secured his class win with a clutch performance. After Saturday’s competition, Bran Anthony lead Onyschuk by a small margin. On Sunday, Onyschuk came out on top in the tightly-contested fight that was decided by 0.063-second.

Formula Junior A was another class that produced some close racing. Tom Regganie (FJA, Regganie Racing/KAO Racing Margay), of Joliet, Illinois, took the win over 2013 McClintock-Berry Award winner Trey White. Regganie trailed White by more than 0.2-second headed into the overnight break. However, Regganie rose to the occasion on Sunday and overcame the deficit to win by a 0.088-second margin.

H Street was also a fierce battle that saw Greg Reno (HS, MINIUSA/Baron MINI & BMW/Kumho), of Lawrence, Kansas, take the eventual win. Reno left the competition site on Saturday night with a 0.2-second lead in hand. It looked as though he may have had the other drivers in his class covered, but Tim Carritte was able to edge out Reno’s best Sunday time. However, it wasn’t enough to overcome the lead that Reno had built up, whittling his margin of victory down to 0.165-second.

Mike Lane (B Street Prepared, Hills Garage/Z1 Motorsports Nissan 350Z), of Frederick, Maryland, had a tough opening day of competition. Heavily affected by the rain, Lane was unable to post a clean run on Saturday but still managed to hold down the second position. On Sunday, Lane went for broke, setting the quickest class time by nearly 0.2-second. When the composite times were compared, Lane beat Laurence Casey by 0.293-second.

More information, including full results, from the Packwood Championship Tour is available at http://www.scca.com/events/index.cfm?eid=6991.

The SCCA Tire Rack Solo National Championships is the next major event listed on the Championship Tour schedule. The next true Championship Tour event will conclude the season, Sept, 27-28, at the Arkansas Aeroplex in Blytheville, Arkansas. More information on The Tire Rack SCCA Solo Program is available at www.scca.com/solo.

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2014 Wilmington Championship Tour