Solo Champions Compete in Gumout All-Star Shootout

LINCOLN, Neb. (September 6, 2011) – Some of the top drivers at the Tire Rack SCCA Solo National Champions competed head-to-head in the Gumout Volkswagen Golf for additional cash prizes in exhibition runs as part of the inaugural Gumout All-Star Motorhead Shootout. E Stock National Champion Bartek Borowski and H Stock National Champion James Feinberg earned the $500 checks for topping the two competitions. Borowski won against nine other newly-crowned National Champions during the Wednesday runs after the first set of classes completed competition, with Feinberg doing the same for the Friday set of classes. One driver was selected from each heat based on indexed PAX scores to even out the wide variety of classes that compete at Solo Nationals. Each driver made two runs in the Gumout Project car—a Street Touring® prepared Volkswagen Golf – with those runs determining the winner. PAX is an indexing system that applies a correction factor to overall times based on the class in which an individual competes. The goal of PAX is to remove the class variable, focusing on driver performance. During Wednesday’s competition, C Street Prepared Champion Tim Aro set the fast time very early in the competition. Aro sat and waited as every other driver made runs at topping his time. Courtney Cormier, in the shootout based on his A Street Prepared win, was closest, but still fell short. Despite persistent talk implying that the high temperatures had left the tires incapable of topping Aro’s time, Borowski turned a time on his first run that him left just a half-second behind Aro and in second place. Now comfortable with car, Borowski improved by more than a second on the final run of the competition to top Aro by 0.663-second with a run of 74.271 seconds. Aro took the second place prize of $250, with Cormier earning $125. Friday’s competition was even closer, though the top three finishers set their times early in the competition. Robert Thorne, the Street Touring R champion, set the bar early in the competition with a time of 75.842 seconds on the West Course at Lincoln. Feinberg topped that lap on his second run with a 75.042 second finish. Ryan Buetzer, the C Stock National Champion, posted a run of 75.133 on his first run and setting up a second run that could have topped Feinberg. A cone penalty on Buetzer’s final trip ended that thought, leaving him 0.091-second behind and in second place. Thorne’s time left him in third position. In the Gumout All Star Shootout, drivers were unable to make adjustments to the Volkswagen. Tire pressure were set and regulated by the SCCA Technical Staff, with consistent breaks between each run to cool the tires. For more information on the SCCA Solo National Championships, visit www.scca.com/solo. For more info on the Gumout project car, visit www.projectmotorhead.com.