Sparks Clinches Tire Rack ProSolo Super Challenge Win at Lincoln

LINCOLN, Neb. (May 27, 2015) – Dennis Sparks, of Birmingham, Alabama, captured the SCCA Tire Rack ProSolo Super Challenge win at the Lincoln Airpark, over the extended Memorial Day weekend, May 22-23. Shelly Monfort, of Saratoga, California, took home top honors in the Ladies Challenge at the ProSolo event that led off a weekend featuring two national-level Solo events at the home of the Tire Rack SCCA Solo National Championships and the ProSolo Finale.

Weather conditions during the two-day event, held on Friday and Saturday, were predominantly cool throughout each day. Both mornings started with moisture on the ground. But by the afternoon, the course was dry allowing drivers to take advantage of the horsepower-producing air conditions.

Following his class-based runs, which determined the seeding for the bracket style Super Challenge competition, Sparks was seeded 19th after claiming the runner-up position in the Bump Class 1 by 0.008-second.

In the opening round, Sparks (Bump Class 1, Dixie Audacity Subaru WRX) met and defeated Ricky Crow (Street Touring R, My Wallet S2000). That allowed him to move to a second round match with Neal Tovsen.

Sparks beat Tovsen (Bump Class 4, Apruve/SoloPro/Vision Speedworks Mazda Miata), which moved Sparks to a pairing with Paul Brown (E Street, Toyota) in the quarter-finals. Sparks was able to down Brown, moving him forward in the competition.

In the Semis, Sparks took on Sam Strano (Super Street R, Chevrolet Corvette). He was able to get the best of Strano, allowing him to reach the bracket final where Sparks was matched up against Craig Wilcox (Street Touring Xtreme, MC2/BFGoodrich Tires/OSGiken/HVT Mini Cooper).

Wilcox earned his way to the final by knocking off Stan Whitney (Bump Class 4, Fliegenschwein Racing Porsche Cayman) in the opening round. Wilcox them moved forward to a battle with Brian Peters (E Street Prepared, ProPartsUSA Ford Mustang), from which he was able to emerge with the victory.

In the quarter-finals, Wilcox was paired to take on Mark Hill (Street Touring Ultra, Jayhawk Racing Mitsubishi Evo IX). Wilcox scored the win in that match, moving him on to a semi-final meeting with Robert Pendergest (Street Touring Ultra, Grimmspeed/Racecomp Engineering Subaru STi). Wilcox won that battle, which allowed him to move to the Super Challenge final.

In the final pairing, Sparks took down Wilcox. In the third-place runoff, Pendergest completed the podium positions after beating Strano.

“I’m totally surprised to have won,” Sparks said. “I'm usually lucky to qualify for the Super Challenge. I never dreamed of winning one.

“My biggest challenge was just maintaining concentration. I was up against some excellent competition with Charles Kim and Ron Williams during the qualifying rounds. I then faced Ricky Crow, Neal Tovsen, Paul Brown, Sam Strano, and Craig Wilcox during the Challenge. None of those guys made any mistakes, and neither could I. In the end, I had the right car for the conditions and came out on top.”

In the Ladies Challenge bracket, Monfort (Ladies Class 1, Strano Performance Parts/Shameless Iced Tea Chevrolet Corvette) qualified for the bracket competition as the No. 2 seed. That pitted her against Jamie Yost (Ladies Class 3, Riptidehosting.com Honda Civic Si) in the opening round.

Monfort earned the victory in her opening round battle, which allowed her to move forward to the bracket quarter-finals. There, she met Meredith Brown (Ladies Class 2, Toyota of Santa Fe Toyota Spyder) and was able to come out on top with the win. The next opponent for Monfort to face was Jocelin Huang (Ladies Class 2, Porsche GT3) in the semis.

Monfort was able to win the meeting with Huang, which moved her to the bracket final against Su Brude (Ladies Class 1, Fliegenschwein Racing Porsche Cayman).

Brude made her way to the final by beating Becca Nell (Ladies Class 2, Argylepm.com/G-Fab Racing Nissan 350Z) in the opening round. Brude then went to take wins over Jordan Towns (Ladies Class 2, Dixie Audacity Subaru WRX) and Kim Whitener (Ladies Class 3, Black Armor Helmets/Texas Track Works Honda Civic), which advanced her to the final versus Monfort.

In the final, Monfort was able to get the best of Brude. Huang completed the top-three by winning the third-place runoff against Whitener.

Jeremy Salenius (Street Touring FWD, Dare 2 Dream Motorsports/HVT Suspension Mini Cooper), of Bonner Springs, Kansas, took home the Bonus Challenge title.

“To be able to win my first Challenge, of any sort, in front of the many friends who made the trip to Lincoln from our Region makes this win very sweet,” Salenius said. “The praise, the ‘Well done’ and ‘Great job’ handshakes and high-fives all put a giant smile on my face.

“I had to work Thursday night, and got off work at about 1:00 a.m. I went home and started to get the last few things packed up in the car, and had planned to leave my house about 3:00 a.m. I finished packing at about 1:30 a.m., and decided to sleep for an hour. I somehow managed to sleep through my alarm and woke up late. I ended up with just enough time to throw everything in the car and make it to the event just before registration and tech closed. It was a very stressful start to a great weekend!”

Additional information on the Tire Rack SCCA Lincoln ProSolo, including full results, can be found here.

Facts on the entire Tire Rack SCCA National Solo Program can be found by visiting SCCA.com/Solo.

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2015 Tire Rack Lincoln Spring Nationals ProSolo