BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (May 6, 2015) – Scott Giles, of Union, Kentucky, was the Super Shootout winner at this past weekend’s Tire Rack SCCA Match Tour event, held at the National Corvette Museum, May 2-3. Cody Mason, of La Grange, Kentucky, was the winner of the Club Shootout.
For each Tire Rack Match Tour event, Saturday is a full day of class-based competition. Sunday morning’s three runs then set the field for the Super Shootout brackets. From each heat, the top eight indexed times are places into a Super Shootout bracket. The next eight qualifiers are placed in the Club Shootout, while the remaining competitors are eligible for the Bonus Shootout.
In both the Super and Club Shootouts, the bracket competition whittles the field down to one driver from each heat. In the final round of both the Super and Club Shootouts, each driver takes one run to determine the bracket winner. The winner is the driver that is closest to their dial-in time.
The course for this event, held on the grounds of the National Corvette Museum Motorsports Park, featured an autocross pad that was constructed with racetrack-grade asphalt. The coned circuit featured an excellent mix of sweeping turns and technical slaloms.
Giles (F Street Prepared, SemperFiFund.org/PME/Koni Honda CRX) was the top qualifier from Heat Two. In his opening match up, he met up with Gordon Maciulewicz (Street Touring Xtreme, Active Autowerke/Diffsonline BMW 128i).
After defeating Maciulewicz, Giles faced, and beat, Ryan Finch (E Street Prepared, Gearhead Homes Chevrolet Camaro Z28).
In his final head-to-head matchup of the bracket, Giles went up against Nick Myers (F Street Prepared, Toyota Corolla GTS). Giles emerged as the winner, earning him the right to represent the heat in the final round.
In the final, Giles was up against Heat One finalist Scott Dobler (C Street, Z1 Motorsports Nissan 350Z) and Heat Three winner Shelly Monfort (Super Street R, StranoParts.com/Shameless Iced Tea Chevrolet Corvette). When the final tallies were made, Giles emerged as the winner.
“It feels great to take a victory of any kind over the level of talent at this event,” Giles said. “The FSP class win was hard enough, but the shootout was even harder.
“This was our first big event of the year and it gets us off to a great start. Thanks to the Hoosier contingency it also gets us a pair of new tires for the Wilmington Pro Solo.”
In the Club Shootout, Mason (C Street Prepared, Mazda Miata) also started Sunday’s bracket completion as the top qualified driver of Heat Two. Mason’s first battle came against Jason West (F Street Prepared, WorldBycycleRelief.org Toyota Corolla GTS).
Mason proved to have what it took to beat West, and moved to the second round of competition where he was paired with Stephen Lee (Street Touring R, Honda S2000).
After beating Lee, Mason moved on to the Heat Two final against Tim Viars (Street Touring R, Mazda Miata). Mason emerged from that Match as the winner.
In the Club Shootout Final, Mason met Heat One winner Chris Harp (C Street, Big Fluffy Dog Rescue/MAZDASPEED Mazda RX-8) and Heat Three finalist Bryan Schafer (Super Street R, Dave Kutney Tire/RAFT Chevrolet Corvette).
Mason ended his day as the closest of the three to his dial-in time which earned him the overall Club Shootout title.
Cody Willett (H Street, Ford Fiesta ST), of Louisville, Kentucky, began his march to the Bonus Shootout title with a win against Killian Jones (Street Modified, Subaru BRZ) in the opening round. Willett then downed Chris Bolt (E Street Prepared, Chevrolet Camaro) in the semi-finals.
In the Bonus Shootout final, Willett met with Daniel Stone (B Modified, LeGrand Mk18). Willett walked away with the victory, once everything was settled.
“The win was great and totally unexpected,” Willett said. “I was lucky to get in, and twice as lucky to advance. When I pulled into grid for the Bonus Shootout and saw some of my fellow Kentucky Region drivers, Ray Dsouza and Shawn Lambert, I knew from experience they were far more consistent and didn't think I stood a chance. So, I just went for broke and it paid off.
“When I came through the lights on my second pass in the Bonus Shootout, the temperature gauge wasn't looking happy. The car was trying its best to live up to the name of its Molten Orange paint job, and I didn't have much time to get it cooled down for the next round. Fortunately, a few guys from my region, Stephen Lee, Jamey McDaniel and my fellow Bonus Shootout competitor, Ray Dsouza, all stepped up to fan the hood and spray down the heat exchangers while I sat in the car with the heat cranked and tried to concentrate on making my next run. I couldn't have made it happen without them.”
For more information on the Tire Rack SCCA Match Tour from Kentucky, including full results, click here.
Facts on the Tire Rack SCCA National Solo Program can be found at SCCA.com/Solo.
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2015 Tire Rack Bowling Green Match Tour
