CROWS LANDING, Calif. (April 28, 2015) – The SCCA Tire Rack ProSolo tour completed it second stop of the 2015 campaign this past weekend at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Crows Landing Airport, April 25-26. Brian Coulson, of Idaho Falls, Idaho, took the Super Challenge win, while Christine Grice, of Redondo Beach, Calif., was the last driver standing in the Ladies Challenge bracket.
The two, nearly-symmetrical courses took advantage of the high-grip surface at the former military air installation. The courses were fast and flowed well, causing many to comment that these were the fastest and most fun ProSolo courses on which they had ever competed.
For the most part, the weather cooperated as the rain forecasted for Saturday arrived early. Rain fell on Friday and persisted on-and-off throughout the evening hours. Almost every run on Saturday was in the dry, however extreme wind would prove to play havoc on all cars that had aerodynamic aides.
The two-day event began with class-based competition on Saturday and Sunday morning. Those runs also served to set the seeding for Sunday’s Challenge brackets.
Coulson (B Street, Stranoparts.com/SNAIL Spec Racing Chevrolet Corvette) began the bracket portion of the competition as the ninth overall seed. In his opening matchup, he dispatched with Mike Nakata (C Street, OS Giken/Fenstermacher Time Shares Scion FRS).
The win allowed him to move to the round of 32, where he met Steve O’Blenes (B Street Prepared, Roccos Pizza/Miataroadster.net Mazda Miata). Coulson took out O’Blenes, moving him to the bracket quarter-finals.
In the quarters, Coulson scored a victory over Adrian Cardenas (C Street, Mazda RX-8). He then went on to meet with Andy McKee (Race Tire Index 2, Mike Maier, Inc./Ankeny Racing Engines Mazda RX-7) in the semi-finals. A win over McKee gave Coulson a spot in the bracket final against Michael Heinitz.
The road to the final for Heinitz began as the second overall seed, meaning he was matched up against Jensen Tang (F Street Prepared, Toyota Corolla). Heinitz won that battle, pushing him forward in the competition.
In the second round, Heinitz met Mark Scroggs (Bump Class 2, Stranoparts.com/Bridgestone Tires Ford Focus ST). Heinitz emerged with the win, and moved on to match up with Max Hayter (Bump Class 2, FRSport.com Subaru WRX).
Heinitz was the winner of the quarter-final fight with Hayter and moved on to the semi-finals. Heinitz beat Ryan Otis (A Street, Chevrolet Corvette) in the penultimate round to earn a spot in the final against Coulson.
When the dust settled, Coulson emerged as the Super Challenge winner. McKee completed the podium positions after beating Otis in the third-place runoff.
“I ran my first Pro Solo in 2002,” Coulson said. “I've seen lots of different Super Challenge winners over the years, but the best I had ever done was to make the final eight a couple times. I can appreciate just how rare and special this is.
“I have a tough class with lots of talent. The hardest part this weekend was to come out on top in that class to qualify for the Super Challenge. It required my best driving, and even then some luck. In the Super Challenge it was difficult to not get excited when it started going well...to stay focused on executing and staying clean.”
In the Ladies Challenge, Grice (Ladies Class 1, Berry Family Racing/ChaseCam Mitsubishi Evo IX) started her run to the finals as the top seed in the bracket. Her opening-round matchup was against Jami Olerich (Ladies Class 2, Chevrolet Corvette).
Grice was able to take the first-round win, moving onto the semi-finals where she met Jocelin Huang (Ladies Class 2, The Alignment Guy Porsche GT3). Grice won that matchup, moving her forward to the bracket final with Pamela Kannan (Ladies Class 2, Auburn Tire Service Ford Fiesta).
To get to the finals, Kannan beat A. Tasha Mikko (Ladies Class 3, MAPerformance/English Racing Mitsubishi Evo IX) and Michelle Miller (Ladies Class 3, TCKline Racing/DirtFish Rally School Mini Cooper).
In the final, Grice proved too much for Kannan and took the bracket title. Huang finished the competition on in third after beating Miller in the third-place runoff.
“I have been lucky enough to compete in a bunch of Challenges, and win several over the years,” Grice said. “At the start of every Challenge I still get butterflies in my stomach. It's all about having a little skill and a lot of luck.
“The transmission in my car decided to spit out chunks on the second side of the final round of the El Toro ProSolo Ladies Challenge. So, we spent the whole Crows Landing Pro worrying about the ‘new to us’ transmission in the car. Luckily it survived and didn't smell too much like left over burning gear oil.”
Micah McElravy (Bump Class 4, Startled Armadillo Productions Mazda Miata), of La Honda, California, took home the win the Bonus Challenge bracket.
“The biggest challenge for me this weekend was trying to find time,” McElravy said. “I got a low 32 with a cone on the right side course on Saturday morning, so I figured I'd be able to find a 31 on both sides in the afternoon when the sun was out and the course was clean. When I didn't improve my scratch times Saturday afternoon, I figured Sunday morning would bring results but it was more of the same.
“I was still mid pack in the bump group with a really under prepped CSP car, so that was pretty cool, but it was frustrating to be so consistent and not improve.”
The next stop for the SCCA Tire Rack ProSolo will be in Blytheville, May 2-3. This event is the rescheduled date from the cancelled season-opener.
For additional information on the Crows Landings ProSolo event, including full results, click here. More information on the SCCA Tire Rack National Solo program can be found at SCCA.com/Solo.
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2015 Tire Rack Crows Landing ProSolo
