WILMINGTON, Ohio (June 3, 2015) – Kyle Herbst, of Broadview Heights, Ohio, was the Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo Super Challenge winner at this past weekend’s meet that took place at the Wilmington AirPark. Kim Whitener, of Fort Worth, Texas, was the Ladies Challenge bracket champion at the event’s conclusion.
This was the first of two ProSolo events to take place at the Wilmington airport this year. Weather conditions were a constant concern throughout this edition of the event as scatters showers fell on the event site, and surrounding area. While showers did fall, at least every class managed to get at least one set of dry runs at the Cincinnati Region-hosted event.
Following class competition on throughout Saturday and Sunday morning, Herbst (Super Touring Xtreme, Active Autowerke/Diffsonline BMW 128i) has qualified as the No. 7 seed in the bracket competition. That equaled an opening-round matchup with Jon Caserta (Street Touring Roadster, Honda S2000). Herbst proved why he was the higher seed, beating Caserta.
The opening-round win by Herbst moved him to a second-round meeting with Evan Schickel (B Street, Hamfist Racing Chevrolet Corvette). Herbst pulled off the victory, which allowed him to advance to the quarter-finals.
There, Herbst was paired up against Aaron Shoe (Bump Class 3, JSCSpeed.com/J Tune Performance Mitsubishi Evo MR). Herbst bested Shoe, which pushed him forward to the semi-finals.
In the Semis, Herbst meet, and took out, Brian Karwan (Street Touring Roadster, Karcepts/JRZ Suspension Honda S2000). That win earned him a spot in the finals versus John Laughlin (F Street, Bridgestone/Strano Parts BMW M3).
Laughlin earned his way to the bracket finals by beating David White (Bump Class 3, g-Fab Nissan 240sx) in the opening round. Laughlin then beat David Wampler (Street Touring Ultra, IAG Performance/OSGiken Subaru STi) and Martin Kriz (Street Touring Ultra, IAG Performance/ OSGiken/MCS Subaru WRX STi) in the second and quarter-final rounds, respectively. As his last step to the bracket final, Laughlin took down John Brown (Street Touring Sport, Mazda Mazda Miata).
When all was said and done, Herbst ended the day as the Super Challenge winner. Completing the podium was Brown who won the third-place runoff.
“After the Super Challenge win I really couldn't believe the events that had just occurred,” Herbst said. “I went into the weekend hoping for the chance at just a class trophy and walked away winning the Super Challenge. Just having everyone come up to me afterwards with congratulations was the best feeling ever. Being so new to National events, only my second year participating, and turning in a result like this is pretty incredible.
“The biggest hurdle I had to overcome was trying to block out my driving from the first round of the Super Challenge. I won purely based off a 0.499 red light by Caserta. I thought I was done, not knowing Caserta had a red light, then coming back around I saw the next match up roll up to the start. Going through the finish I thought I just blew my chance at any shot to advance, then in a blink of an eye I was onto the next round.
After the finishing five-tenths down to Schickel in the second round, and then narrowly wining by a couple hundredths, I started to believe I actually had a chance.”
In the Ladies Challenge, Whitener (Ladies Class 3, Black Armor Helmets/Texas Track Works Honda Civic) started her march to the final round from the No. 1 seed. In the first round, Whitener beat Holly Schwedler (Ladies Class 3, StranoParts.com/Thanks Don! Scion FR-S) to the finish line.
In the second round, Whitener took down Laura Campbell (Ladies Class 2, Subaru WRX). That win earned her a place in the final meeting with Kandy Johnson (Ladies Class 2, Evolution/BFGoodrich Tires/MCS Chevrolet Corvette).
Johnson earned a spot in the final by beating Rachel Baker (Ladies Class 1, Thanks PJ/G-Fab/PPR Nissan 240sx) and Chris Peterson (Ladies Class 2, Atomic Empire Toyota Spyder).
In the final Whitener was on her game, as she beat Johnson. Peterson took the final podium position after beating Campbell in the third-place runoff.
After finishing fifth in class competition, David Potocki (C Street, StranoParts.com/ANZE/MCS Scion FR-S) was the winner of the Bonus Challenge.
“It was cool to get a chance to participate in the challenge format and move through the different rounds despite not making it to the Super Challenge,” Potocki said. “I developed an inability to find third gear during the Bonus Challenge after no issues all weekend. Shifting from second to first, unexpectedly, was a bit exciting.”
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 Wilmington Spring ProSolo
