TOPEKA, Kan. (April 5, 2016) – The first ever Tire Rack Oceanside Showdown held in San Diego, which began the 2016 SCCA Match Tour schedule, brought forth plenty of excitement as more than 150 drivers came out to play on a sunny weekend at Qualcomm Stadium.
The course, designed by San Diego Region’s Gary Cameron, had a few “gotcha” elements that really rewarded looking ahead and proper planning. Full results are available online at the Tire Rack Oceanside Showdown webpage, but a few highlights include an epic battle in C Street where Kenton Koch, fresh from a Rolex 24 win at Daytona, put down some fast times. In fact, he led most of Saturday before Ron Bauer in a new ND MX-5 scooted ahead to take victory.
A furious battle erupted Saturday in D Street between Scott Mullens and Kaustav Acharya when the two struck a co-drive agreement after Acharya’s vehicle suffered mechanical issues. With Acharya laying the groundwork, Mullens followed suit and edged his co-driver by a tenth. Acharya would then go back and edge out Mullens by a tenth. The duo battled back and forth, but it was Acharya that came out ahead with a .558-second margin over Mullens.
In Street Touring Roadster Ladies, Terri Mayo led by .8-seconds over Shauna Rios early on. While Rios would find another two tenths in a later run, Mayo was ultimately able to extended her lead and take a Saturday win.
Recently, G Street has been the stomping grounds of the Focus ST. But Michael Parker proved his beautiful, red 2012 VW GTI has got pace as he finished an impressive two seconds ahead of the field. And in Street Touring FWD, it was a RSX Type S lockout with Morgan Trotter in second and Michael Heinitz taking home the win.
Moving into Sunday, the usual event flow was disrupted as crumbling asphalt required an impromptu course redesign. The result was a winner being selected in Heat 1 of the Top Dog Challenge and Under Dog Challenge, and a second victor being selected from Heat 2 and Heat 3 competitors.
Heat 1 Under Dog went to Heinitz after Acharya coned on his last run, his only clipped cone of the weekend. Michael Yanase then emerged as the winner of the Heat 2/Heat 3 Under Dog grouping. In Top Dog, Brian Peters became winner of Heat 1, and Nicole Wong triumphed in the Heat 2/Heat 3 combination.
Last, but hardly least, was Terri Mayo who claimed the Lucky Dog Champion title in San Diego. She was .0002-seconds off qualifying for the Under Dog Challenge. But got “lucky” after winning the lottery and went on to make the most of the opportunity.
Match Tour Showdowns are three events in one package. The event is broken into four sessions. Session 1 and Session 2 are on Saturday and consist of a traditional three-run autocross. The best run from each session is added together to determine class rankings, with runs being timed to 1/1000th of a second and two-second penalties assessed for knocking down a cone. Class trophies are then distributed Saturday during the evening’s social event.
Session 3 on Sunday is another three runs to determine the qualifiers for the Top Dog and Under Dog Challenges. The top eight on index per heat qualify for the Top Dog Challenge, and those placing in positions 9-16 on index per heat qualify for the Under Dog Challenge. Everyone else is eligible for the drawing to be in the Lucky Dog Challenge. Then the Challenges take place in Session 4 of the event.
For additional information about SCCA Solo, visit www.scca.com/solo.
Story: Kaustav Acharya/SoloMatters
Image: Lucky Dog Winner Terri Mayo
Photo Credit: Kaustav Acharya
