Welcome to the 2014 edition of SCCA Solo Match Tours! The action kicks off this weekend in Wilmington, OH at the awesome new Wilmington Air Park site. There's over fifty acres of fresh concrete hosting a complete sampler of each type of SCCA Solo National event this year and the registration list reflects that. With over 209 entries, the Cincinnati Region's Match Tour at Wilmington is drawing folks from as far as Ontario, Buffalo, and Florida. If you want to see what the East coast has to offer, look no further than Wilmington this weekend!
The battleground class, Super Street R, will almost certainly take center stage as the most competitive class at the event. Names like Reeve, Pallotta, Strano, Davis, Luster, O'Gorman, and Corrales stick out but they're just part of the show in this sixteen entrant class. It's surely going to be a close match in the last ongoing Street class for DOT-R lovers! Brandon Davis looks to repeat his strong showing in Dixie, but watch out for 2013 Driver of the Year Tom O'Gorman, co-driving the lone Lotus Elise in the class, to bring the heat to a class primarily made up C5 and C6 Corvettes. Not to be left behind, SSRL looks to be one of the most subscribed ladies class of the weekend as well with former champs Chrissy Weaver and Learic Cramer (in her new GT3) as part of the show.
Continuing with the trend thus far, C-Street offers the largest Street class at thirteen entrants. Names like Chris Fenter, Chris Harvey, and last year's runner up Sean Grogan will make the class an interesting one to watch. Include last year's 2nd place RTR driver John Laughlin in that mix as well, as he looks to back up a strong showing at the 2013 Solo Nationals. There's also a car battle going on as we all wonder what's “the car to have”. Choices include the FR-S/BRZ, RX-8, MX-5, or perhaps the Nissan 370Z. G-Street is also showing a mix of newly classed cars vs. class stalwarts with an E36 BMW, Toyota Celica and a Focus ST. It should make for an interesting class to watch, especially with names like Maciulewicz and Raglin.
To no one’s surprise, STX leads the registration standings with eighteen drivers. Lance Keeley, always putting on a strong performance, is expected to lead the class with a collection of long time STXers and new comers looking to challenge him. Watch out for the combination of Kao and Prince in the ex-Pallotta FR-S to make a run along with Nick Dunlap who's hoping to repeat the success seen in Blytheville with his Mini Cooper S. Perry Ellwood is in his RX-8 and Kyle Herbst brings his 128i (a relatively newly classed STX car). Then there's the combination of Kunze and Eckert who hope to continue the success seen by others in their Acura Integra Type-R. They put on a strong performance in the Cincinnati event on the Wilmington pad the previous week, so look for them to be strong contenders at the 2014 Wilmington Match Tour.
One of the most interesting classes will be F-Street Prepared. Scott Giles has reverted his G-Prepared car back to FSP, Justin Barbry is bringing his Mazda 323, there's going to be a non-Palonmbi Rabbit, a Dodge Neon ACR, A rear-wheel drive Corolla, a Nissan SE-R and... wait for it... a 1976 Alfa Romeo Spider. Between open and ladies, FSP will have 14 drivers in attendance!
Street Modified will be here as well. Watch for Martin Valent's SSM MR2 Turbo to lead the way in a seven car strong SSM class. SM also looks to be a battle with the Jestr Tuning Evo of Frank and Kristi Gaus (the 2010 STUL National Champ) a favorite for the win.
In the Prepared ranks its a single car CP class, but what a car! The Lewis Sledgehammer will be on hand to show folks what pony cars can do when you have no regard for sanity. And speaking of single car classes, be sure to stop what you're doing to watch in amazement as Dan Wasdahl's A-Modified BBR/Phantom DVS-1 will surely put down the FTD of the weekend. C-Modified, on the other hand, is decidedly not a single car class as the mid-west always gives us a solid showing for this open wheel group. Names like Lavender, Pruett, and Myers are likely to show us the pointy end of the 11 entry class, unless perhaps there is a dark horse this year? With a matching 11 entries, Kart Modified is also sure to put on a solid show. Look for Alan Sheidler to repeat his Wilmington performance last year.
Last, but not least, keep an eye out for Mike and Kandy Johnson running "Old Yella". Mike's C6 Corvette Z06 is usually in SSP form but this weekend he's running in Solo's newest (and some might say most interesting) class, CAM. Mike has been talking about just how fast and fun this car is on his favorite BFG Rivals now that he's had a change to play on them, so be sure you don't miss the action!
Don't forget to turn in at 9:00am EST to uStream and follow all our results @ sololive.scca.com.
