Image courtesey of Craig Wilcox
MINERAL WELLS, Texas (May 6, 2014) – Mark Madarash, of Red Oak, Texas, drove home a happy racer following his Super Challenge win at The Tire Rack® SCCA ProSolo® event, at the Mineral Wells Airport. Jocelin Huang, of Edina, Minnesota, was the Ladies Challenge winner.
The 173 racers reset the entry record for any ProSolo event held in Texas. This past weekend’s number was a 15-percent increase over the previous record, which was last year's Mineral Wells ProSolo event. Soloists in Texas can only hope that this trend will continue in the years to come.
Participants were rewarded for their attendance with favorable conditions, including temperatures in the 80s and 90s. There were also numerous social activities included in the schedule. The Friday-night cookout, sponsored by Vorshlag, and Saturday’s barbeque dinner, provided by the Mineral Well Chamber of Commerce, were big hits amongst all the participants.
The courses, designed by Jerret Jan, featured both high-speed and technical sections that pushed each driver to maintain their concentration. The courses were longer than the standard length used in ProSolo events to give each driver the best possible experience.
Madarash (Race Tire Index 2, Janco Pontiac Trans-Am) finished the class competition, held on Saturday and Sunday morning, second and qualified for the Super Challenge bracket in the 23rd overall seed.
His road to the final started with a first-round win over Chris Levitz (C Street, Scion FR-S). Troy Acosta (Race Tire Index 2, Jungle Cat Racing/Hoosier/JC Autospec Porsche Boxster) was the next driver to fall to Madarash in the bracket competition. It was sweet revenge for Madarash who finished 0.3-second behind Acosta during the qualifying rounds.
In the quarter-final round, Madarash took out Lee Chhit (Street Touring FWD, Custom Chip Connections/Outdoor Solutions Mini Cooper). Madarash then put down Charles Kim (Street Index RWD, Bee Mick Sea Racing Hyundai Genesis) before meeting with Erik Strelnieks in the final.
Strelnieks (Super Street Modified, Hoosier/OS Giken/ Jungle Cat Racing Mazda RX7) got to the Super Challenge Final after taking the top overall seed in the bracket. In round one Strelnieks downed Troy Dudley (Bump Class, FTW Racing/Synapse Engineering/MZM Nissan GTR), and then beat Bob Neff (Street Touring Sport, Mazda Miata) in the second round.
In the quarter-finals, Strelnieks was the victor over Mark Wortham (Super Street R, JBCorvette.com/The Auto Counsel Chevrolet Corvette). Then, Strelnieks beat Greg Reno (Street Index FWD, MiniUSA/Baron Mini and BMW/Kumho Tire Mini Cooper) to earn his spot in the final with Madarash.
Madarash would end up The Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo Super Challenge winner for the first time this season. Reno completed the podium positions after beating Kim in the third-place runoff.
In the Ladies Challenge, Huang (Ladies Class 2, The Alignment Guy Porsche GT3) started her pathway to the bracket win by knocking out Michelle Seelig (Ladies Class 3, Subaru STI). Huang then dispatched with Beth McClure-Strelnieks (Ladies Class 2, Hoosier/OS Giken/JC Auto Spec/Jungle Cat Racing Porsche Boxster) en route to the final. Kim Whitener (Ladies Class 3, Black Armor Helmets/Texas Track Works Honda Civic) was Huang’s opponent in the final round.
Whitener, the top seed in the Ladies bracket, got to the final after beating Connie Smith (Ladies Class 2, Audi TT) and Jackie Mutschler (Ladies Class 2, Chevrolet Camaro). When it was all said and done, Huang ended up Ladies Challenge winner while McClure-Strelnieks took home the bronze after beating Mutschler in the third-place runoff.
Daniel McCelvey (Race Tire Index 2, Thanks Thomas! Mazda RX-7), of Houston, was the Bonus Challenge winner.
The next stop for The Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo Series is the Spring Nationals in Lincoln, Nebraska, May 23-24.
More information, including full results, of the Mineral Wells Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo event can be found here. More information on the entire Tire Rack SCCA Solo program is available at www.scca.com/Solo.
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