Image courtesey of Sherman Chang
Even with a new record 173 drivers, the Mineral Wells Pro Solo continues to be one of the great undiscovered jewels of the SCCA SOLO National touring series. Or maybe it just feels like a small event due to the stellar event organization by Brad and Jennifer Maxcy (our current Solo National event chairs). As Mineral Wells is a sleepy desert hamlet, there is not much for food or entertainment, not that it was necessary: Terry Fair donned a theme-appropriate sombrero, manned the Vorshlag Friday night grill and kept slinging burgers and dogs until everybody sat down for David Hedderick's Horrible Hoedown Karaoke. Likewise Saturday night, the Mineral Wells Chamber of Commerce catered BBQ with all the brisket, sausage and fixin's necessary. Both nights there was c-o-l-d Rahr & Sons on draught: the Blonde Lager for those who were recovering from the days heat and the Iron Thistle Scotch ale for those that were preparing for the night's chill. Many were raised in the memory of Tommy Saunders with wishes for his family and a speedy return to Solo competition for his daughter, Rachel.
As for the competition, the Jerett Jan penned courses included substantial sweeping turns into technical transitional elements that snaked back into themselves. In addition to the courses, competitors were challenged by conditions, there was not a cloud in the sky, but Saturday competition started with air and surface temperatures barely in the 50's and ended with air temps in the 90's and surface temperatures approaching 120F! Sunday dawned slightly warmer, but by the time the Challenge's started air and surface temperatures were back to tire melting temperatures.
Image courtesey of Zack Barnes
Speaking of, Mark Madarash lined up against Erik Strelnieks in what appeared to be a Super Challenge Battle Royale. The Doctor fired off a .491 redlight, leaving Madarash to take an anticlimactic victory lap. Fortunately, the ladies delivered as Jocelin Huang's GT3 bested Kim Whitener's Tiger Civic for the win. In the Bonus challenge it was Daniel McCelvey taking the win after having to spot Mini after Mini multiple seconds on the line.
Turning to the class competition highlights: the story of the weekend may be C-Street: Paul Brown's "Pearly Smurf" 370Z took the class lead Saturday Morning over a collection of gray Scion's. In one of those Scion's was Chris Levitz, buried in 6th place, struggling with redlights, cones, and lacking speed. All that changed Sunday, as Levitz charged back, hacking 1.4 seconds of his time on both sides. Brown tried to respond but red-lit and fell to Levitz by 0.066seconds. Check out the "on-board" from Levitz here:
Not to be outdone by the 4-bangers, the Corvettes classes had Sunday drama too: in BS Jerry Centanni's Sunday charge fall just 0.017 short of Lane Borg, while Mark Wortham had enough to hold off co-driver Matt Lucas. Chad Langley's Corvette may not have been able to catch Erik Strelnieks for the win in SSM competition, but in the "MURIKA" tire slaying competition, they won hands down.
There was some concern Saturday about the R2 class having any cars that weren't broken or burned. Tom Holt rebuilt an axle to beat Vitek Boruvka's Miata with a toasty steering pump for the last trophy spot, while Chris Dorsey had nothing for Mark Madarash in 2nd. Troy Acosta took the Strelniek's Boxster to the class win. Beth McClure-Strelnieks switched from the family RX7 to the aforementioned Boxster, when the former had some mechanical struggles. A Porsche was the car to have in L2 as she beat those driven by Jocelin Huang, 2nd and Su Brude,4th, as well as the Camaro of Jackie Mutschler in 3rd.
Image courtesey of Brad Maxcey
David Rock in an MR-2 Spyder bested all the favorites in STR. Rob Irish, Jason "Mr. Sunday" Minehart, Jon Pomrenke, Kenneth Baker, Drew VanderPloeg, and Matt Glagola couldn't match Rock's consistent .55X reaction times and 2.2XX 60' times. Craig Wilcox claimed STX from the first runs, though Tom Reynolds got within 0.666 but conditions made it devilishly hard to catch up.
Image courtesey of Zack Barnes
From here, Texas competitors turn their eyes north, to Lincoln for the Spring Nationals (Click Here for Registration Links and our 5toGo Story) over Memorial Day weekend.
