Image courtesey of Kestrel Racing/p>
ATLANTA, Georgia (May 18, 2014) – Weather was the operative word at Turner Field for the 2014 Atlanta Match Tour. With varying conditions on Saturday and almost non-stop rain on Sunday, the shootout was anyone's game. In the end, James Feinberg was able to take advantage of his all wheel drive Audi TT in D Street and take the overall Shootout win. Feinberg narrowly edged out Perry Ellwood in Street Touring Xtreme and Justin Barbry in F Street Prepared, as the rain came down harder and harder. Barbry, in fact, changed from "wet tires" (borrowed Rivals from an STC car) to R-compounds, after Dave O'Maley's (his co-driver) first run in the Shootout brackets. In the end, Street tires looked to be advantageous on the asphalt surface, in particular with the ever increasing amount of water on the ground. In the Ladies Shootout, Laura Johnson was up against Suzanne Hodges, Stefanie Stribling, Christy Carlson, and Patsy Zymowski. The competition came down to a duel between Stribling and Johnson, with Johnson driving her B Street Honda S2000 to the win. The Club Shootout was won by Jesse Waymire, in what he considered an underprepped F Prepared car, against Jason Ruggles in Jim Fossum's Mazda RX-8. Jason ended up slowing down in comparison to his dial-in on his last run, leaving the door open for Waymire to come in and claim victory.
Image courtesey of Michael Kuhn Racing/p>
Class competition on Saturday was heated as always. E Street had Robert Carpenter coming out of retirement to take the win in the Mazda Miata he once prepared 9 years ago with Mark McCrary. Winning wasn't a surefire thing, with Brian Priebe holding the lead until Carpenter's final runs (which were rumored to be after he swapped from full tread Toyos to some scrubbed and shaved ones). G Street had a phenomenal battle between Ford Foci and Fiestas. Scott Bourne had the early lead until Brian Flanagan jumped into the fray on his third run. In the end, Ray Brake came from behind to take the win in that class on the very last run.
STC was competing in very intermittent rain, causing conditions to change rapidly from run to run. Cory Dreyfus put down the winning time on his third run, and by the 4th, no one could catch him on the damp pavement. STX had FWD, RWD, and AWD cars all represented. With Jason Ruggles initially taking the lead, the RX-8s proved hard to beat as Perry Ellwood jumped into the win on the last run. Though a small class, STX Ladies was incredibly fierce as seasoned veteran Christy Carlson was being challenged by first time Tour competitor Laraine Wilkinson, a local Atlantan. Christy and Laraine both had literally identical times on their 3rd runs (45.297), but Laraine held onto the lead given her faster 2nd run. However, she could not improve on her 4th run, whereas Christy did and ended up taking the class win.
Image courtesey of Michael Kuhn Racing
Image courtesey of Kestrel Racing
Image courtesey of Kestrel Racing
ESP was dominated by Jadrice Toussaint, in the Boss Mustang, driving for redemption after rain relegated him to second place at Dixie. Beating out Mark Pilson and Jeff Cox, Jadrice went on to take the overall top Index time for the day 1 in class competition. FSP was another great battle between the well prepped cars of Justin Barbry and Geoff Zimmer. Justin took the lead on his third run, and Geoff couldn't quite close the gap on his last run, leaving Barbry the winner. Super Street Modified had Matthew Glagola laying a blistering 2nd run, and last year's defending National Champion, Carter Thompson, couldn't catch him, leaving Glagola the only SSM driver with a sub 40 second time. The fastest raw time (38.150) of the event went to last year's Solo Rookie of the Year Darren Seltzer, getting his first taste of B Modified action, in Howard Sharf's Legrand Mk 25.
Image courtesey of Kestrel Racing
Image courtesey of Kestrel Racing
Image courtesey of Randall Prince
No event in Atlanta would be complete without a party, and the Atlanta Region delivered with flying colors. By the end of Saturday competition, the sun was out, the ground was dry, and the pork was being pulled. Everyone got a taste of the best smoked pork that Atlanta has to offer, cooked by one of our STX drivers, Bob Stuke. With the bellies full and a keg of Georgia's own Sweetwater IPA tapped, the competition never stopped, as several drivers took to the historic baseball diamond of the old Fulton County Stadium, laid out in bricks on the lot upon which the course was laid out, for an epic game of kickball. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), autocrossers aren't quite in the same league as Hammerin' Hank Aaron, and his record remains safe for now. Overall, it was a good shakedown for many competitors ahead of Spring Nationals in Lincoln, while the Match Tour heads off to the Devens Air Field for its next installment, in Ayer, Massachusetts.
