Credit for all photos: Perry Bennett, autoxpix.com
That's right folks, we are now just days away from making the yearly pilgrimage to the concrete beach known as Toledo Express Airport - and this year is looking to be just eventful and exciting as any other. This year, we have new cars, new competitors, and new tires showing up for the first major event on this fantastic surface.
There's no shortage of good competitions to keep tabs on, so make sure you note to bomb Sololive with refreshes trying to watch these classes:
SSR - Arguably the showcase class at any event on the east side of Lincoln. Burns, Strano, Reeve, Luster, Braun - there's certainly no shortage of talent in this class, and you can expect these guys to separate by thousandths.
STS - Another staple class of the east - surprising considering these these folks' cars haven't simply rusted away yet. Look for Mark McKnight and John Brown to come out strong, but don't count out local Jeff Mabrey, who is not only fast, but very acclimated to this surface on the new crop of tires.
STX - Kyle Herbst is fresh off a Wilmington Pro win and likely to be the guy to chase, but co-driver Gordon Maciulewicz can be just as quick, and the Twin contingent of Don Slevin, Bart Hockerman, and David Marcus should be up there as well. The registration list is also still showing Eric Simmons in this class, too - expect him to show up driving... something. Something with temporary tags.
STR - Chris Lin in the underdog MR2 Spyder has the launch advantage at Pros, so you should see an exciting battle between him and Brian Karwan for the top spot.
AS - A dangerous class involving Corvettes, street tires, and probably fire, the front runners will be Mike Junior Johnson and Mark Daddio, two legends in the sport. There will be a lot of close competition, smoky burnouts from Junior, and heckling from Strano on the sidelines about why they didn't run in SSR.
FS - Last year's National Champion David Corsaro will return in his 1LE, but Feighner, Laughlin, and O'Boyle in a new crop of cars (2015 Mustang for Feighner, M3 for Laughlin and O'Boyle) will make it interesting.
CSP - Continuing the trend of being a family affair from the Wilmington Pro, the Davises and Garfields will face off once again in similarly-prepped Miatas. Billy Davis had an excellent showing a couple of weekends ago at Devens, but can he hold off Neal Tovsen and Julian Garfield?
SM - Aaron Shoe was able to pull off the victory over David White and PJ Corrales in the Panda at the Wilmington Pro, with White having some light rain emerge during his fastest runs at that event. The Panda is not so easily defeated, so prepare for a great matchup against Shoe and co-driver Mike Fineberg.
SSM - Typically the grounds of hot rotary-on-rotary action, Toledo is curiously missing some of those key folks - like Hamfist Racing CEO Jake Namer. The slack should easily be picked up by Carter Thompson battling it out with Randall Wilcox, who has been putting in the effort this year to show that the mighty Miata has what it takes to play with its Dorito-driven big brother.
L1 - Typically, the rule is to "always bet on Monfort" here. Shelly will be piloting the Stranoparts C6 Z06, but Rachel Baker put in an extremely strong showing in the Panda at Devens and should be looking to do more of the same. Stephanie Reeve is also no slouch in this field, and will certainly mix things up with the top ladies.
L2 - Quite a varied field with a lot of different cars and drivetrains, L2 is always a blast to watch. Kandy Johnson, Laura Campbell, and Jennifer Bedell were all very close in Wilmington, and this will be another class that goes down to the thousandths for the win.
Be sure to turn your radio... er, smartphone dials to the SCCASolo UStream channel, and follow along with up-to-the-run timing on sololive.scca.com, starting at 9am this Saturday!
