View the Crows Landing ProSolo Final Results!
Photo Credit: Lauren Kane
It was an historic day on Sunday at the Crows Landing ProSolo, as for the first time in at least 30 years (and perhaps ever), there was a tie between two competitors in one of the challenges. Not only was the tie itself astounding, the fact that it came in the final Ladies Challenge pairing to determine the winner was even more remarkable. Nicole Wong and Annie Gil came in with their combined two runs exactly the same, and, per the rules, took to the course and ran it again. In the end, it was Wong who finally took home the glory in this historic challenge.
Wong did more than just the win the Ladies Challenge, she also won the 16-driver L3 class, defeating Tasha Mikko by just .139. Gil came in third almost two-tenths behind, while Catherine Tran, who coned away a potentially winning run, finished fourth.
The bonus challenge winner was C-Street racer Wayne Dyck, who traveled all the way from Calgary to compete at Crows Landing. Dyck was paired with Peter Bollenbecker from Street Modified in the final pairing.
The Super Challenge saw 32 men go head-to-head on the Shelly Monfort designed course, and it was Bump 4 class winner Anthony Porta who ultimately rained supreme. In the final matchup, Porta faced off against Jeff Kiesel to claim his first-ever Super Challenge win in just his third-ever ProSolo (and in a street prepared car in which he drove towing his tires from Southern California).
Porta's win in the 18-person B4 class also proved to be his first-ever ProSolo class win. He found half a second on Sunday to extend his lead by half a second over a surging Tom Berry, who moved up from the fifth spot. Berry, Paul Russell, Geoff Clark, and Brian Peters (who did not compete on Sunday due to engine failure), were all within .062 of each other. The last trophy went to Tony Rivera, who, after missing his Saturday afternoon runs due to a broken clutch, changed his clutch overnight and vaulted into the final trophy spot on Sunday.
Like Porta, many other day-one class leaders held on or extended their victories at Crows. Ken Motonishi saw his Saturday lead decrease slightly, but still won the six-person Super Street class by over a second. Kevin Schultz had the same thing happen to him in E-Street, ultimately coming away with the 1.9-second victory.
James Yom won the 16-driver STR class by seven-tenths over Kevin Dietz, who moved up from the third spot. Making a big jump into the trophies was Michael Yanase, eighth after Saturday, using a pair of quick runs to finish only .063 out of second.
Jeff Wong in STS was another Saturday leader who claimed top honors. Heading into Sunday with just a tenth advantage over Shane Jensen, Wong found time on both sides to push his lead to nearly a second in the seven-person class. Michael Heinitz only found more time on one side on Sunday, but that didn't deter him from winning STF by 1.7 seconds against Warren Leach.
Ken Mollenauer had a very tiny .072 lead over Glen Hernandez after the first day in Bump 2, but pushed his advantage to four-tenths on Sunday to win the 12-driver class. Hernandez had car failures on Saturday, however, but was able to get a ride in Shelly Monfort's corvette to compete on Sunday.
Christine Grice found time on both sides to extend her lead in L1 to over a second against Diane Bollenbecker (who moved up from third), while course-designer Monfort won L2 by 1.4 seconds over Jami Olerich. L2 had some close competitors as Jessica Gauthier placed third a mere .081 behind Olerich, while Deana Kelley was only .092 back of Gauthier for the final trophy spot.
R1 was another tight battle as Jeff Kiesel, on top by .167 on day one, ended up winning by an even smaller margin, .061, in the seven-driver class. Behind Kiesel was Tom Ellam, who moved up from third, to beat Jonathan Clements by .190. KJ Christopher was only .081 out of the last trophy, with Eric Clements just a tenth back. In total, first through fifth were separated by four tenths.
Justin Moore extended his win in the nine-driver R2 class to 1.2 seconds over Andrew McKee, who moved up from third following Saturday's runs, while Joshua Salvage was only .060 back for third. Meanwhile, Dennis Healy won CAM by two seconds against co-driver Kaustav Acharya, who found time on both sides on Sunday to finish second.
Many of the other classes at the ProSolo witnessed dramatic come-from-behind wins to make it entertaining on the final day. In the 13-driver B-Street class, Brian Coulson moved up from third to take the win, just a tenth ahead of Alex Muresan. Day-one leader Brandon Porambo fell down to third, while Dan Bullis got the last trophy.
In C-Street, Jeffrey Bandes erased his .679 Saturday deficit against Adam Ruff to win by .230. Adam Tarnoff, who was seventh after the first day, climbed the ladder to claim the final trophy spot despite missing his Saturday morning runs after arriving to grid late. Sean O'Boyle bounced back from a sixth-tenth shortfall in the eight-person F-Street class to claim top honors over Ryan Otis by nearly three-tenths.
STU saw a great finish with Doug Mikko eeking out the .095 win over Bryan Heitkotter, who led by half a second after Saturday. Dan Podhola moved up to third place for the last trophy spot after leapfrogging three competitors with a pair of fast runs. The 15-racer STX class had a big shift in their standings as Justin Tsang rallied from nearly half a second down to defeat day-one leader Karlton Lew by a half a second. Richard Hayter moved up to third only .128 behind, while Mack Tsang finished fourth less than a tenth back.
Steve Lau prevailed in SSP following a two-tenths deficit to Mitch Fagundes on Saturday, while Brock Palmer did the same in CSP, coming back from .251 down over George Doganis to win by eight-tenths. Jason Merritt, fourth in SM after Saturday, made a massive move to claim top trophy honors in the five-person class, besting co-driver Joey Sim by 1.1 seconds.
Many of the Crows competitors improved on the second day as the dying winds that plagued the site on Saturday gave way to beautiful weather. With the fourth and final SCCA national autocross event in California complete, look for Spring Nats as the next best place for concrete. Have you registered yet?
