Memorable Memorial Day in Lincoln

TOPEKA, Kan. (May 31, 2017) – By Saturday of Memorial weekend, 275 competitors had already taken to the concrete of Lincoln Airpark at the 2017 Tire Rack Spring Nationals ProSolo®. Sunday, nearly 70 more drivers joined friends and foes for the Tire Rack Spring Nationals Championship Tour. These nine events scattered across the country mimic the competition style of the Tire Rack SCCA Solo Nationals, also held at Lincoln Airpark in September. Over two days, drivers make three runs each on two different courses. Their fastest time from each is combined for their score. The driver in each class with the lowest score wins.

Heat one started with the two-stroke fury of Junior Karts and Kart Modified. Tom Harrington took the KM lead right out of the gate in his Honda Tony Kart with a strong first run that he stood on for day one. After day one, Jared Langenfeld held second, 0.404 second back from Harrington, with Cody Pennell and Tim Davis following in third and fourth respectively, separated by just 0.002 second. On day two though, Pennell broke out in his Honda Road Rebel to find a half-second more than Harrington, taking the lead by 0.014 second. Davis finished out the trophies in third, 0.660 back from Harrington.

A Street followed KM off the grid with 20 drivers, 19 of them in some variation on a Chevrolet Corvette, vying for six trophies. On day one, Landon Thompson walked away with a fairly decisive lead of 0.335 second over Mike “Junior” Johnson. Heading into day two though, the Johnsons started their journey home, opening the door for David Green and Matt Jones. It was Jones with the big gain on Monday, leap frogging over Green, Thompson and the absent Johnson to take the AS victory by 0.215 second. Thompson held onto the second position with Green finishing off the podium.

Another class of consistency, D Street has become the comfortable new home of the Subaru BRZ/Scion FR-S, but it still must contend with the Subaru WRX that has dominated in recent years. Day one ended with the newcomer on top as Eric Jones took his Scion FR-S to the top of the boards, 0.224 second ahead of John Wolf, also in a FR-S. Dennis Sparks held third, leading the WRX cause, 0.247 second back from Wolf. Day two saw a changing of the guard as Jordan Towns in the WRX set the fastest time, bringing her up to fourth. Her co-driver, Sparks, was just 0.2 second slower, allowing him to jump ahead of Jones and Wolf to take the class victory. Timothy Maxey also made strong gains on day two, moving up from fourth to second in Wolf’s FR-S. Jones finished the weekend in third, Wolf in fifth, and Riley Heaton claimed the final trophy in sixth in a WRX.

Class bumping is common at Tour events as drivers prefer having competition to being in a class alone. Spring Nationals was no exception as Eric Hyman and co-driver Troy Dudley took their Nissan GT-R from Street Modified to Super Street Modified to compete against the two-seater cars of the same preparation level. After day one, it was Randall Wilcox stretching a 1.526 second lead over Hyman in a Mazda Miata. Wilcox’s co-driver, Eric Anderson sat in third with Dudley in fourth. This is how it would finish after day two as Wilcox stretched his advantage to 2.424 seconds over Hyman.

With few rules and big tires, the Classic American Muscle classes are growing in popularity. In Lincoln, 14 drivers sought five trophy positions. Day one saw Keith Lamming, in a Chevrolet Camaro, taking a 0.168 second lead over Jacob Meuth in a Ford Mustang. Jeremy Salenius and William Agnor followed in a Ford Mustang, and Rusty Henderson sat in the final trophy position in Lamming’s Camaro. Lamming set the fastest time on Monday, giving him a comfortable 0.652 second lead, but it was Salenius rising to the occasion to jump into second with Meuth, Henderson and Agnor rounding out the trophies in that order.

By the fifth heat, most participants had sunburns, but it was time for the 21 Street Touring Sport drivers to contend for top honors. Ron Williams led David Whitener after Sunday by 0.124 second in a Honda CRX Si and Mazda Miata respectively. All six trophy positions were covered by less than a second heading into day two. Adam Barber was the fastest STS car on day two in a Honda Civic, completing the course in 62.139 seconds and allowing him to jump from sixth to third. Whitener was second fastest, but not fast enough to knock Williams out of the top spot. The margin of victory was just 0.086 for Williams over Whitener.

The 2017 season brought a new practice of running all the Ladies classes in the same heat at Championship Tour events. This allows many of the undersubscribed ladies classes to compete against each other and gauge their success. In Lincoln, it was Katie Lacey running away with top honors in a CSPL Mazda Miata. She held a 0.955 second lead at the end of competition over Kate Fisher in a STRL Honda S2000.

The Tire Rack Championship Tour Continues June 10-11 at Pikes Peak International Raceway in Fountain Colorado.

 

Photo by: Chris Harrison