The Tire Rack Burns Flat SCCA® ProSolo® Series became the Lincoln 2.0 ProSolo just a week before the event due to unforeseen circumstances with the original site in Bruns Flat, OK, but those who attended saw an event go off without a hitch – and they got some extra runs on the Lincoln concrete, which will undoubtedly pay dividends come the Aug. 30-31, 2025, Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo Championship Finale.
First things first: the short notice pivot would not have been possible without the efforts of Nebraska Region, led by Tony Mitera with support from Mark Walker. The home team was able to smooth the way with MiDiv participants; it’s tradition that this weekend at Lincoln sees a repeat of last year’s Solo Nationals courses, a rarity in the autocross world.
Rather than combine the two events into one, both events ran side by side – the Lincoln Airpark site is THAT huge.
A giant thanks goes to the local participants, who only ran the 2024 West Course on the first day and had to run that course in reverse for day two of their local event. Kudos also to the Lincoln Airpark leadership, who gave last-minute approval for the additional space needed for the weekend, making the dual event possible.
Roger Johnson originally designed courses for the Burns Flat pavement and then took on adapting the same general course to the Lincoln site. Once the initial layout was set up by staff, Brad Smith and Riley Heaton put together slight changes which resulted in a fantastic weekend of challenging and exciting courses to compete on.
With logistics out of the way, Jim McNeal with the Rebels Car Club provided a welcome party dinner Friday afternoon as well as lunch on Saturday for participants of both events. Seasonably cooler temps prevailed for the weekend, and there was rain to start the Challenge rounds on Sunday.
MiDiv participants were given the opportunity to get a taste of ProSolo Saturday afternoon when fun runs were offered for anyone interested in checking it out. Six drivers took the National event up on the offer, and will likely return for a ProSolo at a later date.
Class Action
Though the late venue change meant a relatively small field, the battles still stayed true to form.
Brad Smith and Jason Hobbs topped the Race Tire Index that was actually just an F Mod battle from top to bottom. Smith’s Doofwagon was 0.333sec in front of Hobbs’ Novakar at the finish.
Race Tire 2 was slightly less deafening, but even closer. Erik Strelnieks and his D Prepared Mazda Miata earned the top spot ahead of Pat Washburn’s E Prepared Honda Civic by 0.101sec.
When it comes to close, Ladies Class 3 took the cake. Meredith Brown posted her times in her SSC Scion FR-S, then waited as Laney Blume tried to close the gap in her G Street Honda Civic Si. Brown’s times were 0.011sec to the good as she took the win.
Ladies Class 1 saw not only Andrea Albin take a dominating win in the Doofwagon, but it also saw Evynne Fair take to the class battle with additional knowledge, as she was the event’s SCCA Women on Track Driver Development Program recipient, receiving coaching from Cindy Duncan.
Cindy Duncan, we should add, won Ladies Class 2 in a similar fashion as Albin.
Check out more of the action in the class results.
Challenges
On to Sunday’s Challenge action, presented by Vitour Tire.
It turns out, it pays to volunteer. Rich Dao stepped over from the MiDiv event to help work the Super Challenge in exchange for an entry into the Bonus Challenge. In his first ever ProSolo experience, Dao made the most of the opportunity and dominated the Bonus Challenge in his GR Corolla.
It was a great weekend for Meredith Brown. She kept her hot streak through the Ladies Challenge, winning in the final over Cindy Duncan. Things didn’t end too badly for Blume, either, who won the consolation round over Ladies Class 1 winner Andrea Albin.
Billy Davis was already leading the JCJ Cup standings entering Lincoln (nee Burns Flat), and that won’t change. Davis drove his Porsche 718 Cayman to the Bump Class win and then rolled through the Challenge, topping Tyler Kvelko in the final to up his point total entering the Finale in a month’s time.
What’s Next
We all know what’s next for the Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo Series schedule: The Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo Championship Finale, taking place in Lincoln, NE, on Labor Day weekend as part of the traditional ProSolo/Solo® National Championships double.
It’ll be intense.
Follow along on scca.com to get more information as the event approaches.
Photos by Laura Harbour
