The Tire Rack SCCA® ProSolo® Series calendar crossed the halfway point of the season when the lights went green on a spectacular event in Northern California.
The massive Crows Landing site takes some expertise to navigate well, and San Francisco Region (led by Event Chair John Rowe) handled it like a well-tuned autocross car. Just to show the scale of the location, the event ran with the California Highway Patrol training on a portion of the site and the San Jose State University FSAE team testing on another portion. However, relatively little oversight of the mixed-use facility during the year means it requires a fair amount of surface cleaning when SCCA comes to town. SFR spent hours with a blower cleaning off the courses, grid, and impound area, and the significant effort did not go unnoticed.
The Andy McKee-designed courses were best described as “a workout.” The key to success was no secret – car placement and speed while avoiding cones. In practice, it was easier said than done. Add in exceptional grip, perfect weather, and support from the 30-plus members of the SJSU FSAE program who came to support the Sunday Challenges and it was clear that teamwork was truly rewarded at Crows Landing.
A break in the action for a hot air balloon landing was the only downer (ha – get it?) of the weekend.
Class Action
If you’re a true believer in the Index, the Super Street battle was among the best of the weekend. Sam Mayorga led the class and the Overall Index in his Porsche Cayman GT4 RS, topping Jacob Morrison’s Cayman by 0.498sec. Morrison cracked the top five overall as well.
Tight battles were not exclusively the domain of Super Street, though. C Street Touring’s incredible battle saw the top three in class ranked three, four, and six in the Indexed rankings. Daniel McCelvey (Toyota GR86) topped Garrett Cogburn (Honda S2000) by just 0.161sec, with Jonathan Lugod (Subaru BRZ) in third, 0.252sec behind the leader.
C Street was closer than anything, however. Sean Velandia’s Mazda MX-5 was just 0.093sec ahead of Ken Suzuki’s Mazda at the finish, with the duo just a hair apart on both sides of the course.
Allen Eischen was third in Street 3 with his Club Spec MX-5, behind Reed Gibson and Brian Kelly. Despite this, his real adventure was helping his mother, Cathy Eischen, get involved with a budget-friendly E Street Touring® Acura Integra. She took the ProLaunch School and then was the worker challenge drawing winner for a free event for helping out on Sunday. The entire Eischen family deserves a shout-out for their effort to improve the autocross community and have fun while doing it.
Want to know what other class action happened during the weekend? Check out the results.
Challenge Recap
That rough and tumble Super Street class prepared Monty Pack for the Bonus Challenge. Though he finished class runs out of the trophies, Pack and his Porsche 911 GT3 worked through the bracket pack and topped Long Pham and Marshal Hill to reach the finals against Tim Buchert. Pack bested Buchert and his BMW M2 in the final for the Bonus Challenge victory.
In the Ladies Challenge, Shelly Monfort marched her way to her first Fletcher Cup points of the season after a Ladies Class 2 win in her Porsche Cayman GTS. Monfort dropped Christine Grice and Nicole Wong before squaring off with Shelby Redding in the finale on her way to the Challenge win.
Monfort’s role in the event wasn’t finished. She loaned her Cayman to number two Super Challenge qualifier Andy McKee after McKee’s Mazda suffered a mechanical issue on Sunday morning. He didn’t advance any further, but Billy Davis did – the B Street runner-up marched his way through the bracket with the pressure on. Davis dropped Rick Cone, Sean Velandia, and Jeff Wong to take the win and the JCJ Cup point haul for the weekend.
No Rest for the Weary
If anyone was hoping for a break in the Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo Series schedule, it wouldn’t be this week. The entire circus sets up shop at the Toledo Express Airport in Swanton, OH, as the Tire Rack SCCA Toledo ProSolo hits the ground June 12-14. That event is just about at capacity, although there is a slight chance you could make the cut if you enter now.
Regardless, there are more ProSolo events this season, like ones at Bristol, Packwood, and Lincoln, before the Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo Finale. Check ‘em out:
Photos by Andrew Redding
