WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 22, 2010) – A hearty crop of 238 Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo® competitors descended on the Nation’s capital for the 2010 Washington, D.C. ProSolo, June 18 – 20 in the parking lot of FedEx Field. When the competition concluded, Corey Ridgick, of Allentown, Pa., stood atop all competitors, winning the Gumout Super Challenge over WDCR member Brian Karwan, who was the top qualifier.
In the Ladies Challenge, Carrie Snyder took the win in her (not Ian’s) 1988 Honda CRX Si. Carrie pulled through after finishing second in Ladies 1 behind WDCR’s Learic Cramer in her 2009 Nissan 370Z.
The D.C .ProSolo began with questions on how much grip the newly-sealed asphalt at the home of the NFL’s Washington Redskins would offer under the scorching sun. In reality, there was plenty of grip to be had, but the alternating surfaces challenged drivers to find the mix and added to the course’s difficulties.
To further complicate matters, the ProSolo layout led competitors onto the sealed right side, but the older pavement on the mirrored circuit left drivers battling throughout the competition.
As typical of any difficult conditions, driver skill clearly shone through, and there was no shortage of talent this weekend on the east coast.
For the eventual winner Corey and his 2006 MODERacing Mitsubishi Evo, the initial competition came from Cy Lee, of Glenmoore, Pa., his teammate in the B Street Prepared class. Corey topped the class by 0.707-second, and won his first three rounds of the Gumout Super Challenge to advance to the semifinals.
Michael Johnson’s path to the penultimate round of the Super Challenge took him through the Bump Class in his 2002 EvoSchool.com/OS Giken Chevrolet Corvette Z06. The Glen Allen, Va. racer topped teammate and WDCR member Courtney Cormier and scooted past the early rounds to set-up the Corvette versus Evo battle for a shot at the finals.
Jinx Jordan, of Terrell, N. C., scooted away from the F Street Prepared field by 1.464-seconds in his 1993 Hoosier/SoloPro Driving School to advance to the Super Challenge, also advancing into the semifinals.
It was in that semifinal match-up that he would meet Street Modified FWD class champion Brian Karwan. In addition to a trip to the finals, the Honda Super Challenge title was also on the line with Brian behind the wheel of his 1994 Karcepts.com Honda Civic.
Brian grabbed both the Honda Challenge victory and the trip to the Super Challenge finals, where Corey would earn his victory.
Just to advance to the Gumout Super Challenge was an honor, though, as class competition was fierce all weekend long. Two classes were decided by less than a tenth of a second, with 0.126-second separating the winner from the runner-up in a third class.
The 19-car B Stock field hosted the closest competition of the weekend. WDCR member Pat Griffith laid down some times early in the weekend in Eric Kriemelmeyer’s 2008 Studio 553 Pontiac Solstice GXP to set the bar in B Stock. Two by two, the field tried to chase down Pat’s runs. When the dust settled, Paul Kozlak came the closest in his 2007 Red Haus Racing Pontiac Solstice GXP, but fell just 0.026-second short. Eric finished third while WDCR member Brendan Bengermino took the sixth and final trophy spot in his 1989 Chevrolet Corvette.
While Eric didn’t win, he was the only person with two class-winning cars. In addition to the Solstice in B Stock, Kenny Sorensen took the victory in G Stock in Eric’s familiar 2003 Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec V. Kenny won by 0.239 seconds and also advanced to the second round of the Gumout Super Challenge.
In F Stock, it was like a normal WDCR or Autocrossers, Inc., event with Sam Strano and Jason Burns trading punches for the top spot. Sam, driving a 2007 Strano Performance Parts Ford Shelby Mustang, scored his best runs on two of his final four circuits of the weekend. Jason, in a 2007 Strano Performance Ford Shelby Mustang (his is white), one-upped that drama with keepers on his final two trips around the layout. In the end, however, it was Sam with the class win by 0.093-second over Jason.
In Street Touring Sport, WDCR members swept all three trophy spots. Ian Baker took the win in a 1988 Honda CRX Si and Greg Olsen and John Vitamvas finished second and third, respectively, in John’s 1990 Mazda RX-7 GTUs.
In Street Touring Xtreme, WDCR’s John Willemin cruised to a 1.4-second win in his 2003 Subaru Impreza WRX.
The Garfield clan swept the three karting classes. Brian won Formula 125 in his 2000 CTS Honda shifter kart, Julian won Formula Junior A in a 2006 Arrow AX-9 4S, and Carson took the win in Formula Junior B in a 2007 CRG Cadet.
Other WDCR members finishing in trophy positions included:
Marshall Cone, 2nd place, H Stock
Jason Becker, 3rd place, Bump 2 Index Class
Mike Snyder, 4th place, F Stock
Mike Kline, 5th place, Formula 125
