California Perfection for Tunnell at The Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo in Atwater
For Immediate Release California Perfection for Tunnell at The Tire Rack(r) SCCA ProSolo in Atwater ATWATER, Calif. (May 10, 2005) - Patty Tunnell lives in Superior, Colo., but as well as the state of California treated her during two The Tire Rack(r) SCCA ProSolo National Series rounds, she may want to consider relocating. Using the Atwater event to unveil her brand new Bimmerhaus/Hoosier/H&R Springs 2005 Mini Cooper S, Tunnell entered the Ladies Challenge as the No. 1 seed on Sunday and proceeded to pick up her second Ladies Challenge victory in as many attempts, knocking off No. 2 seed Californian rising Solo star Christine Berry's Kumho/Ankeny Racing 1999 Chevrolet Corvette at Castle Airport in Atwater and completing the Fontana/Atwater sweep. Mary Medicus, of Lafayette, Colo., lost out Tunnell in both the semifinal round and Ladies 1 competition, but rebounded to finish third in the Advanced Spine/Built-by-Bones 2005 Mini Cooper S. Kevin Youngers, of Greeley, Colo., ventured into the ProSolo weekend hoping to make it three D Stock wins in a row in his Bimmerhaus/CR Racing/Youngers Insights 2002 BMW 330Ci. Mark Smith, of Denver, Colo., made sure that didn't happen. And to top it off, Smith, in his Meadowcreektire.com 2004 Volkswagen Golf, went ahead and proved that his class victory wasn't a fluke by ousting Youngers once more, this time in an all-D Stock Hawk Performance Super Challenge final. Karl Coleman, of Renton, Wash., lost out to Smith in the Super Challenge semifinals, but capped off a successful weekend nonetheless by earning third-place in the Challenge after taking the E Stock title in the Jim's Detail Shop/K&K Racing 1993 Toyota MR2 over the other "K" in "K&K Racing," Kevin Dietz, of Seattle, Wash., who co-drove the same MR2. In other class action, Gary Thomason, of Oceanside, Calif., has collected back-to-back wins after taking the Super Stock crown by 0.401-sec. in his Pro Parts 2003 Porsche GT3 over Stacey Molleker, of Granite Falls, Wash. Tom Kotzian, of Gladstone, Ore., wound up third in his Trackside/Coachman Auto Body 2004 Chevrolet Corvette, but barely, missing Molleker by just 0.021-sec. Kyung Wootton, of Austin, Texas, shot out of the gate early this year and isn't showing any signs of slowing down in her 1999 Mazda Miata as she handily won C Stock, beating out the 2001 Toyota MR2 driven by Adrian Iley, of Austin, Texas, by 0.783-sec. Eric Peterson made the long haul from Hillsborough, N.C., showed the trip was worth it by finishing third in the Timeless Machines 1999 Mazda Miata, a mere 0.026-sec. off Iley's pace. Two ProSolo events entered for Ken Motonishi, of Orange, Calif., in 2005, two class wins. Motonishi, in his Kumho 1989 Honda Civic Si, was a model of consistency as he posted times in the 31-second range on 10 of his 12 runs. Those runs were good enough to hold off a determined Kevin McCormick, of Lincoln, Calif., who ran nearly identical times compared to Motonishi and finished a scant 0.035-sec. behind in the Kumho/HAP 1989 Civic Si. Leslie Ann Cohen, of Encinitas, Calif., wasn't too far behind either, winding up only 0.130-sec. behind in the Leslie Cohen Design 1989 Civic Si. Rick Gould, of Oakley, Calif., had to sweat it out in a hotly-contested C Street Prepared class, but he picked up his first win of the year, topping Bill Schenker, of Los Angeles, Calif., by 0.092-sec. On his final run of the weekend, Gould, in his 1994 Mazda Miata, ripped off more than 0.35-sec. from his previous best score, shoving him past Schenker into the lead. Schenker tried to make up for it in his Chasecam.com 1999 Miata, but fell short, 0.092-sec. in back of Gould. George Doganis, of Lakeside, Calif., was third, only 0.056-sec. off Schenker's pace in his AWR/Racing/Beat/Goodwin/Dinos 1994 Miata, while fourth-place finisher Eric Clements, of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., narrowly missed Doganis by 0.017-sec. in another Miata. ProSoloists get a week off before returning to action when The Tire Rack(r) SCCA ProSolo National Series ramps it up once again May 21-22 for round four at Wendover Airport in Wendover, Utah. For more information about this event, visit http://www.scca.com/Event/Event.asp?Ref=05-ps-atwater. -30- Photo Credit: Bob Tunnell (c) 2005 Photo Caption: The "MiniHaus" made a very successful debut at the SCCA ProSolo in Atwater, Calif., as Patty Tunnell drove it to the Ladies Challenge win as well as a Ladies 1 class victory. Curt K. _______________ Curtis Kitchen Public Relations Manager Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Inc. ckitchen@scca.com 800-770-2055