Veterans Heat Up at Devens as SCCA Solo National Tour Hits Home Stretch

 

DEVENS, Mass. (July 12, 2005) - Even though it seems the 2005 season
just started, September's The Tire Rack(r) SCCA Solo National
Championships are only eight weeks away.

 

Many Championship hopefuls appeared to have that thought on their mind
as they clobbered their class competition this weekend at the Moore Army
Airfield in Devens.

 

Eight-time Solo Champion Mark Daddio, of Beacon Falls, Mass., led the
charge as he handily took top honors in Street Modified.  Daddio's 2005
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII beat out Nelson Antunes, of Watertown,
Conn., in the King Motorsports/Phil's Tire Service 1994 Honda Civic, by
1.853 seconds.  Christopher Travis, of Mahopac, N.Y., came in third
while co-driving with Antunes.

 

Mark Chiles, of Rocky Mount, N.C., has won a National Championship three
times in his career and nailed down a Tour win in G Stock Sunday, taking
the victory by 1.982 seconds in the blue, Jeff Jacobs' owned Mini of
Carleston/Miniusa.com 2005 Mini Cooper S.  Robert Foley, of Randolph,
N.J., finished second behind Chiles in his Foley Family Racing 2000
Toyota Celica GT, while Jacobs wound up third.

 

Things were a bit tighter in Super Stock, which saw Grant Reeve, of
Wellesley, Mass., earn his first Tour win of the season in his 2003
Chevrolet Corvette Z06.  Reeve defeated Pat Salerno, of Danbury, Conn.,
in his Lorenco Industries/ M&M Automotive 2003 Corvette Z06, by
0.309-sec.  Mike Johnson, of Glen Allen, Va., proved earlier this year
that the McGeorge Toyota 2005 Lotus Elise could be a player in SS by
taking the class win at Toledo.  He backed that showing up with a third
place finish this weekend, 0.108-sec. behind Salerno.

 

Christopher Carris, of Beacon, N.Y., also nabbed his first Tour win in
'05.  Driving a 2004 Subaru WRX STi, Carris knocked off first-day leader
Adil Abdulali, of New York, N.Y., in his Axis of Oversteer 2003 BMW M3,
by 0.473-sec. with a strong final day.  Abdulali finished ahead of Mark
Seelbinder, of Spencerport, N.Y., who came in third in his 2003 Honda
S2000.

 

Competition was also close in E Street Prepared, which saw Charles Moss,
of Fitchburg, Mass., take the ESP win by 0.286-sec. over Benjamin Avant,
of Jaffrey, N.H.  Moss posted the quickest time in the class Saturday
before posting his lone DNF in the TRE/Forced Performance 1995 Eagle
Talon TSi.  Avant, who co-drove the Talon with Moss, turned in a pair of
DNFs over the weekend, but almost passed Moss on his final run.  He came
up with the fastest day-two time, but fell just short of Moss.  Alex
Harris, of Salem, Mass., finished third.

 

The Tire Rack SCCA Solo National Tour heads from one corner of the
United States to the other for Round 10 as Hampton Mills in Packwood,
Wash., hosts the July 23-24 event.