Gunn Gets It Done at Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo Finale in Topeka

 

TOPEKA, Kan. (Sept. 11, 2005) - At the rate that Brian Garfield's
opponents were red-lighting Sunday afternoon during the Hawk Performance
Super Challenge portion of the Tire Rack(r) SCCA ProSolo National Series
Finale at Forbes Field, it appeared nothing would stop him from winning.


 

But, that was before top qualifier James Gunn-Wilkinson rolled up to the
line in his Maxwell Racing/Kumho 2002 Porsche GT2.

 

Unlike three other Garfield opponents before him, Gunn-Wilkinson, of San
Diego, Calif., avoided tripping the disqualification light and snuck
past Garfield's Mini of Towson 2005 Mini Cooper S by 0.022-sec. to win
the final Super Challenge of the year.

 

David Fauth, of Centennial, Colo., finished third in the BimmerHaus
Performance 1995 BMW 325i by taking advantage of a costly cone mistake
made by Erik Strelnieks, of Austin, Texas, in his
Lonestarcraft.com/Jungle Cat Racing 2004 Chevrolet Z06.  

 

Beth McClure-Strelnieks, of Austin, Texas, won the Ladies Challenge in
the Mini of Towson/www.lonestarcraft.com 2005 Mini Cooper S, after Elise
Sias, of Santa Clara, Calif., red-lit in the Challenge final - barely
missing a perfect start (and instead losing) with a 0.496 reaction time.
Sias also battled red-light problems early on in the weekend,
red-lighting twice on Saturday.  

 

Before moving on to the Super Challenge, Gunn-Wilkinson clinched the A
Street Prepared point championship by taking the class by 0.905-sec.
over Tom Berry, of Alta Loma, Calif.  Berry finished second in his
Kumho/USA Mortgage/Ankeny Racing 1999 Chevrolet Corvette, which left him
in second in the season point standings behind Gunn-Wilkinson.  Scotty
White, of Puyallup, Wash., was third in his Kumho/SRT/Red Line 2004
Dodge SRT.  

 

In one of the weekend's closest battles, Matthew Braun, of Northville,
Mich., overcame red-light problems to edge Strelnieks' Z06 by 0.069-sec.
in the PowerPlug 2004 Chevrolet Corvette.  Steve Telehowski, of
Riverview, Mich., earned third while co-driving the Scott Troyer-owned
2001 Corvette Z06.  Though he didn't get the weekend win, Strelnieks did
lock up the Super Stock point championship over Braun.

 

Kyung Wootton, of Austin, Texas, finished off her 2005 ProSolo in style,
earning another C Stock open class win in her 1999 Mazda Miata - this
one by 0.464-sec. over Robert Carpenter, of Knoxville, Tenn., who was in
the Volunteer X-Ray/Kumho Tires/Evolution 1999 Miata.  John Stimson, of
Sunnyvale, Calif., was third.  The win also sealed Wootton's bid for the
C Stock point crown.

 

In H Stock, David McLean, of Akron, Ohio, had to hold his breath as the
dangerous Alan Dahl, of Federal Way, Wash., made his final run in his
1995 Audi 90 Quattro.  Though Dahl made his fastest run of the weekend,
he came up 0.046-sec. short, leaving him in second place behind McLean's
SoloRacer.com 2005 Mini Cooper.  Though he barely missed the win, Dahl
wrapped up the H Stock point title.  Keith Brown, of Des Moines, Wash.,
took third in his Jim's Detail, K&K Racing 2002 Mini Cooper. 

 

Kevin McCormick, of Lincoln, Calif., took a couple of awards Sunday as
he won both the Honda Street Challenge (for being the top Street Class
finisher in the Super Challenge) and Street Touring S.  Driving the
Kumho/HAP 1989 Honda Civic Si, McCormick topped STS point champion Ken
Motonishi, of Orange, Calif., by 0.118-sec.  Motonishi, also in a 1989
Honda Civic Si, squeaked past Billy Brooks, of Park City, Utah, -
finishing 0.021-sec. ahead of him.

 

With the Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo National Series Championships now
decided, all attention turns to this week's The Tire Rack(r) SCCA Solo
National Championships, which annually features more than 1100 Soloists.
The four-day event starts Tuesday, Sept. 13 and runs through Friday.

 

Fore more information about the ProSolo Finale, including full results,
or the upcoming Solo National Championships, visit www.scca.com
<http://www.scca.com/> .