Dietz Takes First Hawk Super Challenge of 2006 at Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo National Series in Fontana

For Immediate Release

 

Dietz Takes First Hawk Super Challenge of 2006 at Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo National Series in Fontana

 

TOPEKA, Kan. (March 21, 2006) - The cliché goes something like "the road to winning a championship is never an easy one." Participants in the 2006 Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo National Series who are hoping to end this season with a ProSolo Championship found a sizable early-season bump in their roads March 11-12 at the year's first event at Fontana, Calif.'s California Speedway.

 

E Stock competitor Kevin Dietz, of Federal Way, Wash., overcame both harsh weather conditions (which included rain, wind, sleet and hail) and a stacked 32-entry Hawk Super Challenge field in his Jim's Detail Shop K&K Racing 1993 Toyota MR2 to win the season's first Super Challenge, defeating fellow ES driver Alan Dahl, of Federal Way, Wash, who won the Fontana Super Challenge a year ago.  Glen Hernandez, of Marysville, Wash., was third in the Super Challenge after winning G Stock in the Evolution/Fordahl Motorsports 2005 Mini Cooper S.  

 

Annie Bauer, of Renton, Wash., took the Ladies Challenge in her 2005 Mini Cooper S, knocking off Mary Medicus, of Lafayette, Colo., (Advanced Spine/Built-by-Bones 2005 Mini Cooper S) in the final.  Jodi Fordahl, of Bremerton, Wash., finished third in the Ladies Challenge in her Fordahl Motorsports/Hoosier 1984 Porsche 944 after emerging victorious from the Ladies 1 class.

 

In the Super Challenge bracket-setting class competition, the adverse weather conditions on Saturday led to a shortened first-day schedule, leaving competitors just two runs.  However, an extra run was added to the normal three on Sunday, meaning all runs were taken by weekend's end. 

 

Californian Jason Isley, of Ladera Ranch, Calif., didn't let the altered schedule affect his performance as he took B Stock in the MazdaSpeed/Kumho/sccaforums.com 2005 Mazda RX-8 by 0.039-sec. over Joe Goeke, of Kirkland, Wash.  Goeke, sharing his Team Butt Heat! 2005 Mazda RX-8 with his wife Anna Hedly-Goeke, finished 1.430 seconds better than third-place Anna.

 

Though Dietz won the Super Challenge, he could only manage a fourth-place showing in E Stock where his co-driver, Karl Coleman, took the class by 0.113-sec. over Paul Brown, of Los Alamos, N.M. (Isotope Wheels, Automotive Professionals 1993 Toyota MR2).  Dahl was third, coming in 0.162-sec. in back of Brown in his 1994 Mazda Miata.

 

Jason Rhoades, of San Diego, Calif., came out on top of the event's largest class, taking top honors in Street Touring S, where 17 drivers competed.  Rhoades, in his Yokohama/ProPartsUSA 1992 Nissan 240SX, outpaced Paul Bonaccorsi, of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., by 0.398-sec., while Kevin McCormick, of Lincoln, Calif. (Kumho/HAP/America's Tire 1989 Honda Civic Si) finished 0.164-sec. behind the Bonaccorsi-driven 1989 Honda Civic Si.

 

Josh Sortor, of Glendale, Ariz., the year's first Honda Street Challenge winner as the top Street Class finisher in the Super Challenge, overcame a DNF and a couple of cones to take Street Touring X in his Progressauto.com/Dyno-Comp/Yokohama/5-Zigen 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX.  Sortor's total time of 78.812 seconds was 1.261 seconds better than the second-place Falken/Rota/Innovate/Powerflex/Cobb/Poltec/ProParts 2005 Subaru WRX driven by Jeff Barco, of Studio City, Calif.  Thomas Kenna, of Irvine, Calif. was third.

 

In B Streeet Prepared, Bob Tunnell, of Superior, Colo., out-dueled Jason Uyeda, of West Hills, Calif., taking the class win by 0.201-sec. in his Bimmerhaus Performance 1995 BMW M3.  Uyeda, in the A.R.E./Neversoft 2004 Honda S2000, wedged himself into second place between the Tunnell duo as Bob's wife, Patty, was third co-driving their BMW.

 

Beverlee Larsson, of Anaheim, Calif., took the top spot in the Ladies 2 class in hier Elite Window Tinting 1994 BMW 325is, finishing 0.829-sec. ahead of Teresa Neidel-McKee, of San Jose, Calif.  Neidel-McKee, in the SiasTuning/A.R.E./7parts.com 1993 Mazda RX-7, finished comfortably ahead of third-place Christine Berry, of Alta Loma, Calif., who came in 0.860-sec. behind Neidel-McKee in her Kumho/USA Mortgage Corp./Berry Family Racing 1996 Chevrolet Camaro.

 

The Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo National Series scene shifts east into the middle of the United States for its second round as the Walnut Ridge Airport in Walnut Ridge, Ark., plays host April 8-9.  

 

The Tire Rack SCCA Solo National Tour's next stop is also scheduled to take place in Walnut Ridge, preceding the ProSolo event by one week, April 1-2.

 

For more information about the two series, the SCCA Solo program or any of SCCA's other competition programs, visit www.scca.com <http://www.scca.com/> .

 

-30-

 

Photo Credit: Richard James/SportsCar © 2006

Photo Caption: Jason Rhoades weaves his way during one of his runs in Fontana, where he won both the STS class and the Honda Street Challenge.

Curt K.
_______________
Curtis Kitchen
Public Relations Manager
Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Inc.
ckitchen@scca.com  
800-770-2055