Arachnophobia? Spyder Scares Off Competition for Super Challenge Win at Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo in Peru

For Immediate Release

 

Arachnophobia?  

Spyder Scares Off Competition for Super Challenge Win at Tire Rack SCCA
ProSolo in Peru

 

TOPEKA, Kan. (June 5, 2006) - At the Grissom Aeroplex in Peru, Ind.,
Tracy Ramsey, of Hinckley, Ill., defeated Carter Thompson, of
Murfreesboro, Tenn., in the Hawk Performance Super Challenge finals
Sunday afternoon to become the fifth different Super Challenge winner in
five Tire Rack(r) SCCA ProSolo National Series events this season.

 

Ramsey, in the Team BlenderBlaster 2000 Toyota MR2 Spyder, outlasted
Thompson's 2005 Nissan 350Z through a pair of runs to top the 32-entry,
single-elimination bracket.  

 

Corey Ridgick, of Allentown, Pa., was third in the Super Challenge in
his Phoenix Performance 2000 Subaru Impreza 2.5 and as a result swept
both the Honda Street Challenge award (top-finishing Street Class entry)
and Subaru Challenge award (top-finishing Subaru).  

 

In a near podium repeat of Round 2 at Walnut Ridge, Beth
McClure-Strelnieks, of Austin, Texas, once again took the top spot in
the Ladies Challenge in her Jungle Cat Racing/www.lonestar.com 2005 Mini
Cooper S, holding off Kim Bullis, of Bowling Green, Ken., like she did
in April.  Bullis drove the Team BlenderBlaster Spyder MR2 - the same
car driven by Ramsey.  

 

The lone change among the top three compared to Walnut Ridge was third,
where Ladies 2 class winner Danielle Engstrom, of Frankfort, Ill., wound
up in her McGeorge Toyota 2000 Toyota Spyder.

 

In class competition prior to the Super Challenge, Matthew Braun, of
Northville, Mich., picked up his third win in as many events, taking
Super Stock by 0.413-sec. in his PowerPlug 2005 Lotus Elise.  Braun
tripped the red light for an early jump on his very first and last runs
of the weekend, and added another in the middle, but still took the win
over Ian Stewart, of Orlando, Fla., in the www.maitlandimports.com 2005
Porsche 911 GT3.  Brian Conners, of Philadelphia, Pa., took third in the
LJB 2005 Lotus Elise.

 

Joe Tharpe, of Marshalltown, Ia., picked up the first victory of his
season in Peru on his last run, clipping Eric Peterson, of Hillsborough,
N.C., by 0.014-sec.  Tharpe, in the Tire Rack 1999 Mazda Miata, had
encountered problems on one side of the mirrored courses, having coned
during three of his first five attempts.  His sixth run was clean and,
more importantly, fast enough to overtake Peterson's Timeless Machines
1999 Miata.  Chris Harvey, of Osceola, Ind., was third as Tharpe's
co-driver, finishing 0.090-sec. behind Peterson.

 

As his wife was on her way to winning Ladies 1 and then the Ladies
Challenge, Erik Strelnieks, of Austin, Texas, made good on the open
class side as well, sharing the couple's Jungle Cat
Racing/www.lonestar.com 2005 Mini Cooper S and earning his third G Stock
victory of 2006.  Jeff Jacobs, of Philadelphia, Pa., nearly broke up the
Strelnieks sweep, coming up just 0.085-sec. short of Strelnieks in his
Mini of Charleston/Miniusa.com 2005 Mini Cooper S.  G.H. Sharp, of
Kernersville, N.C., grabbed his third podium of the season, finishing
third in Jacobs' Mini.  

 

Andy Hollis, of Austin, Texas, made it five top-two finishes in five
events this year.  Getting his third Street Touring(r) Sport 2 win of
the year, Hollis, in his Soulspeed/ART/GRM 1992 Mazda Miata, was
dominatingly impressive, beating out the Shawn Roberts-driven 1990 Mazda
Miata by 1.195 seconds.  Roberts, of Falls Church, Va., finished
0.252-sec. ahead of Phil Osborne, of Haslet, Texas, in his 1990 Honda
Civic Si.

 

Jumped starts, pylons and a DNF couldn't stop Ian Baker, of Herndon,
Va., and the Lightning Motorsports 1989 Honda CRX from taking the C
Street Prepared victory at Peru, where he edged out Donald Barnes by
0.048-sec.  Barnes of Chapel Hill, N.C., also ran into pylon trouble on
multiple runs in his Tar Heel Motorsports 2000 Toyota Spyder, but
finished well ahead of third-place driver Jason Tipple, of Galloway,
Ohio, who shared a CRX with Baker.

 

Normally found in the G or H Stock ranks over the past few seasons,
Brian Garfield, of Mount Airy, Md., took on a new challenge this weekend
by running in Formula 125.  The change didn't phase him a bit, as he
narrowly earned the win by 0.010-sec. in his 3 Generacing 2000 CTS Honda
over Alan Sheidler, of Rochester, Mich., in his F125.com 1996
Honda/Renspeed.  Not far off the pace himself, Larry MacLeod, of
Ypsilanti, Mich., was third in his 1998 Honda/Birel 125, 0.229-sec.
behind Sheidler.

 

The next Tire Rack SCCA Pro Solo National Series event takes place in
the Nation's capital June 24-25 at FedEx Field, home of the National
Football League's Washington Redskins.

 

For more information, including full results from Peru, visit 
www.scca.com <http://www.scca.com/> .

 

-30-

 

Photo Credit:  Craig Wilcox (c) 2006

Photo Caption: Ladies Challenge winner Beth McClure-Strelnieks lifts a
wheel as she takes a sharp turn at Grissom Aeroplex, in Peru, Ind., site
of the Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo National Series event this past weekend.

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