Sunday, October 14 th turned out to be a spectacular day in the DC area. With blue skies, light winds, low humidity, and temperatures that ranged from the low 50s to the mid 70s, it was truly a great day to be outside. Luckily, this was the day for the last championship event of the 2007 Washington, DC region Solo series. Although some of the class champions had already been determined, for many competitors, this was a “make or break” situation for them to make one last set of runs for a shot at the championship.
Due to a scheduled event on the “F” lot, we were again back on the blind crested “A ” lot for this one. Steve Salisbury got a break from course design this time, as Greg Olsen wanted to take a whack at a new route on the “A” lot. And what a monster he designed!! This may very well have been the longest Solo course in DC region history. Measured at roughly 4500 feet in length, it snaked through nearly all the
available space on the lot. Even with a relatively leisurely start interval, it allowed up to four drivers to negotiate the course simultaneously. Class winning times were generally in 66 to 73 second range certainly a decent amount of driving time for a Solo event!
Of course, the F125 drivers ran the course significantly faster than most full bodied cars. FTD was slightly over 61 seconds, and Vic Madrid earned this honor in his TonyKart, taking the runner-up spot for the 2007 class championship in the process. Mike Stanley borrowed Brian Garfield’s shifter kart, and he earned the second place trophy in the four-driver class. Brian had already taken the class championship, and he and Mike Kline decided to try Jane Garfield ’s Porsche Boxster in A Stock at this event. Julian Garfield had already clinched the Junior Kart B class championship, and he continued his unbroken streak of wins with a final win of the season and the fastest junior kart time of the day. Aaron Zapol took the second place trophy in the five driver class, and he earned the runner up spot for the class championship. Sisters Anna and Molly Kulbaski competed in Junior Kart A. Molly took the win this time, but Anna ended up earning the class championship this year.
Robert Hummel had already scored enough points to earn the 2007 Super Stock season championship. This time, he co-drove Phil Dame’s C6 Corvette Z06 and earned the third place trophy. Brian Conners earned another class win in the Lotus Elise at this event, and it gave him enough points to earn the runner up spot for the season. Rich Barrett drove his C5 Corvette Z06, and he took home the second place trophy in the eight-driver class.
Brendon Bengermino and Doug Newhard were the top runners in contention for the A Stock championship this year. Neither one of them trophied at this event, but they were both very close, finishing in 4th and 5th positions in the tough class. Brendon was less than a tenth of a second
ahead of Doug at this event, and they ended up tied in the points standings for the year. The tiebreaker was determined by number of wins: Brendon had two, and Doug had one, so Brendon will take this year’s championship. Brian Garfield took the class win, driving Jane’s Boxster and earning the fastest stock class time of the day. Greg Obadia co-drove Steven Matsumoto’s Honda S2000,and he earned the second place trophy in the large 15-driver class. Greg Olsen co-drove with Brendon in his C4
Corvette, and he earned the final class trophy this time.
Despite not driving at this event, Lee Piccione simply owned B Stock this year, driving Kirk Boston’s Nissan 350Z to a string of victories to win the championship. This time,SteveBarber took the class win by about a second in his Mazda RX-8,and he earned the runner-up spot for the year in the process. Dave Wade drove his own RX-8 to take home the second place trophy in the five driver class. Charles Crawford and Les Banyas were the top runners in C Stock this year, both driving 2004
Mazdaspeed Miatas and trading a few class wins back and forth in the class. Charles took the lead at this event and clinched the season championship. Les earned the second place class trophy in the five driver class and took the runner up spot for the year.
Matthew Arnold had a good year of competition in his D Stock BMW 330i, and he finished it on a high note with another class win, earning him the 2007 championship. Only about a half second back, Chike Dellimore earned the second place trophy in the 10 driver class in his Subaru WRX, giving him his highest finish of the year. Larry Spector earned the last trophy in the class in his Integra Type R, and he
took the runner-up spot in the class championship.
Mike and Carrie Snyder decided that FedEx would be a fun place to run their E Stock MR2 this year, so they signed up for the season subscription. They both had a great year, and Mike earned the championship with five class wins. He took another win this time, and Ian Baker co-drove the MR2 to earn the second-place class trophy. Steve Chisholm earned the last trophy in the eight driver class driving a Miata, and he snagged the runner up spot for the 2007 class championship.
Sam Strano absolutely dominated F Stock this year, winning nearly every event he attended, co-driving Mike Snyder’s Shelby Mustang. In addition to performing well locally, he won the ProSolo championship and the Solo National championship, as well as having the fastest PAX time at Nationals! This event was no different, as Sam took another class win and fast PAX time of the day, earning the 2007 DC region class championship. Jason Burns pushed Sam hard this year. In fact, he even purchased his own Shelby Mustang and finished in second place at this event, giving him the runner up spot for the championship. Mike Snyder earned the third place trophy in the ten driver class this time.
Jeff Jacobs and Eric Kriemelmeyer offered some great competition in G Stock this year. Jeff took the win at this event in his MINI Cooper S, and Eric was not far behind, earning the second place trophy in his Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec V. So, who won the championship? They both did! Each having three wins and
three second place finishes in the class, Eric and Jeff are 2007 G Stock co-champions. Finishing in 4th place at this event, Ron Shurie earned the runner-up spot for the year in his Toyota Celica.
Marshall Cone had another good year in H Stock, driving his usual red and white MINI Cooper to the class win and taking the season championship. David Sann earned the second place trophy in the five driver class in his Saturn coupe, and he took the runner up spot for the year.
Despite finishing in third place at this event, Joel Gussy already had a numerical lock on the championship in ASP, driving his Corvette Z06.Taking home the single class trophy in the three-driver class this time, Stuart Fain earned the runner up spot in the class championship in his Porsche Boxster.
BSP class participation dropped significantly this year, but father and son team Chuck and Tristan
Edmondson had a good battle for the top spots in their Nissan 350Z.They were the only drivers in the class at this event, and Tristan took the win this time, earning him the BSP championship for 2007. Chuck’s performance throughout the year netted him the runner up spot in the championship.
Brad Burns took the class win in CSP at this event in his mostly stock Mazda Miata. Not far behind in his own Miata, Scott Hanson earned the second place trophy in the seven-driver class, and he took the runner up spot for the year. But, it was Jason Zapol who took the CSP championship for 2007 in his Honda CRX. He had a numerical lock on the season championship, and he earned the third-place trophy at this final event.
Kevin Henry continued his string of wins in DSP in his BMW 325i,taking the 2007 championship with a perfect 60 points. Gabe Dunn was the only other driver in the class this time, and he earned the runner up spot for the championship in his Nissan Maxima.
Brian Burdette had a great year in ESP, also earning a perfect 60 points to take the season championship. He had another class win at this event, additionally earning the fastest Street Prepared time of the day in his Camaro. Phil Knowles took home the second-place trophy in the four driver class in his own Camaro. Although not driving in ESP at this event, Greg Olsen earned the runner up spot in the championship in his Camaro.
With moderately powered cars that offer lots of lateral grip, FSP is a class where momentum is important. Andrew Baker learned how to keep the momentum up in his VW Scirocco this year, and he earned the win at this event and the season championship. Driving a very different car, Alex Ollerman showed that an MG Midget can be a competitive FSP ride, and he earned the second place trophy and the runner up spot in the championship.
Finally, John DaCrema co-drove Patrick O’Lone’s MINI Cooper, and he earned the third place trophy in the eight-driver class.
X Prepared ended up being a popular class this time, bringing out seven drivers to compete for three trophy spots. All the trophies were swept by Factory Five Cobra drivers. Casey Laurence took the top spot, and Fred Kelley was less than a half second behind Casey to earn the second place trophy. Craig Stuard earned the last trophy spot in the class in his Cobra (is that American Racing Beige?), and his points throughout the year in the class clinched the 2007 XP class championship. Brent Bousman earned the runner-up spot in the championship, driving his usual VW Karmann Ghia to a 6th place finish This time. Justin Huffman was the man to catch in CP. He pulled out another solid win in his Mustang at this event, running the fastest Prepared time of the day, and he earned the season championship with a perfect 60 points. Stephen Catlin did very well in his Camaro this year, earning
the runner up spot for the season with a second place trophy finish this time. J. Karl Sachs took home the last trophy spot in the ten-driver class this time, driving his familiar Mustang convertible.
Newcomers to the DC area, Frank and Louis Alessi decided to try their hand at autocrossing their EP Honda CRX, and they did very well. Frank took the win at this event, earning the only trophy in the three driver class. Louis was about a second behind, but his points throughout the year were enough to give him the 2007 championship. Chris Graham drove his usual Datsun 510, and he earned the runner up spot in the class for 2007.
The modified classes are generally not tremendously well attended, but D Modified proved to be quite popular in 2007, with a good number of drivers bringing out their quick Lotus 7 variants to compete. Scott Lentz took the DM win this time in his orange Caterham Superlight, running the fastest Modified time of the day and giving him the runner up spot for the year. Norm Beaver was only about a half second behind Scott in his British Racing Green Caterham, giving him the second place trophy in the four driver class, and the points he earned through the season gave him the DM title for 2007.
Naval university students Will Brown and Dan Owens ran the Navy’s Formula SAE car in A Modified, and Will had the faster time through the course this time.
Six competitors entered in the Formula SAE class, and University of Maryland hot shoes Mike Cook and Michael Palaszynski took the top spots in the class. They co-drove the 2007 Maryland FSAE car, and Mike Cook took the win at this event. Solo is undoubtedly one of the safest and most effective ways to test these potent little formula cars, and we are glad to see the local universities using our events as a great facility for testing and driver training.
In E Modified, Chuck Sieber was the only competitor, skillfully piloting his Lotus Esprit through the long course, and earning the EM championship for 2007.
Although F Modified had no competitors at this event, Dan Remmers had already accrued enough points to give him the championship this year, driving his metallic purple Solo Vee.
Cy Lee had a great year in STS, driving his 1989 Honda Civic Si to take the season Championship in the well attended class. He topped the season off with another class win. Darren Mass earned the second place trophy in the nine driver class in his Integra, and Keefe Lee was not far behind,
earning the third place trophy and the runner up spot for the year in his well decorated Subaru Impreza. Having won the ProSolo championship for the year, it was no surprise that Ian Baker had already earned the STS2 championship for the DC region events in his Honda CRX. Brian Lausch took the class
win in his Miata at this event, and he accrued enough points throughout the season to take the runner-up spot for the year. Bryan Rutkowski piloted a Miata to take the second-place trophy in the six-driver class.
In STX, Josh Luster finished just out of the trophies at this event in his Nissan Sentra, but the points he earned were enough to give him the 2007 class championship. Jim Harris earned the class win in his MINI Cooper S this time, and John Willemin was only about a half second behind in his Subaru WRX. With this event, ohn earned enough points to take the runner up spot for the year in STX. Larry Olsen co-drove Craig Garfield’s well known MINI Cooper S at this event, and he earned the third place trophy in the
Nine driver class.
Having sold his BMW M3, Mike Neary again drove Danny Kao ’s Mitsubishi Evolution IX, and he took the STU class win, the fastest Touring time of the day, and the season championship by a single point with this win. Scott Blair was just out of the trophies in the class this time, co-driving Ed Palaszynski ’s BMW M3 to the 4th place spot in the class, but the points he earned were enough to give him the runner up spot for STU for the season. David MacDougall earned the second-place trophy in his Evolution RS, and Francois Bru co-drove with David to take the final trophy in the large 13-driver class.
A good variety of cars and drivers competed in Street Modified this year, and Brian Karwan earned the class championship in his nicely modified Honda Civic hatchback, taking another win at this event. Although he was just out of the class trophies at this event, Rich Johnston earned the runner up spot in the SM championship in his Camaro. Peter Appell was back in his VW Scirocco after missing a few events in SM,and he took the second place trophy in the class. And finally, Stephen Pilkerton drove his Civic to earn the third place trophy spot in the nine driver class.
Brian Hair and Jason Becker had a great year in SM2, co-driving Jason ’s BMW M Coupe to wins at every event. Brian took the win this time by a few tenths of a second, earning him the class championship and the fastest Street Modified time of the day. Jason solidly earned the second place trophy in the six-driver class and the runner-up spot for the season with some very proficient driving
throughout the season.
Finally, the Ladies indexed class had some fantastic competition this year, and the championship came down to the last runs of the season. Kristina Lausch and Heather Burns were the top contenders for the championship. With her last run of the season in Kelly Shoup’s G Stock MINI Cooper S,
Kristina earned the championship by about a quarter of a second. Heather took the second place class trophy and the runner up spot for the season with some great runs in the F Stock Shelby Mustang. Jane Garfield earned the remaining trophy spot in the nine driver class in her sharp A Stock Boxster S.
2007 was another fun year for the Washington, DC Region Solo program. With a great series of seven championship events, a fun test and tune event, a popular ProSolo, and a large number of novice schools, the program has grown significantly. Stay tuned to see what is planned for 2008! We also hope you can join us at the annual awards banquet on January 19th, 2008. This year, it is being hosted at the Turf Valley Resort in Ellicott City, Maryland. For full results for any of the WDCR Solo events as well as schedules and registration information, check out the website at http://solo.wdcr-scca.org. As always, we need to thank all the people whose hard work and dedication made this event run smoothly. In addition, we thank our sponsors: Radial Tire, Funktion Auto, Induktion Motorsports, Lucky Dog Garage, BMW/MINI of Towson, Criswell Automotive and Powersports, and CG Lock for their generous support!