College Station Tune In - Early Preview
Here is a little preview for you all of an article I just wrote to setup next weekend's Champ Tour in College Station. Enjoy! :) The article should be up live at Solo Matters . Com in a day or two, just thought I'd give you all a little advance preview lol. If I didn't mention you, get over it -- you'll survive haha! :)
We are within a week of the First of two trips to the Lonestar State for the SCCA National Solo programs in 2015. This weekend, the College Station Riverside Annex will provide home to the Championship Tour. Then in early June the Pro Solo series will visit Mineral Wells, just outside of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.
The Championship Tour returns from the West Coast, coming off a great event in San Diego a few short weeks ago. We are expecting another excellent event this weekend in Texas, with a strong field of entries across many different classes, and a surface not to be missed early in the season.
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Pictured Above: Wide Open Spaces, and “Grippy" Concrete Make for One Heck of a Place to Race in Texas this Weekend
Let's take a look at what we believe will be some of the stories to watch throughout the weekend.
First up in A-Street, we will be closely following Vivek, Goel after his performance at 2014 Nationals. It will be interesting to see how he can do after making the switch from SSR to AS for 2015. He will be faced with strong and familiar competition as he goes up against a field of local drivers from the surrounding areas that can all put up a heck of a fight.
C-Street is one of the larger classes with fifteen entries. Zack Barnes is making the switch to the Street Class from his C-Prepared normal entry position. He will be battling with a very strong group which includes Matthew Leach in his Mazda RX-8, who will be co-driving with Jim Reyenga to make a strong combination in that car. Jim is recently back to the United States after a multi-year hiatus in the Czech Republic building turbos for Ferrari's Formula One Program. David Ogburn Jr, will also be someone we are following in this group after making a switch from ESP to C-Street for this season.
Next is D-Street which we expect to be a really fierce and close battle amongst all the drivers. Several ringers from out of town will be joining this Texas Sized Battle. We expect to see Dennis Sparks and Taylor Towns do everything possible to back up their strong showing in Dixie, hopefully this time on the "right" tire. They will be met with very strong Texas opposition including Kevin Coyne from Austin, and a trio of quick drivers from the Dallas Fort Worth area, that includes Erick Van Houten, Phil Elmore and David Anderson. In this "Spec WRX" class, we will see McAdams, Elmore, and Anderson all interloping in Mini's. Rest assured the Mini contingent will want to do everything possible to give the WRX stable trouble.
The entries in F-Street will be a lot of fun to watch as we will get a chance to see a classic battle between the Chevrolet Camaro and the New Ford Mustang (with a few BMW's and Cadillacs thrown in). Former National Champion Jadrice Toussaint is definitely someone to keep a close eye on in this race.
One of the loaded classes with Talent everywhere will be in G-Street this year. Fast Drivers from top to bottom will be featured in this race between Fords, Volkswagens, and Hyundai Coupes. Keep a close eye on defending College Station Champion Brad McCann. He will however have to contend with Michael Parker, a National Trophy Winner, as well as a strong set of Focus ST drivers including Robert Browning from Austin, and Dan Lantz from Gainesville. David Hedderick will also be right there in the mix a normal STF driver joining the G-Street party.
Street Touring Sport (STS) will see a really nice mix of Civics, the CRX, and Miatas taking to the pavement. This is another class that includes lots of quick drivers. Keep an eye on the Dynamic Duo of Grant Watkins and Blanton Payne in this field. They acquired a great car from the Whitener's in the off season and are known to be near the top of the leaderboard in about every Texas SCCA solo event. Both also turned in strong results at the 2014 Nationals. They will be challenged by some crafty veterans though which include Gerry Terranova who can win on any day, as well as Steve Eberlein in his "Racin4Shiner" 1990 Blue Miata; which can't be missed.
In STX we will be watching the always popular and really quick couple, Brad and Jennifer Maxcy. They will be wheeling their familiar BMW 328is prepped and showcasing Vorshlag Motorsports technology. They will be met with a "gaggle" of Subaru BRZ's in this race. We expect this race in STX to be a popular one to follow in Grid and Paddock.
Where D-Street is home to the Spec Subaru WRX, we see lots of the Very Fast, and Tuned up Subaru STI cars in Street Touring Ultra (STU) class. A battle we will have a lot of fun watching in this class will be between Josh Luster and Lane Borg in the same car. These two will be pushing each other to quick laps around the “grippy” surface in College Station. Others to watch in this class include Scott Steider in his Nissan 350z, as well as Curtis Frisbie in his Mitubishi Evo MR. Mr. Frisbie can sneak up on y’all – so watch out!
Our largest class of competitors with 21 currently registered is STR. This is going to be perhaps the marquee race of the weekend to watch and follow on our live stream. Recent hall of fame inductee Roger Johnson is someone to watch in this deep field. Kerry and Casey Coughlin have a freshly built S2000 after switching from STS last year in this class. Robert Irish is always strong in this group. Ricky Crow is another driver that could absolutely win this event and comes in riding high in confidence after his great drive at Dixie earlier in the season. Last but, certainly not least is David Whitener. David is simply "Bad-Fast" and one of the most talented drivers on Tour. He will be bringing his National Championship experience to this battle in a newly prepped 1999 Mazda Miata. Expect the battle between Whitener, and Crow to be epic here, and some very fast S2000's trying to disrupt it every step of the way. We'd be remiss if we didn't also mention Bob Bailey in this group. Bob will be in his bad to the bone "black bandit" Miata, and always with a big smile and killer pony-tail, you won't miss Bob this weekend both on and off the track.
In SSM Eric Anderson and Randall Wilcox will be drivers we are following. Randall will be looking to make a bounce back after his issues and struggles at Dixie. This class will also see the first time for 2014 National Champion Matthew Glagola, racing against the Strelnieks / Acosta duo in their RX-7.
Another strong class and repeat from last year will be in C-Prepared. Robert and Tracy Lewis are coming from Dixie to see if Robert's off-season rebuild can do anything against the Stroh / Ferris Camaro. Look out for Kurt Janish, Anthony Espinosa, Todd Farris, and Chris Cargill to really be mixing it up as well in this battle of Power between Ford Mustangs and Chevrolet Camaro's. There will be twelve plus of these awesome racing machines going against each other in C Prepared which is sure to be fascinating.
Perhaps one of the most special races to watch this weekend will be the Family Feud in E Modified. This class will see a 100% family battle as four Minehart's will be racing each other. The smiles are sure to be the biggest and widest in this group throughout the weekend and the bragging rights around the dinner table to last for a long time after the event.
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Pictured Above: Everything is Indeed Bigger in Texas! Look at this Site!
Early in the season we've seen quite a few drivers trying the new Bridgestone Tires in the Street Class entries. Results have been mixed, but lots of favorable opinions overall. But, expect the old faithful’s from Hankook, Dunlop, and others to be plenty fast and right near the top on this incredible surface in Texas. Things are starting to come into form and we expect this weekend to give us an even clearer picture of what the rest of the season looks like both in tire choices and competition.
Don't forget that Chef Tai's Food Truck will be onsite both days serving lunch, and Saturday Night Todd Farris and the host Region will be sponsoring the event with County Line BBQ to soothe the Autoxer's soul.
Cya in Texas!
