March 15, 2022
The Tire Rack SCCA Solo National Tour series — formerly known as the Championship Tour — began its 12-event schedule for 2022 with the Tire Rack Red Hills National Tour conducted March 11-13 on the grounds of South Georgia Motorsports Park in Adel, GA.
Cloudy, windy and drying conditions greeted nearly 230 competitors on Saturday morning. Temperatures then dropped throughout the day from a morning high of 67 degrees F down to a chilly 47 by the final runs. Sunday saw beautiful blue skies with morning temperatures in the upper 20s that warmed nicely into the 50s as the day progressed. While the weather may have been a bit brisk at times, the action on course was certainly hot.
Solo competition doesn’t get much closer than what was displayed in A Street (AS) over the two days in Georgia’s Red Hills. Nick Lindsay and Charles Krampert, both driving 2006 Chevrolet Corvette Z06s, found themselves in a dead heat Saturday evening with matching times of 43.998sec after three runs. On Sunday, reigning AS National Champion Krampert was able to maintain his pace and eventually took the win. Kevin Wenzel, in a 2015 Porsche Cayman GTS, moved up to second and finished only 0.094sec behind Krampert, as Lindsay dropped back to third. Rounding out the trophies was William Damhoff in fourth and Jeffrey Mark Pilson in fifth, both driving 2003 Corvettes.
Mike King made a switch to Solo Spec Coupe (SSC) this weekend, leaving behind his front-wheel-drive skills to slip into a rear-wheel-drive 2016 Scion FR-S. What didn’t change was his winning ways, as King took victory by 0.246sec over co-driver Mike Lawson in the 14-entrant field. William Bostic took third, David Spratte fourth, and Hayden Pirrera earned the fifth and final trophy spot.
On the ladies side of SSC (SSCL), defending class National Champion Jennifer Bedell performed better than everyone else in the six-entrant class and claimed victory by 0.704sec over co-driver Chris Peterson. Bedell also earned the top overall spot on the Ladies Index.
With 16 entries, C Street (CS) had the largest field of the weekend. Will Teller, driving a 2019 Mazda Miata, led the class after Saturday’s runs by 0.180sec over the 2021 Mazda Miata of G. Warren Hahn, with Christian Kolmers just 0.045sec farther back in another 2019 Mazda Miata. From there, Teller was able to expand his lead by a tenth of a second on Sunday for the win. Hahn and Kolmers retained their respective positions, with Will King finishing fourth co-driving with Teller. Josh Smathers claimed the fifth and final trophy.
Street Touring Sport (STS) produced excitement as Randy Hoover and his 1989 Honda Civic Si put up a lead of only 0.081sec Saturday on a 2006 Scion tC driven by Eladio Flores, who was making his very first appearance at a National Solo event. Flores then came back to turn the fastest Sunday lap in the five-driver class to claim victory by 0.455sec over Hoover.
The National Tour points chase for 2022 also began this weekend in Georgia. For every car class, competitors this year score points during each of the first 10 National Tour events on the schedule. An individual’s three best-scoring performances count toward a season total.
Points at National Tour events are awarded on a performance-based scale using a formula the Great Lakes Division has deployed with great success in its Divisional Series. That formula is: 100 — (900 x ((Entrant’s Time – Class Winning Time) / (Class Winning Time)). Learn more about the scoring system here.
Drivers must attend September’s Tire Rack SCCA Solo National Championships in Nebraska to be eligible for year-end points recognition. However, results at the Solo National Championships will not count toward points totals. Rather, Solo Nationals finishes will be used as tiebreakers.
Next on the 2022 Solo National Tour schedule is a trip to Nevada for the April 1-3 Tire Rack SCCA Las Vegas Solo National Tour at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. That is followed on April 8-10 by a stop at FedExField in Landover, MD, for the Tire Rack WDCR Solo National Tour. Then it’s a swing back out west to Patterson, CA, for the April 22-24 Tire Rack SCCA Crows Landing Solo National Tour. Online registration has already begun for these dates, so check the Solo National Tour webpage for more information.
Photo by Chris Cervenka
