SOLO: ProSolo Blytheville summary

Cashmore's Cone is Strelnieks' Gain in Blytheville ProSolo

BLYTHEVILLE, Ark. (June 10, 2009) -- Just like the previous weekend's Tire Rack SCCA Solo National Tour at the Arkansas Aeroplex, the Tire Rack SCCA Blytheville ProSolo event was blessed with beautiful weather, gracious community support and fierce competition.

For the second weekend in-a-row, the local support was overwhelming in Blytheville. With the "Cars and Cycles Against Cancer" event happening mere yards away from the ProSolo action, a 90-minute break was added to the schedule so Soloists could take part in the festivities, including a classic car show, car raffle, entertainment and food. In addition to individual donations from SCCA members, SCCA VP of Rally/Solo Howard Duncan presented a $4,000 check from SCCA to the local "Relay for Life," as a thank you to the community for donating the gorgeous Solo site.

Throughout the event, drivers praised the unbelievably smooth concrete at the Arkansas Aeroplex as well as the Doug Gill-designed courses, which did a superb job ensuring a brisk pace without sacrificing technically challenging elements. The Arkansas and MidSouth Regions received numerous compliments for a tremendous job co-hosting the two Solo weekends. Both of the small Regions are a ways away from their respective home bases, but were able to pull together two highly-successful National Solo events.

The final eliminator of the Super Challenge was the perfect ending to a stellar weekend in Blytheville. Jeff Cashmore's A Stock-winning Chevrolet Corvette lined up next to Erik Strelnieks' Super Street Modified-winning Jungle Cat Racing/Hoosier/7parts Mazda 3-Rotor R. Cashmore, who made the trip to Arkansas from New Berlin, Wis., took the early lead after the first set of runs, but hit trouble upon switching sides, taking down two cones on his first shot at the right course. It was a heartbreaker for Cashmore, who hadn't coned a run since his first two on Saturday morning. Strelnieks, of Cedar Park, Texas, kept his nose clean to take the win.

For the Honda Tuner Challenge, Jesse Caudill, of Littleton, Colo., claimed the top prize in his Street Touring-winning Bridgestone/Larsens-biscuits.com Honda Civic Si R. Caudill beat out James Feinberg, of Cary, N.C., and his D-Stock-winning SoloProDriving School/Hoosier Acura Integra for the win.

After capturing the Ladies Class 2 win in a Performance Machine Works BMW 2002, Annie Bauer, of Renton, Wash., went on to claim her first Ladies Challenge win of 2009. Bauer beat out Ladies Class 1 winner Meredith Brown, of Los Alamos, N.M., who was driving an Automotive Pros/MidAtlantic Toyota MR2.

ChaseCam Bonus Challenge honors went to Vivek Goel, of Austin, Texas. Driving a G Stock FTW Racing Mazda MX-5, Vivek beat out D Stocker Shawn McAllister, of North Little Rock, Ark., who was piloting a Subaru WRX.

Some intense class competition unfolded in A Street Prepared. The Chevrolet Corvettes of Eric Stemler, from Peoria, Ill., Jason Collett, of Smyrna, Tenn., and Robert Carpenter, of Knoxville, Tenn., were neck-and-neck all weekend. Stemler's lightning-quick right-course time gave him the slightest edge, however, and he took the win over Collett by 0.098-second.

Closer still was the battle for the H Stock win between Ron Williams, of Topeka, Kan., and Shawn Hill, of Raymore, Mo. Though Williams had his fair share of coned runs, his flawless runs were just a touch faster than Hill's and he walked away with the HS victory by a slim 0.083-second.

It was quite a different story in E Street Prepared, where Mark Madarash, of Red Oak, Texas, put in a dominating performance. Driving a Pontiac Trans-Am, Madarash was unstoppable, taking the class win by more than two seconds.

Plans are already under way for next year's ProSolo and Eastern States Championship as a result of the warm welcome and support from the local regions and community, not to mention the premium concrete available at the Arkansas Aeroplex. Solo competitors should keep their ears to the ground for news about a possible return to Blytheville as soon as this fall for another Tire Rack SCCA National Solo event.

Next up on the Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo calendar is the Washington D.C. ProSolo, June 20 -- 21, at FedEx Field. For full results from the Blytheville ProSolo and information on upcoming events, visit www.scca.com/solo.

-credit: scca