Photo: John Steflik

South Georgia Motorsports Park
First Solo Tour Event of the Season in the Books

by Eric Prill
CECIL, Ga. -- The Tire Rack Dixie National Tour wrapped up March 15, officially kicking off the 2009 Tire Rack® SCCA Solo National Tour.

The Dixie Tour was blessed with the luck of the Irish a day early as the rain pounded South Georgia Motorsports Park Friday evening, but stayed clear of the event the remainder of the weekend. Soloists were more than grateful for the dry weather, so they could attack the Robert Lewis-designed course with full gusto. So popular was the layout, one veteran driver even commented that it was the best pair of courses he'd run in more than 30 years of competition. The successful course layout was an even more impressive feat when one considers the site was unavailable on Thursday as it was being used for an NHRA test-n-tune.

The Dixie National Tour was the debut of two new event trailers provided by Pace American, a 26-foot timing and scoring trailer as well as a 20-foot trailer for tech and results posting.

There were some remarkable results posted in Super Stock. Matthew Braun who made the trip to southern Georgia from Michigan, dominated the SS field in his PowerPlug Lotus Elise. Braun took the class win by more than two and a half seconds over a bevy of Chevrolet Corvettes, the closest being Steve Burger's 2008 Z06.

Super Stock Ladies was anther blowout, as Joan Clark, of Lehigh Acres, Fla., piloted her Corvette to a 7.394-second win over the Corvette of Michelle Dorman, from Avinger, Texas.

Mike King's victory in Street Touring S was nowhere near a blowout. Driving the Bridgestone/RaceKeeper/RotaStone Honda CRX Si, King, from Saint Johns, Fla., squeaked out the STS win by 0.483-second over the Honda CRX Si of Matthew Glagola, of Atlanta, Ga. It was the second Dixie Tour win for King.

It was a second Dixie Tour win for Sam Strano, of Knoxdale, Pa., as well, who took the F Stock win his Stranoparts/Captial Quest Mortgage Ford Mustang by 3.905 seconds over co-driver Michael Snyder.

A drive from Minnesota was worth it for Neal Tovsen, who won F Street Prepared in a Hoosier Volkswagen Rabbit. Tovsen just barely edged Jinx Jordan, of Terrell, N.C., and his SoloPro Driving School/Hoosier Honda Civic by 0.235-second.

X Prepared was perhaps the closest finish of the weekend. It was a battle of classic Japanese favorites, as Steve Hoelscher, of St. Augustine, Fla., pitted his Race-Keeper.com/TerrieHoward.com Toyota MR2 against John Thomas' Zee Racing Datsun 240Z. As Thomas struggled on day one, completing only one run, Hoelscher was hitting cone trouble. On Sunday, it was Thomas' turn to struggle with the pylons, enabling Hoelscher to capture the win by a mere 0.050-second.

Tim Smith, of Tucker, Ga., managed to take the win in a strong Street Touring field. Smith drove his Toyo/Moton/RPG/NABC Honda Civic Si to a 0.147-second victory over Heyward Wagner, of Oakland, Calif., in a SoloPro/ASR/Koni/7&Seven Honda Civic Si.

For the second year in-a-row, Solo Performance Specialties, LLC, is the presenting sponsor of Tire Rack National Tour awards ceremonies. At the ceremony, it was announced to cheers that the Dixie Tour would return in 2010.

Preparations are already underway for the San Diego National Tour, which takes place this weekend at Qualcomm Stadium.

For full results from the Dixie National Tour and more information on the San Diego National Tour, visit www.scca.com/solo.