The time has come to release the Kraken and begin the STC Solo 2017 season! We have opened registration to the first event online, come one, come all and pre-register!
You can register here – And as always, we look forward to seeing you!
2017 STC Solo Season Passes – Available!
I hope everyone has had a great off-season, but its now time to start preparing for 2017. We have made the 2017 season pass registration available for $240!
SCCA Members can get a Season Pass to all 9 STC hosted regular season events for $240.
Support STC AutoX by investing in a season pass. Can’t make all the events? The season pass not only offers numerous perks for you as a competitor but it gives you the opportunity to contribute to the solo program. Season pass entries assist in upfront costs of the program such as software, equipment and supplies. Invest in STC AutoX today!
Season Pass Perks:
Attend 9 events for the cost of 8
Expedited Event Registration
Annual Tech
Free Fun Runs
These are the events you will automatically registered for:
| Date | Event Name | Location |
| 4/09/2017 | Points Event #01 – Sunday | PittRace |
| 5/20/2017 | Points Event #03 – Saturday | PittRace |
| 6/18/2017 | Points Event #04 – Sunday | PittRace |
| 6/25/2017 | Points Event #05 – Sunday | PittRace |
| 7/23/2017 | Points Event #06 – Sunday | PittRace |
| 8/05/2017 | Points Event #07 – Saturday | PittRace |
| 9/20/2017 | Points Event #08 – Sunday | PittRace |
| 10/1/2017 | Points Event #09 – Sunday | PittRace |
| 10/15/2017 | Points Event #10 – Sunday | PittRace |
Solo event #4 – 6/22/14 – Turn & Burn
A unusually cool summer morning gave way to near 80 degree temps as a drivers flocked to Pittsburgh International Raceway Complex for event #4 of the 2014 season. As Steel Cities approaches it’s midpoint for the season we would see a record 106 drivers make the dash for the top of the time sheets. There was the usual assortment of drivers from the local Pittsburgh area as well as the usual suspects from western Ohio. There was also a large contingent of drivers from the North hailing from the Misery bay region. The course design was also a bit of a change up as Dan Ireland arrived early Sunday morning and with the help of the solo board laid down a course of his own creation. Dan’s intent was to provide a course that would in some ways serve as a warm up for the upcoming Toledo Pro Solo. And while it was a fairly technical design in some aspects it was well received by many drivers in the paddock.
While Dan’s course stirred up the PAX standings a good bit the one thing that remained constant was the top spot being held down my Frank Gaus’s Street Mod Mitsubishi Evo. Frank would not be without his challengers as Andrew Pallotta would pilot his borrowed Focus ST a scant one tenth behind Frank. Kyle Herbst would put on a fantastic drive in his BMW 128i to take over the 3rd place spot. Dan Ireland’s Corvette was back to full health and sporting its colors again as he would climb to 4th overall. And Chris Carlisle’s Civic Si would help round out the top 5. As usual Greg Maloy’s CRX was standing on Carlisle’s heels and his STS CRX would take up 6th place. Alex Artayet would keep his F-Street BMW M3 in the fight in 7th place. The German car parade would continue with Trevor Hill’s D-Street Volkswagen R32 in 8th. Dan Foley would repeat his event 3 performance by keeping in SM Evo near the top with a 9th place finish. And Kristi Gaus would bring in her SM Mitsubishi Evo to round out the top 10.
With so many drivers on tap the stock classes remained stacked with action. In B-Street there were five drivers, but the top two trophy spots would belong to Greg & Anne Vincent’s S2000 with Greg pulling in a 44.034 to the 45.968 of his wife Anne. Down in C-Street it was the usual party of the Subaru BRZ vs the Scion FRS in the seven driver class. When the dust settled John Ryan would clock a 43.986 in his BRZ to take the win. Standing on John’s coattails would be Randy Pearson with a 44.026 in his Scion FRS. And fellow FRS driver Mike Ferchak would reel in a 44.615 to take home 3rd. As aforementioned D-street was won by Trevor Hill with a 44.072 while the second trophy spot belonged to Jeff Hall with a 47.097 in his Subaru WRX. In E-Stock Ted “Spin to win” Weidner would run a 45.384 to take home the win. Ted would be followed up by fellow Miata pilot Rich Shank whose 47.119 would land him in second. And in the six car SSR class Dan Ireland’s Corvette would go for the 1-2 finish with Dan pulling in a 41.209 and his co-driver Michael Figliolia just barely holding off the speedy Bruce Wesley with Figs pulling in a 41.948 to the 42.053 of Bruce’s own Grand Sport Corvette.
Things were busy across the board in the modified classes. Usual ESP stalwart Paul Lynd was in for a surprise when the Mustang of Craig English ran a 43.706 to the 44.051 of Paul’s Subaru WRX. While in a different class the new SSM Lotus Elise of the Charnesky family has made it no secret they look to dethrone the XP Spongebob Miata of Don Fazekas since there can be only ONE fast tiny orange car! Chester Charnesky would day down a 43.187 in the face of the Spongebob Miata team. However despite having missed his morning runs Matt Parson would make the most of the afternoon and having no prior course walk to run a 42.547 to keep the Miata’s bragging rights till the next event. In the four car STF class Peter Subosits would lead his Focus ZX5 home to the win with a 47.690 to the 48.037 from the Chevrolet Sonic of Clyde Moore. In STR it was more Miata on Miata action with five of the Mazda Roadsters filling the class. In the end Stephen Uszak’s 43.414 would seal the deal with the second place time of 45.549 belonging to Zachary Stover. By far the biggest of all the modified classes was STX with a whopping 10 entries. Kyle Hurbst would take the field with the 42.846 in his BMW. Following up on 2nd would be Nick Kelly with a 43.747 in his Subaru BRZ. 3rd place would belong to Kevin Edwards who rand a 45.876 in his Honda Civic. And the last trophy spot would belong to Luke Kwiatkowski whose tall Subaru Forester put a hurting on the rest of the field with a 46.635 in 4th. Single class winners would be Forrest Huebner in STU with a 44.674 in his BMW M3, and John Troche running SMF in his Mini Cooper S with a 46.001. FTD for the day would belong to Tim Vincent running his shifter kart with a flying 38.370.
The good old tire index class would have lots of support for this event with a healthy 10 driver count. Nick Simon rolled his SMF GTI back out after a lengthy downtime for a few shakedown runs. Even on street tires he was able to pull in a first place finish in the class. Joseph Mayer would slide his Street Mod WRX in 2nd. Tim Mackey would not be far behind in his ASP Mitsubishi Evo in 3rd. Matt DeLacy co-driving in Nick Simon’s GTI would round out the last trophy spot in 4th place. The Novice class would also have a bright showing with 10 drivers on file. At the head of the class was Peter Hilton driving his B-street Honda S2000. Second place would belong to fellow Honda owner Robert Struhala in his STC Accord. The 3rd place spot was Mark Dunkerly in a Scion FRS running C-street. And Karen Fink just keeps gaining speed in her Grand Sport Corvette and would command the last trophy spot in 4th.
Good luck to all the SCR competitors in the coming weeks who will be taking their skills onto the national scene! For some of you we will see you at the PVGP driver’s school on July 12th & 13th. And for everyone else we hope you join us back at Pittrace again for event #5 on July 20th!
C Carlisle-
Photo credits this week go out to both Ethan Connor and Alex Artayet. Thanks guys!
-Videos from Event #4-
Tim Ward – Subaru STi – 73 SM
Andrew Pallotta – Ford Focus ST – 192 GS
Solo event #3 – 6/8/14 – Feeling under the weather
Usually the very mentioning of the word “rain” is enough to scare away autocrossers for the day. Nevertheless under uncertain skies 91 drivers showed up at Pittsburgh International Race Complex for the 3rd event of the 2014 season. Despite everyone’s best hopes there were sporadic rain showers during the day making the VDA quite slippery at times. Although at one point or another most every driver had a chance to run in dry conditions. The course featured a long opening slalom with two sweepers in the far corners sandwiching a tight showcase turn in the middle of the course. The run to the finish was fast & rewarding to the drivers who looked ahead.
Despite the changes in weather & stiff competition, the Gaus’s and their Evo have been nothing but consistent in their results. This would mark the second event where the Frank & Kristi would once again go 1 & 2 in the overall standings for the day. Setting up the possibility of a PAX hat trick for event #4? The 3rd place spot would belong to none other than Sam Strano who has traded up his Grand Sport Corvette for a C6 ZO6 Corvette to run in SSR. Sam would be followed by Mark Andy with the highest placing street tire’d car as his Mazda RX-8 would hold down the 4th place spot. Andrew Pallotta and his magical rain repelling giant hat would complete the top 5 using John Laughlin’s Shelby GT to get the job done. Alex Artayet’s was less than six hundredths off Andrew’s F-Street time in his own M3 and would end up in 6th. Dan Ireland’s day got off to a bit of a rough start when a plug wire worked its way loose, but in the end he was just happy to be back in his own Corvette Grand Sport and work his way into 7th place spot. Dan Foley is slowly warming up to his Evo since his return and would garner an 8th place finish. And the battle of ST cars would continue as Chris Carlisle’s STC Civic would just barely squeeze out a 9th place finish by four thousands of a second over Greg Maloy’s STS CRX in 10th.
With 91 drivers on tap there was no lack of competition across the various classes. In A-street James Stafford’s Corvette would run a 40.778 to the 40.959 of Trenton McMillan’s Solstice GXP. In B-street it would once again be Greg Vincent taking the win home with a 37.519 in his S2000 while 2nd would belong to the Saturn Sky Redline of David Peters with a 39.032. C-Street was the largest of all the stock classes with 10 drivers. While Mark Andy’s 37.077 would take home the win. He would be chased by his former co-driver Cory Robb with a 37.974 driving Joe Montuoro’s BRZ. Third in CS would belong to the FRS of Randy Pearson whose 38.037 was just short of Cory. And the last trophy spot would belong to Mike Ferchak’s own Scion FRS with a 38.212. D-Street would see the Trevor Hill’s R32 at the top with a 38.157 to the 40.525 of Kevin Lanterman’s WRX. Other stock class winners were Ted Weider in his E-Street Miata and Joe Blaha running his Focus ST in G-street.
In the modified classes most the action was taking place with the ST cars. In STX there were a total of 11 entries, but only Kyle Herbst’s BMW 128i would pull in a 38.228 to take the win. The next three trophy spots was a Mazda RX-8 parade led by none other than Brian DePietro with a 38.618, followed closely by Brian’s better half Megan Biddle whose 39.462 would net her 3rd in class. And Dan Wehrung’s 39.502 would take the final STX trophy spot. In STR it was Steve vs. Stephen again and like last week the result would be the same. Steve Vyn would run a 37.655 to the 38.199 run by Stephen Uszak in his STR Miata. Winners across some of the other classes were Mark Sommer’s flared Rabbit GTI in FSP, Matt Parson running the infamous Spongebob Miata in XP, Bryan Rawlins in a three car E-Prepared class, and Chester Charnesky in SSM. Fastest time of the day would go to Tim Vincent running a 32.869 in the KM kart.
In the novice class there were 12 drivers taking part with the trophy spots going back four positions. Leading off in first was Peter Hilton in his B-street S2000. Karen Fink would make her husband John proud as she would take their SSR Grand Sport Corvette to the second place spot. Third would belong to Reiner Goede in his Mazdaspeed 3 running in D-street. And the last trophy spot would be Nick Pekular with his VW GTI running in G-Street.
SCR takes a two week break before returning to Pittrace on June 22nd for event #4. Make sure you pre-register on STCsolo.com to save yourself some time in the morning. We hope to see you there!
C Carlisle-
Photos this week are provided by long time autocross photographer Ethan Connor!
-Videos from Event #3-
Randy Pearson – Scion FRS – 71 CS
Kyle Herbst – BMW 128i – 31 STX
Solo event #2 – 6/1/14 – Turning up the heat
Coming off a strong start to the season with event 1 in May; event 2 would push things even further with 100 drivers taking to VDA. The beautiful 80 degree day would see drivers for all around the tri state area come to test their skill on the vehicle dynamics area at Pittsburgh International Race Complex. Course designer Frank Gaus would utilize a version of his famous early crossover course which a few areas redesigned accordingly to give everyone a good challenge for the day.
Speaking of the Gaus’s they would remain mostly unchallenged throughout the day as Frank & Kristi would take 1st & 2nd overall in the PAX index in their street mod Mitsubishi Evo. Andrew Pallotta and Sam Strano have become pros when it comes to setting up new cars for autocross. Last year was the Scion FRS, this year they both moved to testing tires for their respective Focus ST’s. After switching over to Sam’s Hankook equipped ST for the afternoon Andrew lunged to the top of the standings with a 3rd overall finish. Following very closely behind was Alex Artayet who has been nothing but strong this year in his BMW M3 as he would take 4th in the index. Dan Ireland has made good use of his time in John Fink’s Corvette Grand Sport as he would round out the top 5 for the day. Dan Foley has been off the radar for the past two years, but that changed recently as he came out of hiding using his new Evo 10 setup for Street Mod. Even after being away for so long the early results have been good since Dan netted a 6th place finish. Bruce Wesley has also been running strong in his Grand Sport Corvette as he would end up in 7th place. Sam Strano would climb up in the top 10 in the afternoon as he would slide his Stranoparts.com Focus ST into the 8th place spot. Ethan Connor made his first SCR appearance of the year in his very fast BMW 323is and would end up in 9th overall. And 10th place would come down to a tie between Greg Maloy’s CRX and Chris Carlisle’s Civic running their respective ST classes!
With the frequent large turnouts that SCR enjoys plus the change to street tires across the stock classes there has been a lot of good competition showing up this year. In an eight driver B-street class Greg Vincent has been the one to beat in his S2000 as his 43.109 would take home the win. 2nd in B-street would go to fellow S2000 driver Sam Mehler with a 43.461 while 3rd would be none other than James Turnshek with a 44.250 also in a S2000. C-street was another decent sized class with six drivers taking part. In the top two trophy spots it was a battle of the FRS’s as Randy Pearson’s 43.326 would just barely hold off the 43.435 of Mike Ferchak in his own Scion FRS. D-street would end up being a battle of the WRX wagons as Ray Colbert would take the win with a 45.320 to the 45.640 of Jeff Hall. Rick Shank would run a 46.348 in his Miata in E-street to grab the win. He would be followed by the Porsche 924S of John Laslo with a 47.955.
One of the larger modified classes was STX with seven drivers showing up. In the end Nick Kelly’s BRZ would come away with a 42.866 for the win. Brian DePietro was back out shaking off some rust as he would pilot the Lobster Taco Racing RX8 to a 43.665 for 2nd place. Kevin Edwards would bring his Honda Civic into 3rd place with a 44.887. Street Mod F would also have a healthy showing of 6 drivers as Patrick Martz would easily take the win with a 44.481 in his Mazdaspeed 3. Meanwhile Steven Timko would follow up with a 46.709 in his Fiat Abarth in 2nd. In STR it was Steve vs. Steven as Steve Vyn did a co-drive in Steven Uszak’s Mazda Miata. Vyn would come out on top with a 42.319 to Uszak’s 42.662. And in XP we would again see Matt Parson take Don Fazekas’s Spongebob Miata to a 40.392 for the win over the 43.119 of Dennis Witt. Some single winners in other classes were Forest Huebner in STU, Clyde Moore in STF, Cory Robb in DM, Paul Lynd in ESP, Mike Ancus in FSP, Rob Charnesky in SSM, and Jonathan Powers would use his Subaru STI to win the tire index class.
There was plenty of action in the novice class as it was stuffed to the brim with 12 entries for Sunday. At the end of the day it would be David Idell who would move to the head of the class with his Mazdaspeed 3 to take 1st. Reinier Goede would follow up David in 2nd place. Jeff Peirish would run his VW GTI into the 3rd place spot. And the last trophy position would go to Robert Struhala in his Honda Accord.
Our next event is just a few scant days away on June 8th. Please check STCsolo.com for those who would like to save some time in the morning and register online. We will see you then!
C Carlisle-
For the first time this week we are featuring photos from photographer Kevin Lanterman!
-Videos from event 2-
Vyn vs. Uszak in a showdown in STR.
Greg Maloy – Honda CRX Si – 168 STS
Solo event #1 – 5/11/14 – Back in action!
Steel Cities SCCA got off to a roaring start for the 2014 season at Pittsburgh International Race Complex in Wampum Pennsylvania. A long cold winter gave way to sunny skies as 95 drivers showed up to participate in the great competition SCR has become known for. Several changes happened during the off season that will no doubt play a major role as the season wears on. One of the biggest is the creation of the new “Street” classes in which the entire array of stock classes can now run on street tires. The old tire index class from last year remains for cars in modified classes who still wish to run street tires. As well as the original stock classes who run on the tried and true Hoosier race tires. In addition to these changes the beloved VDA is now surrounded by construction equipment as work proceeds on a new entrance and the long awaited South Course. As a result some of the safety margins on the VDA have been reduced which affected course design. Still this didn’t faze course designer Frank Gaus from laying down a fairly flowing layout around the VDA and using the available area to its fullest. As a result of Frank’s handiwork and the efforts of the solo board SCR was able to maintain its proud tradition of 6 competition runs plus fun runs at the end of the day!
Many of the competitors running in the top 10 on the PAX index have already made their presence known this year on the national level. SCR members have been traveling the East coast for weeks hitting events in DC and Wilmington. It should come as no surprise then when Sam Strano would take the PAX lead in the morning and would hold onto it throughout the day to take the win. Hot on Sam’s heels was a 3 way battle between Frank Gaus in his high powered Mitsubishi Evo in Street Mod. Dan Ireland running in Strano’s Grand Sport Corvette in SSR. And Alex Artayet back in his BMW M3 running F-street. Frank gave a hard run during the morning heats with Alex and Dan trailing. However by the afternoon that order would be reversed with Dan Ireland landing less than a tenth short of Strano in the 2nd place spot. Alex would again show his M3’s speed and take over 3rd. And Frank would stand on his morning time and end up with 4th. Trevor Hill’s big blue R32 would round out the top 5 PAX positions for the day. A great last run drive by Kristi Gaus would bring her all the way up to the 6th place position after being out of the top 10 in the morning. Andrew Pallotta would keep his new Focus ST planted in 7th place throughout the day. Greg Vincent is running a S2000 this year in B-Street and put in a strong opening performance finishing in 8th for the day. Bruce Wesley who is quickly adapting to his Grand Sport Corvette brought it home in 9th place. And Tim Ward is slowing creeping his way up the ranks as his Subaru STI would complete the top 10 for event #1.
There was no lack of class battles going on throughout the grid. Many of the stock classes have now ballooned in size since street tires were allowed back in stock. This comes after many years of a heavily populated tire index class at SCR yield large multi-car battles for position. In this new age of stock classes we have cases were the entire Vincent family would take spots 1 thru 4 in a seven car class in B-Street! C-Street is now a very hot class thanks to the popularity of the Scion FRS/Subaru BRZ. John Laughlin would take his own BRZ to the top of the list with a 38.608 to the 38.805 of John Ryan’s BRZ. Randy Person’s 39.289 would push his FRS to 3rd in class. And the last trophy position in the 9 car class would be the FRS of Mike Ferchak with a 39.554. In F Street Prepared Dave Merritt would take the win with a 41.580 in the three car class. XP was composed entirely of drivers in the V8 powered Spongebob Miata of Don Fazekas. Matt Parson’s 36.061 would take the win there. Street Touring R had a healthy turnout with five drivers in a mix of Miata’s & S2000’s. In the end the Miata of Stephen Uszak would walk away with the win with a 37.990 to the 39.459 pulled in by Cory Pompelia’s S2000. Street Touring U was another 5 car class, but with BMW M3’s leading the charge over the other vehicles. Forreest Huebner’s M3 would take the win with a 38.609. John Moore’s own M3 would pull in a 40.522 to hold onto 2nd place in the class. The remains of the street tire index class would feature only three cars from SMF and SM. The familiar face of Nick Phillips would lead his VW GTI to the win there.
New for this year was a dedicated novice class for Steel Cities. Ranking within the class is determined by the PAX index so new drivers can play on equal terms with different cars. Eight drivers were on file, but at the end of the day Jeff Peirish would take the win in his Volkswagen GTI. Abishek Daniel would run in 2nd driving a Mazda Miata in STR. And running closely behind in 3rd in a D-Street Subaru Legacy was Hunter Bartley.
Steel Cities will return to Pittrace on June 1st for event #2 of the season. Look for online registration on STCsolo.com to save time during the morning registration. If you haven’t joined us before come out and see what all the fuss is about and bring a friend!
C Carlisle-
Thanks to Alex Artayet for providing the photos!
-Videos from event 1-
Andrew Moore – Locost – 2 DM
Kristi Gaus – Mitsubishi Evo – 96 SM
Solo event #8 & #9 – 10/12 & 10/13 – All roads lead to Wounded Warrior Project!
Thanks again to Alex Artayet for the pictures!
It’s been quite a year for the Steel Cities Solo program! Live timing & scoring, 100+ driver events, new grid parking, online registration, paying with credit cards at events, and fun runs after every event. But the cherry on top is the double event held at the end of the year when region turns its racing efforts towards a higher cause. Returning for its second year SCR would go on to support the Wounded Warrior Project as its premier event. The Wounded Warrior Project is and organization dedicated to supporting the lives of men & women who have been injured while serving their country. They are given a second chance to lead a fulfilling life while receiving the necessary aid that they require. On what turned out to be a beautiful autumn weekend over 100 different drivers turned out to pick up a signature WWP t-shirt, hunt for a trophy in their class, and for some drivers cap off some very competitive 2013 driver of the year point’s chase.
-Saturday Event #8, Twist & turn-
85 drivers took to the course on laid down by none other than Frank Gaus. While the course was fairly simple in looks it left little room for error. Many drivers found themselves left with handfuls of cone laden runs as they had no choice but to go for it or be left behind by their fellow competitors. In a good showing for his new car Frank Gaus’s Porsche Cayman, which was being co-driven by Mark Andy, would take the 1 & 2 top PAX positions in the morning. John Ryan was on fire in his Subaru BRZ and was hanging onto 3rd. However very close behind John was Trevor Hill’s R32 in 4th place, while Chris Carlisle’s STC Civic would round out the top 5 in the morning. Alex Artayet was again off to a strong start in his M3 in 6th. Fellow tire index competitor Mike Ferchak was 7th in his FRS. Tim Vincent made a strong early run in 8th. Stephen Uszak slung his fast STR Miata into 9th. And the Vincent Kart would again make an appearance as Cory Robb would round out the top 10 for the morning.
However as the dust settled on day one several drivers would find the speed they had been missing from their morning runs. In the end it would be none other than Dan Ireland bringing home the big white Grand Sport in 1st overall! In what is becoming a familiar scene in the PAX index Alex Artayet would again lock out the 2nd spot in his street tire’d BMW M3. John Ryan fought hard in his BRZ and managed to hang onto 3rd overall. Frank Gaus & Mark Andy would keep the Cayman in the hunt and hold down 4th and 5th respectively to complete the top five. This would push Trevor Hill down to the 6th place spot in the R32 while the STC Civic of Chris Carlisle would fall to 7th overall. In an uncharacteristic showing by Sam Strano he would end up in 8th for the day in his own Grand Sport Corvette. Ted Weidner showed he still has plenty of speed left in his old Miata as he winged it into the 9th place spot. And Mike Ferchak dropped just enough time to complete the top ten lineup with his Scion FRS.
In class battles it would be a 1-2-3 finish for Grand Sport Corvettes in Super Stock with Dan Ireland, Sam Strano, and Michael Figliolia. In BSP John Schmitmeyer’s S2000 would take the win in the four car class over Dave Mohar’s C4 Corvette. CSP would see the familiar face of Dennis Witt using his MR2 to take the win over Todd Zukowski’s Mazda Miata. Paul Lynd would take ESP again in his WRX over Gibby Bozicevich’s Chevy Camaro. Mazda 3’s had the STF class covered as Alex Nieto would take 1st followed by Eric Schineider in the same car. STR was again strong with 6 cars showing up to play. Stephen Uszak would lead the field in his Miata followed by Steve Vyn’s S2000 while Zachary Stover in his Miata would round out the top three. STX was a battle of Mustangs and Trent McMillion would hold off the McMullen brothers of Stubenville fame. And no surprise that Tim Vincent would hold FTD for the day with a 33.574. As usual the largest class was tire index with 31 drivers ready to do battle. Alex Artayet’s M3 has been proving to be just too much for the rest of the class to handle as he would again take the win. However John Ryan made an impressive last run dash for the top as he would sit in 2nd. Trevor Hill’s VW R32 would finish strong in 3rd. Ted Weidner had an impressive day in 4th. Mike Ferchak would use his afternoon runs to keep his FRS in the top 5. And a surprise appearance by Kristi Gaus in Trevor Hill’s R32 would close out the last trophy spot in 6th.
Returning to support the Wounded Warrior for a second year was the Snailspeed Car Club as part of their “Dip & Dig” competition involving both autocross and drag racing. This year’s winner for the autocross portion would go to David Wray in his Eagle Talon. Tim Dames would hold down the 2nd place spot in his Focus ST. And Evan Lewis would round out the top 3 in his Mazdaspeed 6.
In the novice standings it’s clear that Paul Cunningham is putting the rear swaybar on his Maxima to good use as he would lead the group for the day. However following closely was Ben Heald in his Evo X in 2nd. Layton Miller would roll his Focus into 3rd place followed by Ron Hilling in 4th with his Miata. And Lauren Jenkins would again round out the top five in her BMW 128i.
-Sunday Event #9, Race you to the finish!-
Sunday’s course was a reverse version of Saturday’s course with a few cones shifted in key turns to provide 81 drivers with a slightly different feel compared to Saturday. In an echo of the 2012 season where Super Stock was the class to watch the SS field once again swelled in size to a full 10 entries for Sunday. There were several notable changes as Kristi Gaus was back in her Porsche Cayman, Chris Carlisle hopped in Jay Gyger’s GT3, and Bruce Wesley was borrowing a set of race tires for his own Grand Sport Corvette off Sam Strano.
The morning runs started off with a now familiar yellow M3 sitting at the top of the pack as Alex Artayet would hold onto 1st by just over a tenth to Mark Andy who was still in the Gaus’s Cayman for day two. Trevor Hill was in close pursuit in 3rd with his VW R32. Feeling his stride again Sam Strano put in a strong 4th place in his Stranoparts.com Corvette. John Ryan was driving the wheels off his Scion in 5th. Chasing down Strano in his Z06 was Randy Pearson in 6th. Kristi Gaus put on a great morning performance in the Cayman to hold onto 7th. As would Steve Vyn’s STR S2000 in 8th place. Ron Williams was getting it done in his street tire shod STi in 9th. And with Frank Gaus rounding out the top 10 that meant all three drivers in the Cayman would end up in the top 10 for the morning.
But with how competitive the drivers set is at Steel Cities, things can change in a heartbeat. Going into the afternoon the often slick VDA will have a “clean line” and reward the drivers who can utilize that clean area to the fullest. Capping off the last event of the 2013 season would who else but Sam Strano to take home the overall win! What was really amazing was an all-out last run effort by Mark Andy who put the Cayman on a knife edge and would place just scant seven thousandths behind Strano. Dan Ireland shook off a series of bad morning runs and brought his Grand Sport home in 3rd. Alex Artayet would stand on his morning runs and still manage to hang onto 4th overall in the M3. And John Ryan put in a great afternoon effort to keep his Subaru BRZ in the top 5. In one of his best finishes to date Michael Figliolia would bring Ireland’s Grand Sport into 6th. Trevor Hill’s R32 would find little time in the afternoon and cling to 7th. Mike Ferchak made of the most of his afternoon runs to climb up into 8th. Chris Carlisle would show up in the Gyger GT3 in 9th. And Kristi Gaus would finally skirt her husband in the Cayman with a top 10 PAX finish to close out the year.
There were few multicar classes going into Sunday, however biggest as always was the tire index. In what most likely the final year for the tire index due to the upcoming “Street Stock” classes, Alex Artayet would go for the last win of the year in his F-Stock M3. A little over tenth separated Alex from John Ryan’s BRZ in 2nd. Even less time separated John from Trevor Hill’s R32 who was just seven hundredths back in 3rd. Mike Ferchak stayed in the hunt bringing his FRS into 4th. Ron Williams put in a great drive getting his STi into the top five. And the 6th trophy spot for the day would go to Drew Bickle in his G-stock Civic Si. With the strength of Alex’s M3 over the two days there was little surprise that he would take tire index for the weekend. 2nd for both days would fall to John Ryan and 3rd would go to Trevor Hill. Aside from winning PAX Sam Strano also took Super stock with a 35.224 to Dan Ireland’s 35.592 in their respective Grand Sport Corvettes. The Gran Sport parade would continue with Michael Figliolia and a 36.128 for 3rd place. Dan Ireland’s performance over both days would give him the Super Stock win for the weekend. One of the larger classes aside from Tire Index and Super Stock was STR. Sunday would see a role reversal as Steve Vyn’s S2000 would take back Saturday’s win that Stephen Uszak’s Miata claimed on Saturday. It was a hard fought battle but Steve’s 37.653 to Stephen’s 38.116 would give the S2000 the win for the whole weekend. There was an equally hard fought battle for 3rd in STR between Zachary Stover’s Miata & Cory Pompelia’s S2000. Cory’s 39.241 to Zachary’s 40.926 would again be a reversal of Saturday and would seal in Cory for 3rd for the weekend taking a mere two thousands ahead of Zachary’s Miata.
The Steel Cities Solo board would like to thank those who help made our charity event worthwhile. Pittsburgh International Raceway Complex for being able to host us despite a last minute schedule change. SCCA National for donating the free SCCA membership. McB Autosport in Bridgeville for donating the socket set. While we are still counting at this time we know that we raised well over $3000 dollars for the wounded warrior project so we would really like to thank all of the volunteers & drivers who made the event such a success!
The 2013 season would wrap up with Frank Gaus again being crowned driver of the year for his 3rd consecutive time! Kristi Gaus would also repeat as 2013’s lady driver of the year as well! The final point’s breakdown for the top 10 Solo hotshoes of the 2013 season looks like this.
Frank Gaus – 5988
Dan Ireland – 5970
Mark Andy – 5912
Travis Hill – 5882
Chris Carlisle – 5876
John Ryan – 5875
Trevor Hill – 5859
Alex Artayet – 5848
Randy Pearson – 5838
Mike Ferchak – 5829
Stay tuned to SCRsolo.com for more updates about the upcoming 2014 season. And don’t forget to join us for the Steel Cities banquet during winter months!
C Carlisle-
-Saturday course videos-
John Ryan – Subaru BRZ – 117 CS-T
Alex Artayet – BMW M3 – FS-T
-Sunday course videos-
Dan Ennis – Mazda Miata – 666 SSM
Mike Ferchak – Porsche GT3 – Funrun
Solo event #7 – 9/29/13 – And on the seventh event, they created grid, and it was good!
Thanks to Alex Artayet for the pictures this week!
With a crisp autumn day Solo event #7 got off to a start as 113 drivers from all over packed Pittsburgh International Race Complex. All-star course designer Frank Gaus laid down a fairly simple course. Yet there were plenty of corners offering drivers a chance to dive in early and cut distance or stay wide and carry speed. This proved to be the difference in several classes where the difference between winning and losing was decided only by a tenth. One new addition to the paddock was…well…more paddock! The solo board setup a new grid to help improve efficiency by getting competitors off the entry road and eliminating the need to back into a parking spot.
The VDA had been carrying sand all morning in several corners including the infamous “Sandpit” on the right rear corner. Many drivers knew that the afternoon was the time to make a run for the win. Still this didn’t stop some of the bigger cars at making a stand during the morning. Dan Ireland’s SS Corvette would take the lead coming out of the morning. Following VERY closely behind Dan was his national champion Sam Strano who has become somewhat of a regular at SCR events. Another tire index car made a powerful bid after morning runs with Mark Andy finishing 3rd in his RX8. Fourth place was a street tire’d car of a different feather as Greg Maloy was back in Chris Carlisle’s STC Honda Civic. Continuing the Honda parade was the infinitely more powerful Civic hatchback of Bill Staley in 5th. Trevor Hill has been loving the fact he is back in his R32 and ran for a strong 6th place. Staying grouped in one big FRS/BRZ clump was Andrew Pallotta, and John Ryan taking up 7th & 8th respectively. Chris Carlisle would hobble his Civic into the 9th place spot. And Randy Pearson’s Z06 Corvette would complete the top 10 coming out of the morning heats.
Pounding along into the afternoon the dust settled (literally). And it was none other than Sam Strano whose 35.456 would take the PAX win in his Stranoparts.com Corvette. By far one of the most interesting stories to follow over the weekend was the appearance of Alex Artayet’s new Phoenix Yellow BMW M3 running in the tire index under F-stock. This was a fairly unassuming move for most people since everyone figured Alex would be getting use to the new car for the day. Alex’s 37.845 would become the highest PAX finish of any tire index car to date and would take the shiny yellow BMW into 2nd. Dan Ireland lowered a tenth off his time to a 35.827 and held onto 3rd overall. Trevor Hill would drop close to half second off his morning time to leap to 4th overall ahead of Mark Andy who would round out the top 5. Randy Pearson cracked off a 36.138 to land his Z06 in 6th place. This pushed Greg Maloy down to 7th as he only shaved a few hundredths off his morning runs. Bill Staley would remain right behind Greg as he rested on his morning runs also. National champion Andrew Pallotta would shave a few tenths off his FRS to end up with a 37.641 and hang onto 9th overall. And rounding out the top 10 was Mike Ferchak who used his afternoon runs to break into the top 10 with a 38.363.
There were multiple class battles as the day wore on. In its debut at SCR Frank Gaus’s Porsche Cayman would take the win in A Stock with a 37.152 to the 37.897 by Tom Buskey’s Chevrolet Camaro. The usual battle in ESP of Paul Lynd vs. Gibby Bozicevich had a slight twist as Gibby brought out their old tried & true automatic Camaro to face Paul. Paul’s WRX would take away the win with a 37.823 to the 39.804 set by Gibby’s Camaro. Matt Parson & Bruce Wesley were sharing Don Fazeka’s Spongebob Miata for part of the day. Matt would run a 36.412 to the 36.738 set by Bruce. Eric & Keith Schneider’s Mazda 3 couldn’t lose in STF since they would take 1st & 2nd with Eric’s 41.013 to Keith’s 41.549. Greg Maloy whooped car owner Chris Carlisle in STC by just over a tenth! STR was a huge field with seven drivers throwing their hat into the ring. In the end Stephen Uszak with a 38.317 in his Miata would take the win. Stephen was followed ever so closely by Ohio favorite Steve Vyn’s S2000 whose 38.330 would net him second place. Third in STR would be another Miata piloted by Zachary Stover with a 39.923. STX was another seven car class, and who else to lead but Andrew Pallotta with a 37.641 from his bright red Scion FRS. Following up Andrew was fellow Scion driver Nick Kelly who pulled in 38.869 to grab 2nd. Third place was a 40.849 by the Mazdaspeed 3 of Josh McAllister. Street Mod was interesting as Andy Bower made the trek across Pennsylvania to enter his heavily built Honda Civic into Street Modified. Andy made the trek worth his while as he ended with a 36.645 to take home the win. Joe Mayer would run a 39.610 to have his WRX bring home 2nd in class. In SMF it was Staley & Staley again with Bill Jr running a 36.535 to the 38.382 set by Bill Sr. Tim Vincent would run FTD for the day with a 32.801 in his KM kart.
For the first time ever at event the tire index had to be broken up along different heats as having 49 drivers just proved too much for the new grid to handle! As mentioned earlier Alex took his crown back at the top of the class in his new M3. Alex was followed closely by a late charge from Trevor Hill’s R32 in second place. Mark Andy handled his RX8 into 3rd overall. Mike Ferchak Scion FRS took 4th over John Ryan’s similar Subaru BRZ in 5th. The sole remaining SMF GTi in was Nick Phillips in 6th. Michael Colando has been having good runs with his Focus ST and would take 7th. Ron Williams Subaru STI is back a full health and would take the 8th place spot. John Laughlin rolled his BRZ into 9th overall. And Tim Ward’s own Subaru STI would round out the top 10 in tire index.
In keeping up with the novices for the year, Ben Held would once again put the skills he learned from the SCR solo school to good use and put his Evo X in first. However not to be outdone Paul Cunningham wielded a new rear swaybar on his Maxima and would climb up to 2nd. David Payne’s beautiful Porsche 997 turbo would take home 3rd. Ron Hilling rolled is Miata into the 4th place spot. And Lauren Jenkins would show the boys how it’s done with her BMW 128i to round out the top 5!
As the season winds down to the big finale the points look a little like this.
Frank Gaus – 5985
Dan Ireland – 5948
Travis Hill – 5882
Mark Andy – 5871
Chris Carlisle – 5859
October 12th and 13th the Steel Cities region will be hosting a 2 day charity event to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project, a charity dedicated to providing tangible, practical support for our wounded military – Helping them to heal both physically and mentally. We implore all of our autocrossers to come out either one day or both and support this cause! For more information click the link below.
http://scrsolo.com/schedule/wounded-warrior-project-autocross/
C Carlisle-
Sam Strano – Corvette Grand Sport – SS
Bill Staley Jr – Honda Civic – 41 SMF
Michael Figliolia – Corvette Grand Sport – 35 SS
Solo event #5 & #6 – 8/3 & 8/4 – SCCA takes over Pittrace!
Photos this week are from Alex Artayet & Dan Ireland!
The first weekend in August was a big one for Steel Cities SCCA. On one side of the track you had the 61st Cumberland Classic National Races underway where road racers from around the area battled door to door on Pittsburgh International Raceway’s North Course. While on the other side the Solo season was peaking with a double header weekend that would begin to show how the year end points would stack up as many drivers logged the 6 necessary events under their belt for the first time. Frank Gaus did double duty as course designer for both days offering up two uniquely desinged courses.
Event #5 – Sluggish, like a wet sponge.
With the Wilmington Tour happening not too far away and many competitors driving through the rain just to reach Pittrace it’s no surprise that the finally tally of drivers was only 53 entries. Still many of the core drivers that show up at Steel Cities were ready for battle as usual. Some notable changes were Trevor Hill jumping back into his R32, but this time shod with street tires and running in the ultra-competitive tire index class. Cory Robb found himself kart-less but not car-less as he managed a co-drive in Travis Hill’s Porsche 968. The course had a very fast pace with a widely spaced opening slalom, several sweepers, and other big transitional elements that lent the course a great sense of flow & speed.
Despite a slight misfire that would plague their car into Sunday’s event. The Gaus Evo cranked out virtually flawless runs with Frank Gaus sitting atop the PAX index for the entire day with a 32.324 being the top time & FTD. While Kristi Gaus would join Frank in the afternoon and give the Evo its first “One-Two” victory for the year. One of the few cars challenging the Evo’s dominance was Travis Hill’s Porsche 968. And while Travis would hold a 2nd place PAX position coming out of the morning runs he would fall back to 6th in the afternoon. However Travis’s Porsche refused to give up as Cory Robb landed in the 3rd overall spot in the index. The SS class was fighting for time the whole day down to the last runs. After a morning chucked full of cones, Dan Ireland would shake them off of his Corvette and pull in a final run of 33.609 to claim the win in Super Stock and a 4th overall PAX finish. What was shocking was Jay Gyger giving a close chase to Dan finishing just a scant .038 behind in his Midnight Blue Porsche GT3 on his final run. Jay would close out the top 5 PAX spots for the day. Behind Travis Hill in 6th was Trevor Hill who battered the street tire class with his VW R32 and would take 7th overall in PAX and the win for the day in street tire. 8th place in PAX was the STC Honda Civic of Chris Carlisle. Trailed closely my Mark Andy’s RX8 in 9th overall and a 2nd place finish in tire index. And Bruce Wesley would have a stellar day in his S2000 racking up a 3rd in tire index and breaking his way into the top 10 overall in PAX for the day.
As previously mentioned action in the street tire index class was brutal with 22 drivers taking part. With Trevor’s R32 taking the win in its first index class appearance. Mark Andy & Bruce Wesley would hold 2nd & 3rd respectively. Mike Ferchak who has been having a strong year shook off some bad morning runs to take 4th overall. Novice Ben Heald put in a great set of runs in his Mitsubishi EVO 10 to round out the top 5 in the index. Alex Artayet wrestled with his GTI to come into the 6th place spot just missing entering the top 5 by three thousandths of a second. In other classes Eric Schneider would take the win in STF brining his Mazda 3 across the line with a 39.549. Keith Schneider’s own Mazda 3 with a 39.567 would follow behind Eric to secure 2nd. In X-Prepared good guy Don Fazekas decided to make a class using extra drivers in his own car! Matt Parson would take the lead with a 34.559 in the Spongebob Miata. While Joe Montuoro’s yielded a 34.729 on his final pass. Within the novice group Ben Heald’s aforementioned performance would see him at the top. Paul Cunningham had a great run in his Nissan Maxima to grab the 2nd place spot. Lucas Grafton in his Mustang would complete the top three in novice. While Domonic Romito’s S2000 would occupy 4th and Lauren Jenkins BMW 1-series would round out the top 5.
Event #6 – Firing on all cylinders.
As things go Sunday events usually pull more drivers. And with better weather the number climbed from 53 on Saturday to a more common 83 drivers for Sunday. Many of them returning for a second day of competition. Rather than running Saturday’s course in reverse direction Frank Gaus rebuilt the entire course. Sunday’s course offered a more technical challenge with a tricky opening slalom section, wide entry to the sweeping turns, and a series of linked U-turns that varied from one turn to the next right into the finish.
The Gaus Evo was coughing and at times not making power at all. Despite the setback Frank Gaus would still hang on to pull out both the FTD & PAX win with a 33.380 in a sick car. In a replay of Saturday morning Travis Hill started the day in the 2nd place PAX position, but this time would hang onto the second place spot for the rest of the day. In 3rd place was the highest a tire index car has ever traveled in the PAX index as Trevor Hill pushed his R32 well into the top 5. Dan Ireland wasted no time in using his Grand Sport Corvette to start off the morning strong in 3rd overall and only dropping to 4th as the day finished. Kristi Gaus had another good day despite fighting with the Evo to complete the top 5 overall in the PAX index. Greg Maloy’s CRX suffered a mechanical issue on the way to the event in the morning. So he teamed up in Chris Carlisle’s STC Honda civic for the day. With the two drivers pushing each other faster Greg would hold down the 6th place position just three thousands ahead of car owner Chris Carlisle in 7th! The next three cars all hailed themselves as rear wheel drive cars from the tire index class. Mark Andy, John Ryan, and Ted Weidner would close out the 8 thru 10 spots at the top of the PAX index. Interestingly to show how close things were near the top the drivers from 3rd back to 7th were all covered under the same tenth of a second!
Down in tire index the class swelled in size from 22 the previous day to 35 on Sunday. Trevor’s R32 had held off Mark Andy’s RX8 by two tenths. Less than a tenth separated Mark Andy from the Subaru BRZ of John Ryan in 3rd. Ted Weidner had a very good day showing the Miata could still get it done in 4th overall. Mike Ferchak has been consistently fast in his Scion FRS and rounded out the top 5. Meanwhile Bruce Wesley would have another strong finish in his Honda S2000 in 6th. With the larger turnout many of the other classes filled out in size. Jay Gyger would split the two driver car of Dan Ireland’s Corvette as Dan would win the class with a 34.395 followed by the 35.173 of Jay’s Porsche. Michael “Figs” Figliolia would bring Dan’s Corvette in with a 35.267 less than a tenth behind Jay to take over 3rd. STX was well equipped with drivers at 7 entries. Jeremy Britenbaugh would rule the roost with a 39.085 in his Mini Cooper S. Chibby Chobirko would take 2nd place with a 39.990 in his mustang. And Jessie Yunker would round out the top 3 in STX with a 40.316 in his Subaru WRX. There was a battle over in ESP as Paul Lynd would lead Tom Buskey by just over a tenth after the morning runs with a 36.670. But at the end of the day Paul wasn’t able to move ahead of his morning runs and Tom snuck by with a 36.385. Mike Roman would take home the win in STR in his Roush Mustang with a 39.250 to the 41.534 of Jeremy Szamrey’s Nissan 350Z. In novice class despite having some starter troubles Paul Cunningham would finally see his Maxima to the top of the list! Behind Paul was Dominic Romito in his S2000. Lauren Jenkins would again show up with her BMW 128i in 3rd. The VW GTI of Christopher ONeill would hold onto 4th. And Kate Figliolia would slide her VW into the top 5 novices for the day!
With 6 events down we can now see the race for DOY points is shaping up.
Frank Gaus – 5985
Dan Ireland – 5929
Travis Hill – 5882
Chris Carlisle – 5848
Mark Andy – 5846
We would like to wish all of our Steel Cities members who are heading to the SCCA Solo Nationals at the end of the month good luck and safe travels! We will see everyone back at Pittrace on September 29th for event #7.
C Carlisle-
Chris Carlisle – Honda Civic Si – 77 STC (Saturday & Sunday courses)
Solo event #4 – 6/30/13 – Luck of the draw.
Going into event #4 there was some discussion about maybe having a lower turnout. The weather forecast was certainly calling for rain. Furthermore event #4 was up against an autocross out in Toledo Ohio which everyone thought would pull some of our Ohio friends away. Nothing was further from the truth as a field of almost 100 drivers showed up to Pittsburgh International Raceway Complex to do battle under uncertain skies. Returning for course design was Frank Gaus (with Kristi Gaus kicking in some help!) which resulted in a fast & flowing design using up most of the VDA surface.
The opening volley of runs would be in the dry for all the groups involved. Tire index would be up first today 39 entries showed up in the class. The usual group of C-Stock cars was joined by Randy Pearson driving his own Scion FRS. Out of Ohio John Laughlin co-drove Michael Colando’s Focus ST to see how the hot hatch faired against the rest of the field. The early leady went to John Ryan with a 37.519 out of his BRZ. But it would be Mark Andy’s final morning run of 37.437 that would put him at the top of the charts. The real surprise was John Laughlin who showed the Focus ST meant business and rolled into the 3rd place spot. Mike Ferchak’s only clean morning run in his FRS was still fast enough for 4th in the index. Randy Pearson who decided against his Z06 today used his own Scion FRS to round out the top 5. While Ron Williams only switched to the index class a short time ago this didn’t prevent him from parking his Subaru STI in the #6 spot. The cars in the 7th thru 9th spot were all covered under the same tenth. Ted Weidner’s Miata led the pack followed by Josh Reinard’s WRX in 8th and Bruce Wesley in 9th. Tim Ward would move in his Subaru STI to complete the top 10 for the morning tire index.
As the morning rolled on other classes took a crack at the course. Leading the charge was the familiar white Evo of Frank Gaus with a 34.483 to hold down first. But eager to knock Frank off the top spot was Travis Hill sporting a new set of BFG race tires on his Porsche 968. Travis’s performance of 35.875 was good enough to split the up the other driver of white Evo Kristi Gaus who put in some stellar morning runs to move onto the 3rd place PAX position with a 35.026. Mark Andy would lead the charge for the tire index cars coming in 4th. Meanwhile Chris Carlisle’s STC Honda Civic would round out the top 5 for the morning runs. Many of the tire index cars would hold the next several spots in the index. John Ryan would provide chase to Mark by coming in 6th. John Laughlin kept lopping off chunks of time till he landed in 7th overall. Mike Ferchak kept his Scion FRS in the mix in 8th. Following by a mere tenth behind was Randy Person’s own Scion FRS in 9th. And the always fast Greg Maloy would round out the morning top 10.
And then the rains came…
The sky’s opened in-between the morning and afternoon heats. A slight delay was incurred when lighting & thunder struck off in the distance. Thankfully things managed to keep on track thanks to the solo board and their hard work. Unfortunately, little could be done for most all the classes involved as the rain left standing water across much of the VDA. The tire class was the first out in the deluge and for the most part they either had a good time drifting around the turns or fought to keep their cars pointed straight. Interestingly novice Ben Heald decided to do a PAX index showing just the rain runs for the tire index group. Leading the rain list was not an AWD car, but again the Focus ST with John Laughlin being the fastest in the wet followed by car owner Michael Colando. Josh Reinard who has been slowly polishing off his WRX into a fine D-Stock car was 3rd fastest in the wet using the AWD to his advantage. And the next two fastest cars were again FWD as Alex Artayet & Nick Phillips would slosh through the wet in their GTI’s to show the rest of the tire index how to swim.
As the heats wore on, the sun occasionally peaked out of the clouds offering a chance for the VDA to clean up. By the time the 2nd heat of the afternoon made their way onto the VDA it was clear that things were drying quickly. But not quite quick enough for several of the ST cars looking to make any advancement up the PAX list as Chris Carlisle & Greg Maloy would fall just a hair short of their morning runs in their Hondas. By the time the final group made it onto the grid it was clear that the track had dried up. However the line was still marred with dirt in spots making it not quite as fast as the morning. Still the window for faster times had opened ever so slightly as many drivers in the last heat would only have one shot where the track was finally clean enough to allow them to catch their morning times. The first would be Frank Gaus dropping a mere tenth off his morning run down to a 34.369 to solidify his first place in the index. But the real shocker is what came out of the SS class where two competitors jumped up from far below the index into the 3rd & 4th positions pushing everyone else down two spots. The first was Dan Ireland whose second pass in the afternoon would yield a 35.099 to take over 3rd overall in the index for the day. Another shocker came as Jay Gyger’s new GT3 showed that it was NOT his GT3 from last year as a 35.297 pulled ahead to a 2nd place finish in SS and 4th overall in the PAX index. Through all of this Travis Hill would still hang onto 2nd while Kristi Gaus would manage to stay in the top 5 for the day.
Novice results for the day would see the familiar face of Ben Heald take first place with 39.752. Ben would be followed by another novice who has been putting in more and more time with SCR as Dustin Diesing ran his Subaru WRX in 2nd. Justin Los would bring the first Fiat we’ve seen at SCR for the year in 3rd place. Brian Thomas would take advantage of some new tires on his Neon to settle into 4th. And Ashley Cunningham’s Suzuki Kizashi would complete the top 5 for the novices.
The next Steel Cities event is not until August 3rd, but this doesn’t mean you have no excuse to come drive with us. If you looking to improve your skill the Steel Cities Solo board is putting on a drivers school July 13th & 14th with all proceeds going to the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix. Check out SCRsolo.com to sign up and come out to support a good cause!
C. Carlisle-
With exception of the interior shot, all photos were provided by Nick Simon!
Dustin Diesing – Subaru WRX – 314 STU
Andrew Moore – Homebuilt Locost – 60 DM