PACKWOOD, Wash. (July 25, 2013) – Stephen Hui, of Bellevue, Wash., repeated as winner of The Tire Rack® SCCA ProSolo® Super Challenge on the grounds of the former Hampton Mills Lumber Yard in Packwood, Wash. Laura Molleker, of Granite Falls, Wash., won gold in the Ladies Challenge.
The 131 entrants enjoyed clear track conditions all weekend, with temperatures in the low 80s. The favorable conditions allowed drivers to focus on tackling the course designed by Tim Weidemann, who was assisted by Geoff Clark. The shape of the lot did not allow for mirror-image courses to be created, so Weidemann and Clark improvised. They created two similar courses, one of which was more flowing and longer, while the other was shorter and more technical, resulting in an average time difference of one second.
The hospitality of the Northwest Region was on full display, as they hosted a Friday welcome party for all the competitors consisting of corn-on-the-cob, hamburgers and other party food. During the weekend, a local church group ran concessions, but Saturday night witnessed an impromptu, after-hours margarita party break out amongst those still at the competition site.
Sunday’s 8:00 a.m. start came quickly for some, but Hui (Road Tire 2WD, Toyota Celica) was ready to go after setting the quickest indexed time in his class on Saturday. His combined time of 48.270 seconds was enough to ensure a class victory by 0.369-second.
Hui’s first-round matchup was against class-competitor Jon Pomrenke (Road Tire 2WD, KFS, Inc. Mazda Miata). Hui had Pomrenke’s number, once again taking the win after beating him on Saturday. In round two, Hui moved forward in the competition after he dispatched class-winner Karl Coleman (Stock/Street Index 5, Tight-n-Tidy Racing Subaru WRX).
In the quarterfinal round, Hui went up against Eric Stoltz (Bump Class 1, Advanced Suspension Design Mazda Miata). He took the win over Stoltz, and met another class winner, Ryan Johnson (Stock/Street Index 1 Ryno Management, Inc./Blackwatch Racing Lotus Elise), in the semis. Hui took the win over Johnson, advancing to the finals where he took on Jon Clements.
Clements (Race Tire Index 1, Mondiale 85S), the runner-up in his class after Saturday’s runs, beat Super Stock winner Ryan Otis (SmallTownCookie.com Chevrolet Corvette) in the quarters. In the semifinals, Clements sent another class winner, Ron Bauer (Race Tire Index 2, Bauerspeed Racing/Tight-n-Tidy Racing Mazda MX-5), to the third-place runoff after taking the win.
The final matchup proved to be one of past Packwood ProSolo Super Challenge winners. Clements won the event in 2010 when he was 16, while Hui was defending his Super Challenge title from a year ago. It proved to be Hui’s day, as he took the win over Clements. Clements ran faster, but incurred a two-second penalty for hitting a cone in the slalom section that moved Hui to the title. Bauer took home third, winning the consolation round against Johnson.
After Saturday’s Ladies Class runs, Molleker (Ladies Class 2, Air Testing & Design Mini Cooper) sat second. However, on Sunday, she beat Tasha Mikko (Ladies Class 3, MAPerformance/CIRO Design Mitsubishi Evo IX) and class-winner Laurie Hyman (Ladies Class 1, Cobb Surgeline/GT-RR Nissan GT-R) en route to the final. Molleker kept up her winning ways, beating Connie Smith (Ladies Class 2, 3Zero3ms.com/SPE-ED/Customcraft/KW Audi TT) in the final to take the Ladies Challenge title.
Gene Baker (Stock/Street Index 4, Pontiac Firebird) took the Bonus Challenge win.
The Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo series has one more event before the finale in Lincoln, Neb. Round Nine is schedule for July 27-28, at the Toledo Express Airport.
Information on the Packwood Tire Rack ProSolo Series event can be found here. More information on the entire Tire Rack SCCA Solo program is available at www.scca.com/Solo.
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Packwood ProSolo
