MILWAUKEE, Wis. (July 16, 2013) – Tim Aro, of Glen Allen, Va., scored his first Evolution Super Shootout win Sunday, in bracket competition concluding The Tire Rack® SCCA Solo Match Tour at Miller Park.
The Evolution Super Shootout presented by BFGoodrich Tires used class runs from Saturday to set the first 32 qualifiers in the bracket. Once the top 32 drivers were seeded, a 16-driver Last Chance Qualifier bracket was set based on indexed times from an additional four runs. Finally, the last 16 positions were filled with the top eight Ladies Class finishers, plus an additional eight drivers pulled from a random drawing – the one remaining opportunity to get into the field.
The event was well attended by members of the Milwaukee Region, accounting for more than half of the 130 entries. The competitors enjoyed rain-free skies with temperatures in the upper 80s and high humidity.
Set up with Miller Park, the home of Major League Baseball’s Milwaukee Brewers, as a backdrop, the course had something for every driver. For those who like flat-out speed and g-force, there were sweepers and high-speed turns, and for drivers preferring more precision driving, there were plenty of low-speed turns and an eight-cone slalom section.
One of the highlights of the weekend came on Saturday afternoon. Following the official timed runs, there was extra time that allowed for some unofficial fun runs. With a quick tweak of the course, those who chose to participate were allowed to run the course backwards for nearly two hours. Each competitor that ran got some bang for their entry fee buck, scoring an additional six to 10 reverse-track attempts on the modified course.
Aro (C Street Prepared, SoloPro Driving School Mazda Miata), the 2011 C Street Prepared National Champion, put himself in the catbird seat heading into Sunday’s competition after he set the fastest indexed time of 58.159 seconds during the qualifying runs.
On Sunday, Aro defeated Alek Tziortzis (Super Street Prepared, My Girls Chevrolet Corvette) in the semis of Bracket A, meeting with Jason Frank in the bracket final. Frank (Street Touring Compact, ProParts USA/Team Undercoat Racing Honda Civic) got to the bracket final by taking down class leader Andrew Canak (Street Touring Sport, Thanks Jay!!! Mazda Miata). In the bracket final, Aro beat Frank to get into the finals.
In Bracket B, Brandon Lavende (C Modified, Van Diemen RF85 FF) came from the middle of the field, getting the win over John Ma (Street Touring R, Calder Racing Mazda MX-5) in the semifinals. Lavende’s eventual opponent in the bracket final, Sam Makhlouf (Super Stock, Chevrolet Corvette), took the win against class top-qualifier Eric Thompson (E Street Prepared, MLS Motor Racing/SPS Solotime Chevrolet Camaro). In the bracket final, Lavende sent Makhlouf home, winning the showdown and earning a spot in the final bracket.
In the LCQ Bracket, Chris Fenter (Super Stock, Chevrolet Corvette) took the semifinal matchup against Chris Pruett (C Modified, -pru-/Calhoun Motorsports Swift DB1). On the other side of the bracket, Bart Hockerman (Street Touring Xtreme, BarTuned/Feal Suspension Subaru BRZ) pulled out a semifinal victory over Raleigh Boreen (C Street Prepared, AIM Tuning/Wizn By Racing Mazda Miata) by less than 0.1-second. However, Fenter put a stop to Hockerman’s momentum, taking the bracket and earning a spot in the finals.
Bracket D saw Hilary Anderson (Ladies 3, ProParts USA/Team Undercoat Racing Honda Civic Si) represent the ladies in the bracket final after she beat class rival Gretchen Austin (Ladies 3, Mazdaspeed/OSGiken Mazda RX8). She faced Marshall Moore (B Street Prepared, Badger Alloys/More Boys Racing Chevrolet Corvette) in the bracket final after Moore beat Allen Vitkus (B Street Prepared, City Chevrolet BMW M3) in the semis. Following the semifinal victory, Moore kept on rolling as he took the win over Anderson, earning the last of four finals positions.
In the opening rounds of the final four, each driver put down two runs. As a result, Lavende bested Moore to get to the final pairing with Aro, who beat Fenter. In the matchup for all the marbles, Aro won with a run that was more than one second faster than Lavende. Fenter took home third place after winning the consolation runoff against Moore, who also owns the car Fenter was driving. Fenter borrowed the Chevrolet Corvette for this event and was able to perform exceptionally well considering the lack of seat time and well-worn tires that were on the car.
More information on The Tire Rack SCCA Milwaukee Solo Match Tour, including results, can be found here. General information on the SCCA Solo program can be found at www.scca.com.
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Milwaukee Match Tour
