DOVER, Del. (May 1, 2013) – Last weekend’s Tire Rack SCCA Champions Tour fell in the shadow of Dover Speedway’s Monster Mile, and the action throughout the event was downright beastly.
The Jeff Jacobs-designed course, with assistance from veterans Tony Savino and Sam Strano, stretched across two adjoining speedway parking lots, with the newer east surface much smoother. The technical elements were designed to complement the dips and bumps in the eastern lot pavement, and laid out as a brisk yet challenging course.
Samuel Krauss (IAG Performance/Turnin Concepts Subaru WRX) put in a blistering time on his final run to win E Street Prepared by just 0.002-second on the final clock. Don Slevin (SJFPerformance.com/Stranoparts.com Ford Mustang GT) held the day one lead, and looked poised for victory. Krauss, trying to catch up, had coned each of his first two Sunday runs to stay behind. The third time was the charm, though, laying down a time that was more than a half-second quicker than Slevin’s best to take the top spot in the class.
In addition to assisting with the course layout, Strano (Stranoparts.com Chevrolet Corvette) turned in a final-run performance of his own that secured the win in Super Stock. Strano led after the first runs, but had fallen behind Grant Reeve (Chevrolet Corvette) by the time Strano pulled to the line for his final run of the weekend. Cool and collected, Strano ran the second fastest time of the day in the class (behind eventual third-place finisher Jason Burns) to pull in front of Reeve by 0.332 second.
Super Street Modified was a small class at Dover, but that didn’t dampen the action. Dawn Ammirata (SJF Performance Mazda Miata) led the opening day, but Charles Sudano (Mazda Miata) zipped past on Sunday to take a 0.198-second victory.
Brian Karwan (Karcepts.com Honda S2000) topped Street Touring R, the largest class of the weekend. Karwan took the opening day lead, and then hung on with the second-fastest Sunday time. Only Christopher Lin (Thanks James Mazda MX-5) went quicker, but had to settle for second-place on combined time.
Almost as deep as the STR class was Street Touring Xtreme, where Jeff Hurst (ANZE Suspension Mazda RX-8) led the opening day and then held on for a 0.581-second win. Michael Kuhn (Motion Lap Tuning/MAZDASPEED Mazda RX-8) crept close on the final day of runs, but remained in second place.
The Tire Rack Championship Tour – running the traditional National Tour format – returns to action with at the Lincoln (Neb.) Airpark for the Spring Nationals, May 26-27. The Lincoln Airpark is home to September’s Tire Rack Solo National Championship, with the Memorial Day weekend event doubling up with a Tire Rack ProSolo Championship round. More information on the Tire Rack SCCA Solo Program is available at www.scca.com/Solo.
More information, including results, from the Tire Rack Atlantic Championship Tour in Dover is available at http://www.scca.com/events/index.cfm?eid=5466.
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Dover Championship Tour
