FARMINGTON, N.M. (July 25, 2012) – The husband and wife duo of Paul and Meredith Brown, of Los Alamos, N.M., swept the Tire Rack SCCA New Mexico ProSolo round on Sunday with wins in both the Gumout Super Challenge and the Ladies Challenge. It was the third consecutive Ladies Challenge win for Brown, the longest winning streak in entered events in ProSolo history.
It was a busy weekend for the Brown’s before the competition got underway at the Rio Grande Region-hosted event. In addition to entering the event, Brown wore a number of hats – course designer, event chairman, test day school instructor, and event chairman – but the hat he really wanted to wear was the Gumout hat for winning the event.
After qualifying third in the indexed “Bump Class 2” in his A Stock eligible Plastic PP Racing Chevrolet Corvette, Brown began the Gumout Super Challenge as the 20th overall seed. Brown dispatched higher seeds James Arnold (H Stock Volkswagen Golf TDI), Jonathan Newcombe (E Street Prepared Fresh Cut Lawn & Landscaping Chevrolet Camaro) and Ken Montonishi (Street Touring R OSGiken/A.R.E./Dunlop/BJoinFilms.com Mazda MX-5) to advance to the semi finals against season-long point leader Andrew Hahn.
Hahn was the second qualifier from the Street Touring Sport class and winner at Round Two in Mineral Wells, but Brown bested the Toyo Tires/Motion Control Suspension Honda CRX to advance to the finals.
When Hahn’s Honda CRX co-driver, David Whitener, lost to Brian Peters’ F Stock Goodyear/ProPartsUSA/Evolution Ford Mustang in the second semi-final, it was Peters against Brown in the finals.
The win is Brown’s first of the year. Whitener topped Hahn in the intrasquad scrimmage for third place.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Brown had picked up her third consecutive Ladies Challenge win, following up Lincoln and Packwood in the same Plastic PP Racing/Mid-Atlantic Motorsport Chevrolet Corvette that Paul used for his title. Brown defeated Rachel Saunders’ Hoosier-sponsored Legrand Mk 25 Dragon for the title.
The Browns’ wins are not the first time that a husband and wife duo have swept an SCCA Tire Rack ProSolo event. Erik Strelnieks and Beth Mclure-Strelnieks have also taken Challenge wins on the same weekend in prior seasons.
With just one event to go before the Lincoln Finale, Hahn holds the point lead with 76 points. Andy Hollis is second with 72, followed by Motonishi (67) and Brown (60). Despite Meredith Brown’s recent hot streak, she leads by only 13 points over Saunders, 112-99, in the Ladies Challenge. Kim Whitener (who won Blytheville when Brown was not entered) is third with 92 points, followed by Nicole Nagler (88) and Christine Grice (84).
After its first visit to New Mexico since 2004, the Tire Rack ProSolo moves to the Toledo (Ohio) Express Airport for the Toledo ProSolo, July 28-29, for the final tune-up before the ProSolo Finale in Lincoln, Neb.
More information on the TireRack SCCA ProSolo Series is available at www.scca.com.
Information, including results, from the Farmington ProSolo is available here.
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2012 Farmington ProSolo
