TOPEKA, Kan. (Sept. 12, 2008) Day one of the Tire Rack® SCCA ProSolo Finale was more of an endurance event at Heartland Park Topeka rather than the typical rapid-fire series of runs due to drenching conditions which saw nearly six inches of rain fall, according to some local reports. Competitors received only two official runs on each course as the timing system experienced problems in the morning, owing to the torrential rain and strong winds, but by the afternoon, the event was running smoothly in spite of the conditions.Rain did not dampen some of the excellent class battles that arrived at the Finale. Eric Clements, of Alta Loma, Calif., and Robert Carpenter, of Knoxville, Tenn., are currently tied in points for the E Stock Championship. At the end of Fridays competition, Carpenter and his Team Underdog/Evolution Schools Toyota MR-2 Y1 had only 0.063-second on Clements, who pilots a Toyota MR2.In Super Stock, class point leader Matthew Braun, of Northville, Mich., is being chased by Gary Thomason, of Oceanside, Calif., who is only four points behind. On the asphalt of Heartland Park, however, its Braun thats doing the chasing, as his Lotus Elise needs to make up 0.192-second on Thomasons Lotus Elise in Saturdays final round of class competition.Andy Hollis, of Austin, Texas, and Kevin McCormick, of Lincoln, Calif., are also separated by four points for the Street Touring® S Championship. Surprisingly, point leader Hollis finds himself back in fourth with the Soulspeed/ART/GRM/PowerCurveDyno Honda Civic Si, while McCormick leads the rest of the class by nearly two seconds in his Kumho/Americas Tire/Bilstein/HAP Honda Civic Si. While Corey Ridgick, of Allentown, Pa., and Richard Jung, of Laguna Niguel, Calif., are currently tied for the Street Touring Ultra point lead, Max Hayter and his Zzyzx Motorsports/ChaseCam Subaru WRX STi could pull a coup, as he ended Friday on the top of the time sheets. Ridgick in the Cobb Tuning Mitsubishi Evo, and Jung in the Dunlop/Enkei/CiroDesign/Bilstein Mitsubishi Evo are fifth and sixth, respectively.On the opposite end of the spectrum, Street Modified point leader Christopher Travis, of Carmel, N.Y., has built a comfortable lead of 2.628 seconds in the Redshift/Hondata/ASR/OmniPower Honda Civic, and will be hard to topple on day two.The Ladies Classes have been turned on their head in the tricky conditions. Ladies Class 1 point leaders Meredith Brown, of Los Alamos, N.M., and Tara Johns, of Murfreesboro, Tenn. (tied with 40 points), are mired in seventh and 11th, respectively, while Karen Kraus, of Harmans, Md., in the IAG Performance/Koni Subaru Impreza WRX, and Beth Strelnieks, of Cedar Park, Texas, in the Jungle Cat Racing/Hoosier BMW 135i are quickest after the first two rounds. An upset could be in the making.Annie Bauer, of Newport Beach, Calif., and Christine Berry, of Alta Loma, Calif., both trail Diane Johnson, of Glen Allen, Va., in the Ladies Class 2 Championship by only four points. While Johnson finds herself eighth at the close of Fridays competition, Bauer and Berry are running one-two; Bauer in the Zzyzx Motorsports/ChaseCam Subaru WRX STi and Berry in the Barry Family Racing/Hoosier Mitsubishi Evo. All classes will have one more round of runs Saturday morning to determine class Champions before the Challenge competitions get underway at approximately 1:30 p.m. (CDT). More rain is in the forecast, although the afternoon could clear up in time for the Challenges. Results are available here.-30-
