Photo Credit: Donny Ton @ FRSport.com
Tune-In to the 2015 Tire Rack Crows Landing ProSolo!
The 2015 Tire Rack Crows Landing Championship Tour is the second west coast stop on the national slate, providing drivers a grippy, flat surface that most resembles the SCCA Solo Nationals site in Lincoln. Competitors will need to bring lots of water to Northern California—not just to stay hydrated, but to cool off tires—as the weather will prove to be a factor; the extended forecast predicts temperatures close to 90 degrees.
The tour has over 230 drivers registered in over 50 classes, including many racers who competed in the west coast’s first Tour event—the 2015 Tire Rack San Diego Championship Tour—in March. With that in mind, we can expect some repeat winners to take home the trophy and second-place finishers to double down looking for redemption.
In A Street and C Street respectively, Glen Hernandez and Ricardo Quinonez have targets on their backs following their wins in those classes at the San Diego Tour. The second largest class of the event is C Street with 16 drivers, behind only Street Touring Xtreme with 20! In STX, we can expect a shake-up at the top, as the first and second place winners from SD are not registered. Justin Tsang, driving a 2013 Subaru, took third in San Diego, and Catherine Tran, who placed second in D Street at that event, will be looking to claim first.
In F Street, Matt Ales has switched classes from earlier in the season, but might still be the favorite to trophy after winning STS in San Diego by a mere 0.064. That still leaves a tough Street Touring Sport competition for the 10 racers entered (keep an eye out for the cone mangler Steve Ekstrand).
Classic American Muscle Sport features 11 racers all from Northern California, including last year's National Champion, Scott Fraser, in his 1966 Cobra. (Note: the last cobra that went through Barrett Jackson sold for a cool $5.5 million.) In D Prepared, look for another national champion, Ron Bauer, to take home the trophy, while Annie Gill, 2014 STXL champion, might surprise in the open B Street class.
Mary Pozzi put the hurt on the boys in CAM-T in San Diego, so look for her to repeat as champion in this five-person class. Jonathan and Eric Clements went one-two at the SD Tour, and are favorites again at Crows in C Modified. Co-drivers Ken Mollenauer and Shelly Monfort could be the ones to beat in Super Street R.
Anyone who’s been keeping on eye out on Street Touring Ultra should know to expect an epic battle between Jeff Stuart and Jonathan Lugod. Lugod was leading the class after day one in San Diego, but Stuart came from behind on day two to take first-place honors.
In B Street Prepared, look for Anthony Porta and Steve O’Blenes to fight it out for first. Porta won the Tour in San Diego, but O'Blenes earned top honors at the El Toro Pro Solo. Michael Yanase could be the one to beat in the seven-person Street Modified class, and almost won the bonus round at the El Toro Pro Solo if his supercharger belt had held together. Lastly, look for Bob Bundy to take Super Street Modified.
