Photo Credit to Craig Wilcox
With Lincoln, Nebraska going through the wettest May on record, 292 competitors arrived at the Lincoln Airpark for the second half of Spring Nationals, the Lincoln Championship Tour. Acres of concrete and a great town mean this event is always a big draw. Adding to the attraction this year was the chance to test the new crop of street tires on the upcoming National Championship concrete.
Weather was a concern throughout the entire event but the biggest impact was day one with rain for the first heat and drying conditions for heats two and three. Day two had some sprinkles in the first heat but for the most part was dry and even sunny as the day wore on, limiting weather impact to a natural spring seeping up through the middle of the opening slalom. The rain on Sunday prevented the course from "rubbering-in" much. But Monday’s dry and clear conditions saw the familiar buildup of OPR (Other People's Rubber) / clag on the course and on tires. You'll have to dig into the results to see if you can glean any tire secrets, but rest assured that good driving still plays a major role in the final outcome!
Sunday saw drivers run last year’s Solo Nationals West course backwards. A Lee Piccione design, it was just as much fun to drive backwards as it was last September. Drivers switched Monday to run John Hunter’s excellent east course. It was an entertaining mix of transitions, sweepers and slaloms, a real crowd pleaser.
Street Touring R had 19 cars battling for the top spot. At the end of the first day David Whitener led the class with a seemingly insurmountable 1.3 second lead over Ricky Crow. Crow left the line for run one on Monday and never looked back. His blazing first run was enough for him to not only overcome the deficit from day one but also take the win with a 0.321 margin over Whitener’s Miata.
F Street was one of the classes impacted by first heat rain on Sunday. David Feighner showed his adaptability by making the most of the available traction to post a 1.3 second lead. Shock absorber issues on his 2015 Mustang left him vulnerable in Monday competition, but he was again able to adapt and ran fast enough to win the class over JoJo Kanales by nearly a second.
Mark Madarash grabbed a big lead on day one of C Prepared competition when Todd Farris coned away his last run. A fueling issue on the Madarash Firebird for day two meant his lead was in danger. Farris pushed his plus-sized Camaro to the fastest time of the day. It wasn’t enough though as Madarash was able to pedal his sputtering Firebird fast enough to take the win.
Jason Hobbs took the win in a seven car F Modified field. He pushed his 1999 Novokar J9, setting his fastest times on his third run each day to take the win with a 0.465 second margin.
The tightest margin of victory was in H Street. Greg Reno and his 2010 Mini Cooper led Sunday by a scant 0.009s over the Fiesta ST of Trevor Jones. Monday was just as tight with Reno taking the win by a total of 0.096 seconds.
