Picture by Laura Campbell
With Saturday’s action over, Sunday at the Georgia Match Tour was all about the Shootouts. For those not familiar with the Match Tour format, Saturday and Sunday are effectively separate events. Saturday is similar to a Champ Tour crunched into one day, with three morning and three afternoon runs on the same course. The best time from the morning and afternoon are summed to give a cumulative time, which determines class position. Sunday is a totally different affair, with all competitors running three more runs in the morning. The top 8 indexed times from each heat qualify for the Super Shootout, with the following 8 filling out the Club Shootout. An additional 8 drivers are randomly drawn to compete in a Bonus Shootout. With every driver at the event getting a minimum of 9 runs, and after a few years of mixed reviews, the Match Tour format has finally been met with solid approval from everyone who has run it.
The day kicked off with two heats of index competition to fill out the Shootout brackets. On his very first run of the day, Ian Stewart in his DS Subaru WRX took the top indexed spot for the heat and never looked back. The top four spots in the first heat were all street tire classes, with Jason Stroud, Lee Chhit, and Scotty Dobler all within 3/10ths of a second. Storming her way to 5th place overall in index was Nikki Edwards (setting the fastest Ladies indexed time for the event), driving the Mazda 323 of Justin Barbry. Codrivers Rick Cone and Justin Harbour followed, with Rod Hardiman in the final spot for the Heat 1 Super Shootout index. The Club Shootout was entirely Street Class cars, with Robert Palmblad in the only HS car at the event leading that pack. Greg Hahn trailed by .007 in index, with the following spots in the Club Shootout taken by Ray Brake, Jonathan Roberts, Peter Jaworski, Greg Shumaker, Dat Nguyen, and Brian Meyers.
At the top of Heat 2, last year's Nationals SSM champion Matt Glagola drove his now even faster Lotus Elise to the first indexed position, with Justin Barbry in 2nd, just .028 behind. Two fast Floridians followed, with David Marcus in 3rd and Darrin Disimo in 4th. Michael Bright, Chuck Pyanowski, Jason Ruggles, and Perry Ellwood took the remaining spots in the Super Shootout. Leroy Lowder headed up the Club Shootout positions in Heat 2, followed by Mark Canekeratne. STX competitors Jim Fossum and Chris Hammer were separated by .08 seconds, with Saturday’s STU winner Brian Flanagan another 2/10ths behind. Laura Campbell, driving her WRX, edged out David Lineberry by .006 seconds, and Saturday’s FTD driver Steve Brueck rounded out the last spot in the Club Shootout for Heat 2.
Picture by Sarah Maddox
After a quick lunch break (not necessary for most people after inhaling thousands of gnats all weekend long), the Super Shootout kicked off. Right off the bat, Ian Stewart charged to the front of the pack, eliminating Rod Hardiman and Scotty Dobler (Dobler eliminating Nikki Edwards after she ran into cone trouble). However, in another WRX, Lee Chhit, having already bumped out Rick Cone and Justin Harbour, rose victorious over Ian to give us the first finalist. In Heat 2, Matt Glagola ran incredibly consistent times, but was helped with some cone trouble for Darrin Disimo and David Marcus, both closer to their dial-ins, but with cone penalties knocking them out of contention. The Super Shootout Final came down to Lee and Matt, with Lee taking the win as Matt blew his braking point into one of the turnarounds, as both his Lotus and he were experiencing the detrimental effects of the South Georgia heat. The first heat of the Club Shootout had among the cleanest driving seen all weekend, with Greg Shumaker, eager for redemption after struggling all day Saturday with his new BFGoodrich Rival S tires, taking the win over Brian Meyers. The second heat was all about Street Touring, with David Lineberry driving his STX Subaru BRZ till the final round, where he was knocked out by Brian Flanagan in his 350Z. Brian went on to take the win over Greg Shumaker in the final knockout round, taking home a hard fought win after a trying first half of the season. The talk of the Bonus Shootout came from Ed Moulton, driving an AS Porsche 991 to the win, in his first ever National level event.
Photo by Chaisit Tongsuvone
As one of the very few events in the Southeast to be held on concrete wrapped up, eyes turn towards Farmington, Utah for the next stop for the SCCA Match Tour. Despite the intense heat and insect populations, the Dixie Region put on a stellar performance and ran one of the smoothest events in recent memory. With raving reviews, the Match Tour series has found its niche in the pantheon of events leading up the Road To Lincoln, and will hopefully continue to draw high attendance numbers through the years.
