The month of April is a hotbed of competition for national-level autocross events in California. With the Oceanside Match Tour Showdown in the books, competitors from across the west coast are flocking to Orange County for the "Second Annual Goodbye to El Toro ProSolo," scheduled for April 8-10. The first ProSolo of the 2016 SCCA season boasts 220 pre-registered competitors seeking fast times, glory, and contingency.
Keep an eye out on the largest class in the field, Street Touring Roadster, packed with 19 participants. Trophy winners Cawthorne, Balducci, and Yom from the Oceanside Match Tour, plus champion Michael Yanase, are all back for the second straight weekend of competition.
Street Touring Xtreme is another well registered class with 15 racers looking for the crown (aka the plastic trophy). If the Match Tour results are any indication, expect stiff competition from Derek Punch, Jonathan Lugod, and Max Hayter as the trio finished 1-2-3 in Oceanside and were separated by only .354. Also look out for Justin Tsang and Adrian Cardenas to be in the hunt.
In Street Touring Ultra, we’re chomping at the bits to see multi-time national champions Bryan Heitkotter and Jeff Stuart battle it out. Street Touring Sport should also prove to be an interesting class with 10 pre-registrants including Jeff Wong, Craig Naylor, and Stephen Yeoh.
Super Street Prepared pits last year's ProSolo Finale Champion, Ryan Johnson, against runner-up Mitch Fagundes. Johnson defeated Fagundes in Lincoln by the smallest of margins, .002, to take the crown. Expect Fagundes to be out for revenge.
If you're looking for the fastest raw times, look no further than R1. With the 2015 ProSolo Finale R1 champion, Jeff Kiesel, leading the field (which also includes KJ Christopher and the father-son duo of Tom and Matthew Ellam), times will be fast and the cars even faster. Don’t blink or you might miss it.
Looking at the ladies classes, defending national champion Christine Grice will have a target on her back in L1. Shelly Monfort, who finished second to Grice at the ProSolo Finale last year, should be the one to content with in L2. The largest ladies class, L3, is stacked with 16 fierce competitors and includes the likes of Nicole Wong, Catherine Tran, and Teddie Alexandrova.
The Arizona Region has a stranglehold on C Street Prepared, with five of the six competitors hailing from the Grand Canyon State. With a full CSP class, they won’t be included in a bump group with the other street prepared classes, but be sure to keep an eye out for Tom Berry and Anthony Porta, who won A Street Prepared and B Street Prepared respectively at the Oceanside Match Tour.
In A Street, there is not one, not two, but THREE Driver's of Eminence who will apply their skill as Brian Peters, Sam Strano and Gary Thompson go up against each other. Also look out for Mary Pozzi in her 2004 Chevrolet Corvette as she competes in the open class against the boys. B Street and C Street both have 11 pre-registered racers with many local competitors vying for the trophy spots. Ron Bauer is a favorite in CS following his victory in that class at the Oceanside Match Tour.
Mark Scroggs, last year's ProSolo Finale champion in G Street, has switched to F Street this season driving a Ford Mustang. Look for him and Matthew Ales to battle it out following their 1-2 finish at the Match Tour.
If you can't make it out to Irvine this weekend, follow along with live results for the event at sololive.scca.com.
Photo Credit: Anthony Porta
