It’s December and the 2022 Tire Rack SCCA Solo National Championships event is long over – but Spence Field in Moultrie, GA, was still to come, hosting the final Tire Rack Solo National Tour of the season on Dec. 2-4, 2022.
Located 65 miles northeast of Tallahassee, FL, 155 miles northwest of Jacksonville, FL, and 200 miles south of Atlanta, GA, more than 150 competitors made their way to Spence Field for the Red Hills Region-hosted event. While plenty of “locals” from nearby states were in attendance, some competitors traveled from as far away as Texas, Ohio, New York, and even Washington to sneak in that last National autocross of the year.
A Look at the Competition
No one told C Street that the season was over, as a whopping 15 competitors showed up for runs. It was a pair of co-drivers out front, and at the end of the weekend, Kerry Coughlin had bested David Marcus by just 0.090sec for the win. It was even closer than that, however – Dennis Sparks was just 0.182sec out of the win, and Jordan Towns was just 0.356sec back despite finishing fourth.
The Marcus family got revenge in C Street Ladies, where Laura Marcus topped Casey Coughlin to take the class win in the same car.
More impressive for the Coughlin-owned car was the work that went into it on site. A cone on the practice course wiped out the radiator, but J-B Weld and zip ties were enough to keep it fast and flawless after that.
Mike Lawson mounted a Sunday comeback in Solo Spec Coupe to take the class win by 0.065sec. Lawson trailed Justin Wingfield after the opening day, but bested him on day two to clinch the win. Stephen Tyszka was even more impressive on Sunday, posting the quickest time of day in the class to also leapfrog Wingfield and take second – but fell just shy of Lawson.
D Street went looking for the glory. Trevor Jones jumped past Chase Helm’s narrow margin to take the class win by 0.059sec with a second-day run that was just enough faster, giving the win to the Toyota GR86 over the Honda Civic.
It wasn’t all Street cars on site. In X Prepared, Randall Wilcox’s day-one lead held up despite Wes Hughson’s flying times on the second day. Even so, Hughson landed 0.185sec behind Wilcox in the final standings – on the podium but out of the lead.
See You Next Year!
With that, the season is officially over for the Tire Rack National Solo program.
Fret not, however, as the 2023 calendar has been released and the first event – at South Georgia Motorsports Park, March 10-12, 2023 – is right around the corner. The first ProSolo event of the season is even closer, at Chase Field in Beeville, Texas, Feb. 24-26, 2023. The CAM and XS Challenge kicks off on May 5-7, 2023, in Saint Charles, MO.
2023 Solo National Tour Schedule
2023 CAM/XS Challenge Schedule
Photo caption: Mike Lawson trailed the SSC leader into day two, but wound up with the win by just 0.067sec.
Photo by Jennifer Bedell
