Take a dash of traditional autocross and add in some drag racing starts, and we know it’s part of the Tire Rack ProSolo tour. Add in a chunk of the Super Bowl, and you know it’s the ProSolo Finale, live from Lincoln, on Sunday of Labor Day weekend.
The focus Sunday was on the two Challenge finales at the conclusion of the class runs and qualifying. As the dust settled and qualifying times were laid down, the Super Challenge field was cut to eight – and went head-to-head to determine the winner.
At the end, Kevin Wenzel and his A Street Corvette sprayed the Mazza Sparkling Wine, but it wasn’t an easy road to get there.
To start his Super Challenge roll, Wenzel first drew Rick Cone. Cone qualified ninth after class runs to make the Challenge field, which was six spots higher than Wenzel. Wenzel’s Corvette came back quicker than Cone’s Miata, though, and he was through to the semi-finals.
That brought Jon Caserta to his side. Caserta nearly mirrored Cone in class qualifying, with his STX Scion FR-S sitting 10th on the grid to start Challenge qualifying. But Wenzel was home first yet again, sending Caserta to the consolation round where he would finish third in front of John Hale.
That left a one-on-one showdown between Wenzel and Daniel McCelvey for the Lincoln victory. McCelvey was second on the weekend in STR, and finished second in the Super Challenge in his Mazda MX-5.
While Wenzel gets the glory for the win, Caserta’s advancement to the second round gave him enough points to leapfrog Dave Schotz and take the Johnson-Clark Johnson Cup for the season-long point battle. Caserta scored points in New Jersey and Clevelands’ ProSolos before grabbing a total of 47 points in Lincoln to take the title over Schotz by 12 points.
Nicole Wong swept the weekend and the season in the Ladies Challenge. Wong was blistering in Lincoln in her SSP-prepped Corvette, topping L1 in class competition and qualifying for the Challenge with the top PAX.
The Ladies Challenge required Wong to go through 16 hard-fought competitors, and she opened with wins against Kelsey Karanges and Kate Fisher to advance to the semi-finals. With Meredith Brown out of the way in the semi-finals (and she would bounce back to win the consolation bracket over Laura Marcus), it set up the final showdown.
When Wong and Shelly Monfort pulled into the staging area for the final run, both knew it was winner-take-all…the Lincoln Finale win and the Fletcher Cup for the season-long title. Wong, however, came home a winner and grabbed an extra bottle of the Mazza Sparkling Wine, along with all of the congratulations on the weekend and the season.
With a day to breathe and prep on Labor Day, the 50th Tire Rack Solo Nationals gets underway at the same Lincoln (Neb.) Airpark site on Tuesday and runs through Friday. More than 1200 competitors will descend on the concrete beach in the middle of the country to determine the SCCA National Champions in each class. You can follow along all weekend from home or on site by clicking here.
More information on the Tire Rack ProSolo Finale can be found on the event page here. Final standings for the Johnson-Clark Johnson Cup and the Fletcher Cup are available here.
