Brunswick in Maine is one of the newest legendary autocross sites – and the June 8-9, 2024, weekend saw the first of back-to-back National SCCA Autocross weekends at the Brunswick Municipal Airport. The appetizer was some hot Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo® Series action, this year on a different location of the airport, providing much more course area and a grippy, smooth concrete apron that Will Koscielny utilized to layout the courses.
Friday’s welcome party, deftly hosted by the New England Region, was dry – and that was pretty much all the “dry” there was for the weekend. By the second heat on Saturday morning, the rain was flowing, leaving a wet surface to the end (and that’s not mentioning some Saturday afternoon lightning delays).
Two drivers got to experience ProSolo for the first time for free as recipients of the Howard Duncan Greenlight Fund. Devin MacKenzie and Nathan Simeon battled the weather, with MacKenzie just missing out on a trophy in CAM-C and Simeon jumping into the deep end in Xtreme Street A, holding his own.
Donations made to the SCCA Foundation can be earmarked specifically for the Greenlight Fund here.
Class Fun
The rain spaced out a lot of the competition during class runs, which makes the near-battles very impressive.
Street Touring® Roadster was one of those classes, four-deep. Trevor Blackwell came out on top by just 0.012sec over Mark Labbancz, with Ryan Davies (Blackwell’s co-driver) only 0.192sec behind in third. Corey Demers got into the mix as well, a total of 0.597sec back of Blackwell, but in fourth place.
Even the Bump Class got into the action. When everything was adjusted, Mark Krueger in an E Street Miata was just 0.100sec ahead of Chris Travis in a AS4-prepared Tesla Model 3. Chris Harp jumped his C Street MX-5 into third, another 0.123sec back.
Ladies Class 3 saw close competition, although Kim Whitener drove away at the front in her STR Mazda MX-5. Whitener bested Amy Houseal’s STX Mazda RX-8 by 2.107sec, who defended the only other trophy spot from Victoria Butler in an STX Scion FR-S to the tune of 0.41sec.
Similarly, Ladies Class 4 saw Dee Dietz (SSC Toyota FR-S) take the class win by 1.729sec with Stephanie Wells (also in an SSC FR-S) earning the only other trophy position. In third was Holly Schwedler (EP Honda Civic), missing the trophies by a scant 0.286sec.
There was more action – way more. For that, check out the event’s results.
Challenge Notes
The wet conditions washed out the Bonus Challenge at Brunswick, but the Ladies and Super Challenges were alive and well.
Whitener’s Ladies Class 3 win was just the beginning. In the Ladies Challenge, she bounced Butler and Ladies Class 4 winner Dietz to square off in the final against Wells. Whitener was third at Lincoln in the Challenge the last time out, but took home a win at Brunswick.
Harp may have been third in the Bump Class, but he was on a roll in the Super Challenge. Harp topped Rich DiMarco and Ryan Lower to reach the finals against Brian Kuehl, and that’s where things got very interesting. Keuhl had a slight advantage after the first runs, but a red light on the second confirmed Harp as the Super Challenge victor.
Next Up
It’s hard to believe we’re this deep into the season, but just three Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo Series events remain before the Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo Finale in Lincoln, NE. Next up, the field marches to Cleveland, OH, and the I-X Center for the Tire Rack Cleveland ProSolo, June 28-30. That leaves Bristol, July 3-5, and Hampton Mills, July 19-21, out west, before hitting up Lincoln to kick off Labor Day weekend.
The entire Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo Series schedule can be viewed here.
Photos by Ryan Lower
