Winners in DSL, STXL, ESP, CM

Gwen Habenicht, of Bahama, North Carolina, took an extremely emotional and decisive win in D Street Ladies at the wheel of her No. 97 Audi TT. After losing Jim Feinberg her partner and co-driver, this win was bittersweet.

“I lost my co-driver and life partner at an event this past June,” Habenicht said. “Just coming here was really difficult. The support of to the Solo family, and all my friends here, has just made it a wonderful week. This is what I was trying to do for Jim. We drove his setup and we’re good to go.”

Annie Gill, of Renton, Washington, was the clear winner in Street Touring Xtreme Ladies, putting two seconds between herself and Catherine Tran. In her No. 85 Chase Race/Strano Parts/Drift Office Scion FR-S, Gill was in firm control of the class during both days of competition.

“A lot of my success was due to spending a lot of time with car setup,” Gill said. “I got this car at the end of last year and have been working to get comfortable with it.

“We don’t have a lot of concrete Solo sites in the Northwest. So, I made sure to bring the car to the Crows Landing since it’s to closest concrete site we have. When I was there, I ran in the open class. Running with the guys really helped show me where I stacked up.”

E Street Prepared featured an extremely close fight for the National Championship title. Billy Brooks, of Austin, Texas, took the win by 0.077-second, in his No. 78 Subaru WRX, over Jadrice Toussaint.

Toussaint came charging out of the gates when he set a time during his first run that put him in the lead. Brooks answered the challenge, jumping back to the lead by 0.126-second as a result of his second run. Toussaint’s second run was not enough to top the second run of Brooks.

“I came into this weekend not wanting to do anything but have some fun,” Brooks said. “I haven’t seen a lot of my friends that I have here for a whole year. I just wanted to hang out and enjoy the experience.

“I had no expectations of winning. I actually wanted Greg [McCance] to win again. I can’t thank him enough for all his help. On the first run, when I couldn’t get it into second gear, I felt heartbroken that I had broken the car for him. I don’t know how we were able to get through those mechanical problems. It was nerve wracking when everyone was trying to bump start the car before the second run. But, it started working on Greg’s second run and just worked out the way it needed too.”

C Modified saw another nail-biting battle that was decided by less than a second. Brandon Lavender, of Indianapolis, Indiana, claimed the Championship title in his No. 187 Steering Creations, Inc. Van Diemen with a 0.665-second margin of victory. Starting the day at a 0.2-second deficit to Joshua Parker, Lavender showed well on the faster West Course by becoming the only driver to break the 56-second barrier.

“This has really been two years in the making,” Lavender said. “This season we’ve had some reliability issues. In fact, our starter broke on the practice course. This is our fist time at the Nationals in our own car, and the expectations were to have another great year like we did in 2012.

“I had a lot of pressure from the drivers behind me. I felt that either John Engstrom or Jon Clement could win this thing. We just had to drive our best. The best part of the day is we just went fast, faster, then fastest. That’s what I love about autocross.”

The Tire Rack Solo Nationals continues through Friday. More information can be found at SCCA.com/SoloNationals.