College Station Tire Rack Championship Tour Concluded

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (April 14, 2015) – The third round of the 2015 SCCA Tire Rack National Championship Tour wrapped up the first third of the season on the campus of Texas A&M University. This meet is part of a nine-race event series that leads up to the Tire Rack Solo National Championships, Sept. 8-11, in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Precipitation was a constant threat throughout the weekend, but never materialized during competition. The only rain that fell occurred between competition on Saturday and Sunday. However, only had a small impact on the race as there were only scattered puddles left by the time cars hit the course for the second day of competition.

Vivek Goel, one of two course designers at the 2014 Tire Rack Solo National Championships, was the course designer for this event. Goel created a pair of courses that were challenging, but well-liked by many of the drivers.

A total of 193 drivers turned out to compete in the Champ Tour format, which is based on the same class-based competition utilized at the National Championship meet. Many of these drivers are planning to take part in the Nationals later this year, and use these events as a tune-up for the winner-take-all competition.

Once the dust settled following the on-track action, John Kanalas (Yee-haw! Ford Mustang), of Shavano Park, Texas, was the winner of the most closely-contested class of the meet. Following the first day of runs, Kanalas was fifth in F Street, but made a heroic comeback on day two. Kanalas waited until his last run on Sunday to thrown down the fastest lap in the class by more than 1.5 seconds, vaulting him over four other drivers in the process. When the final results were tallied, Kanalas was the winner by 0.026-second.

In Street Modified FWD, Jeffrey Pierce (House of Honda Motorsports Honda CRX Si), of Eros, Louisiana, was able to seal a 0.116-second win over his co-driver Jereme Mason. Following the first day of runs, Mason held the upper hand. However, Pierce put in a great final run on Sunday allowing him to take over the top position for the win.

Street Touring Sport was another battleground, as Blanton Payne (Whitener Racing Shocks Honda CRX), of Denton, Texas, took the class win. He took the victory with only a 0.125-second gap over his co-driver Gerry Terranova. Heading into the over-night break, Payne held the class lead and did what he needed to do to escape with the win.

Daniel McCelvey (Chevrolet Corvette), of Houston, took the win in A Street by 0.179-second over Todd Roberts (Hangover Racing Team/RTRT Honda S200). The class proved to be a showdown between the Chevrolet Corvette and Honda S2000. While the Corvette proved to be victorious, the makes were evenly matched as the top for positions resulted in an even split between manufacturers.

Federico del Toro (Porsche Boxster), of San Antonio, Texas, was the class winner in F Prepared by a small margin, like many of the other classes run during the competition. Following day one, del Toro was the class leader by more that 0.5-second. On Sunday, he was not the top driver, but had done what he needed to do on Saturday to secure the win by 0.297-second when all was said-and-done.

Kent Kroll (E Street Prepared, Ford Mustang GT), of Spring, Texas, emerged as the class victor by 0.640-second ahead of Casey Brown. Kroll’s best run on Saturday put him in second place. The next day, Kroll returned with a vengeance as he was one of only two drivers to get a time into the 24-second range.

In Street Touring FWD, David Whitener (Black Armor Helmets/Texas Track Works Honda Civic), of Fort Worth, Texas, had a good day at the race track. Aside from taking a decisive 2.637-second win in class, Whitener was the top indexed driver of the meet.

Additional information on the College Station Tire Rack Championship Tour, including full results, can be found at http://www.scca.com/events/index.cfm?eid=8372. The next stop for the Championship Tour is scheduled for April 18-19 at Crow’s Landing Airport Facility in Crow’s Landing, California.

Additional information on the SCCA Tire Rack National Solo program can be found by visiting SCCA.com/Solo.

Be sure to like the Club on Facebook at Facebook.com/SCCAOfficial and follow us on Twitter @SCCAOfficial.