Oscoda ProSolo – Autocross + a Dream Getaway

The Oscoda ProSolo brought an end to the qualifying events for this years ProSolo Finale, with over 200 drivers in attendance. For those of you who have never been to Oscoda, MI, it is on the shores of Lake Huron and is a fantastic camping destination, with many racers renting cottages on the lake and enjoying bonfires each evening.

On to the racing. Mark Shrivastava finished his season strong with a 1st place in CS. The following three trophy positions were within .214 seconds of first, with David Alessandrini, Brian Garfield, and Julian Garfield taking the final trophy spots, all racing ND Miatas.

In E-Street, it was a battle of Toyota Spiders and NB Miatas, with Charles Mathews IV coming in 2nd place in his Miata by just .155 seconds. To show just how competitive the racing was in this class, Charles also ended up 2nd in overall PAX (Professional Autocross Index) for the event!

Moving onto the Street Touring class, the ND Miata has been performing strong in STR, but the NC has still been showing that it still has pace. Ian Stewart emerged as the champion at this event with an ND, followed by Justin Neal in an NC Miata, Will Koscielny in an ND, and Shane Chinnon in an NC Miata. STS saw entries from as far away as Texas. It was worth the long drive, as David Whitener took home the win by a commanding .884 seconds in his Miata, with his co-driver in 3rd, fighting off an 11-car field of otherwise all Hondas.

The Street Prepared classes are always fun to watch with more modified cars running race tires. BSP showed Loren Jacobs and co-driver Adam Jacobs taking 3rd and 4th in the MAZDASPEED Miata they are still developing.

D-Street Prepared was THE class of the weekend, with the class consisting of over 50 percent previous National Champions or ProSolo Champions (meaning two previous national champions wouldn’t even trophy!), and it did not disappoint. Jeff Hurst, driving Tamra Hunt’s Mazda RX-8, took 2nd place by an astoundingly tight .001 seconds, when Sam Strano pulled it out to take the narrow margin of victory on his last run in the Vitamvas BMW. This will definitely be an interesting battle to watch at the Pro Finale, with all drivers having a shot at taking the overall win.

Bump class 4, where they combined 17 drivers to run on index due to their regular classes not meeting the minimum class size, was a CSP Miata domination. Billy Davis took the win, followed by his father Bob Davis, with Billy also setting 3rd fastest time on index. Showing just how versatile of a class bump ends up being, we also congratulate Brian Conners in his 2011 Porsche GT3 (SS) in 3rd place and Ryan Finch in his 1996 Ford Mustang (ESP) in 4th. Rounding out the trophies in 5th was Mike Kline in “Oscar” the CSP Miata.

Last but not least, the Ladies classes have been a tight battle all year. This event L3 and L1 ran together as bump. Kim Whitener has been an amazing driver for many years, and once again showed she has it in her (despite driving RWD nationally for the first time this season, we hear) and took the championship in Ladies Bump in her Miata. Following closely behind her was another tight DSP battle, this time with the lady drivers, with Shelly Monfort in a BMW taking a .080 victory over National Champion Tamra Hunt in her Mazda RX-8. Both drivers will go into the finale with sufficient class points to be within reach of the overall win.

The final race of the season before the Pro Finale will be the race to register. Tier 1 drivers with 32 points or more were able to calmly register this past week; however, Tier 2 drivers will be fighting for the limited registration spots remaining this Wednesday. The winners of the registration race will determine which 300 drivers get to compete at this year’s ProSolo Finale.

Mazda thanks PJ Corrales for the campfire photo.