Super Bowl Sunday Solo Results
South Carolina Region hosted its annual Solo Novice School on Saturday, February 5 at Myrtle Beach Mall. Fifteen drivers braved the extremely wet weather and were rewarded with 21 runs on 4 different course variations, along with personal coaching from some of SCR’s most experienced autocrossers. Thanks to our instructors and volunteers for coming out to help in less-than-ideal conditions: Thom and Kelly Mezzapelle, Garrett Molzer, Gary Bennett Jr., Allen and Melanie Murray, Don Moody, Chuck Pyanowski, Michael Jones, Stacey Vaughan, Roy Blakeney, Daniel Blakeney, Michel Agujia, and C.D. Rozsa.
Sunday brought much clearer skies and 47 drivers to attack the cones. Due to drying conditions, the 6 official runs were divided into two sets of 3 each, so that each group was able to get some runs on a fully dry course. Despite mechanical problems after his 4th run, Roy Lowder was able to pilot his BSP Subaru WRX to the fastest overall time of 35.754 as well as the fastest PAX time of 30.712. However, Roy was forced to miss out on a new activity – the “Bonus Round” – at the end of the day.
The brainchild of Solo Committee member Michael Vaughan, the Bonus Round pulled the Top 12 PAX finishers from the event and allowed them to take one additional run. The top 6 (in PAX time) moved on to another run, from which the top 3 took one final run to determine a winner. Consistency was critical to advancing to the later rounds, as many of the fastest drivers during the event were eliminated due to cones or crucial bobbles. In the end, Geoff Dahl was the last man standing in his STX Volkswagen R32. Despite finishing only 5th in PAX in the main event, Geoff poured on the speed when it counted, running faster and faster times in each successive round. The Bonus Round proved popular with everyone in attendance, even those who weren’t driving in the final rounds; when time permits, look for this to make an appearance at future SCR Solo events.
Several of Saturday’s Novice School graduates put in impressive performances in the main event on Sunday as well. Joshua Dupree finished 8th overall with a 38.137 in his Nissan 240, and Mark Todoroki steered his Honda Civic Si to a 39.153 and 14th overall.
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