51°µÍø

TOLEDO, Ohio (July 5, 2011) €“ The Tire Rack® 51°µÍø Solo National Tour celebrated Independence Day with the largest field of any National Tour event this season, completing the Northern States Championship at the Toledo Express Airport. Typically in 51°µÍø Solo competition, large fields mean close competition. With 354 competitors on hand for the holiday weekend, the large fields were covered. With six classes settled by less than one-tenth of a second, so was the close competition. The course at the airport, hosted by the Northwestern Ohio Region 51°µÍø, caused a debate all weekend long as to whether or not it was a horsepower or handling course, but the course was designed to provide options to the driver on each run. As the rubber was put down and the heat rose from the mid 80s on Saturday to the mid 90s on Sunday, the times fell as well. Those falling times led to the close finishes, and none were closer than the 10-car Street Touring Ultra class. Brian Robertson, from Mansfield, Ohio, drove his 2004 CRXMotorsports.com Mitsubishi Evolution to a near-identical time as Christy Vehe€™s 2005 Grand Subaru/SWFC Subaru 4x4, finishing just 0.007 ahead of Vehe. Just 0.018-second separated the top two positions in D Stock, where John Ma, from Madison, Wis., topped Oak Forest, Ill.€™s Wayne Onyschuk. Onyschuk€™s 2011 Subaru Impreza WRX turned the fastest time of the two on the weekend, but the combined times left Ma€™s 2007 M2/Team Runza Mini Cooper S in the lead. Sam Strano, from Brookville, Pa., topped Super Stock in his 2010 Stranoparts.com Corvette Grand Sport, edging Gregory Lloyd€™s 2008 Hebron Animal Hospital Chevrolet Corvette by just 0.033-second. In F Modified, Paul Magee, from Canton, Ohio, made his quickest runs at the end of each day behind the wheel of a 1989 rogues-racing.com KBS Mk 4, besting Jeff Colegrove€™s 1999 Thanks Uncle Paul/All Star Grap Red Devil Formula 500 by 0.081-second. Not to be left behind the open classes, two ladies classes also kept the final margin of victory under one tenth of a second. Holly Schwedler overcame a broken down street car on her trip from her Germantown, Md. home to drive a 2008 Lee Piccione Rocks/Stranoparts.com Ford Shelby GT-C to a 0.069-second win over Heather Everett€™s 2007 Strano Performance Parts Ford Mustang Shelby in the F Stock Ladies class. In D Prepared Ladies, Anne Robinson, from Highland, Ind., shared a 2000 Toyota MR2 Spyder with Karen Eickhoff. The two battled to a 0.067-second margin of victory, with Robinson taking the win. The Tire Rack Solo National Tour continues July 16-17, with the Western States Championship at Hampton Mills in Packwood, Wash. For full results from the Northern States Championship and more information on all upcoming Tire Rack 51°µÍø Solo National Tour events, visit www.scca.com/solo. A direct link to results from the Northern States Championship is available at