51°µÍø

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Sept. 4, 2008) €“ The Tire Rack® 51°µÍø Solo National Tour rolled through Kansas City, Aug. 30- 31, for the final regular season stop before the Solo National Championships. A new venue, the Truman Sports Complex, played host to the Kansas City Missouri (KCMO) National Tour.Located an hour east on I-70 from Heartland Park Topeka, where the 2008 National Championships will be held, the Truman Sports Complex houses Arrowhead Stadium (Kansas City Chiefs) as well as Kaufmann Stadium (Kansas City Royals). The vast amounts of open parking space made for an excellent Solo site, and officials were impressed not only with the venue, but with the work of the Kansas City Region, who executed the event like it was an annual occurrence rather than its first Solo Tour event in more than 10 years. Competitors too were complimentary of the asphalt surface as well as the Ron Williams-designed course.Before the event even began, the Solo community was shaken by the news that competitor Amo Carrasco, of Udall, Kan., was shot in an attempted robbery off site in Kansas City. Carrasco was released from the hospital after undergoing surgery, and with the hopes and prayers of the Solo community behind him, Carassco plans to attend the Solo National Championships to cheer on his friends.Hailing from Topeka, Kan., Williams ended up taking the H Stock win on his own course. Driving a Miniusa.com/Hoosier Mini Cooper, Williams earned his second HS Tour win of the year by 0.237-second over another Kansan, Jerry Irvine, who piloted a Mini Cooper as well.The closest win of the weekend came at the hands of a Kansas City driver. Matt Grainger took D Stock in his Acura/Grainger Racer Acura Integra Type R by a mere 0.021-second over JT Letkeman, of Winnipeg, Manitoba, in an Audi TT Quattro.On the opposite end of the spectrum, Mark Madarash, of Red Oak, Texas, and his Pontiac Trans-Am dominated the large E Street Prepared field, taking a 3.524-second win over Kansan Opie Viets and his Viets Farms Chevrolet Camaro.Several teammates were able to take one-two finishes in Kansas City. Neal Tovsen, of Saint Paul, Minn, and Ivan Austin, of Crystal, Minn., shared a Team One Out Mazda RX-8 and claimed the top two spots in B Stock. Tovsen edged Austin by 0.675-second. Making the trip from Omaha, Matt Mccabe and John Becker co-drove their Chase Race/Xtreme Auto Mazda Miata to a C Street Prepared sweep, with Mccabe 1.258 seconds quicker than Becker. In D Street Prepared it was Patrick Lipsinic, of Bixby, Okla., and Christy Carlson, of Lincoln, Neb., who finished one-two with an AutoMax/Zzyzx Motorsports/gotcone.com Subaru Impreza. Lipsinic topped his teammate by more than four seconds for the win. It was quite a bit closer for teammates Eric Cirks, of Dallas Center, Iowa, and Ronal VerMulm, of Winterset, Iowa, in E Modified, however. Sharing the R&S Racing, Inc. Chevrolet Camaro, Cirks came away with the win by 0.743-second.Andy Hollis, of Austin, Texas, ended his season with a bang, taking Street Touring® S by 2.072 seconds over Jesse Caudill, of Littleton, Colo., and his Bridgestone Honda Civic Si. Hollis now heads to the Solo National Championships with four STS wins in his Soulspeed/ART/GRM/PowerCurveDyno Honda Civic Si.Mike King earned his third Street Touring S2 win of the season. Driving the Bridgestone/King Motorsports Honda CRX Si, King, of Jacksonville, Fla., topped Robert Seeling, of Edmond, Okla., and his Bridgestone/RedLine/Carbotech Honda CRX Si by 1.885 seconds.The KCMO National Tour marked the last chance Soloists had to enter themselves in a drawing for a new Pace Pursuit® trailer, via the Pace Lap Challenge. Formula 125 competitor Russell Bloom, of Wichita, Kan., won his entry on Saturday, his three runs separated by only 0.413-second. H Stock winner Williams was Sunday€™s winner. His runs clocked in with a slim 0.180-second variance. Both Bloom and Williams now have their names entered in the trailer drawing, to take place on the final day of qualifying for the 51°µÍø National Championship Runoffs.Soloists are counting down the days to the 2008 Tire Rack 51°µÍø Solo National Championships, held Sept. 16 €“ 19, at Heartland Park Topeka. For more information and to see full results for the KCMO Tour, click the orange Solo tab at the top of the page.-30-