51°µÍø

WENDOVER, Utah (Aug. 6, 2008) €“ San Diego€™s James Wilson stunned the field by winning the Tire Rack® Wendover Utah 51°µÍø ProSolo event in a car he€™d never driven before.After winning H Stock by a margin of more than two seconds, Wilson found himself the top qualifier for the Hawk Super Challenge driving a Cam-FX.com Digital Video Products Ford Escort, circa 1991. Not only was this the first time Wilson had driven the car (he recently sold his HS Subaru Impreza to fund his move to Texas), but the vehicle was equipped with tires from two different manufacturers: Nittos on the front, Falkens on the rear. Despite all this, Wilson busted through the brackets and beat veteran Tom Berry, of Alta Loma, Calif., and his Berry Family Racing/Hoosier Mitsubishi Evo IX in the final round, to win the Hawk Super Challenge. Considering the circumstances and shoe-string budget Wilson was on, it very much a Cinderella story at Wendover.There were few surprises in the Ladies Challenge as everything fell into place, with Ladies Class 1 winner Beth Strelnieks, of Cedar Park, Texas, facing Ladies Class 2 winner Annie Bauer, of Newport Beach, Calif., in the final round. In class competition, Bauer posted times good enough for second in Street Touring® Ultra, but Strelnieks took the win in a Jungle Cat Racing/Hoosier BMW 135i over Bauer€™s Zzyzx Motorsports/Chase Cam Subaru Impreza WRX STi.Kevin McCormick, of Lincoln, Calif., and Andy Hollis, of Austin, Texas, had quite the tussle through the weekend. First, McCormick€™s Kumho/American Tire/Bilstein/HAP Honda Civic Si beat Hollis€™ Soulspeed/ART/GRM/PowerCurve Dyno Honda Civic Si to the Street Touring S win by 0.118-second. This gave McCormick a higher qualifying spot in the Hawk Super Challenge, which in turn earned him the Honda Tuner Challenge prize. Hollis got his revenge though, beating McCormick to the Honda Hot Shoe award.Cal Craner, of Idaho Falls, Idaho, went from sixth in D Stock to the top of the Chase Cam Bonus Challenge. After driving a C4 Chevrolet Corvette for the last few years, Craner brought his New Frontier Campfire/Walleys Chevrolet Cobalt SS out for the first time at Wendover. He beat Salt Lake City€™s Jon Pomrenke, in a Cobbtuning.com/Vorshlag.com BMW M3 for the Bonus Challenge victory. Craner€™s daughter Karen finished third in F125.In Super Stock competition, Matthew Braun, who flew in from Northville, Mich., struggled with cones and red lights on Saturday before turning in two fast, clean runs at the very end in a PowerPlug Lotus Elise. He nipped Gary Thomason, from Oceanside, Calif., by 0.321-second for the win. Instead of his usual Porsche GT3 at Wendover, Thomason was co-driving Brian Robertson€™s Kumho Chevrolet Corvette.Due to the size of the field at Wendover, the two bump classes were unusually large. In Bump Class 1, Jason Isley, of Ladera Ranch, Calif., topped the C2Motorsports.com MINI Cooper S of Donald Green, from Bellflower, Calif., in his B Stock Mazdaspeed/SportsCar/Kumho Mazda RX-8. While in Bump Class 2, Hawk Super Challenge runner-up Berry came from behind to beat the C2Racers.com/CCCR Chevrolet Corvette of Henry Botkin, from Jamul, Calif.The final Tire Rack 51°µÍø ProSolo event of the season before the Finale at Heartland Park Topeka will take place August 23 €“ 24, at Hampton Mills in Packwood, Wash. For full results from the Wendover or more information about the Packwood ProSolo, click the orange Solo tab at the top of the page.