By Patrick D'Auria
Spring is in full bloom in Atlanta and so is the 2005 Apexbenefits.biz Atlanta Region Solo2 Series. On May 21st Teamsolo conducted the first novice school of the year followed by Points Event #2 on the 22nd. Since the Braves were on a road trip, they left Turner Field’s ample parking lots available for gear-heads. The weekend’s events utilized the “Blue Lot” which presents a design challenge due its extremely slanted topography and long, narrow layout.

The course designers found a way to utilize a great deal of real estate and created a challenging course, as evident by numerous DNF’s during the day. Out of the 236 drivers, many veterans and newbies alike had difficulty remembering the entire layout. Looking ahead and having a good walkthrough could have been a big help, however. The relatively long course started at the top of the hill and headed downhill in a hurry. Toward the bottom of the hill offset gates created an opportunity for the bold to gain serious time by driving aggressively. At the end of the hill a right-hand carousel dumped drivers into a left-hand slalom entrance that cut diagonally back up the hill. From that point it was just a matter of snaking left and right a couple of times around the serpentine section to the finish.

As always there were many heated class battles for first place; there were also a few stunning blowouts. Close finishers Chris Dansbury and Mike Schoop had a slug fest in Super Stock. Both drivers overcame first run jitters and dropped significant time with each run. In the end it was Chris’ Vette netting him the top spot on his last run (62.045) over Mike’s RX-7, his best time was also on his last run (62.685.)

A-Stock is a fast class but Matthew Glagola blew away some fast drivers with his S2000. He was one of the few full-fender cars to clock a sub-60 second run, (59.139 on his last run.) Matt won the class with a margin of nearly 4 seconds!

The flock of Miatas in C-Stock always brings out close competition. The top three finishers were all within three tenth’s of a second from each other. Jim Clark, in a 99 model, took the win on his second run (64.457.) Despite finishing in first place his other times were not exemplary. Chris Halstead drove his 02 model consistently and netted a second place finish with his first run (64.640.) David Steger would have taken first place with his third run but a cone penalty meant his last run would be his fastest (64.762.)

More class dominance came form Jay Parcon, a national caliber driver with a mean MR2. Jay took the E-Stock class win with nearly a 5.5 second lead. He tripped the lights with a 60.895 on his third try.

A couple of Rabbit drivers populated F-Street Prepared and took the two top spots; you know what they say about rabbits. Geoff Zimmer’s four runs ran the gamut of contrast but he did slip under the 60-second threshold twice with a best run of 59.683 on his last try. Chris Peterson overcame cone trouble and netted a clean run on his last try for a second place finish (60.776.)

STS is by far the most popular class in the Atlanta Region with twenty entries vying for the top spot. The 12-second spread from first to last place does not tell the entire story, however. There were tight battles for each finishing position. Cliff Rosenburg had a cone magnet on the 89 Civic he was driving but still took first place. His only clean run was on his second try (63.606), good thing it was fast. Right behind him was frontrunner Ryan Thompson, also driving an 89 Civic. He had his best run on his second try also (64.676.)

Mary Monks beat all the boys in SM2 (including her husband) driving a 94 Vette to a rare sub-60 second run on her third try (59.982.) Ben Thatcher placed second with only one run in his 86 Vette (60.445.) Car trouble kept him from taking any more passes that day. Right behind Ben was Russell Monks finishing third in his/her 94 Vette. A couple of DNFs hurt his chances at the top spot but his third and best run was still very fast (60.507.)

The newly formed and rarely populated STU class had some drivers this event, showing hope that this class is catching on. Trey Sullivan took top honors in his STi despite never getting a clean run. A raw time of 64.881 plus one cone on his third try meant his best total time of 66.881 would net the win.

The “F” in F-Mod might just stand for “Fast” because those grownup go-karts constantly clock the fastest times of the day. Newcomer-to-the-class Steve Brueck took the top spot with his second run (55.569) over the class staples, Jim Murphy and Chris Eckles. Those two finished very close to each other, separated by a mere hundredth of a second or so (57.078 and 57.090 respectively). FTD usually is a by-product of this class, but it was the Time Only run of top national driver Clint Mcmahan to take that honor (54.515); he was driving the same 84 F500 that took the two top spots in F-mod, however.

The Knowledge Performance Pro index class gives competitors a chance to battle for prizes (three “pulls” on their Dynapack dynamometer or a credit toward the following services; dynamometer engine tuning, vehicle corner-weighing service, mounting and balancing of tires (including disposal fees, if required,) tire purchase or 4-wheel alignment.) To even out the differences in car potential, the raw times are formulated against a standard Pax (numerical modifier) to determine the fastest time. Paul Barros, last year’s Champion, is right back where he left off from last year. He took the win with a pax time of 48.289 (57.693 raw) driving the mighty Z06 Vette. He also scores a $75 credit toward the prizes and services offered by the class sponsor, Knowledge Performance. Despite cone trouble, second place driver Steve Waters got a clean pax time of 48.821 (58.329 raw) which clinched him second place. He was driving the same Z06 Corvette as Paul. Steve scored a $45 credit toward his choice of prizes. Tom Pulliam finds himself in third place again, this time driving a Z28 Camaro. His pax time of 49.008 (60.880 raw) from his first run earned him a $25 credit toward a choice of prizes from Knowledge.