Designated as the premier event of the eight-race national ProSolo series, the Finale draws hundreds of entries from around the U.S. to compete on mirror image race courses at the Lincoln Airpark site.
Sixteen drivers were in the running for ST (Street Touring) class honors; 11 were on the R1R extreme performance tires.
Bill Bounds and Team Toyo's Tim Smith shared a 1989 Honda Civic Si for the competition. Bounds scored the victory while Smith finished in second place by only .003 seconds over a cumulative six races. Their 2010 finish is a reverse of their 2009 ProSolo Finale, where Smith won with Bounds close behind.In all, Toyo-equipped cars swept the top five spots in ST for 2010.
Ian Baker won his second consecutive STS class championship, this year as a Team Toyo driver. In addition to Baker's 1988 Honda CRX, the second place finisher was also using R1R tires.
"Lincoln is a really high grip track," says Baker. "The Toyo Proxes R1R was the tire to be on…they're just awesome," he adds. "It feels nice to win again. The competition is pretty stiff as you are meeting people from all over the country, many for the first time, which provides an unknown."
In the STR class, Team Toyo's Ken Motonishi piloted his 2009 Mazda Miata MX-5 to a dominant first place finish with a margin of 1.621 seconds over second place. Motonishi switched from a front wheel drive Honda last season to the rear wheel drive Mazda to win once again on the R1Rs.
"My Toyo Proxes R1R tires were great. I was able to use their ability to launch the car very hard off the start for an early advantage," says Motonishi. "Once we got going, our tires worked well…it was a good weekend, everything worked well together." The R1Rs also dominated Ladies Class 1 as Leslie Cohen piloted her 1989 Honda Civic Si to a win over second-place Michelle Seelig. Seelig, a Team Toyo driver, finished only two-tenths of a second behind with her 1989 Honda CRX Si.For more information, visit www.toyotires.com.
