SCCA Runoffs
10-17-2007, 09:24 AM
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From the SCCA
TOPEKA, Kan. (October 14, 2007)
Don Knowles, of Pittsboro, N.C., won his fourth SCCA National Championship by dominating the Touring 2 race at the 2007 SCCA National Championship Runoffs Presented by AT&T. William Ziegler, of Stamford, Conn., and Edward Zabinski, of Hallandale Beach, Fla., finished second and third, respectively.
Second-starting Zabinski had a great start in his No. 79 theracingcoach.com Pontiac Solstice GXP, but polesitter Knowles powered his No. 35 Phoenix Performance/Iracing.com/Hoosier Pontiac Solstice GXP into the lead by Turn One. From there, it was no looking back for Knowles, who steadily pulled away from the rest of the field. He finished the 18-lap race with a 3.112-second margin of victory, after slowing down for a victory wave to his crew.
It has been a long nine days, Knowles said. The weather was difficult, and then we blew the turbo in this morning's warmup. We only had two and a half hours until the race and we had to change it. We took a turbo off a street car, replaced the race car turbo with it, performed all the checks and made sure all the hoses were on. Meanwhile, while this was going on, I was over in the corner throwing up. I really wasn't stressed about it for the race though. I figured that on the pace lap it would either be right or it would blow up-nothing I could do about it. I got through Turn One alright and figured everything was okay, so I just focused on the race.
It was the first Touring 2 SCCA National Championship for Knowles, who is a three-time Showroom Stock B Champion.
Zabinski held down the second spot for most of the race before traction control issues allowed him to be reeled in by Ziegler's No. 05 Swisher/Phoenix/Hoosier Pontiac Solstice GXP. After hounding Zabinski for several laps, Ziegler made his move into second on lap 16. Zabsinski held with him, but was unable to challenge and settled for third. It was still an impressive result for Zabinski considering his first laps in the car were on Thursday after he made the decision to switch from a Lotus to a Solstice on Tuesday.
David Schotz, of Chandler, Ariz., and Ken Dobson, of Sonoma, Calif., completed the top five. Michael Sanos, of San Lorenzo, Calif., won the Sunoco Hard Charger Award for advancing six positions during the race in his No. 16 worksEvo.com/Hoosier Mitsubishi Evo.
The SCCA National Championship Runoffs® Presented by AT&T, The Pinnacle of American Motorsports, will crown Sports Car Club of America's Club Racing National Champions for the 44th-consecutive year in 2007. The best amateur drivers from across North America convene on Heartland Park Topeka's 2.5-mile road course each fall in what is considered the Olympics of motorsports. This year's event begins with four days of qualifying, Oct. 8-11, and concludes with three days of racing, Oct. 12-14.
TOPEKA, Kan. (Oct. 13, 2007)
Ken Flory, of Commerce Twp., Mich., captured his first Showroom Stock B title at the SCCA National Championship Runoffs Presented by AT&T in his first try. Lee Niffenegger, of Delaware, Ohio, and Toby Grahovec, of Chicago, completed the top three.
Driving the No. 8 Hoosier/Competition Graphics Pontiac Solstice, Flory started second but took the lead at the start over polesitter Michael Scornavacchi Jr.’s No. 25 Hoosier/Phoenix/Carbotech Pontiac Solstice at the start. He built up a three-second lead that evaporated when the caution came out on lap six to retrieve a disabled car.
On the restart, Niffenegger went to the front from fourth place in his No. 43 Honda/Hankook/Cobalt/DC Sports Honda Civic Si. However, the lead was short-lived, and Flory out-broke the Honda into turn four. From there, he never looked back, winning by 4.174 seconds.
“It hasn’t sunk in yet but it feels pretty good,” Flory, who is a crew member for Team Cadillac in SCCA SPEED GT competition said. “This is my first Runoffs and to be on the podium is great.
“At the start, the Honda behind me hit me hard and gave me a huge launch so I was able to get maybe a car length on Mike [Scornavacchi] into Turn One and I just continued on from there. At the restart, I was able to put in underneath Lee [Niffenegger] going into turn four and pulled away from there. Turn One and Turn Two were a mess because of the mud. At Turn Eight and Nine, I think that all three of us went off there. Someone about three laps from the end hit the apex at Eight and put a lot of mud on the track. All of us went off but all of us were able to save our cars and continued on.”
Former class Champion Grahovec had an eventful race in his No. 86 Classic BMW/Hoosier/RedLine BMW Z4, falling outside of the top five at one point before climbing back up to the third step on the podium.
Bob Schader, of Boulder, Colo., and Juston Poole, of Atlanta, completed the top five.
Richard Crites, of Bera, Calif., earned the Sunoco Hard Charger Award for advancing nine positions in the race.
The SCCA National Championship Runoffs® Presented by AT&T, The Pinnacle of American Motorsports, will crown Sports Car Club of America’s Club Racing National Champions for the 44th-consecutive year in 2007. The best amateur drivers from across North America convene on Heartland Park Topeka’s 2.5-mile road course each fall in what is considered the “Olympics” of motorsports. This year’s event begins with four days of qualifying, Oct. 8-11, and concludes with three days of racing, Oct. 12-14.
TOPEKA, Kan. (October 14, 2007)
Don Knowles, of Pittsboro, N.C., won his fourth SCCA National Championship by dominating the Touring 2 race at the 2007 SCCA National Championship Runoffs Presented by AT&T. William Ziegler, of Stamford, Conn., and Edward Zabinski, of Hallandale Beach, Fla., finished second and third, respectively.
Second-starting Zabinski had a great start in his No. 79 theracingcoach.com Pontiac Solstice GXP, but polesitter Knowles powered his No. 35 Phoenix Performance/Iracing.com/Hoosier Pontiac Solstice GXP into the lead by Turn One. From there, it was no looking back for Knowles, who steadily pulled away from the rest of the field. He finished the 18-lap race with a 3.112-second margin of victory, after slowing down for a victory wave to his crew.
It has been a long nine days, Knowles said. The weather was difficult, and then we blew the turbo in this morning's warmup. We only had two and a half hours until the race and we had to change it. We took a turbo off a street car, replaced the race car turbo with it, performed all the checks and made sure all the hoses were on. Meanwhile, while this was going on, I was over in the corner throwing up. I really wasn't stressed about it for the race though. I figured that on the pace lap it would either be right or it would blow up-nothing I could do about it. I got through Turn One alright and figured everything was okay, so I just focused on the race.
It was the first Touring 2 SCCA National Championship for Knowles, who is a three-time Showroom Stock B Champion.
Zabinski held down the second spot for most of the race before traction control issues allowed him to be reeled in by Ziegler's No. 05 Swisher/Phoenix/Hoosier Pontiac Solstice GXP. After hounding Zabinski for several laps, Ziegler made his move into second on lap 16. Zabsinski held with him, but was unable to challenge and settled for third. It was still an impressive result for Zabinski considering his first laps in the car were on Thursday after he made the decision to switch from a Lotus to a Solstice on Tuesday.
David Schotz, of Chandler, Ariz., and Ken Dobson, of Sonoma, Calif., completed the top five. Michael Sanos, of San Lorenzo, Calif., won the Sunoco Hard Charger Award for advancing six positions during the race in his No. 16 worksEvo.com/Hoosier Mitsubishi Evo.
The SCCA National Championship Runoffs® Presented by AT&T, The Pinnacle of American Motorsports, will crown Sports Car Club of America's Club Racing National Champions for the 44th-consecutive year in 2007. The best amateur drivers from across North America convene on Heartland Park Topeka's 2.5-mile road course each fall in what is considered the Olympics of motorsports. This year's event begins with four days of qualifying, Oct. 8-11, and concludes with three days of racing, Oct. 12-14.
TOPEKA, Kan. (Oct. 13, 2007)
Ken Flory, of Commerce Twp., Mich., captured his first Showroom Stock B title at the SCCA National Championship Runoffs Presented by AT&T in his first try. Lee Niffenegger, of Delaware, Ohio, and Toby Grahovec, of Chicago, completed the top three.
Driving the No. 8 Hoosier/Competition Graphics Pontiac Solstice, Flory started second but took the lead at the start over polesitter Michael Scornavacchi Jr.’s No. 25 Hoosier/Phoenix/Carbotech Pontiac Solstice at the start. He built up a three-second lead that evaporated when the caution came out on lap six to retrieve a disabled car.
On the restart, Niffenegger went to the front from fourth place in his No. 43 Honda/Hankook/Cobalt/DC Sports Honda Civic Si. However, the lead was short-lived, and Flory out-broke the Honda into turn four. From there, he never looked back, winning by 4.174 seconds.
“It hasn’t sunk in yet but it feels pretty good,” Flory, who is a crew member for Team Cadillac in SCCA SPEED GT competition said. “This is my first Runoffs and to be on the podium is great.
“At the start, the Honda behind me hit me hard and gave me a huge launch so I was able to get maybe a car length on Mike [Scornavacchi] into Turn One and I just continued on from there. At the restart, I was able to put in underneath Lee [Niffenegger] going into turn four and pulled away from there. Turn One and Turn Two were a mess because of the mud. At Turn Eight and Nine, I think that all three of us went off there. Someone about three laps from the end hit the apex at Eight and put a lot of mud on the track. All of us went off but all of us were able to save our cars and continued on.”
Former class Champion Grahovec had an eventful race in his No. 86 Classic BMW/Hoosier/RedLine BMW Z4, falling outside of the top five at one point before climbing back up to the third step on the podium.
Bob Schader, of Boulder, Colo., and Juston Poole, of Atlanta, completed the top five.
Richard Crites, of Bera, Calif., earned the Sunoco Hard Charger Award for advancing nine positions in the race.
The SCCA National Championship Runoffs® Presented by AT&T, The Pinnacle of American Motorsports, will crown Sports Car Club of America’s Club Racing National Champions for the 44th-consecutive year in 2007. The best amateur drivers from across North America convene on Heartland Park Topeka’s 2.5-mile road course each fall in what is considered the “Olympics” of motorsports. This year’s event begins with four days of qualifying, Oct. 8-11, and concludes with three days of racing, Oct. 12-14.
Last edited by Lithium Lotus; 10-17-2007 at 09:26 AM.
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