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Lakeville, IN (June
24, 2008)
– Kristian Skavnes and Chuck
Hemmingson defended their Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series Street Tuner race
Sunday, June 22, 2008, at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, only this time the
No. 111 ICY/Phoenix Racing Subaru of America Subaru Legacy drivers did so on
Hoosier wets.
Skavnes led the final
30 laps of the two-and-a-half hour, 78-lap race at the 2.258-mile track,
beating No. 32 i-MOTO Racing Cybernation Solutions/Alpinestar Acura TSX of Kuno
Wittmer and his co-driver Peter Cunningham by 5.697 seconds. It marked the pair’s
third career KONI Challenge victories and their first this season.
Kuno and Nick Wittmer
ran second and third for multiple laps, but Nick Wittmer slid to fourth behind
Ott when he slid off the back side of the course. Ott and Tony Rivera, who
drove the No. 51 Brass Mitchell Racing Hal Joy Renewable Fuels Mazda RX-8,
finished a season-best third.
Hoosier Racing Tire is proud to be the
sole racing tire provider for the Koni Challenge racing series. This weekend
race was serviced by Hoosier’s service team of: Scott Huffer, Jim
Bartholomew, Jake Budezielek, Mike Haenes, Rick Sisk, Jordan Szymanowski, and
engineer: Charlie Gray.
The next action for
the KONI Challenge will be July 5 at Watkins Glen International, when both the
GS and ST classes race in conjunction with the Indy Car Series.
DRIVER QUOTES
Kristian Skavnes (No.
111 ICY/Phoenix Racing Subaru Legacy):
“When I started it had just started to rain. There was a lot of traffic
and we worked our way around and caught the leaders. Then it started raining
harder and a full-course caution came out. We were talking back and forth with
the pit crew, wondering if we should put Hoosier rain tires on or not. But it
got to the point where we were having a hard time even keeping up with the pace
car, so our decision was made for us. When I came in, I watched everybody
behind us come in and take on rains. It came down to just beating Kuno out of
the pits – I saw him on the inside of me but I managed to come out ahead of
him, fortunately – and I was able to pick up a little bit of a lead as it
rained harder. I was pushing as hard as I could, but not too hard where I could
make a mistake. At that point, it was my race to lose. When it started drying
out, we knew what our intervals were, so we just ran the clock out with
the Hoosier tires holding up well.”
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