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Lakeville,
IN (September 5,
2008) In Millville, New Jersey the home of the Thunderbolt Raceway, at the New
Jersey Motorsports Park- Craig Stanton
passed Billy Johnson on the final of 72 laps of the Grand-Am KONI Challenge
Series Grand Sport (GS) race Sunday, August 31, 2008 just a lap after drifting
off the track to give Johnson the lead - giving himself and Jon Miller the KONI
New Jersey 250 victory and putting both drivers in strong contention for the
championship with two races remaining.
Like their
GS counterparts, the Street Tuner (ST) race came down to the wire, with track
instructor and Grand-Am regular Matt Plumb holding off Jamie Holtom by 0.381
seconds to give Plumb and co-driver Bob Beede their first KONI Challenge
victory of 2008 season.
It was the
best career finish for Johnson and co-driver Louis-Philippe Dumoulin in the No.
18 Motorsport Technology Group BMW Z4. It was also the second straight podium
finish for Johnson.
Bill
Auberlen and Matthew Alhadeff finished third in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport
BMW M3, 2.488 seconds in arrears. It marked the duo's third podium finish this
season and second this month.
Plumb,
Beede win
KONI ST
race
In ST, Matt
Plumb battled Jamie Holtom for the final 15 minutes in putting the No. 29 Bill
Fenton Motorsports Honda Certified Used Cars/Southern Auto Auction Honda Civic
Si in victory lane. Matt Plumb, who has lapped the track more than almost any
other KONI Challenge competitor, took the lead from Glenn Bocchino on Lap 45
and never looked back, despite constant pressure by Jamie Holtom. Overall, Matt
Plumb led a race-high 28 laps in ST.
Holtom's
co-driver Lawson Aschenbach started second but led the opening 10 laps and 12
overall. Holtom was looking for his season-leading fourth victory this season,
but settled for second and stretched his lead slightly in the process over
Kristian Skavnes. Skavnes finished behind in third in the No. 111 ICY/Phoenix
Racing Subaru Legacy shared by Andrew Aquilante.
Al Lamb and
Leo Maia were fourth in the No. 85 Classic Plano-BMW Z4, with Owen Trinkler and
BJ Zacharias credited with fifth in the No. 196 RSR Motorsports Mini Cooper S.
The top 30
cars overall finished on the lead lap.
Stanton
averaged 64.131 mph in the race which featured five cautions for 36 laps. The
longest caution of the day, which lasted for 16 laps, began on a restart, when
Shane Lewis hit the guardrail on the front straightaway in the No. 92 HART
Honda Accord. The guardrail required repairs, forcing a 40-minute caution
period.
All
and all-beautiful weather for racing, dry and sunny sky. Hoosier provided a
wonderful weekend of service with the team of: Jim Bartholomew, Eriks Bers,
Dave Reppert, Rick Sisk and Jeff Yute. Product
Manager: Scott Huffer and Engineering support : Matt Marlow.
Round
10 of 11 for the KONI Challenge Series is Sept. 21, 2008 at
Miller
Motorsports
Park
in
Tooele
,
Utah
.
For more
information about the Grand American Road Racing Series please visit www.grand-am.com
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