– In Tooele, Utah September 21, 2008 Bill Auberlen drove
underneath Kris Wilson in Turn 1 on Lap 40 of Sunday's 44-lap Grand-Am KONI
Challenge Series race and held on to give himself, co-driver Matthew Alhadeff
and the Turner Motorsport its second straight Grand Sport (GS) victory at
Miller Motorsports Park and the team's first victory of 2008.
With Spencer Pumpelly and Billy Johnson, in the No. 39, Porsche 997 fighting
for second place, Auberlen easily drove away, winning by 4.009 seconds. Pitting
at the completion of the race's pace lap due to a shredded engine belt, Duncan
Ende moved into the top 10 during his stint, and co-driver Pumpelly, a former
GS race winner at Miller, moved to second at the checkered flag in the No. 39
TRG Carlsen Porsche/The DigiTrust Group Porsche 997.
Third-place finisher Billy Johnson earned his third straight podium finish
and co-driver Ray Mason his second podium in three races in the No. 52 Rehagen
Racing Columbus Truck & Equipment Ford Mustang GT
Eric Curran returned to KONI Challenge Series Street Tuner (ST) class for
the first time since July at Watkins Glen International, but showed no signs of
rust in giving himself and point leader Jamie Holtom their second straight
Miller victory in the No. 01 Georgian Bay Motorsports Chevrolet Cobalt SS.
Curran took the lead when Matt Plumb pitted for fuel on Lap 33, then earned to
a .872 second victory over Ian Baas in the No. 171 APR Motorsport APR/BBS
Volkswagen GTI. It was the first-ever podium finish for APR Motorsport and
Baas's co-driver Dion von Moltke.
Georgian Bay's success wasn't limited to Curran and Holtom's triumph. The
team's No. 00 Georgian Bay Motorsports T.T.L. Chevrolet Cobalt SS, co-driven by
Kirk Spencer and Ashley McCalmont, finished third. McCalmont, in her first
season on the KONI Challenge circuit, was running fifth when she turned the car
over to Spencer during the team's final pit stop.
Twelve GS drivers remain mathematically in contention for the championship
with only the six-hour race next month at Virginia International Raceway. The
season finales for the KONI Challenge Series GS and ST classes, both six hours,
are Oct. 4 and 5 at Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Va.
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, Bill Fox, Troy Mow, Mark Record, Nick Saygen,
Jim Bartholomew and Jeff Yute along with engineering support from Matt Marlow.
The weather was in the mid-70’s to around 85 degrees all weekend with a
bit of cloud cover most days, making for good racing conditions, along with
great tire performance.
For more information about the Grand American Road Racing Series please
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