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Lakeville, IN. (October 16, 2008) - Hugh and Matt Plumb
dominated the middle and final stages of Sunday's October 5ths, 2008 Bosch
Engineering Twin Six Hours, the season finale for the Grand-Am KONI Challenge
Series Grand Sport (GS) class, giving themselves and Mike Canney a victory in
the six-hour classic at Virginia International Raceway.
Hugh Plumb passed fellow Rehagen Racing and Ford
Mustang GT driver Dean Martin on Lap 144, then led Martin and TRG's Andy Lally
and Spencer Pumpelly in a nose-to-tail battle to the checkered flag in a
two-lap shootout. The leading quartet was separated by only 1.081 seconds, and
the No. 59 Rehagen Racing Valvoline/ROUSH Performance Products Ford Mustang GT
of Martin, Jack Roush Jr. and Ryan Phinny finished 0.208 seconds behind in the
second closest finish in KONI Challenge Series history.
Like the race itself, the championship race came down to the
final hour-and-a-half, with seven drivers fighting for the title. In the end,
Scott Maxwell and Joe Foster finished fifth in the No. 55 Hyper Sport Ford
Mustang GT, giving Maxwell his second GS title (2002 GSI) and Foster his first.
They won the driving and owner titles by six points (248-242) over Bret Seafuse
and James Gue and JBS Motorsports, and the top seven drivers were separated by
only 19 points (248-229).
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They had six hours to distance themselves from the competition,
but Lawson Aschenbach and Ken Dobson needed every single minute of Saturday's
October 4ths, 2008 Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series Street Tuner (ST) season
finale, the Bosch Engineering Twin Six Hours at Virginia International Raceway,
to win Round 11 in the No. 110 Georgian Bay Motorsports Chevrolet Cobalt SS.
Aschenbach who led three times for a race-high 36 laps after making up 37
positions after starting at the back of the field, passed outgoing series
champion Adam Burrows on Lap 139 of the 147-lap race, then distanced himself
from the rest of the field over the final five laps or 15 minutes.
In the meantime, Aschenbach's teammate, Jamie Holtom in the
No. 01 Georgian Bay Motorsports Chevrolet Cobalt SS, claimed the ST
championship by 45 points (282-237) over Kuno Wittmer. At age 21 years, four
days, Holtom becomes the youngest Grand-Am champion in the sanctioning body's
nine-year history.
Holtom led as late as Lap 132 before losing two positions. In
an effort to keep the car out of trouble, he kept close to Burrows and
challenged him for second, concluding the season with five consecutive podium
finishes and nine top 10s in 10 starts.
Throughout the afternoon and evening, Georgian Bay ran up
front. Aschenbach, who has the Formula Ford 2000 track qualifying record,
qualified 38th, wasted no time going toward the front. After making the winning
pass, he was still forced to hold off Burrows and Holtom, who ran a combined
one second behind at times before fading in the final laps. Burrows, who moved
to second in the point standings after entering the event sixth, followed by
1.436 seconds in the No. 76 Compass360 Racing Skunk2/Sunday Group Management
Acura TSX, while Holtom was 1.777 seconds behind Aschenbach.
Holtom and Curran's third-place finish wrapped up the
championship for Georgian Bay's No. 01 car.
The weekends weather was chilly in mornings warming up to the
high 70’s every day, making for good racing conditions, along with great tire
performance, reports Scott Huffer, Hoosier’s events manager on hand. 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:
Service Team: Chris Grossman, Jim Bartholomew, Eriks Bers, Jeff Yute and Mike
Walsh. Along with what Hoosier is proud to have, the plant help of Brandon
Calhoun, James Decker, Stephen Miller, and engineering services of Charlie
Gray.
The top Grand Sport (GS) and Street Tuner (ST) drivers, teams
and manufacturers were honored in Monday's season-ending banquet at the
Sheraton Greensboro at Four Seasons in Greensboro, N.C.
Hoosier would like to congratulate Joe Foster and Scott
Maxwell who won the GS driver points championship for Hypersport team. And
Jaime Holtom won the ST driver points championship for the Georgian Bay
team.
For more information about the Grand American Road Racing
Series please visit www.grand-am.com.
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