Old Records No Match for Tuesday Qualifying at 2005 SCCA National Championship Runoffs

 

LEXINGTON, Ohio (Sept. 20, 2005) - It was common belief after Monday's
practice at the 2005 SCCA National Championship Runoffs(r) Presented by
Kohler that no record would be safe.  On Tuesday, the first qualifying
day of three at the 2.258-mile Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, several
competitors backed up that thought.

 

Ryan Ciechanski, of Clinton Twp., Mich., got the record-breaking day
started off in Showroom Stock C, the first session of the day, when he
smoked the previous record of 1:47.984 (set by Roger Schorer in 2004)
with a 1:47.513 (75.607 mph) in his Hoosier Tire/DPR Racing 2000 Honda
Civic Si.  Pete Taylor also qualified under the record with a 1:47.599
in his Hankook Tire/Sky-Tek Engineering 2005 Mini Cooper.  Rene Marinus,
of Folsom, Calif., put three marquees in the top three, as he was third
with a 1:48.170 in his Kumho Tires/Tri-point Engineering 2004 Mazda 3.

 

Three drivers set times faster than the previous qualifying mark of
1:30.176 in Formula 500, led by Michael Brent, of Bethel, Conn.  Brent,
in his QRE Hoosier Invader QC-1, was two seconds faster in qualifying
than in Monday's practice, running a 1:29.534 (90.792 mph).  F500
practice leader Brian Novak, of Dearborn, Mich., came in just behind
Brent with a 1:29.603 in his Hoosier Tire/Short-Media.com Rakavon J-10.
Wiley McMahan, of Covington, Ga., was much more impressive Tuesday,
finishing third (1:29.834) in his Dolphin Motorsports QRE Invader QC-1
after winding up seventh in practice.  Doug Marsh, of Eastlake, Ohio,
was the previous record holder and is fourth after the first day of
qualifying with a 1:30.485 in his Hoosier/Rocketech Motorsports
Rocketech R2.

 

Another trio of drivers trumped an old qualifying record, this time in
Grand Touring 1.  Lew Larimer, of Hayward, Calif., broke his own record
of 1:24.598 from a year ago, turning a fast lap of 1:24.063 (96.698 mph)
in his American Port Weld/Red Line Oil Oldsmobile Cutlass.  Trevor
Hopwood, of Lee, N.H., emerged from his 15th practice position to
qualify second in his Hoosier/Wild Bill's Sports Bar Chevrolet Corvette
(1:24.337); while Amy Ruman, of Kent, Ohio, put her McNichols
Co./Cenweld Corp. Chevrolet Corvette in third with a 1:24.364.

 

As fast as he was Monday, Graham Rahal, of New Albany, Ohio, was even
better Tuesday, posting a 1:16.996 (105.574 mph) in his Bobby Rahal
Automotive Group Swift 014 - a time nearly almost two seconds faster
than the old mark of 1:18.772 set by Dan Cobb in 2004.  Dan Selznick, of
Phoenix, Ariz., was far behind Rahal but also faster than the previous
class record, as he ran a 1:18.098 in his The Roomstore Swift 014.  Mirl
Swan, of Platte City, Mo., is third after the first day of qualifying,
turning a 1:19.700 in his WR King/Swan Racing Swift 008a.

 

Steve Ott, of Brighton, Colo., wasn't quite as quick Tuesday in D Sports
Racing as he was Monday, but he piloted his Racing Concepts/Hoosier
Speads RS06 to a fast lap of 1:22.981 (97.957 mph), good enough for the
class lead and a new qualifying record by more than 0.6-second; beating
out the old mark of 1:23.503 in 2004 by Mark Jaremko.  Jason Miller, of
Elkhart Lake, Wis., was second with a 1:23.766 in his Sterling/Kohler
Millenium WynnFurst DSR, while Matthew DiRenzo, of Medford, N.J., is
third in his Goodyear/TTO Stohr DSR after posting a time of 1:23.967.

 

A pair of Touring 2 drivers, led by Rob Hines, of Arlington, Va., smoked
the Mid-Ohio course Tuesday, as Hines, in his Kumho Tires/Nismo/Red Line
Oil 2003 Nissan 350Z blitzed the T2 qualifying record of 1:39.286 (set
in 2004 by Don Knowles) with a 1:38.829 (82.251 mph).  Chuck Hemmingson,
of West Des Moines, Ia., was a solid second in his Subaru/Rotary Lift
2005 Subaru WRX STi, nailing down a 1:39.164, and Mark Boden, of
Winnetka, Ill., was behind him with a 1:39.391 in his Fall-Line
Motorsports 2004 BMW M3.

 

Yesterday, Brad Stout was leading the Formula Vee headlines as he posted
what would have been a new record for the class.  On Tuesday, however,
it was the Bob Neumeister show.  Neumeister, of Pueblo, Colo., broke
Stout's qualifying record time of 1:39.691 with a 1:39.510 (81.701 mph)
in his Red Line Oil Vortech.  Michael Varacins, of Burlington, Wis., was
second behind Neumeister with a 1:40.071 in his Speed Sport
Engineering/Veetec Speed Sport AM -5.  Jeff Loughead, of Darien, Ill.,
won the FV Runoffs Championship in 2004 and is third after turning in a
1:40.110 in his Hoosier/J.Loughead MD SC Vortech CR-04.

 

Qualifying for the 2005 SCCA National Championship Runoffs Presented by
Kohler continues Wednesday, beginning at 8 a.m. (EDT).  For a complete
schedule, and to watch live timing and scoring for all 23 classes, visit
www.scca.com.

 

Other First Day Qualifying Leaders - 

A Sedan - John Heinricy, Holly, Mich., Pointiac Firebird - 1:37.441

C Sports Racing - Jacke Mucha, Laval, Quebec (Can.), Ralt JMS - 1:22.443

Formula Cont. - Ricardo Vassmer, Coral Sprints, Fla., Van Diemen RF-01 -
1:23.989

Formula Ford - John Robinson II, St. Cloud, Fla., Swift DB6 - 1:28.876

Formula Mazda - David Donovan, Plantation, Fla., Formula Mazda -
1:27.115

E Production - Tom Thrash, Houston, Texas, Mazda RX-7 - 1:35.064

F Production - Steve Sargis, Frankfort, Ill., Triumph Spitfire -
1:36.882

G Production - Kent Prather, Wakarusa, Kan., MGA - 1:40.573

Grand Touring 2 - Duane Davis, Camas, Wash., Toyota Celica - 1:29.699

Grand Touring 3 - Mike Henderson, El Cajon, Calif., Mazda RX-7 -
1:31.886

Grand Touring Lite - Warren Montague, Manakin Sabot, Va., Toyota Tercel
- 1:35.804

H Production - Tom Feller, Clarkston, Mich., Triumph Spitfire - 1:40.676

Spec Racer Ford - Joe Colasacco, Greenwich, Conn., Spec Racer Ford -
1:38.421

Showroom Stock B - Toby Grahovec, Palos Park, Ill., BMW Z4 - 1:44.768

Sports 2000 - Marc Walker, Oldsmar, Fla., Lola 89/90 - 1:27.486

Touring 1 - Scotty B. White, Puyallup, Wash., Dodge Viper - 1:32.939