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Brian Smith Tops SPEED Touring Car Practice at Road Atlanta

For Immediate Release

 

Brian Smith Tops SPEED Touring Car Practice at Road Atlanta

 

BRASELTON, Ga. (Sept. 27, 2006) - Rookie Brian Smith, of Simpsonville,
S.C., topped the afternoon practice at Road Atlanta Wednesday, in
preparation for the penultimate round of the SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World
Challenge Touring Car Championship. Charles Espenlaub, of Lutz, Fla.,
and Eric Curran, of East Hampton, Mass., completed the top three. 

 

Smith's first hot lap of the afternoon session proved to be the fastest
of the day. Behind the wheel of his No. 13 Woodhouse Auto
Family/Kicker/Dodge SRT-4, Smith registered a time of 1:33.992 (97.284
mph) and surprising himself in the process.

 

"I didn't think we'd be that quick," Smith said. "After the morning
session we were in the ballpark and did some tweaking on the car, tried
to dial it in a bit more. I figured we'd pick up some speed, but didn't
figure we'd pick up quite that much.

 

"We're going to make a couple little changes. There's some changes that
we made to the car for the race that we're going to change back for
qualifying which should help us. Hopefully with a little cooler
temperatures, we should be able to go a little faster and we'll have to,
to stay in front of everybody." 

 

Driving the No. 97 Sparco/Oakley/Tindol Motorsports Mazda 6, Charles
Espenlaub was able to record the second quickest lap around the 12-turn,
2.54-mile track with a 1:33.999 (97.277 mph). Espenlaub was followed by
the quickest man in the morning session, Curran, who powered his No. 43
Acura Certified Pre-Owned/RealTime Acura RSX to a time of 1:34.131
(97.195 mph), slightly faster than his morning time.

 

Teammates Randy Pobst, of Gainesville, Ga., in his No. 73
Mazdaspeed/Tri-Point Motorsports Mazda 6 and No. 72 Jeff Altenburg, of
Ellicott City, Md., finish out the top five with times of 1:34.131
(97.141 mph) and 1:34.619 (96.640 mph), respectively.

 

SPEED Touring Car qualifying at Road Atlanta takes place at 12:45 p.m.
(EDT) Thursday, Sept. 28. To follow along on Live Timing & Scoring
presented by SRT and live laps notes, log onto the SCCA Pit Board at
www.world-challenge.com

 

-30-

 

Attached: The Dodge SRT4 of Brian Smith was quickest in Road Atlanta
practice.

Credit: (c) Mark Weber

 

 

BRASELTON, Georgia - Combined practice results for Friday's SCCA Pro
Racing SPEED World Challenge Touring Car Championship, part of the Petit
Le Mans at Road Atlanta, with position, car number in parentheses,
driver, hometown, car, fastest lap time, and speed in miles per hour.

 

1. (13), Brian Smith(R), Simpsonville, S.C., Dodge SRT-4, 1:33.992,
97.284.

2. (97), Charles Espenlaub, Lutz, Fla., Mazda 6, 1:33.999, 97.277.

3. (43), Eric Curran, East Hampton, Mass., Acura RSX, 1:34.079, 97.195.

4. (73), Randy Pobst, Gainesville, Ga., Mazda 6, 1:34.131, 97.141.

5. (72), Jeff Altenburg, Ellicott City, Md., Mazda 6, 1:34.619, 96.640.

6. (1), Peter Cunningham, Grafton, Wis., Acura TSX, 1:34.668, 96.590.

7. (20), Brandon Davis, Denver, Colo., Acura TSX, 1:34.800, 96.455.

8. (06), Kuno Wittmer, Montreal, Canada, Mercedes-Benz C230, 1:35.078,
96.173.

9. (17), Chip Herr, Lititz, Pa., Audi A4, 1:35.090, 96.161.

10. (42), Pierre Kleinubing, Coconut Creek, Fla., Acura TSX, 1:35.185,
96.065.

11. (74), Dino Crescentini, Malibu, Calif., Mazda 6, 1:35.339, 95.910.

12. (67), Robb Holland(R), Denver, Colo., Dodge SRT-4, 1:35.711, 95.537.

13. (66), Dan Aweida(R), Boulder, Colo., Dodge SRT-4, 1:35.768, 95.480.

14. (83), Karl Poeltl(R), Knoxville, Tenn., BMW 325i, 1:35.775, 95.473.

15. (38), Seth Thomas, Cumming, Ga., BMW 325i, 1:35.781, 95.467.

16. (96), Charlie Putman(R), Mills, Wyo., Mazda 6, 1:36.071, 95.179.

17. (34), Nick Esayian, Encinitas, Calif., Acura RSX, 1:36.201, 95.051.

18. (99), Jeff Courtney(R), Slinger, Wis., Audi A4, 1:36.208, 95.044.

19. (2), Lucho deCastro(R), Stone Mountain, Ga., BMW 325i, 1:36.311,
94.942.

20. (18), Freddy Baker, Bedford, Ohio, Audi A4, 1:36.377, 94.877.

21. (36), James Clay, Radford, Va., BMW 325i, 1:36.733, 94.528.

22. (25), Christian Miller(R), Newark, Calif., Volkswagen Jetta,
1:37.189, 94.084.

23. (95), Billy Johnson(R), San Clement, Calif., Mazda 6, 1:37.507,
93.777.

24. (16), Phil Parlato, Commack, N.Y., BMW 325i, 1:37.623, 93.666.

25. (39), Steve Bassen, Winston-Salem, N.C., BMW 325i, 1:37.925, 93.377.

26. (21), Seth Neiman, Woodside, Calif., BMW 325Ci, 1:38.150, 93.163.

27. (35), Hal Brown(R), Blacksburg, Va., Dodge SRT4, 1:38.342, 92.981.

28. (94), Mary Katharine(R), Delray Beach, Fla., Mazda Protege,
1:38.390, 92.936.

29. (84), Jeff Nowicki, Brimingham, Mich., Ford Focus, 1:39.190, 92.186.

30. (14), Billy Revis(R), Clemmons, N.C., BMW 325i, 1:40.845, 90.673.

31. (23), Frank Rossi, Ooltewah, Tenn., BMW 325Ci, 1:42.499, 89.210.

32. (6), Lance Stewart, Coconut Grove, Fla., Mazda 6, no time.

33. (61), Justin Pritchard, ,   , Toyota, no time.

 

 

Erin Cechal

SCCA Public Relations Specialist

800/770-2055

ecechal@scca.com