POBST CRUISES TO SPEED WORLD CHALLENGE TOURING CAR VICTORY AT ROAD ATLANTA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

POBST CRUISES TO SPEED WORLD CHALLENGE TOURING CAR VICTORY AT ROAD
ATLANTA

 

BRASELTON, Ga. (Sept. 29, 2006) - Local resident Randy Pobst gave his
hometown fans exactly what they came to see - a victory in the
penultimate round of the SCCA SPEED World Challenge Touring Car
Championship at Road Atlanta, as part of the Petit Le Mans. Chip Herr,
of Lititz, Pa., and Eric Curran, of East Hampton, Mass., finished out
the top three.

 

From the standing start, Herr got a great jump in his No. 17 Valley
Audi/Clear Capital/STaSIS Engineering Audi A4 and took the lead heading
into Turn One with Pobst right on his bumper. Piloting the No. 73
Mazdaspeed/Tri-Point Motorsports Mazda 6, Pobst only needed nine corners
to grab the lead from Herr in Turn 10a. Heading into Turn 10a, Herr got
a little wide and Pobst put his Mazda 6 underneath the Audi A4 and never
looked back winning by 2.403-seconds, at a record average speed of
95.911 mph.

 

"I knew my car was good," Pobst said of his Mazda 6 around the 12-turn,
2.54-mile course. "The Mazda 6 has never been better. It's been a
constant work in progress for Tri-Point Motorsports and I just loved it
this week! Its handling has given me the confidence to come here with
these super-fast sweepers at Road Atlanta and that's my secret."

 

Pobst's win was his second this season and his 13th career SPEED World
Challenge win.

 

The best racing of the day occurred between Curran and Herr as they
battled for more than 20 laps, while Pobst continued to increase his
lead. Curran grabbed second place from Herr on lap two and the pair
continued to battle for position as Herr's Audi A4 was drafting within
inches of Curran's No. 43 Acura Certified Pre-Owned/RealTime Racing
Acura RSX. On lap 17, Curran's bumper was knocked loose as the result of
bump drafting contact between Herr and Curran. With rear bumper damage
to Curran's Acura RSX, Curran had difficulty keeping Herr behind him and
on lap 20 Herr took second place for good when he passed Curran in Turn
Nine.

 

"I think that we had a great start with our all-wheel drive as always,
but I wanted to be patient and make sure that I knew we had a good car
for the end of the race," Herr said. "I was trying to stay clean and run
up front and once Randy [Pobst] and Eric [Curran] got a run on me it was
really close. They got a run on me coming into Turn 10. I was basically
a gentleman and tried to follow them. They had a little bit more on me.
It was hard for me when the two of them stuck together and I got bumped
out of the draft.

 

"With the Mazda and the Acura battle, I wanted to see if I could work
with Eric, he's a really good driver. Last year, we battled against each
other the whole race and we slowed each other down. My initial thought
was to bump draft him and work with him. Once I had a run, toward the
end, I knew his tires were going away and Randy was pulling away, so I
thought I could try to catch Randy and it was just too late at that
point."

 

After coming off a win at Mosport three weeks ago, this was Herr's
fourth podium finish of the season.

 

Once Herr passed Curran, Curran continued to have his hands full as his
bumper was flapping behind the car slowing it down much like a
parachute. 

 

"Overall it was a pretty good race," Curran said of his third place
effort. "The most important thing today is that I helped Acura clinch
the Manufacturers' Championship before the end of the year which is
great. It wasn't an easy race. The RSX was obviously great in
qualifying, putting it on the pole, but in the later part of the race we
knew we'd be struggling with front grip on the car and we sure did. I
couldn't compete with that all-wheel drive Audi - traction, exiting the
corners, the car not only has acceleration out of the corners, but it
also has a lot of speed going down the straightaway, so there's just no
match. 

 

"Chip [Herr] was pushing me pretty hard out there. I mean he really got
into the back of me a couple of times.  I peeked in my mirror and saw
the corner of the bumper pulled out and then I saw it getting worse and
worse. Chip got into the back of me at least half a dozen times. Once I
let Chip by, it was kind of like it wasn't worth trying to push the
issue further." 

 

Despite finishing third, Curran continued to prove that his Acura RSX
was fast all week, including setting a new fast race lap record on lap
four with a time of 1:34.120 (97.152 mph).

 

SPEED Touring Car Championship point leader Pierre Kleinubing, of
Coconut Creek, Fla., drove his No. 42 Acura Certified Pre-Owned/RealTime
Racing Acura TSX to a fourth place finish, while his RealTime Racing
teammate Brandon Davis, of Denver, finished fifth in his No. 20 Acura
Certified Pre-Owned/RealTime Racing Acura TSX. 

 

Dan Aweida, of Boulder, Colo., earned Piloti Rookie of the Race honors
for his drive in the No. 66 3R-Racing Dodge SRT4.

 

Rookie Hal Brown, of Blacksburg, Va., earned the B&M Shifters Holeshot
Award for advancing six positions at the start of the race. Jeff
Nowicki, of Birmingham, Mich., won the Sunoco Hard Charger Award for
moving up a total of seven positions in the race to finish 20th.

 

Kleinubing, who has finished on the podium in seven of nine races, now
leads Pobst in the Drivers' Championship by 11 points, 261 to 250. Herr
is third with 211 points, followed by Peter Cunningham with 202 and
Davis with 194.

 

With Curran's third place finish, Acura clinched the SPEED Touring Car
Manufacturers' Championship Presented by RACER with 65 points, followed
by Mazda (54), Audi (38), BMW (11) and Dodge (5).

 

Today's race will be broadcast Saturday, Oct. 14 at 2 p.m. (EDT) on
SPEED Channel. 

 

The next race for the SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge Touring Car
Championship will be Oct. 20-22 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for the
season finale.

 

For more information, please visit www.world-challenge.com.

 

-30-

Attachment: Georgian Randy Pobst took his 13th career win at Road
Atlanta.

Credit: (c) Mark Weber/SCCA

 

 

BRASELTON, Georgia - Results from Sunday 27 lap 68.58 mile SCCA Pro
Racing SPEED WORLD CHALLENGE SPEED Touring Championship Round Nine race,
part of the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta with finishing position,
starting position in parentheses, driver, hometown,  car, laps and
reason out (if any).

 

1. (2), Randy Pobst, Gainesville, Ga., Mazda 6, 27.

2. (5), Chip Herr, Lititz, Pa., Audi A4, 27, -2.403.

3. (1), Eric Curran, East Hampton, Mass., Acura RSX, 27, -8.360.

4. (6), Pierre Kleinubing, Coconut Creek, Fla., Acura TSX, 27, -20.344.

5. (7), Brandon Davis, Denver, Colo., Acura TSX, 27, -20.644.

6. (4), Charles Espenlaub, Lutz, Fla., Mazda 6, 27, -21.336.

7. (3), Jeff Altenburg, Ellicott City, Md., Mazda 6, 27, -28.955.

8. (11), Peter Cunningham, Grafton, Wis., Acura TSX, 27, -33.097.

9. (9), Dan Aweida(R), Boulder, Colo., Dodge SRT-4, 27, -37.886.

10. (13), Jeff Courtney(R), Slinger, Wis., Audi A4, 27, -44.823.

11. (10), Brian Smith(R), Simpsonville, S.C., Dodge SRT-4, 27, -49.806.

12. (12), Dino Crescentini, Malibu, Calif., Mazda 6, 27, -50.003.

13. (15), Seth Thomas, Cumming, Ga., BMW 325i, 27, -57.247.

14. (16), Nick Esayian, Encinitas, Calif., Acura RSX, 27, -59.730.

15. (31), Robb Holland(R), Denver, Colo., Dodge SRT-4, 27, -1:13.276.

16. (21), Billy Johnson(R), San Clement, Calif., Mazda Protege, 27,
-1:13.955.

17. (18), James Clay, Radford, Va., BMW 325i, 27, -1:20.516.

18. (22), Lucho deCastro(R), Stone Mountain, Ga., BMW 325i, 27,
-1:37.121.

19. (20), Charlie Putman(R), Mills, Wyo., Mazda 6, 27, -2:06.609.

20. (27), Jeff Nowicki, Birmingham, Mich., Ford Focus, 26, -1 lap.

21. (24), Phil Parlato, Commack, N.Y., BMW 325i, 26, -1 lap.

22. (30), Mary Katharine(R), Delray Beach, Fla., Mazda Protege, 26, -1
lap.

23. (26), Steve Bassen, Winston-Salem, N.C., BMW 325i, 26, -1 lap.

24. (19), Freddy Baker, Bedford, Ohio, Audi A4, 25, Mech.

25. (29), Frank Rossi, Kleinburg, Ontario, BMW 325Ci, 25, -2 laps.

26. (8), Kuno Wittmer, Montreal, Canada, Mercedes-Benz C230, 23, Mech.

27. (25), Seth Neiman, Woodside, Calif., BMW 325Ci, 12, Susp.

28. (14), Karl Poeltl(R), Knoxville, Tenn., BMW 325i, 5, Mech.

29. (23), Hal Brown(R), Blacksburg, Va., Dodge SRT4, 2, Mech.

30. (28), Billy Revis(R), Clemmons, N.C., BMW 325i, 0, Mech.

31. (17), Christian Miller(R), Newark, Calif., Volkswagen Jetta, 0,
Mech.

32. (32), Jim Osborn, Ooltewah, Tenn., Volkswagen Jetta, 0, DNS.

 

Time of race: 42 minutes, 54.122 seconds.

Average speed: 95.911 mph

Margin of victory: 2.403 Seconds

Lap leaders: Laps 1-27, #73 Randy Pobst

Fastest race lap: #43 Eric Curran, 1:34.120 (97.152 mph)

Fastest qualifier: #43 Eric Curran, 1:33.566 (97.727 mph)

 

 

Erin Cechal

SCCA Public Relations Specialist

800/770-2055

ecechal@scca.com