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SPEED World Challenge at Mid-Ohio Airs Thursday on SPEED


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TOPEKA, Kan. Round Seven of the SCCA SPEED Touring Car Championship as well as the Mid-Ohio SPEED GT Presented by Remington will air Thursday, July 24, on SPEED.

At noon (EDT), Peter Cunningham stages his No. 42 Acura/RealTime/Eibach/Red Line Oil Acura TSX at the head of the grid, but it’s teammate Kuno Wittmer in the No. 44 Acura/RealTime/Eibach/Red Line Oil Acura TSX that gets the better start and pulls alongside through Turn One. Can Wittmer make the pass stick before the full-course yellow comes out for Charles Espenlaub, who gets sideways in the No. 73 Mazdaspeed/Stoptech/Racinghart MAZDA6, and collects point leader Pierre Kleinubing’s No. 43 Acura/RealTime/Eibach/Red Line Oil Acura TSX in the process? Furthermore, will the Acura teammates be able to hold off a charging Jason Saini in the No. 74 Mazdaspeed/Stoptech/Racinghart MAZDA6 and Jim Daniels in the No. 75 Mazdaspeed/Stoptech/Racinghart MAZDA6?

Next at 1 p.m. (EDT), the Mid-Ohio SPEED GT Presented by Remington is prefaced with a memorable intro narrated by Sam Posey comparing the glory days of Trans-Am to modern SPEED GT. The race that follows is the perfect follow up, as polesitter Tommy Archer in the No. 13 Foametix Dodge Viper is chased down by the No. 10 ACS/Sun Microsystems Ford Mustang Cobra of Brandon Davis, the No. 99 KENDA/JTM/MPI Coin/Badger Components Dodge Viper of Jeff Courtney and the No. 21 Rahal Letterman Racing Aston Martin DB9 of Tommy Milner. Further down the field the race for sixth through ninth is just as intense with Porsches, Cadillacs and Corvettes dicing for 29 laps.

Divided into two separate series and races (SCCA SPEED GT and SCCA SPEED Touring Car), the SCCA SPEED World Challenge Championships are America’s top production car-based series. Competing at 12 high-profile venues in 2008, the series is an important showcase for the world’s leading auto brands and makers of performance parts. SCCA SPEED World Challenge events are a maximum of 50 minutes in length, feature standing starts and the world’s most popular manufacturers racing head-to-head. For more information see www.world-challenge.com.