Another Day of Contrasting Weather for SCCA Runoffs Qualifying

TOPEKA, Kan. Oct. 7, 2008 – On the second day of qualifying for the 45th SCCA National Championship Runoffs®, it was the morning classes who struggled to find grip in wet and windy conditions, and the late-day groups who were blessed with sunny skies. While seven classes took to the track for their first official session, another 12 entered their second batch of qualifying times at Heartland Park Topeka.

A steady rain didn’t stop most of the Showroom Stock B field from making its first qualifying laps on the 2.5-mile road course. Driving the Honda/BFG Tires/Traqmate Honda Civic Si, Chase Lin, of Lewis Center, Ohio, holds the provisional pole with a time of 2:02.974 (73.183 mph).

Brandon Aleckson, of Watsonville, Calif., is the first driver to earn a provisional Runoffs pole in Formula Enterprises. In the class’s first year of Runoffs’ eligibility, Aleckson led the very first qualifying session with a lap of 1:51.625 (80.627 mph) in the GoPro Camera/Tico Const./Westek Ele Formula Enterprises.

Three Kansans can be found in the top four on the F Production grid at the moment, with Ken Prather, from Wakarus, Kan., leading the way. Prather turned a provisional pole time of 2:01.015 (74.371 mph) in his Prather Racing/Moss Motors MGA.

After a soggy qualifying session on Monday, GT-3 got some dry qualifying time, allowing John Black, of Olympic Valley, Calif., to post a time of 1:39.048 (90.865 mph) and take the provisional pole in a Nissan 350Z.

James Goughary, of Houston, Texas, further improved his GT-2 provisional pole time. Goughary, who had already entered a time under the qualifying lap record on Monday, knocked another half second off his fastest lap to enter a 1:37.060 (92.726 mph) in his Red Line Oil Nissan 350Z.

Another record was also set in D Sports Racing. Driving a GDRE Dauntless/WRD Goodyear Stohr WSL/GDRE, Mark Jaremko, of Spokane, Wash., entered a 1:23.530 (107.746 mph) to take the provisional DSR pole.