Wilden Extends Grand-Am KONI Challenge Grand Sport Point Lead in Saturday's Victory

MONTEREY, May 16, 2009: Ken Wilden muscled his way into the lead on the final restart with 16 minutes remaining and held on to pace the final 11 circuits of Saturday's 79-lap Verizon Festival of Speed, giving the No. 59 Rehagen Racing Ford Mustang GT co-driven by Dean Martin its first Grand-Am KONI Sports Car Challenge Grand Sport victory of the season at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

The Street Tuner race also went down to the final restart, where Will Turner passed Tom Long and fought back several late-race challenges to win in the No. 95 Turner Motorsports BMW 328i started by pole sitter Don Salama.

While the middle portion of the two-hour, 30-minute race was slowed by five caution periods, the final 35 minutes of the event were marked by terrific battles in both classes, slowed by only one brief yellow flag period.

Todd Lamb led 26 laps down the stretch in the No. 32 Cybernation/Cobalt Friction BMW M3 started by Glenn Bocchino, challenged by the Fords of Wilden and Hugh Plumb, along with the Porsche of Spencer Pumpelly.

Plumb made his challenge with 30 minutes to go, working his way from fourth to second in the Horsepower Racing No. 61 Roush Performance/Valvoline Ford Mustang started by Jack Roush Jr.. Then, Pumpelly made his bid, charging to briefly hold the lead in the TRG No. 39 Digitrust Group/Adams Polishes Porsche GT3 started by Duncan Ende. Lamb came back with a crossover pass, with Pumpelly falling from briefly holding the lead to fourth.

The stage for the final showdown was set when the No. 171 APR Motorsport Volkswagen GTI of Josh Hurley stopped on course, bringing out a two-lap caution. Racing resumed with 16 minutes remaining, when Wilden pulling to the inside coming down the front straight and pulling into the lead exiting Turn 2.

"He (Todd Lamb) had been jumping the restart down there," said Wilden after scoring his second career victory in the series - both co-driving with Martin. "He was in first gear going full throttle coming out of the last turn, which you're not supposed to do. I caught on to it, so I was in first gear and I was ready for him and I gave it to him on the inside. It was tight and we were all over the curbs. I nicked him a little bit in the bumper, but it was nothing that would put him around or anything. It was good, strong racing here."

Lamb held on to finish second, 3.596 seconds behind, followed by Pumpelly.

"Apparently, these Cobalt Friction brakes are so good that the Mustang could stop and he drove me right off the track," Lamb said. "What are you going to do? That's racing. It was a lot of fun. We had a good car and led a lot of laps. I've got to thank Glenn - he did a great job and brought the car back in one piece."

Andrew Caddell and Mike McGovern finished fourth in the No. 54 Jim Click Racing Ford Mustang GT, while Bret Seafuse and James Gue recovered from a Saturday morning practice crash to take fifth in the No. 37 JBS Motorsports Ford Mustang GT.

Wilden held his lead in the GS point standings, with Gue and Seafuse 12 points back (118-106).

Matt Bell captured his third consecutive pole in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M3 and led twice for 23 laps early in the race. He turned the car over to Boris Said, who exited after 38 laps with engine problems.

Martin led three times for 18 laps before turning the eventual winning car over to Wilden.

Turner, Salama Team for Street Tuner Triumph

Turner passed Andrew Carbonell for the lead on Lap 69 and then survived a late-race challenge by Long to give the Turner Motorsport its first ST victory of the season and 17th class triumph in KONI Challenge competition.

Freedom Autosports, seeking its first KONI Challenge triumph, had two of its cars challenge for the victory late in the race but had to finish with second and third on the podium. Carbonell led 26 laps in the team's No. 146 Mazda MX-5 started by Rhett O'Doski, and then Long took up the challenge in the No. 145 Mazda MX-5. Long took the lead shortly before the final caution, lost it on the restart, and unofficially went by twice in the closing laps before finishing 0.997 seconds behind Turner.

"It was a tough race; I knew it was going to be tough," Turner said after scoring his third career ST victory. "The BMW had it today; the car was just hooked up."

Long came back to finish second after co-driver O'Doski took a wild ride earlier in the race in the famed Corkscrew turn.

"It was clean racing," Long said. "Our Mazda handles real well in the corners. We were able to out-break him (Turner) coming into some of the brake zones. I slipped a little wide on tires and unfortunately we couldn't get it done. I'll tell you Freedom Autosports team has done a great job and Derek had a great first stint in the car. I'm really excited about that."

Pat Iannucci and Lawson Aschenbach finished fourth in the No. 00 Georgian Bay Motorsports Chevrolet Cobalt, and now trail Christian Miller by six points (115-109).

Jamie Holtom, the 2008 ST champion making his first start of the season, finished fifth in the No. 74 Compass360 Racing Honda Civic Si co-driven by Miller.

The Turner team led three times for 24 laps, with Salama pacing the opening 16 circuits. Also leading the class was Ian Baas, who was out front for 26 laps in the No. 171 APR Motorsports Volkswagen GTi, co-driven by Hurley.

The race was slowed by six cautions for 20 laps. Martin and Wilden completed 79 laps on the 2.238-mile circuit, averaging 70.091 mph.

The next action for the KONI Sports Car Challenge will be Round 5, May 23-25 at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Ct.