Sports Car - December 2019

STAY THE COURSE

Peter Shadowen briefly gave up the lead after starting from the Tire Rack pole, but applying pressure to Bill Ball forced a mistake on Ball’s part, and allowed Shadowen to cruise to his third Runoffs title.

GTL QUALIFYING

Qualifying Pos. Driver/Region (Car)

Best Time; 1. Peter Shadowen/FLA (Honda CRX) 2:06.997; 2. Bill Ball/ SJR (Nissan Sentra SE-R)

2:08.250; 3. Joe Huffaker/SFR (MG Midget) 2:09.129; 4. Troy Ermish/SFR (Nissan PL510)

2:09.657; 5. Jonathan Goodale/ Colo (Mazda MX- 5) 2: 10.982;

6. Paul Mevoli/CFR (Nissan Sentra)

2: 10.983; 7. Graham Fuller/ WDC (Honda CRX) 2: 11.374; 8. Ryan Kristoff/DET (Honda CRX)

2: 11.435; 9. Ryan Downey/WDC (Nissan 200SX SE-R) 2: 11.996;

10. Charles Leonard/CFR (Nissan

200SX SE-R) 2: 12.869; 11. James Gregorius/FLR (Mazda RX- 7)

2: 13.199; 12. Taz Harvey/SFR (Mazda Miata) 2: 13.349; 13. Rick Haynes/OVR (MG Midget)

2: 14.696; 14. Roy Lopshire/KCR ( Toyota Tercel) 2: 14.700; 15. Chris Kopley/NER (Mini Cooper)

2: 16.586; 16. Bryan Scheible/FLR (Volkswagen Fun Cup Beetle)

2: 19.035; 17. Edward Nicholson/ KCR (Nissan 200SX) 2: 19.573;

18. David Stephens/TVR (Nissan PL510) 2: 21.801; 19. Robert Pharr/CCR (Nissan PL510)

2: 29.670; 20. Peter Zekert/STL (Nissan 200SX SE-R) No time

Ball - Loss of qualifying 3 times per Chief Steward - GCR 6.1.1. B Haynes - Loss of qualifying 3 times per Chief Steward - Supp. 10.1

GTL RACE

Race 14 laps, 46 Miles: Pos. Driver (Laps); 1. Peter Shadowen ( 14);

2. Graham Fuller ( 14); 3. Taz Harvey ( 14); 4. Jonathan Goodale ( 14); 5. Ryan Downey ( 14); 6. Ryan Kristoff ( 14); 7. Chris Kopley ( 14);

8. James Gregorius ( 14); 9. Paul Mevoli ( 14); 10. Roy Lopshire ( 14);

11. Bryan Scheible ( 14); 12. Robert Pharr ( 10); 13. Bill Ball ( 7);

14. Edward Nicholson ( 5); 15. Peter Zekert ( 4); 16. Charles Leonard ( 4);

17. Rick Haynes ( 4); 18. David Stephens ( 2); 19. Joe Huffaker (0);

20. Troy Ermish (0)

Goodale - Loss of 2 finishing positions per SOM - GCR 6. 11.1

Overall Time of Race: 35: 42.573;

Average Race Speed: 76.921mph;

Margin of Victory: 1.474sec;

Fastest Race Lap: Ball 2:07.837 ( 92.086mph); Lap Leaders: Ball laps 1-5; Shadowen laps 6-14;

Sunoco Hard Charger: Harvey but third was still a possibility.

Sadly, his agricultural excursion had packed so much grass and dirt in his car’s grille that he had to retire.

With Ball’s early retirement, and that of several others at different places around the course, the cars were well spaced and there was little action. Shadowen remembered, “From that point on, it was damage control.

Running fast enough to stay ahead; back off when I could.

I’ve gotten lazy before and
let people catch up to me.”
And that is how it was
until the full-course caution
on lap 11 brought all the cars
back together. Shadowen
was concerned, but there
wasn’t enough time to clean
the track, and the checker
flew one lap early. Goodale
finished second on track but
was later moved to fourth.

The win gave Shadowen his third National Championship.

It was the first podium finish for Fuller and his Ostar Motorsports/Hub City Performance Honda CRX.

Harvey credited his third place
to good tire choice. “I was on
Hoosier Medium radials that got
faster as the race progressed,
and I was reeling in the cars on
bias ply soft tires,” Harvey said
of the setup on his Hoosier/
Dublin Mazda Mazda Miata.

No doubt, Ball had the capacity to win the race.

After all, he held the fastest lap as well as fastest times through two of the three timed sectors. But Shadowen also turned the fastest trap speed and fastest time in one of the three sectors. As such, Sadowen’s strategy was simple: “If I pressed [Ball] enough, he’d [make a mistake], and that’s what happened,” he said. Maybe the race wasn’t a foregone conclusion after all.