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.
J. Michael Hemsley
Ru
pert
B
erring
ton