]
back
source: SCCA Staff
Writers
Espenlaub Charges Early, Holds On Late for
SPEED Touring Car Win at Mosport
CANADA
(Sept. 4, 2005) – Charles
Espenlaub, of Lutz, Fla., withstood every RealTime Racing charge
in his No. 97 Sparco/Oakley/Tindol Motorsports Mazda 6 Sunday morning
at Mosport International Raceway and averaged 87.621 mph over the
28-lap race to earn his first SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge
Touring Car victory.
Peter Cunningham, of West Bend, Wis., finished 1.550
seconds behind Espenlaub in the No. 42 A-SPEC/RealTime Racing Acura
TSX, and Pierre Kleinubing, of Coconut Creek, Fla., finished third
in the No. 43 A-SPEC/RealTime Racing Acura TSX.
Staying with rookie Air Force Reserve Polesitter Brandon Davis,
of Denver, Colo., as others fell back through the early
portion of the race, Espenlaub, who started second, took advantage
of a Davis mistake at Turn 5 on the eighth lap to jump into the lead.
The misstep by Davis
was the first of two unfortunate events for the rookie, who was looking
for his first win. After
going wide at Turn 5 and allowing Espenlaub’s No. 97 Sparco/Oakley/Tindol
Motorsports to pass, Davis’ No. 44 A-SPEC/RealTime Racing Acura
TSX encountered oil (left after the engine on the No. 16 Phil’s
Auto Body/NYBMWCCA.org BMW 325i driven by Phil Parlato expired) going
into the first turn on Lap 17, sending Davis into the tire wall, which
brought on a five-lap, full-course caution and wiped out a nearly 16-second
lead for Espenlaub.
After the field bunched up for the restart, Espenlaub was
flawless, never allowing Davis’ teammates Cunningham
and Kleinubing to overtake him.
“It feels absolutely incredible. I remember sitting over here
[in second] last year and just feeling ecstatic about it but this year
was much better,” said Espenlaub, who won the UrbanRacer.com
Hot Lap of the Race Award with a 1:29.684 (98.706 mph) on Lap 9 – the
first lap after he took the lead. “I definitely enjoy this
center spot. I hope to sit here more often.”
Espenlaub also said that
while he was comfortable running against Cunningham and Kleinubing,
going against the rookie Davis left him a bit apprehensive to start. However,
those feelings disappeared as the pair turned laps.
“Brandon did a great job at the start,” Espenlaub said. “I’ve
run with these two guys [Kleinubing and Cunningham] quite a bit and
trust them not to do too many crazy things, usually. I was a little
concerned with [Davis] and his experience at the start, but we went
mirror to mirror and he did the right thing. He did a great job.”
Cunningham started fifth on the grid and moved up gradually
through the top of the field as an incident with the inside wall
at Turn 1 knocked then leader and teammate Eric Curran, of South
Deerfield, Mass., out of the race on Lap 4, and Freddy Baker, of
Bedford, Ohio (No. 18 Fred Baker Audi/STaSIS Engineering Audi A4
Turbo) served a stop-and-go penalty for a premature jump at the start.
Even though the restart
evaporated Espenlaub’s lead,
Cunningham said that it wouldn’t have been his Acura who would
have gone after the Mazda.
“After
the yellow, we talked about it on the radio to let Pierre go by and
have him try to get Charles [Espenlaub],” Cunningham
said. “But as far as I was concerned, he never was close
enough to me to allow it, and by the time he could have gotten by,
I figured that Charles was already gone.
“Fortunately, with strength in numbers today, we managed to
do some good for Acura and still maintain the manufacturers’ points
lead going into the finale at Laguna.”
Third place was an excellent
finish for Kleinubing, who was slotted to start fourth on the grid
but swapped engines in his Acura. The
move forced him to instead start 20th, but as soon as the race began,
Kleinubing steadily climbed through the field to finish on the podium.
“I’m pleased with third place. I mean, I started 20th
and I’m on the podium!” said Kleinubing, who dedicated
the race to his mother, who is ill in their home country of Brazil. “It
was one of those days where the car was super good. I really enjoy
driving here at Mosport. The car wasn’t the fastest thing in
the straight line, but it was for sure pretty fast in the corners. I
think I could have passed Peter [Cunningham], but I would
have had to rough him up a little bit. When you’re running the
boss, you don’t tend to do that!”
James Clay, of Blacksburg,
Va., competed valiantly with Cunningham through the middle portion
of the race before settling into fourth in his No. 36 BimmerWorld
BMW 325i, and Randy Pobst, of Gainesville, Ga., who also served a
stop-and-go for an early start, wound up fifth in his No. 73 Mazdaspeed/Tri-Point
Motorsport Mazda 6.
Seth Thomas, of Cumming,
Ga., won the B&M
Holeshot Award for advancing six positions in his No. 38 BimmerWorld
BMW 325i from his 13th-starting position.
Leo Capaldi, of Lenox Twp., Mich., took home the Sunoco Hard Charger
Award for advancing 13 positions to finish ninth after starting 22nd
in the No. 68 GKN Sinter Materials/Ford Reg. Performance Ford Focus.
By finishing second, Cunningham
maintained his lead in the Touring Car Drivers’ Championship over Pobst, 236-224. Kleinubing
is third with 223 points, and is trailed by Curran (199) and Jeff Altenburg,
of Ellicott City, Md. (189), who finished 15th but only completed 23
laps after his Mazda’s transmission failed.
Acura leads Mazda in the
SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge Touring Car Manufacturers’ Championships Presented by RACER Magazine,
72-70. BMW is third with 46 points.
The SCCA SPEED Touring Car Mosport race will be broadcast
on SPEED Channel on Saturday, Sept. 10, at noon (EDT).
The season’s
finale at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca is set for Oct. 14-16.
For more information about this round or
Round 11, visit www.world-challenge.com.
] top |
