SCC: Driver standings notes after Homestead II

Borcheller Moves Past Stanton In Grand-Am Cup GS Battle
Salama and Turner Increase ST Lead

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (September 22, 2004) -- A pair of former teammates who previously co-led the Grand-Am Cup Series Grand Sport (GS ) championship standings -- Terry Borcheller and Craig Stanton -- are now locked in a back-and-forth battle for the GS driver title with just three races remaining in the season.

Following last weekend's Grand-Am Cup Series "El Combate de Velocidad" at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Borcheller -- driver of the No. 11 Powell Motorsport Cadillac CTS-V -- moved past Stanton to take sole possession of the GS point standings for the first time this season. Stanton had led or co-led the GS title chase with Borcheller through the first six races of the season but now faces a challenge from his ex-teammate after failing to finish at Miami and missing the previous race at Mid-Ohio. Borcheller closed to within seven points of Borcheller at Mid-Ohio and took the lead this past weekend with an eighth-place showing in Miami. Borcheller now leads Stanton by 10 points (182-172).

Borcheller and Stanton started the year as teammates on TheRaceSite.com Racing Porsche 966 team and appeared to be an unbeatable combination as they earned convincing wins in the season's opening three races. An amicable split after that winning run, however, saw Borcheller move to the Powell Cadillac team while Stanton has continued with TheRaceSite.com group. With new co-driver David Murry, Stanton earned a series-leading fourth win of the year at Watkins Glen in June and built a seemingly insurmountable 32 point-gap prior to the Mid-Ohio race. After earning just six points over the span of the last two races, however, Stanton now finds himself down on points to Borcheller but certainly not out of the championship hunt.

The Borcheller and Stanton points battle, however, isn't the only Grand-Am Cup points race heating up. Only seven points separate third through 10th place in the GS driver standings. The No. 35 Schuitemaker Nissan 350Z drivers BJ Zacharias and Michiel Schuitemaker are tied for third with 155 points while Stanton's TheRaceSite.com teammates Joe and Wayne Nonnamaker are in fifth, two points back.

Larry Rehagen and Ken MacAlpine, drivers of the No. 52 Rehagen Racing Mustang, trail the Nonnamaker duo by just one point (152 points) while Unitech Racing drivers Mike Cronin Jr. and Stu Hayner are tied with teammate Blake Rosser for ninth with 148 points. Unitech and its fast Nissan 250Zs have been the hottest competitors in GS competition the last two races with victories at Mid-Ohio and Miami.

Despite not finishing at Miami and being classified in 18th place, the No. 44 TheRaceSite.com team has maintained its position atop the team standings. The team has a 30-point lead over the Schuitemaker Motorsports Nissan, 185-155. Rehagen Racing is third with 152 points earned in its Mustang. In the GS manufacturer standings, Porsche continues to lead on the strength of its early season dominance, but Nissan is closing the gap (232-208) after its recent back-to-back victories. Ford is third with 167 points.

In the Grand-Am Cup Sport Touring class, No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW drivers Will Turner and Don Salama increased their lead by one-point to 25 following their fifth podium finish of the year in last weekend's race. No. 70 SpeedSource Mazda RX-8 drivers David Haskell and Sylvain Tremblay have moved up to third after their Miami victory -- the duo's ST series-leading third victory of the year -- while No. 97 Turner Motorsports driver Tim Pappas slipped to fifth, one-point back.

No. 2 Team Lexus driver Chuck Goldsborough remains sixth with 171 points while his teammate Ian James is one spot back with 168 tallies. Bob Beede, driver of the No. 29 Bill Fenton Motorsports Acura RS-X, is eighth with 167 points. SpeedSource drivers Marcelo Abello, Scott Schlesinger and David Tuaty round out the top 10 with 150 points.

In ST team standings, the No. 95 Turner Motorsport team remains first with a 25-point advantage over the No. 70 SpeedSource Mazda, 214 -- 189. The No. 97 Turner BMW is third with 188 points.

Both BMW and Mazda have each scored three ST wins this year, but the German manufacturer continues to lead the ST manufacturer standings over Daytona race winners, Acura, 228 -- 213. Mazda is third with 207 points.

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