RACE: National Runoffs: Qualifying day three report

Times Fall and New Leaders Rise in Day Three of Runoffs Qualifying

TOPEKA, Kan., (Oct. 11, 2006) -- A little more tuning time and a dry track was all it took to shuffle up the 2006 SCCA National Championship Runoffs leader board on day three of qualifying at Heartland Park Topeka.

Keeping his spot at the top of H Production while dropping half a second off of his Monday time was Craig Chima, of Akron, Ohio, in an MG Midget. With a time of 1:56.030, Chima now holds a lead of nearly a second in HP over two-time champion Tom Feller, of Clarkston, Mich., in his Triumph Spitfire.

In Formula Mazda James Goughary, of Jupiter, Fla., hangs onto a slim lead in Formula Mazda by improving his time to a 1:39.680, while Niki Coello, of East Troy, Wis., opened up a substantial margin on what was a tight battle in Formula Continental, pushing his Van Diemen RF01 to a time of 1:37.820.

Also maintaining pole position with an improved time is Keith Grant, of Germantown, Tenn., driving a Swift .014a to a time of 1:30.225 in Formula Atlantic, Wade Carter, of Woodinville, Wash., driving a Swift .008 Viking in C Sports Racer to a time of 1:32.780, and Collin Jackson, of Langley, B.C., in Nissan 240SX clocking a time of 1:45.995 in GT3.

Day three of qualifying also saw its fair share of new leaders including Matt Cross, of Folsom, Calif., who took the lead in the 61-strong Spec Miata class with a time of 1:59.533. Cross is currently the only Spec Miata driver below the two minute mark, while second through 13th position are separated by less than a second.

J.R. Osborne, of Centennial, Colo., jumps to the top of D Sports Racer by clocking a time of 1:33.340 in his Stohr WF1. Osborne leads defending DSR champ Mark Jaremko, of Spokane, Wash., by only 0.03-second.

New leaders could also be found in S2000, where Matthew DiRenzo, of Medford, N.J., turned in a time of 1:41.248 in his JRE SR-71F, in GT Lite, where James Dentici, of Oconomowoc, Wis., drove his Honda CRX Si to a time of 1:52.986, and in Showroom Stock C, where Pete Taylor reminds the field that he's the defending champion, by setting a 2:05.048 in his Mini Cooper S.

And in his first qualifying run of the event, Ross Andrew, of Ann Arbor, Mich., climbs to the top of Showroom Stock B with a 2:01.375 behind the wheel of a Chevrolet Camaro.

Qualifying for the 2006 SCCA National Championship Runoffs will continue tomorrow, October 12, beginning at 8:00 a.m. You can watch the drama unfold from home with live timing and scoring at www.scca.com.

This, the 43rd running of the SCCA National Championship Runoffs is the first to be held at Heartland Park Topeka. The Runoffs are commonly referred to as the "Olympics" of grassroots motorsports, where this year 755 entrants in 25 classes are slated to compete for the honor to call themselves the best amateur racers in the country.

-credit: scca