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Mid-Ohio: K-PAX/3R Racing race report

Pobst and Galati finish 2nd and 5th in SPEED WCGT race at Mid-Ohio Lexington Ohio: Randy Pobst finished his K-PAX/3R Racing Porsche GT3 Cup on the podium for his 4th straight race in the second position while Michael Galati, who started his ...

Pobst and Galati finish 2nd and 5th in SPEED WCGT race at Mid-Ohio

Lexington Ohio: Randy Pobst finished his K-PAX/3R Racing Porsche GT3 Cup on the podium for his 4th straight race in the second position while Michael Galati, who started his matching K-PAX Porsche in 4th, rallied back from a poor start to finish 5th in today's Round 7 of the SCCA SPEED World Challenge GT Championship Series here at Mid-Ohio Raceway.

"I'm very happy with the result," Randy Pobst said of his podium finish. "My K-PAX/3R Porsche was tuned just right for this track I think and I was peddling it as hard as I could. I just wasn't quite quick enough today to win. I was quicker than most everybody else though!"

Randy Pobst, of Gainesville Georgia, and his #22 K-PAX/3R racing Porsche followed eventual race winner Eric Curran and Tommy Archer away from the standing start and by lap three these three drivers were pulling out a gap on the field behind them and from that point on it was clear that no one else in the field could catch them.

Pobst tried to make a move past Archer's Viper on several occasions but couldn't find a way past the V-10 Viper on the Mid-Ohio track where it is often difficult to pass.

"There were times when I thought that I had a little something for Tommy (Archer) but towards the end of the race he was a little quicker and pulled out a gap but I never quit pushing it and I never quit trying," Randy said of his race long voyage in the 3rd position..

"I like racing at Mid-Ohio it is a fun track and I am a little disappointed that the three of us spread out so much and we didn't make a better show in terms of competitiveness."

Pobst would later be elevated to the 2nd position when the transmission in Archer's Viper was found to be out of compliance with the rule book.

"In terms of the championship this is another good race for the K-PAX/3R team and I am very happy with the result," Pobst concluded of his weekend at Mid-Ohio. "I am unhappy for my teammate Mike Galati who killed it at the start because I think that he would have been right there with us at the front."

Michael Galati, of Olmsted Ohio, stalled his #23 K-PAX/3R Racing Porsche on the start and while he recovered quickly Michael had over half of the field pass him before the field got to the first turn but he put his head down and came charging back recovering to 10th position after the end of the first lap of the 29 lap race.

I just stalled it," said Michael Galati of his balked start. "I had the RPMs up and good grip so I'm not sure what happened. I restarted right away and I was pretty far back when I got going.

"I recovered a lot of positions on the first lap," Galati said. "I think I passed about 4 cars in the Keyhole turn alone."

On lap 10 Galati's #22 Porsche was in 10th and charging hard and quickly caught Stu Hayner's Pontiac GTO but catching Hayner was more difficult than passing him.

"I got stuck behind Stu Hayner for 3 or 4 laps and it took me a long time to get past him," Michael said.

Once clear of Hayner Galati caught and passed Mike McCann's Viper for 8th place and by lap 8 Galati caught up to the Sofronas and Kubinski battle for 6th and 7th and on lap 10 followed Kubinski's Corvette past Sofronas in turns 5 and 6 to take over 7th.

One lap later he was past Kubinski for 6th and Galati started catching Andy Pilgrim's Cadillac who was all alone in the 5th spot quite rapidly until he had a clutch problem crop up which slowed his progress.

"The car was working well until half way through when I lost the clutch and the pedal went all the way down so it was difficult to down shift and I locked up the brakes a couple of times," said Galati.

"Then I got my confidence back and the like I said the car was working well so I got back into a rhythm and caught the Cadillac (of Andy Pilgrim)."

Again catching a top competitor like Pilgrim and his Cadillac is one thing passing is another and for 5 laps Michael tried to find a way past but could not.

"I thought I had a shot at him a couple of times but he blocked me," Michael said with a smile. "I would have done the same thing with a couple laps to go you drive a little defensively!"

Galati ran out of laps and finished 6th his K-PAX/3R racing Porsche right on the back bumper of the #8 Cadillac as they raced under the checkered flag. As it turned out due to Archer's disqualification this battle was for 4th and 5th position.

"My car was handling really well," Michael Galati concluded of his race. "I want to thank my crew chief Dax (Raub) and the crew they did a great job. I feel bad for them and I like I let them down today because they worked so hard this weekend and we should have had a better result!"

While Randy Pobst was hoping for more this weekend his 3rd place finish was good to increase his lead in the driver's championship. Randy now leads Team Cadillac driver Andy Pilgrim (who finished 5th today) by 18 points 215 to 197. Michael Galati is 4th in the championship with 174 eleven points behind Lawson Aschenbach in 3rd.

The 3rd place finish by Pobst also decreased Cadillac's lead in the GT Manufacturers' Championship Presented by Racer magazine down to 4 points as Cadillac still leads Porsche 45 to 41 but the win by Curran's Chevy Corvette moves Chevrolet into a tie for 2nd with Porsche.

Round 7 of the SCCA SPEED World Challenge GT Championship Series can be seen on SPEED TV on Saturday July 28th at 4:00 PM Eastern Time.

The next stop for the K-PAX/3R Racing Porsche GT3s of Randy Pobst and Michael Galati will be in Ontario Canada at Mosport International Raceway on August 24 to 26 2007. We hope to see you there!

-credit: k-pax/3r

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