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Courtesy of Grand-Am:

HOMESTEAD, FL - A day after missing the pole position in Grand-Am KONI Sports Car Challenge competition by only .003 seconds, Randy Pobst and Christian Miller took the No. 74 Compass360 Racing Honda Civic Si to victory in the Street Tuner (ST) class Saturday at Homestead-Miami Speedway in the second closest finish in KONI Challenge history.

Pobst fought Tom Long in a seesaw battle that saw both drivers lead multiple times over the final half hour of action on the 2.3-mile, 11-turn track, but a pass in Turn 11 on Lap 89 of 92 gave Pobst the lead for the final time. He held onto the point for the final four laps to earn his fifth career overall and class victories, while giving Miller his first win.

The margin of victory, which stood at 0.129 seconds, was the second closest finish in KONI Challenge history. Only the race at Watkins Glen International in 2004 was closest (0.050 seconds). The race's average speed was 84.418 mph, the second fastest KONI race at the track.

KONI Sports Car Challenge action continues Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, when Grand Sport (GS) class drivers will compete in a two-and-a-half hour race.

Pobst took the lead for the first time on Lap 60, when he passed Kirk Spencer between Turns 7 and 8 in the infield, and held on for 16 laps. Shortly after, Long made his way to second when Josh Hurley pitted during the green flag.

The final of two cautions occurred on Lap 72 for debris on the front straightaway, bunching up the field and giving Pobst and Long a chance to battle to the end.

And battle, back-and-forth, lap after lap, they did.

When the green flag was displayed on Lap 74, Long shadowed Pobst around the track for two laps before making the pass on Lap 76. Pobst regained the lead for three laps, then Long took the lead from Laps 80-85 before being edged to the line on Lap 86.

Each time Pobst tried to take the lead on the outside of Turn 1, he was denied, but on the outside of Turn 11 is where he was the strongest. He finally got by on Lap 89, leading by just a few car lengths at the line.

Long didn't quit though. He pushed his No. 145 Freedom Autosports Mazda MX-5 deeper each lap, and ran nose-to-tail behind Pobst until the final lap. Also Freedom's team manager, Long looked for a way around Pobst coming out of the final corner, but didn't have enough power to pull alongside and challenge. Instead, he and co-driver Derek Whitis became bridesmaids once again.

Between Pobst and Long were six lead changes over the final 17 laps. Overall, Miller - who started second after nearly taking the pole position Friday - led a race-high 37 laps, all in succession, after taking the lead from polesitter Andrew Aquilante on Lap 6. Miller held the lead until Lap 42, when he pitted during the first caution, which came out for debris between Turns 8 and 9.

Finishing third, 8.464 seconds back, were Hurley and Ian Baas, who drove the No. 171 APR Motorsport Volkswagen GTI. Though neither driver led the race, both drivers ran in the top three for the majority of their stints. Baas had qualified the car third fastest on Friday.

The next KONI Challenge ST race will be run simultaneously with GS on May 2 at Thunderbolt Raceway at New Jersey Motorsports Park.

NEWS & NOTES
- The KONI Sports Car Challenge victory was the fifth by Randy Pobst and first ever by Christian Miller. The statistic is the same for overall and class victories.

- The last victory by Pobst in KONI Challenge competition was Oct. 5, 2003 at Virginia International Raceway. All four of Pobst's previous KONI victories came in 2003.

- This is the first victory of the season for Compass360 Racing the last race win for the team was Aug. 16, 2008 at Le Circuit de Trois-Rivières (Adam Burrows and Trevor Hopwood).

- This is the first victory of the season for the Honda Civic Si.


POST-RACE QUOTES:

Christian Miller: "Three-thousandths times two and a half hours was about what the finish was. First and foremost, the guys at Compass360 Racing prepared the most brilliant car I've had in a long time of racing, and we needed every ounce of it today. We came out, starting on the front row after missing the pole by .003, had a great run after a couple of laps of mayhem and mischief at the beginning - thanks to a couple of my friends - but once everything got straightened away, it was just keeping it nice, straight and smooth, keeping it together to give to my co-driver. He apparently needed every last drop it had in it after two hours. He did the job only Randy could do."

Randy Pobst: "Some of the best racing in the world is in the KONI Challenge. There is an amazing variety of cars and drivers, and the Compass360 team - crew chief Ray Lee, owner Karl Thomson and all the guys on the team build a heck of a car. I've got to thank Christian Miller for doing such a great job qualifying the car and leading the start of the race second. When it came down to it at the end, it was the lighter-handling Mazda MX-5 against the Honda V-Tech power. I did not have that much left in the way of brakes, because when I first got in the car, I just drove it, drove it, drove it. And then here comes that MX-5. I knew it was going to be a tough race, and we went back and forth about a hundred times. Then I thought, 'This is dumb.' I aligned us and just watched for awhile, and I thought, 'I can beat him to the finish line.' My V-Tech is right at the peak of its power band in fifth gear at one point, and the MX-5 always slowed down there, because he didn't have exactly the right gear. And we did. We were lucky in that regard. It was extremely well prepared by the Compass360 team, and well driven by Christian Miller."

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MIAMI, FLA - Compass360 Racing Team driver Matt Pritiko came very close to scoring another strong result in the 2009 Koni Challenge Series this past weekend at Homestead Miami Speedway, but sadly mechanical problems ended his run.

"With 30 minutes left in the race Travis's times started to drop of and we knew that there was something wrong. The 76 car made its way down pit lane into our pit box and the crew opened the hood. There was water spraying out from the motor, we then knew our day was done."

Pritiko was happy with his Compass360 Racing Honda Civic Si at the beginning of the weekend. "We started off well. In practice, our times were competitive with the field which was great seeing as though we decided not to run the test day before the event to put less time on the car."

The tight ST class battle for the pole was hard fought, and Pritiko was happy with his spot, inside the top 10. "In qualifying I managed to get the car into the 7th spot which was right where we wanted the car to be. Later we found that a car in front of us switched drivers to start the race so we moved up one position starting 6th. "

Pritiko's job as the first of the two drivers in the car was to move up as much as possible while still having a good car to hand over to his teammate at the pit stop.

"As the green flag flew everyone made their way into corners 1-2 and 3 which is almost like one big dog leg. I got the car to the inside at the start, and moved up a position (5th). I started to focus on maintaining the car so my co-driver would have a great chance to contend for the top spot."

"I brought the car in to the pits for the driver change after racing for 1 hour and 11 minutes so Travis could finish the race. The pit stop went very well. The Compass360 crew did a great job changing tires and refueling the car."

All that hard work came to an end with the mechanical failure, but Pritiko is confident in his team and he vows to fight back at the next round in New Jersey.

"With the next race in New Jersey a little over a month away, the C360R crew will have the cars ready for action and ready to get back on the podium."

(Courtesy Russ Bond Agency.)

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Christian Miller put our #74 Honda Civic Si on outside pole at Homestead-Miami Speedway this afternoon, just 3/1000ths of a second back from first place. The top four cars are separated by just over 1/10th of a second, and less than one second covers the top ten!

"It was an amazing run, and everyone at Compass360 did a great job, and I have a wonderful co-driver," remarked Miller. "The car was quick all weekend. It couldn't offer anything better. I think we'll be looking good for the race, we've got it figured out pretty good."

The true diversity of Grand-Am's Street Turner class show through, with the first six cars: Subaru Legacy, Honda Civic Si, Volkswagen GTI, BMW 330i and Mazda RX-8.

Noted Pobst: "The Compass360 team is strong, and running this Honda reminds me of the good old days in the Firestone Firehawk series. You can really feel the personality of this Honda, and Christian did a fantastic job. He wrung that car's neck! I think it's going to be a heck of a race tomorrow."

Matt Pritiko qualified our #76 Civic Si in 7th, while Jose Leroux put #75 in 9th. A great day, then, with all of our cars starting in the top ten, and well placed for what promises to be an exciting and very competitive race.

Labels: reports

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic -- Compass360 Racing today released details of their driver line-up for the upcoming KONI Sports Car Challenge race at Homestead/Miami raceway this weekend.

The team is proud to announce the addition to their roster of Dominican Touring Car Champion, Jose Leroux, who will drive the team's #75 Honda Civic Si with Bo Roach, from Tulsa, OK.

Leroux is a long-time competitor in the competitive DTS Dominican Touring Series, most recently taking the championship in 2008 in his #12 Mobil 1 Honda Civic. This marked Jose's second consecutive DTS crown, and his Honda experience should pay dividends at Homestead. "I'm excited to be driving for Compass360 in Miami," enthused Leroux. "I think of it as my 'home' track in the U.S.!"

Roach, who co-drove the #75 Civic to a tenth-place finish at the KONI season-opener at Daytona in January was equally excited. "We had a good run on the high-banks, and I'm looking forward to improving on that in Miami."

Leroux and Roach will join what is arguably the best driver line-up in the KONI Challenge. Canadians Matt Pritiko and Travis Walker will hope for another podium after finishing third at Daytona, while veteran road-racers Christian Miller and Randy Pobst look to build on the front-running pace they showed in that race.

The KONI Sports Car Challenge race at Homestead/Miami Speedway is the headline event at Grand-Am's Fan Appreciation Weekend. Infield tickets are available for free, courtesy of Grand-Am, and promises to be an action-packed, exciting weekend. For tickets, visit http://www.grand-am.com/konitickets

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Tooele, UT -- (4 March 2009) – The 2009 Ford Racing Mustang Challenge season is about to kick off next weekend at Homestead Miami Speedway with Rounds 1 and 2, but things are already charging ahead on-line as the Mustang Challenge has gone live with a new look and feel at www.mustangchallenge.com.

The site was developed in conjunction with series partner Compass360, a branding and advertising agency which also operates C360R.

"This new site really reflects the vision of this series," said Mustang Challenge Marketing Director Jamie Slone. "The Mustang Challenge is as much about the drivers and teams as it is about the cars. To finish at the front, the team has to nail the set-up just right, and the driver has to deliver a perfect performance with no mistakes."

"The new site celebrates everything that's great about the series: the Mustang, the drivers, the teams and the tracks! For our season-openers at Homestead, we've got nearly twenty cars registered with competitors returning for their second year, as well as some new faces. We're going to be able to share the event with people around the world with the new video capabilities that we’ve built in to the site. All of our racers will carry GoPro cameras in the car, and that door-to-door footage will be finding a great home on our site, plus all the news and photos and driver backgrounds you could hope for!"

With an RSS feed as well as hooks into YouTube, Flickr and Facebook, the new mustangchallenge.com gives fans a multitude of ways to experience the series in the virtual realm through the best social networking tools.

The Mustang Challenge races at Homestead will be staged as part of the Grand-Am Sports Car Challenge Fan Appreciation Weekend, which is giving race fans the opportunity to attend the race free of charge. The series will stay in warm climes for rounds 3 and 4, as Mustang Challenge becomes the racing focal point at the 45th Anniversary celebration for the Ford Mustang, April 17-19 at Barber Motorsports Park.

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Compass360 Racing today announced that Christian Miller and Randy Pobst have been signed to drive the team's #74 Honda Civic Si for the 2009 KONI Sports Char Challenge season.

After a strong showing at Daytona, where the duo were immediately comfortable with each other and their Civic Si, the Team is excited to extend that relationship for the rest of the year. "Randy and Christian are one of the best driver pairings in the series," remarked Technical Director Ray Lee. "They worked well together, and are great team-mates."

Miller and Pobst join Matt Pritiko and Travis Walker as season-long drivers for C360R. "We've got two pretty remarkable sets of full-time drivers for 2009," noted Team Principal Karl Thomson. "We're very lucky to have four guys of this caliber driving for us. Travis and Matt did a great job at Daytona by finishing third, as it was a sprint race from beginning to end, with Chris and Randy right in the thick of it as well."

"I can't tell you how excited we are to secure Christian and Randy this year," added Thomson. "Randy really is one of the best drivers around, and to be able to pair his amazing talent with Chris, who impressed when he drove with us last year, is a dream come true."

Miller qualified fourth at Daytona, and Pobst ran as high as second, fighting for the lead with just a few laps to go before he had to pit for a quick splash of fuel, dropping him down to 12th. "The racing competition was among the most intense and satisfying of my entire career," said Pobst. "The racing was so close, with four or five cars racing back and forth for the lead. Really great stuff. The car was so well set up. It was fun to be in a Honda again with the high reving VTech engine. It howls like a race engine. I love that sound."

The next KONI Challenge race is at Homestead/Miami Speedway. Grand-Am is offering free tickets to the infield as part of their Fan Appreciation Weekend. If you want to have a chance to see great racing, absolutely free, visit http://www.grand-am.com/konitickets

Photo credit: Sideline Motorsports Photography.

Labels: news