Tommy Archer may have changed teams from 2007 to 2008, but the result at Miller Motorsports Park was the same–a win in SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge GT, part of the Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix Presented by the Grand and Little America Hotels. Brandon Davis, of Huntington Beach, Calif., and Andy Pilgrim, of Boca Raton, Fla., completed the podium.Archer, of Duluth, Minn., started his No. 13 Foametix/Woodhouse Performance Dodge Viper from the pole and led from the start. Second starting Ritch Marziale applied early pressure in his No. 56 All-Cut Concrete Dodge Viper, but succumbed to power steering problems just past the halfway point of the 22-lap, 67.056-mile event.From there, Archer avoided lapped cars spinning in front of him to keep Davis’ No. 10 ACS/Sun Microsystems Ford Mustang at bay and score a 1.148-second win, averaging 93.284 mph. It was the first win for the Woodhouse Performance team.”It’s a small team, and its nice for Bob [Woodhouse] and his team that have worked so hard for so many years to get a win for them,” Archer said.”The start was clean for me,” he continued. “Ritch [Marziale] wants to lead a race pretty bad, and he was really pushing me hard. I just knew I had to stay clean and not make any mistakes. I made a couple in there. The scariest part of my race was probably not my big slide but when the Porsche went off at the top of the esses and I couldn’t see anything. I had to almost stop and hope they didn’t run into me.”Davis started fifth, but moved to third by turn one. When Marziale’s troubles began, he moved to second on lap six and closed on Archer at least twice, but was unable to make a bid for the lead. The Long Beach winner took over the point lead with his runner-up finish.”We had a lot better start than we did at Long Beach, gaining positions instead of losing them,” Daivs said. “We’ve worked really hard to get our traction control working well on the start. The car just hooked up and I was able to get around Cindi [Lux], I saw Andy to the inside but I realized if I hugged the inside I’d be able to take the position. From there, I kept pushing and pushing and pushing and people fell away. I thought we might be able to get a shot at Tommy [Archer], but we couldn’t quite do it. Overall, it was a great race and it feels good to leave with the championship lead.”Pilgrim started just behind Davis and advanced to third after Cindi Lux spun her No. 2 Mopar/Corsa/Forgeline/Momo Dodge Viper back to fifth on lap 11. His No. 8 Remington Shaving Cadillac CTS-V improved over the course of the race, but he was unable to make a bid for second despite being just behind Davis’ Mustang for the second half of the race.”The start was ridiculous,” Pilgrim said. “That’s the best start I’ve ever gotten in the Cadillac. Eric [Curran] stalled in front of me, and I think this is the fourth or fifth time in the four years I’ve been doing this that somebody stalled in front of me. You have to react so quick. I was really happy to get by Eric, and Cindi [Lux] got a bad start and I got by her. “I didn’t want to be too stupid on the first lap. I was stupid on the second lap, and locked up my tires big time going into one. Luckily, I didn’t lock them up again but I was a bit worried. I flat spotted one real bad, it was pretty bumpy the rest of the ride. I pushed as hard as I could push. We’re very, very happy with third place.”Randy Pobst, of Gainesville, Ga., came from 11th on the grid to finish fourth in his No. 1 K-PAX Racing Porsche 911 GT3. Despite his strong run, he fell from the points lead, to five behind Davis (310 to 305). Lux held on to finish fifth–the best finish ever for a woman in SPEED GT competition. It was the best finish by a woman overall in SPEED World Challenge competition since Shauna Marinus’ third place result in SPEED Touring Car at Infineon Raceway in 2003.Jeff Courtney, of Slinger, Wis., advanced from 19th to sixth to earn the Sunoco Hard Charger award in his No. 99 KENDA/TJM/MPI Coin/Badger Dodge Viper. He also ran the fastest lap of the race, with a 1:57.628 (93.284 mph).Dino Crescentini, of Manhattan Beach, Calif., advanced a similar number of positions (13) in his No. 4 Centric Parts/Stoptech Porsche 911 GT3 to finish seventh. Jason Daskalos (Dodge Viper), James Sofronas (Porsche 911 GT3) and Michael McCann (Cadillac CTS-V) completed the top 10.John Bourassa, of Jupiter Island, Fla., earned the Racing Electronics Holeshot Award in the No. 76 THR/Indeco/Hillview Vineyards Porsche 911 Turbo for advancing seven positions on the opening lap of the race.Following Davis and Pobst, Pilgrim is third in points after three of 10 races, with 290. Michael Galati is fourth (230 points), followed by Courtney (216).Ford took over the hotly-contested SCCA SPEED World Challenge GT Manufacturers Championship Presented by RACER lead, with 21 points to Porsche’s 19, Cadillac’s 17, Dodge’s 13 and Chevrolet’s one.Today’s race will be broadcast on SPEED Wednesday, May 28 at 1 p.m. (EDT), 11 a.m. locally.The series next travels to Watkins Glen International June 8. For more information, please visit http://www.world-challenge.com. TOOELE, Utah – Results from Sunday’s 22 lap 67.056 mile SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge GT Championship Round Three race, part of the Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix Presented by the Grand and Little America Hotels at Miller Motorsports Park with finishing position, starting position in parentheses, driver, hometown, car, laps, distance behind winner and reason out (if any).1. (1), Tommy Archer, Duluth, Minn., Dodge Viper, 22.2. (5), Brandon Davis, Huntington Beach, Calif., Ford Mustang Cobra, 22, -1.148.3. (6), Andy Pilgrim, Boca Raton, Fla., Cadillac CTS-V, 22, -2.227.4. (11), Randy Pobst, Gainesville, Ga., Porsche 911 GT3, 22, -4.375.5. (3), Cindi Lux, Aloha, Ore., Dodge Viper, 22, -11.880.6. (19), Jeff Courtney, Slinger, Wis., Dodge Viper, 22, -13.214.7. (20), Dino Crescentini, Manhattan Beach, Calif., Porsche 911 GT3, 22, -37.346.8. (18), Jason Daskalos, Albuquerque, N.M., Dodge Viper, 22, -38.665.9. (7), James Sofronas, Newport Beach, Calif., Porsche 911 GT3, 22, -39.040.10. (16), Michael McCann, Canton, Ohio, Cadillac CTS-V, 22, -47.381.11. (22), Stu Frederick, Del Mar, Calif., Dodge Viper, 22, -50.867.12. (14), Tony Gaples, Libertyville, Ill., Chevrolet Corvette, 22, -58.266.13. (15), Tim McKenzie, Madison, Wis., Porsche 911 GT3, 22, -58.852.14. (9), Michael Galati, Olmsted, Ohio, Porsche 911 GT3, 22, -1:13.557.15. (8), Jason Foster(R), Phoenix, Ariz., Dodge Viper, 22, -1:21.957.16. (25), Robb Holland, Denver, Colo., Porsche 911 GT3, 22, -1:46.903.17. (24), Eric Olberz, La Canada, Calif., Porsche 911 GT3, 22, -1:57.361.18. (26), Gunter Schaldach(R), Aspen, Colo., Dodge Viper, 22, -1:59.814.19. (12), Robert Foster, Phoenix, Ariz., Chevrolet Corvette, 21, Fuel.20. (29), Phillip Martien(R), Finksburg, Md., Porsche 911 GT3, 21, -1 lap.21. (30), Nick Parker, London, England, Porsche 911 GT3, 20, -2 laps.22. (27), John Bourassa, Jupiter Island, Fla., Porsche 911 Turbo, 19, -3 laps.23. (23), Joey Scarallo, Smithtown, N.Y., Pontiac GTO, 17, Clutch.24. (31), Wesley Hoaglund, Irvine, Calif., Porsche 911 GT3, 14, Mech.25. (2), Ritch Marziale, Tempe, Ariz., Dodge Viper, 13, Mech.26. (13), Mike Davis, Huntington Beach, Calif., Ford Mustang Cobra, 11, Mech.27. (21), Vesko Kozarov(R), Sighisoara, Utah, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, 9, Mech.28. (10), Sonny Whelen, Old Saybrook, Conn.

Jason Saini, of Fort Worth, Texas, led every lap en route to his maiden SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge Touring Car Championship win Sunday at Miller Motorsports Park, part of the Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix Presented by the Grand and Little America Hotels weekend. Pierre Kleinubing, of Coconut Creek, Fla., and Kuno Wittmer, of Montreal, Quebec, completed the top three.Starting from his first career pole position in the No. 74 MAZDASPEED/Stoptech/Racinghart MAZDA6, Saini made a clean getaway on the standing start and immediately pulled out a gap on Kleinubing. The gap between the two remained fairly consistent between 1.5 and 2.5 seconds throughout the course of the 20-lap, 60.96-mile race.Saini beat Kleinubing to the checkered flag by 1.402-seconds, averaging 86.366 mph.”It wasn’t easy,” Saini said. “It was 50 minutes straight qualifying, every lap. There was no tire management, there was no waiting on it, I just went. I tried to pull a gap early. I knew my car was good early but, based on the whole weekend, I felt like Pierre would be stronger at the end. I knew my only shot was to get out and get a bit of a buffer when my car was good. I would look in my mirrors and he was there the whole time. He kept the pressure on. I just kept going and tried not to make any mistakes. The car was fantastic; the team did a great job. It was as good on the last lap as it was on the first. We nailed the setup.”Saini became the first rookie winner in SCCA SPEED Touring Car competition since John Angelone won the season finale at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in 2005.”It was a struggle the first two races,” Saini added. “I’ve been wondering when the results were going to come. The team pulled everything together, did a lot of work on the car from VIR where we were off quite a bit. The only change we made to the car was right before the race, other than that it was right as it rolled off the truck. Everything was done at the shop, so big congratulations for TriPoint and the team and everyone there. They nailed it.”It’s just been a quick progression to the series that I’ve always wanted to drive in. Mazda’s given me that opportunity.”Kleinubing was pleased with his run in the No. 43 Acura/RealTime/Eibach/Red Line Acura TSX, but felt he just didn’t have enough to make a serious challenge for the lead.”Every time I tried to go a little faster, [Saini would] return the favor on the next lap,” Kleinubing said. “Every time I closed the gap a little bit, he stretched it out again. He had a better car today, he beat us straight up. Congratulations to him and the team. We’ll just do a better job at Lime Rock. It should be a good track for the Acura, and we have two races on the same weekend which should be pretty good for us.”Point leader Wittmer started sixth in his No. 44 Acura/RealTime/Eibach/Red Line Acura TSX but was third by Turn One. He fended off Charles Espenlaub for much of the race, before the two made light contact in Turn Five, allowing Wittmer to escape from the battle.”I went from sixth to third by corner one, it was clean into corner one and I just hung in there for third,” Wittmer said. “I had a lot of pressure from Charles [Espenlaub] for the entire race, and Peter [Cunningham] behind him. They were really putting a lot of pressure on me, especially going down into the hairpin. I had to defend my position a lot because he had more top end speed than I did. I had to really defend, but not to the point of blocking. At one point, he did get beside me. I kept the outside and was able to slowly creep away from him again. Then, Peter was behind, and he was putting pressure on me, so it was more like a defense race for me.”The Wittmer/Espenlaub battle allowed Peter Cunningham’s No. 42 Acura/RealTime/Eibach/Red Line Acura TSX to slot into fourth for the finish. Espenlaub held off teammate Jim Daniels in the closing laps to finish fifth in the No. 73 MAZDASPEED/Stoptech/Racinghart MAZDA6.Daniels (MAZDA6) finished sixth in his first run with TriPoint Racing, followed by Seth Thomas (BMW 325i), Chip Herr (MAZDA6), Dino Crescentini (Acura TSX) and Patrick Lindsey (MAZDA6).Herr was awarded both the Racing Electronics Holeshot Award for advancing four positions on the first lap and the Sunoco Hard Charger award for advancing seven positions throughout the race in his No. 97 Tindol Motorsports MAZDA6.Wittmer now leads the SPEED Touring Car Championship by 12 points over Kleinubing, 317 to 305. Cunningham is third, with 269 points, followed by Espenlaub (262 points) and Seth Thomas (248 points).Acura continues to lead the Manufacturers’ Championship Presented by RACER Magazine, 26 to 17.Today’s race will be broadcast on SPEED, Wednesday, May 28 at noon (EDT), 10 a.m. locally.The series next heads to Lime Rock Park next weekend for a Memorial Day doubleheader, racing Saturday and Monday. TOOELE, Utah – Results from Sunday’s 20-lap, 60.96-mile SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge Touring Car Championship Round Three race, part of the Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix Presented by the Grand and Little America Hotels at Miller Motorsports Park with finishing position, starting position in parentheses, driver, hometown, car, laps, distance behind winner and reason out (if any).1. (1), Jason Saini(R), Fort Worth, Texas, MAZDA6, 20.2. (2), Pierre Kleinubing, Coconut Creek, Fla., Acura TSX, 20, -1.402.3. (6), Kuno Wittmer, Montreal, Quebec, Acura TSX, 20, -18.428.4. (3), Peter Cunningham, Milwaukee, Wis., Acura TSX, 20, -19.270.5. (4), Charles Espenlaub, Lutz, Fla., MAZDA6, 20, -20.679.6. (5), Jim Daniels(R), Germantown, Tenn., MAZDA6, 20, -21.326.7. (8), Seth Thomas, Cumming, Ga., BMW 325i, 20, -27.015.8. (15), Chip Herr, Lititz, Pa., MAZDA6, 20, -33.198.9. (11), Dino Crescentini, Malibu, Calif., Acura TSX, 20, -45.044.10. (12), Patrick Lindsey(R), Santa Barbara, Calif., MAZDA6, 20, -45.429.11. (13), Nick Esayian, San Diego, Calif., BMW 325i, 20, -48.145.12. (14), Charlie Putman, Mills, Wyo., MAZDA6, 20, -52.392.13. (9), Jason Martinelli, Roxbury, Conn., BMW 325i, 20, -1:03.357.14. (16), Byron Smith, Salt lake City, Utah, BMW 330i, 19, -1 lap.15. (17), Branden Peterson, Breckenridge, Colo., Acura TSX, 19, -1 lap.16. (10), James Clay, Blacksburg, Va., BMW 325i, 18, Off Course.17. (7), Michael Galati, Olmsted, Ohio, MAZDA6, 18, -2 laps.Time of race: 42 minutes, 20.990 seconds.Average speed: 86.366 mphMargin of victory: 1.402 SecondsLap leaders: Laps 1-20, #74 Jason Saini(R)Fastest race lap: #74 Jason Saini(R), 2:06.156 (86.978 mph)Fastest qualifier: #74 Jason Saini(R), 2:06.176 (86.964 mph)Sunoco Hard Charger: #97 Herr advanced seven positions in the raceRacing Electronics Holeshot Award: #97 Herr advanced four positions on lap oneSCCA SPEED World Challenge Touring Car Point StandingsAfter three of 10 racesPos., Driver, Car, Points (Wins)1, Kuno Wittmer, Acura TSX, 317 (1)2, Pierre Kleinubing, Acura TSX, 305 (1)3, Peter Cunningham, Acura TSX, 2694, Charles Espenlaub, MAZDA6, 2625, Seth Thomas, BMW 325i, 2486, Jason Saini(R), MAZDA6, 243 (1)7, Chip Herr, MAZDA6, 2038, James Clay, BMW 325i, 1959, Jason Martinelli, BMW 325i, 17410, Patrick Lindsey(R), MAZDA6, 157SCCA SPEED World Challenge Touring Car Manufacturers’ Championship Presented by RACER MagazineAfter three of 10 racesPos., Manufacturer, Points (wins)1, Acura, 26 (2)2, Mazda, 17 (1)

Eric Foss, of Fort Worth, Texas, earned his second-straight SCCA Pro Racing Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup pole in qualifying for Round Two at Mosport International Raceway. Seventeen year-old Christian Franck, of Simi Valley, Calif., will start second for this afternoon’s race, part of Victoria Day Speedfest.After laying low during Saturday’s practice sessions, Foss shattered the MX-5 Cup qualifying record at Mosport in the No. 28 Team MER/Autobarn Mazda/Brooke Co. MX-5. The current point leader entered a lap of 1:35.999 (92.213 mph) around the 10-turn, 2.459-mile Canadian circuit, more than a second quicker than the previous qualifying record of 1:37.115 (91.153 mph), set by Russ Bond in 2006.Foss credited his qualifying breakthrough to his teammates’ hard work in testing and practice.”My teammates have really been helping me out this weekend,” Foss said. “I had a bad miscue on the test day, which almost cost me the whole day, but Team MER put the car back together and it’s just awesome. I’ve got to thank Ryan [Schimsk], Rob [Huffmaster], Anders [Hainer] and all my teammates; they worked on the setup all day Friday and we implemented it into my car. We tried a couple things yesterday, then today we just worked together. Unfortunately, I couldn’t give Ryan the same lap he gave me with the nice tow down the back straighaway. We have a couple more things we want to try for the race and we don’t know what the weather’s going to be, so that will make it interesting and entertaining for everyone I’m sure.”The Road Atlanta race winner knows teamwork will play a big role in the race as well.”The race is going to be a lot like Atlanta,” Foss added. “Christian [Franck] and Brett [Smrz] have been working well together all weekend and running really quick. We paired up in teams of two in qualifying; Anders and Rob worked together well and Ryan and I were working together, so we’ll just try to continue that. That’s the great thing about this series is the teammates are building great relationships and it makes it a lot of fun.”It appeared Foss would be flanked by the Alara cars of Smrz and Franck on the grid, but after post-qualifying technical inspection the No. 6 Alara/Smrz Racing MX-5 of Smrz, from Coeur D’Alene, Idaho, was found to be underweight and placed at the back of the grid. Franck was therefore moved to the outside pole in the No. 16 Alara Racing MX-5, with a time of 1:36.386 (91.843 mph).Foss’ teammate Ryan Schimsk, of Austin, Texas, will start behind him on the grid in the No. 81 Team MER/Airco Mechanical MX-5. Schimsk entered a time of 1:36.586 (91.653 mph) to claim third on the grid. He will have another MER teammate alongside of him in fourth. Rob Huffmaster, of Clarkston, Mich., turned a 1:36.590 (91.649 mph) in the No. 27 Team MER/Huffmaster Co. MX-5 to qualify fourth. Anders Hainer, of Woodland Hills, Calif., completes the top-five in the No. 13 Team MER/Under Armour MX-5 after turning a 1:36.744 (91.503 mph).Elivan Goulart, defending race winner Todd Buras, Brad Rampelberg, Robert Michaelian and Neal Sapp completed the top 10. The top 11 cars were all under the previous qualifying lap record.Round Two of the SCCA Pro Racing Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup will go green at 1:30 p.m. (EDT). Live timing and scoring is available at http://www.mx-5cup.com.