MONTEREY, Calif. (Oct. 10, 2014) – Andrie Hartanto, of Concord, Calif., was the class of the Street Touring Under division in the 2014 SCCA National Championship Runoffs at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Hartanto cruised to the STU title over Rylan Hazelton, of Santa Cruz, Calif., and Anthony Simmers, of Boulder, Colo.

Starting from the Tire Rack Pole, Hartanto held the STU lead through the first lap before a full-course caution was issued for an accident in the Touring 3 class, which was run in conjunction with STU.

On the restart, Hazelton nearly took over the lead with a daring move in Turn 2, but it cost him dearly, as he fell back into the clutches of third-placed Carl Young. The battle between Hazelton and Young for second enabled Hartanto to slowly pull away from the rest of the STU field. He cruised to the checkered flag untouched and crossed the finish line with a 5.373-second margin of victory, averaging 73.349 mph.

“It feels incredible,” Hartanto said. “I had high hopes. We did a lot of preparations and tried everything. The team really pulled through. We had a lot of accidents throughout the year and they always pulled through. The race itself was amazing. We were on the back step for the first two days chasing Rylan for the pole position. We had to ask our friends to come with alignment equipment on the second day to make sure we could catch him. We laid down a pretty good lap and got the pole and that set the tone. I’m really happy.”

Hazelton’s brave move for the race lead in his No. 49 Driving Ambition/HPD/Comptech Honda S2000 earned him the Go Pro Hero Move of the Race Award, though it nearly cost him a runner-up finish. After battling with Young for several laps, Hazelton took a firm hold on second place, but was unable to reel in Hartanto.

“It was an opportunity that I saw and I decided to go for it,” Hazelton said of his move for the lead. “I’m a little happy I didn’t end up in the sand trap. I only lost one position and unfortunately, by the time I got back around Andrie had checked out enough that I didn’t have enough to give him and I had gotten my tires pretty hot by that point.

“It’s very nice to be on the podium, but obviously we were shooting for the win at my home track. This is our second Runoffs. A podium is nice, but we wanted the top step.”

Starting fifth, Simmers was pleasantly surprised to take his No. 45 RebayReseller.com/Hoosier/Vaslet Volkswagen GTI to the podium considering the consternation he and his crew had endured in the days leading up to the race.

“It was a very long day,” Simmers said. “We had some error codes after the second qualifying and have been chasing gremlins on the car. We were up all night and all day until about an hour before the race trying to get the car ready. We went to a couple Volkswagen dealerships for parts. At any rate, we ended up driving with error codes and down on power so we were fortunate to keep close to the leaders. We were reeling in fourth and he went off in Turn 11 and that gave us third place with two to go.

“There have been so many people that have helped us. I can’t even explain how little of a budget we’re on. We have no radio communication, no telemetry, I just drive by the seat of my pants.”

Simmers drive from fifth to third also earned him the Sunoco Hard Charger of the Race Award.

Local driver, Young, of Salinas, Calif., crossed the finish line in fourth. Bruce Trenery, of Berkely, Calif., finished fifth.

The 51st SCCA National Championship Runoffs®, The Pinnacle of American Motorsports, will crown Sports Car Club of America’s Club Racing National Champions at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Friday, October 10 through Sunday, October 12. The live broadcast of all 27 National Championship races is available live at SCCA.com, along with live timing and notes. Each race will be on demand at a later date on SpeedcastTV.com. MONTEREY, Calif. -- Provisional results for Friday’s SCCA Street Touring Ultra National Championship at the 51st SCCA National Championship Runoffs at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, with finish position, starting position in parenthesis, driver, hometown, car and laps complete.

1, (1), Andrie Hartanto, Concord, CA, Honda S2000, 20. 2, (2), Rylan Hazelton, Santa Cruz, CA, Honda S2000, 20. 3, (5), Anthony Simmers, Boulder, CO, Volkswagen GTI, 20. 4, (3), Carl Young, Salinas, CA, Chevrolet Cobalt, 20. 5, (7), Bruce Trenery, Berkeley, CA, Acura RSX, 20. 6, (6), Will Clark, San Leandro, CA, Honda S2000, 19. 7, (8), James Rogerson, Pearland, TX, Pontiac Solstice, 19. 8, (10), Stephen Mullen, Bradenton, FL, BMW 328is, 19. 9, (9), James Spurling, Ridgecrest, CA, BMW Z3, 19. 10, (11), Dale Shoemaker, Henderson, NV, Mazda Miata, 18. DNS, (4), Cameron Rogers, Hayward, CA, Mini Cooper S, 0. Overall Time of Race: 36:36.849 (avg 73.349 mph) Margin of Victory: 5.373 seconds Fastest Race Lap: 1:38.169 (82.071 mph) Sunoco Hard Charger: #45 Anthony Simmers Lap Leaders: #98, laps 1-20

2014 SCCA National Championship Runoffs