MONTEREY, Calif. (October 9, 2014) – Following three days of qualifying, Tire Rack Pole Positions for the 51st SCCA National Championship Runoffs have been set following a frantic day of position changes at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
Two drivers hit milestone marks for their fast qualifiers, as Scott Rettich will sit on the Formula Enterprises pole in the No. 17 Alliance Autosport/PDI Communications Formula Enterprises/Ford for the sixth consecutive year. Joe Huffaker, making his first Runoffs appearance since 2004, scored his 13th career pole to top GT-Lite in the No. 77 Huffaker Engineering Mini Cooper. Only Jerry Hansen’s 25 poles rank higher on the career list than the eight-time Champ.
Several other drivers used the cooler Thursday temperatures to move to take over the top of the charts.
Matt Reynolds will begin his quest for Runoffs gold from the pole in E Production. Driving his No. 71 Reynolds Brothers Racing/JPM/Vintage Connect Mazda Miata, Reynolds took the top position from Jim Daniels with a lap of 1:37.119, who led the class until Thursday’s third qualifying session. F Production also saw a change on the time charts as Californian Brian Linn, in his No. 14 Hoosier/Red Line Oil/Carbotech/Hussey Lotus Super Seven, lapped the circuit in 1:39.975.
Many of the formula classes also featured changes atop the leader board on this final day of qualifying. Defending Formula F Champion Tim Kautz is at the top of the class for the third consecutive year in the No. 88 Braeburn/Two Dogg/Hoosier/Euroquipe Piper DF3D Honda after a 1:32.899, clearing the Jeremy Grenier’s No. 21 Ski Motorsports/Hoosier/ELR Citation Formula F/Honda by 0.3-second. Formula Mazda also saw a change as Mike Anderson, in the No. 42 HASA/Whiteflyer Star Formula Mazda and Darryl Wills’ No. 1 Hillenburg Motorsports/Hoosier/Hawk moved to the top two positions with times of 1:29.298 and 1:29.403, respectively. The pole is the fifth-career pole for Anderson, but the first in Formula Mazda.
Conner Kearby lowered the pole position time in his Formula Atlantic-classed No 56 GK Motorsports Swift 016a/Mazda to 1:22.144, taking the top spot from defending champion Michael Mallinen’s No. 71 Swan Motorsports/Mazdaspeed Swift 016a/Mazda. In Formula 1000, J.R. Osborne was able to do the same in his No. 83 Ralph Firman/Hoosier/Geartronics Moo RFR 1000/Kawasaki, running a lap of 1:23.705 for the Tire Rack pole.
Super Touring Under also juggled at the front of the grid. Andrie Hartanto put his No. 98 CTEngineering/Supertech/Wicket Tunin Honda S2000 on the pole in 1:36.843 late in the session to earn his first career Runoffs pole. David Daughtery dropped his time in Touring 3 for his first Tire Rack pole at the controls of his No. 8 Nissan/Hoosier/Carbotech/Knkei Nissan 370Z, posting a 1:39.531.
In Prototype 2, Robert Kazen was able to pull out some magic by putting down an absolute flying lap that propelled him to the top starting position in the No. 12 Kazen Racing Engines West WR1000/ Kawasaki. His fast time of 1:26.993 cleared day two’s provisional polesitter John Bosso by just less than two seconds.
The Touring 4 pole position went to Izzy Sanchez in the No. 78 Corona Bumper Service Mazda RX-8, pulling the top starting position away from Daniel Bender by a mere 0.1-second margin with a 1:45.071. Cliff Ira’s No. 36 Fira Motorsports Acura Integra GSR will lead the Super Touring Lite field at the green flag following a time of 1:41.729.
With qualifying in the books, the SCCA National Championship Runoffs gets underway at 8:30 a.m. as the first of nine National Championship races on Friday. More information, results, and the live broadcast can be found at SCCA.com/Runoffs.
2014 SCCA National Championship Runoffs
